Over the past few months, I’ve found myself questioning more and more of my previous beliefs I’ve held for so long. This is due in part to taking Software Development with Matthias Felleisen, but also partly just because I’ve hit the point in my life where everything starts to get real. One of the major topics I’ve thought about is my opinion on attaching my name to everything I’ve created.
When I was younger, I used to think attribution was everything. I always insisted on being credited for every little contribution I would ever make. I vividly remember making sprites for a friend’s game, and demanded I get put in the credits, despite making maybe like 1 or 2 things. I also remember making one of my friends put the entire text of the GNU GPL 3.0 license in his CSS style sheet because I wrote it for him. I also was very strict on supposed “copyright infringement.” I recall berating one of my friends because he had the gall to as so much as take inspiration from my choice of colors on my homepage.
Thanks to Software Development, I had been introduced to the concept of egoless programming, which immediately struck a chord with me. Egoless programming effectively separates the programmer from the program. For example, egoless programming would ask “why does the code do this?” instead of “why did you do this?” This idea made me reconsider why I write code. I have no motivations of fame or wealth or even adoption, I just make something that I think is cool and want to share it with anyone else who thinks it might be cool. If this is my sole reason for creating something, why should I attach my name to it. So people later down the road can go “Oh, this Collin guy made this cool thing?” Not exactly something I care about. I genuinely do not care about any sort of fame or recognition I would get from being the guy that creates the new cool thing, just creating the new cool thing is reward enough for me.
Another thing pushing me away from the idea of attaching my name to everything I’ve done is just looking at the other people (including my old self) who do it. I have seen internet wars erupt over “trademark disputes” or people attaching credit onto the stupidest of things. Over two years ago, I helped one of my friends make a quick poster for his band. I used to work as a graphic designer, and tend to do work like that as a hobby, so I graciously agreed. The design itself was super basic, just 5 basic Keith-Haring-esque people standing in front of a basic sun and sky with two massive speakers to each side. I really liked the design, and was super stoked that they decided to use it. Flash forward to now, and they use it for everything. The credit to me has also been lost in translation. At some point, the band members started crediting my friend with having made it, and that credit continues to this day. I realized this when viewing their Instagram page and seeing that my friend was credited in the description with having made it. I was going to send a message and go “hey… I actually made this”, but in that moment, I stopped and thought about what a simple shout-out in the description really means. Maybe one or two people would drop by my unrelated Instagram page. Maybe one person would go “hmm… I’ll remember that name”, but ultimately, nothing in the grand scheme of things would happen. Its a single image on a social media platform I don’t even like to use. The fact though that they are still using the design I made for them so long ago is humbling to say the least, even if I’m the only one who knows it.
Going forward, I am not sure what I will do. I may begin releasing some of my works into the public domain. I may begin to isolate, and develop things only for me, not caring about the wider world. I am not sure. At the end of the day, a name on a page is merely a grain of sand in the vast desert that is our timeline. To realize this is to be freed from the burden of trying to inform everyone that it is there.
This entire post was inspired by a name being accredited for a website which is designed to act as a collective for a group. I will not name names, but those who know will know.