PWGD as 'scratching my own itch' - the foundation of open source software

They (Eric Raymond and Karl Fogel, anyway) say the best software starts from scratching ones own itch. PWGD is much more than a personal project of course, but here's one developer's underlying motivation.

I live in a large suburban town. Like any place and time, there are many circumstances, local, national, and global, that by any reasonable assessment need to change.

To change unjust, unfree, or otherwise harmful qualities, myself or anyone else needs to find people who give a damn about one or several of these things.

To do that in a suburban town takes an incredible amount of effort, which simply cannot be repeated by any one person or small group for every issue of concern.

Before I start canvassing my neighbors about what they want, and asking them about what I care about also, I need an infrastructure in place. People need to be able to stay in touch with what they care about and have an easier way of learning about new plans that might also matter to them.

This is not likely to be a rare need. This is a common need for all people who give a damn, to use and help build a lasting network while working for any specific cause.