Regardless of who you are, or what you do, you’re a member of some sort of community. Most people invest time, money and more, often to simply give back. As a result of this some members come to expect a certain level of mutual respect from their peers and possibly even the creators / developers of said project.

When this respect is broken it can often lead to ill feeling within the community. The question of scale is often small, but naturally if it reoccurs often it can kill a good project for no “real” reason. Within the Open Source community this arguably isn’t a big issue as people pick up the project because it does something they want, or need. For commercial projects, on the other hand, it’s better to liken to a band without any fans. Without them, they’re just weirdos on a stage making cocks out of themselves.

Investing personal time in a commercial project is noble, but I’m personally finding it harder to continue to do this due to my peers and others involved in a certain project.

Respect is such a little thing and simply restructuring a phrase can convey it. No real effort required, but the rewards can be astonishing.

Common sense perhaps? Then why is it increasingly disappearing? Or is it?