Me, just your average open-source developer, stumbled into something with a little project called pyvideotrans, somehow reaching 12.1k stars.

I grind away at my day job, then transform into a coding "volunteer" at night, freely providing a video translation and dubbing tool for everyone to use.

Downloads are booming, and the Issue section is a demand festival: "Can you add an alien language translation?" "Found a major bug!" "This bug could cost users a fortune!" "When are you going to fix it? Is the project still alive?" I stare at the screen, muttering: This is open source, why am I a full-time customer service rep?

Donations? Don't even mention it. When there were fewer stars, people occasionally donated a bit. Now that there are more stars, maybe 0.x or 0.0x yuan floats in every half month or month. I'm afraid WeChat will misjudge it and block my account!

There are always some "pro" users who, after using it, casually comment: "It's okay, a bit rough." "It's usable, but not perfect." I almost rubbed the mousepad into hemp—this free little thing, what are you complaining about!

But thinking about it, open source is the path I voluntarily chose, and freeloading is "standard." What can I do?

12.1k stars sounds impressive, but at 2 AM, facing a screen full of demands and a pile of spaghetti code, my mood is darker than the night outside.

When I don't want to persevere, I write on my public account to earn some advertising fees. A few bucks a day is enough to buy two packets of Nestlé 3-in-1 instant coffee, which is comforting.

I might as well call myself an "Open Source Coolie," just for fun. Being able to write some code for everyone to play with means my programming career has achieved something small. As for the thinning hair? It's okay, I shaved it all off a long time ago, brighter than the full moon!