Hug Reports: Supporting Expression of Appreciation between Users and Contributors of Open Source Software Packages

TL;DR

This paper introduces Hug Reports, a tool integrated into code editors that enables users to easily express appreciation to open source contributors, fostering positive feedback and community engagement.

Contribution

It presents a novel in-editor communication affordance for expressing appreciation, supported by a field study demonstrating its impact on open source communities.

Findings

Users expressed appreciation to 550 contributors during the study.

Appreciation served as both utility feedback and expressive communication.

Contributors' reactions varied based on perceived contribution level.

Abstract

Contributors to open source software packages often describe feeling discouraged by the lack of positive feedback from users. This paper describes a technology probe, Hug Reports, that provides users a communication affordance within their code editors, through which users can convey appreciation to contributors of packages they use. In our field study, 18 users interacted with the probe for 3 weeks, resulting in messages of appreciation to 550 contributors, 26 of whom participated in subsequent research. Our findings show how locating a communication affordance within the code editor, and allowing users to express appreciation in terms of the abstractions they are exposed to (packages, modules, functions), can support exchanges of appreciation that are meaningful to users and contributors. Findings also revealed the moments in which users expressed appreciation, the two meanings that appreciation took on -- as a measure of utility and as an act of expressive communication -- and how contributors' reactions to appreciation were influenced by their perceived level of contribution. Based on these findings, we discuss opportunities and challenges for designing appreciation systems for open source in particular, and peer production communities more generally.