<story><title>Why I prefer making useless stuff</title><url>https://web.eecs.utk.edu/~azh/blog/makinguselessstuff.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>justin_oaks</author><text>The biggest reason to make useless stuff instead of useful stuff is to avoid harassment. If you have something useful on GitHub then entitled users will come out of the woodwork to request features, report &amp;quot;bugs&amp;quot; (read: the user is doing something wrong), or otherwise expect free work out of you.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>salmo</author><text>My biggest reason is that I don’t have to finish. When I get bored with it, I move on.&lt;p&gt;I used to put pressure on myself to “finish” and would often miss and feel guilty. Not just computer projects, but electronics, learning musical instruments, etc.&lt;p&gt;Then I realized I was making my hobbies work and doing it badly. Real work (where I have to finish) got in the way of my hobbies. Hobbies are supposed to be fun, relaxing, and rewarding. What was I doing?&lt;p&gt;I gave up the pressure and it was liberating. I pick up the guitar for a couple months, then get lost in trying to make analog circuits. I tinker in the garden then teach myself enough CAD to do a small woodworking project. I started sewing masks and tote bags then set it aside. I fish a bunch in the spring and fall. Then, I’ll revisit them later when the muse hits and don’t feel like I wasted money.&lt;p&gt;Now my only goals are to have some fun, relax, and learn something new.&lt;p&gt;I really only program for fun in languages I don’t know or platforms I haven’t played with. I learn by picking up a project that scratches an itch.&lt;p&gt;Sometimes those feed back into my work (eg Go, Kotlin), but most don’t (various LISPs, low level C).&lt;p&gt;My issues are exacerbated by my ADHD, but I would recommend the approach to anyone with a steady job they enjoy.  That and not using TV&amp;#x2F;movies as a hobby. There’s just so much cool stuff to explore.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why I prefer making useless stuff</title><url>https://web.eecs.utk.edu/~azh/blog/makinguselessstuff.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>justin_oaks</author><text>The biggest reason to make useless stuff instead of useful stuff is to avoid harassment. If you have something useful on GitHub then entitled users will come out of the woodwork to request features, report &amp;quot;bugs&amp;quot; (read: the user is doing something wrong), or otherwise expect free work out of you.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>toast0</author><text>I haven&amp;#x27;t gotten any feedback on my github stuff (which isn&amp;#x27;t quite useless, just not useful to many), but it&amp;#x27;s pretty easy to ignore feedback in general, and it&amp;#x27;s not too hard to turn off issues; not sure if you can turn off pull requests though.</text></comment>