PinkLetter - Help them help you (and give them a prison tattoo)

Welcome to my PinkLetter. A short, weekly, technology-agnostic, and pink newsletter where we cultivate timeless skills about web development.

My Ramblings This Week

looks like no one cares about this repo and this project should just die and be deleted...

~ somebody in a GitHub issue

The worst part of that comment is that I don't need to show you a screenshot for you to believe it. You and I see shit like that every day. Sky is the limit when it comes to the sense of entitlement of (many) developers—I know because I've sinned.

The best part is that the maintainer ignored the complainer and closed the issue in their face. Still, it remains a sad story: somebody needed help, flamed on GitHub, and just wasted everybody's time—including their own. But there's a better way.

Do not expect anybody to do anything for you. Instead of demanding something, make a request: give them the opportunity to say no.

Do your homework. Share all the details they need to help you. It's not their duty to uncover your expectations and the context of your request.

Provide value. Sure, you are the one looking for help, but that doesn't mean you cannot generate any value. Make it a nice interaction and show them what they are enabling with their support.

If you really don't know how to give back to a developer, just give them the equivalent of a prison tattoo: a laptop sticker. What developer doesn't like being a badass?!

Elsewhere on the Web

Some Indexing Best Practices by Michael Christofides

We all know that indexing is important, but it can be difficult to know where to start. In this post, my aim is to collate some of the best advice I’ve seen for indexing Postgres, and simplify it for folks just getting started.

The Beauty of Bézier Curves by Freya Holmér

They're used for animation, text rendering, and all sorts of curved shapes! But how do they actually work? well, like, that's what the video is about, so, watch it to find out etc!!

(Riccardo: This video is a masterpiece. Give it a try even if you aren't interested into Bezier stuff.)

Ray.so by Nichlas W. Andersen

Turn your code into beautiful images. Choose from a range of syntax colors, hide or show the background, and toggle between a dark and light window.

(Riccardo: Ever wondered how the hell are people crafting those beautiful code snippets? This is the way. Thanks Hana for the tip!)