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Comment by nxpnsv | Hacker News Reader

I don't think this is about obligations. I feel the developer had a hugely positive experience in inviting interested strangers for 20 minute chats and wanted to spread the positivity. Seems like a nice person, with a nice project, and clearly some extra time available.

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I referred specifically to the title in my comment.

It is part of things personally irritating to me, and something what is biggest threat to small open source projects that I like.

People are mistaken in thinking that having an open source project implies any obligation beyond lack of malice.

And people tired by dealing with that are one of top reason why open source projects disappear or are never created.

The title is kinda unclear for someone non-English/US, for me office hours only means the actual hours when things are worked on (rather than any kind of availability time).

So skimming the title it quickly I read it as "Open source projects should run on office hours" since my mind filled that in, kinda implied that someone in another part of the world should adjust their life hours to contribute to OSS.

(Yes after reading the article i realized that it was wrong but this is about the title)

I am a native speaker (well, Scottish, so some may disagree ;), and I didn't get the title either. Maybe it's an American thing, by "office hours" to me means 9-5, local time - you know, the kind of hours that people typically work in an office.

To me (non-native, Spain), I read "office hours" as the time when I was a teacher in university: you have a set period of time where you are marked as available in your office for student consultation. I'm pretty sure that's what "office hours" is supposed to mean, although in Spanish and Catalan the word used would literally translate as "consultation hours" (horas/hores de consulta).

The phrase is used in the same sense at universities in England.

This is the same in the US based on my experience

The term "office hours" in American English can mean either of these concepts, but in the current context it clearly means the one you suggest ("horas de consulta").

In American English it can mean that too. The meaning of "certain hours where you work" and "certain hours where you have an 'open office'" overlap enough to be confusing, yes.

When you run your own organization you can set your own office hours.

> you know, the kind of hours that people typically work in an office.

It's exactly the same thing. There is no difference. This guy "works" in a home office on his project and he does so by talking with contributors (his customers essentially) instead of just sending a message on a mailing list or by posting on an issue tracker.

Where do you see the difference between this and a lawyer being open from 9-5 for customers? They are still his office hours and "office hours" primarily matter to outsiders who have to schedule an appointment.

No, this is actually not what it means. "Office hours" has two distinct meanings: one is the hours you are in the office. That is not what is meant here. The other meaning, which is what is meant here, is specifically designated times when experts make themselves available for random questions about the thing they're an expert on.

For example, I work on a project that heavily depends on "library foo". The guy who wrote "library foo" (who is an employee of my company) holds "office hours" for one hour every Monday, where he commits to being in a Zoom call that other employees can join to discuss questions about "library foo". That does not mean he only works for one hour a week.

I'm not a native english speaker either, but typically, in American usage, "office hours" refers to published, allocated hours for someone, such as a professor at a university, to allow walk-ins where (s)he can answer students' questions 1-on-1 above and beyond the classroom hours. I guess this expands to other settings too.

I recognized that it refers to some regular hours when person may be contacted for discussion.

Still, I am deeply opposed to formulating in ways that suggests any form of obligation/entitlement/expectation.

Though I expect that in many cases it would be a good and useful idea!

The difference in usage is not localized English: it's cultural student/academic vs. employed.

To a student with no professional experience, "office hours" are posted times when a professor is available to further mentor and guide a student. "office hours" are designated times outside of the scheduled class times and professors are generally required to provide them so others can benefit.

To a professional and others with white-collar jobs, "office hours" are hours are times when an employee must be seen by a manager to be considered working. Times outside of the scheduled work times are called "outside of office hours" and employees are generally expected to provides them so others can benefit.

To clarify the distinction is both academic AND language/culture. The concept of professorial office hours, and calling it "office hours" is not universal to all of academia, as people there speak different languages, and use then different words for things. Even if they might also use English, it doesn't mean they would call it that.

I think the authors explanation with the german word "Sprechstunde" is really great. There is a clear distinction between "Arbeitszeit" which is the working time and the "Sprechstunde" which is the time someone is available to talk to.

I added that paragraph about fifteen minutes ago based on feedback in the comments here.

Props on recognizing issues in your work. The article has solid advice so getting lost in the message would be a shame.

Rule of thumb when speaking or writing: replace "should" with "could". Simple way to avoid implying obligation.

So we "should" replace "should" with "could"? XD

You could.

I would.

"could" is true but irrelevant and therefore implies subtext. I don't think "could" would be much better, it ought to just be re-phrased as a suggestion in the first place.

Best thing you haven is not contact information out there what so ever. If you think i owe you something - fork you. Patch is welcome!

I understand your point, and I also think it's weird how people feel entitled to the free time of others. Still - here the choice of title has gotten in the way of what the author wanted to convey, and I feel the story deserves a read beyond the title.

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