Top all-time · #6654
Dan Brown
Personal blog · danb.me/blog · on HN as ssddanbrownprogrammingwriting
Dan Brown writes Danb Blog, a personal blog at danb.me about programming and writing. Since 2022, 11 different Hacker News readers have linked it 20 times, most often “Futo, Please don't attempt to create your own Open Source Definition”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-25, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (3) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Dan Brown's blog for commentary on open source definitions and source-available licences, such as Gumroad's source release and FUTO's open source definition. Comments only cite or link the posts.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 3 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Futo, Please don't attempt to create your own Open Source Definition3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-06-07
- Why the term "open source" is important2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-08-01
- Gumroad’s license wouldn’t meet the widely regarded definition of open source2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-04-04
- Why the Distinction Between "Open Source" and "Source Available" Is Important2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-05-02
What Hacker News says?
I saw a similar design theme on Dan Brown's personal site recently and was wondering if it was one of those trends to feed off nostalgia or just a coincidence https://danb.me/
Comment linking /
on “Krazam OS”Submitted Gumroad’s license wouldn’t meet the widely regarded definition of open source as a story · 122 points
HN discussionRelated post: https://danb.me/blog/gumroad-is-not-open-source/
Comment linking /blog/gumroad-is-not-open-source/
on “Gumroad’s source is available”Submitted Misrepresenting open source for business benefit as a story · 77 points
HN discussionThe project is licensed under a Business Source License [1] which wouldn't be widely considered open source due to the limitations it's placing on use, so advertising this as open source may be misleading to many. Source available is a more common term for these kinds of license. If you're interested in why I think this distinction matters, I've written some thoughts about that on my blog [2]. [1] https://github.com…
Comment linking /blog/open-source-available-distinction/
on “Show HN: An Open Source project for enhancing AI Agents in taking action”Submitted Why the term "open source" is important as a story · 54 points
HN discussionI personally don't have anything against the license you've chosen, and I respect your right to protect your efforts against usage you don't desire. I just think it's better to avoid using "open source" if going down the ELv2 path, and using something like "source available" or "fair code" instead to prevent confusion in misrepresenting this as, what is commonly considered, open source. If you'd like further detail…
Comment linking /blog/posts/why-open-source-term-is-important/
on “Launch HN: Grai (YC S22) – Open-Source Data Observability Platform”Submitted Why the Distinction Between "Open Source" and "Source Available" Is Important as a story · 9 points
HN discussionCommentary by Dan Brown: https://danb.me/blog/futo-open-source-definition/ (found via Ethan Sholly's "This Week in Self-Hosted" newsletter). 'Is "source available" that bad?' discussion from 5 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38790767
Comment linking /blog/futo-open-source-definition/
on “FUTO's the Open Source Definition”Submitted Beware of Poison in the Source as a story · 8 points
HN discussionI looked at the page for my software you provide (at https://octabyte.io/fully-managed-open-source-services/appli... ) and noticed the "BookStack Website" button leads to a kind-of iframe version of the site which also breaks links (and maybe other functionality) on the website. This is kind of sketchy IMO, since your not leading users to the actual project site, but some kind of modified/framed version. Please don'…
Comment linking /blog/poisoned-source/
on “Simplify Open-Source Software Management with OctaByte”Submitted Project was assigned for my Software Architecture course as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSure, it is fairly permissive as licenses go but those added restrictions fundamentally make this not open source, the use of this project is no longer fully open for use due to the restrictions you've place upon it. It might seem overly pedantic, but it can be quite important since many companies try to blur the lines of what open source is for their own benefit. If interested, I go into a little more detail on thi…
Comment linking /blog/posts/why-open-source-term-is-important/
on “The product I worked on for the last 4 years is now open-source”Submitted Amber Flags in Open Source and Self-Hosted Projects as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted LLMs Are Directing Open Source Licensing as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Futo, Please don't attempt to create your own Open Source Definition as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Futo, Please don't attempt to create your own Open Source Definition as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Prusa Breach Their Own GPLv3 License for over a Week as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Tuta and Proton: An Open Source Client Does Not Result in an Open Source Service as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Common Misconceptions of the AGPL as a story · 1 points
HN discussion