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Question: self-promotion on other people's open-source software website?

Wed, 2007-11-21 09:38 — bosco

I recently posted some scripts on my blog (match.py a Python script that calculates the RMSD of PDB structures). It's a little esoteric, but I thought someone out there might find it useful. Here's the rub. Hours after posting it, I got a comment. When I read the comment, I was rather surprised - it was someone advertising a program that does the same thing as mine. The question I want to ask, do you think this is kosher?


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Tue, 2007-11-27 04:45 — seidel

the context is larger than the post

I think it's totally kosher. The person was juxtaposing similar pieces of information. It's something we all depend on to be informed, and a reason for allowing comments. He may be taking some of the attention off your specific work, but he appears to be informing you of an alternative tool set you may not have known about. If he was pointing to a commercial alternative, that presumably has marketing resources behind it and therefore doesn't depend on mention in a weblog, I would find the comment annoying. Alternatively, if you were talking about a pretty new wedding dress design, and someone piped up about their own lovely new design, I might see some ruffled feathers. But just as comments are "weak connections" between pieces of information that can be positive or negative, it doesn't take a very thick skin to put up with comments that direct attention elsewhere.


Wed, 2007-11-21 22:52 — tiagoantao

No

I do think that the comment is fairly reasonable, and helpful to anyone that is looking for a Java solution to the same problem.

On the other hand, and in full honesty, your reaction seems borderline unreasonable and really inviting people not to comment on your entries.


Wed, 2007-11-21 23:52 — chris

Easy tiger

I didn't think Bosco's reaction was unreasonable given the comment (YMMV, natch). The comment is rather poorly written, but I agree with Neil's assessment that it's harmless and probably just trying to be informative.


Wed, 2007-11-21 18:12 — dalloliogm

kosher

What does it means kosher? :)

I also think that comment is fine: I couldn't understand with which license that software is released, but it seems that it's a freely downloadable library.

Let's say you are a java programmer looking for a program that does the same things as yours: you will find that comment very useful; and your blog has twice the probability to be found by someone using google, because it's useful both for python and java programmers.

Moreover, think that if that software is really downloadable for free, the author of the comment doesn't gain any money if it's downloaded: you hardly know his name. Instead, you could ask him how they have implemented the algoritm, and exchange feedback, maybe on your blog.


Wed, 2007-11-21 10:39 — Neil

Comment etiquette

Leaving aside that your solution is clearly superior, since Python is the language for structural bioinformatics, whereas Java is good for nothing :)

I think the commenter just needs a lesson in how to write comments. Something along the lines of: "Hi, for those who prefer to program in Java, I've written a set of classes called bioshell to perform many tasks, including RMSD calculations. Check it out if you're interested."

There will always be "me too in my language of choice" comments. They're best ignored, since they don't contribute to discussion of your original post.


Wed, 2007-11-21 10:17 — eweaver

I think it's fine. All of

I think it's fine. All of opensource is working on the same problem in the end; it's a backhanded sort of collaboration, really. I usually just ask them why they think their solution is better.