I will no longer be working on Mlem.
I started it a year and a half ago when I needed to take my mind off pain from surgery. And I always intended it to be a personal protect that would help me relax.
With the current development of the app, I no longer find being a part of the project relaxing or fun.
I’m not doing any coding anymore, since it’s all done by much more talented and experienced people. If I tried to contribute to my app now, as an outsider, I would be rejected. I’m also not doing much project management. I feel like I don’t have much voice in the development anymore.
I’m also getting backlash for trying to make the app accessible to the average person as opposed to just tech nerds, and it’s not worth the stress. This is happening mostly in my DMs (the other developers are not doing this, so please don’t go after them. They are very nice and would never do this), since some elements of this and Mastodon community don’t have the balls to face me in public.
These are just some of the many reasons I found working on the app for the last few weeks frustrating. Ever since the app exploded in popularity and the community grew, I can say that even thinking about working on Mlem made me instantly angry, annoyed and just overall pissed off.
It’s just not worth it anymore.
The current TestFlight version will keep working for two more days, after which I will erase the app from the App Store. Until then, someone from the team will have given you a new link. I have also transferred the app’s source code to a new owner.
I have released a new version just before posting this, and it’s the last version I have any influence on. The community will continue working on the app.
I will focus on my other apps, which will hopefully not become like Mlem.
Enjoy life, and don’t try to contact me.
To add context here: it seems like this wasn’t even discussed with the other developers, Brooklyn seems just as confused and lost with this announcement
Then adding the line “don’t contact me” seems just a very strange way to close the message.
I’m all for protecting mental health and if not working on this app will help contribute to his well being then that is supported. The message itself, however, isn’t delivered well and could be handled in a more responsible manner.
Add to it that he stated the app would be live for another 2 days, then removed from testflight. And it’s already removed. With no real communication to the other developers, who seem to be hearing this only from this thread.
I understand where you are coming from. Having exit plans in place and knowing how to trigger them before it’s too late is a skill and a valuable one.
But not everyone learns this skill or that it’s important. I wouldn’t be surprised if most don’t, especially amongst that would benefit the most from it. I have learnt its importance the hard way and too late in life for it to really matter much.
I’m this case, it seems they were burnt out and trying to cope rather than pivot and so the end was calamitous.
It’s sad and destructive, but I’d ask you to try to respect that in all likelihood they probably did their very best to the point that it hurt them. And that jumping ship dramatically and unexpectedly, while annoyingly disruptive, tends to shake out well so long as they don’t take anything down with them (which, given the transfers, seems to be the case here). This, sadly, comes with the territory of people pushing themselves on voluntary passion projects for the rest of us to enjoy.
Is the author quite early in their career?
The reference to their code not being accepted screams imposter syndrome. Which is really common in junior developers.
The stuff about not being heard and not being involved in project management. Comes off as a junior who lacks the confidence to assert themselves or a senior who hasn’t made the senior -> tech lead transition.
One of the big junior -> senior lessons is learning when to ask for help. A junior feeling completely overwhelmed not wanting to bother people is a fairly common problem.