I'm afraid your article rubs me the wrong way. Could you explain further why an independent developer (who has written code in their own time to satisfy their own need) has _any_ obligation to satisfy your desire for better documentation? I can certainly understand why one wouldn't choose to use undocumented code, and why one wouldn't recommend it to others, but I don't understand the sense of entitlement.
Further, what greater obligation does the original author have that you as a user of the code do not? Why should the author be expected to sit down and write documentation intended solely for the use of others, whereas you, now capable of doing the same, do not? Your 'duty of care' argument falls short for me, and instead I see a favor not being returned.
I don't mean to be too negative (your writing style itself is great, for example) but I really don't understand the underlying sentiment.
You might as well ask why an independent developer has any obligation to release code that actually works most of the time.
No, in the broadest sense, there's no moral or legal obligation. However, in the social sense of interacting with people that you're offering software to, you're not doing a favor to anyone by releasing crappy code or putting up lousy documentation.
You may be confused by the level of the argument - it's not at the level of "must", but "should".
I'm afraid your article rubs me the wrong way. Could you explain further why an independent developer (who has written code in their own time to satisfy their own need) has _any_ obligation to satisfy your desire for better documentation? I can certainly understand why one wouldn't choose to use undocumented code, and why one wouldn't recommend it to others, but I don't understand the sense of entitlement.
Further, what greater obligation does the original author have that you as a user of the code do not? Why should the author be expected to sit down and write documentation intended solely for the use of others, whereas you, now capable of doing the same, do not? Your 'duty of care' argument falls short for me, and instead I see a favor not being returned.
I don't mean to be too negative (your writing style itself is great, for example) but I really don't understand the underlying sentiment.