A plea from an NVDA contributor (please read): the emotional labor associated with software development profession, GitHub is not your personal suggestions soapbox
joseph....@gmail.com
Dear NVDA Community,
For anyone celebrating events around October 31st, hope you all enjoy them.
This is one of those posts that is quite different from how I write things across the NVDA community because, for the most part, it is a structured rant. You may know me as reserved and professional even when working on difficult tasks and try my best to understand difficult people. However, people who have been in the blindness community long enough knows that I can transform into a fiery volcano, and today, you will see the volcanic side of me. In short, I usually do not rant on a public venue like the NVDA community forums, but today, I want to let you glimpse some of my inner thoughts (I know that I am putting my reputation and professional image on the line with what I am writing).
A few hours ago, I read a GitHub issue that has tested my self-control. What started out as a discussion about an issue with NVDA while using Outlook (I assume classic) turned into what I might describe as a suggestions train, complete with hijacking the issue. While reading the issue and subsequent comments, I was doing my best to not throw something against the wall.
The issue in question:
After thinking about the issue and my reaction, I decided that a community post should be written, describing what I went through and demonstrate vulnerability. So, a few things I think the NVDA community should consider for a while:
First, software developers are NOT superheroes. The development of AI (including upcoming agentic artificial intelligence) is reshaping how we learn, work, and play. But what is not often discussed is the work software developers and data scientists are doing to make AI work better. What is not also spotlighted is the physical and emotional toll that this line of work is having on software developers themselves – long hours, exposure to and classifying traumatic content, profit margins, relationships, and blurring boundaries between what is actual versus artificial.
screen reader developers (or for that matter, access technology developers) also experience the joys and frustrations of our work. Sometimes we feel the excitement that our code can solve someone’s productivity issues, and we show frustrations with inaccessible software and hardware. In some ways, screen reader users might imagine developers as superheroes with a fantasy of ever improving world brought by heroes navigating this imposing castle called computer code.
If you are living in that fantasy, as a popular saying goes, wake up and smell the coffee. Software development is not a magical landscape – software development, including the development of NonVisual Desktop Access screen reader, involves human labor, resources including time, relationships, and the understanding of the reality of disability. Specifically, I want us to focus on the human labor aspect of software engineering profession – the time spent learning programming languages, the resources needed to prepare the NVDA source code and its development environment, getting to know blindness and screen reader mechanics, monitoring user feedback posted on places such as GitHub, dealing with difficult colleagues and users, staying up all night thinking about the impact of latest tech trends on access technologies such as adoption of AI across the globe, and a feeling in the back of our minds that our jobs are not secure (yes, the job security in the software engineering profession is not guaranteed, a hard truth that a teenager Joseph Lee did not grasp when I started college years ago; only after experiencing a burnout a few years ago did that hard truth sink in).
Why am I asking all of us to think about the human labor involved in NVDA development? Because software developers are humans – we have our needs, we feel hungry and thirsty, we feel joys and frustrations, we have varying relationships with people, and we feel connected to the rest of the world and feel lonely at times. This also means that software developers do experience and somehow learn to manage (or not manage) emotional labor and craft a professional self-image – masking our true emotions in the name of professionalism, learning to communicate the same thing in different ways, working with difficult people, and sometimes, practicing self-control and patience when we feel like throwing things against the wall. Ask any senior software developer, and they will offer similar responses to what I described – feeling understood and misunderstood, working with all sorts of people, trying to make sense of things written by someone else (or by ourselves years later), projecting a professional image of having expertise, and so on.
I am saying all this to share the inner thoughts of software developers and to break the fantasy that developers are superheroes. And what really made me share all this was the linked GitHub issue that left me wondering if I should even remain a member of the NVDA community. I know that some folks would urge me to stay as this is the work of a few individuals. However, I have made up my mind that this is the chance for me to finally retire from actively contributing to the community to send a message that this kind of behavior (GitHub issue hijacking and abuse) is not okay (to be a bit more blunt, dealing with GitHub issue hijacking and abuse is physically and mentally exhausting).
Second, speaking of the behavior I am talking about where people are hijacking and turning GitHub issues into their personal NVDA suggestions soapbox, this is unacceptable, unprofessional, intolerable, and not to be repeated EVER again. GitHub is a software management and discussion platform to constructively inform software developers about bugs or offer constructive suggestions. Put it the other way, GitHub is NOT Feedback Hub, and certainly NOT your personal NVDA suggestions soapbox, and especially not a venue to talk about one thing in one comment and discuss something completely unrelated in a different comment in the same issue (if you want to discuss something completely different, create a new GitHub issue and limit the issue comments to discussing THAT topic alone). And let me say (in public while putting my reputation on the line) that the people who repeatedly does this despite asked in private not to do so may wish to reconsider their behavior and think about what their actions are doing to their reputation, the reputation of the NVDA community, and the overall impression about the blindness community. As for the people involved in the linked GitHub issue, I have contacted one person privately about this and raised concerns with NV Access people about this behavior.
This is not the first time that people were asked to learn the proper GitHub etiquette and not do things NVDA community members have asked them not to do (one thing you should not do, friends, is not including software version information; lack of version info confuses people). And I guarantee that this won’t be the last time the community will be informed about GitHub issue hijacking and abuse behavior. Normally I would not bring this to your attention unless this is severe, and this is one such case (what made this case worse was the fact that the hijacking happened when another screen reader had its latest release published by its developers yesterday, and the person abusing the GitHub issue (I took it that way) went on to list one or two changes from that screen reader in hopes that NVDA would implement similar changes; if there is one thing I (personally) am having difficulty with, it is insistence that NVDA should implement a feature or two from other products in hopes of winning people’s hearts, and if that is not accepted into NVDA itself, proposing an add-on development route thinking that this is easier; no, that route is not easy, I guarantee you). So, please learn the proper GitHub etiquette, including limiting the scope of a GitHub issue to one (and preferably one) topic/issue, filling out the form completely to the best of your ability, providing needed information, and never (EVER) hijack a GitHub issue discussion and running a personal NVDA suggestions train (let me repeat: GitHub is NOT your personal NVDA suggestions soapbox).
So, here is my umpteenth advice/suggestion/community recommendation: while I have calmed down from the rage I experienced (at one point I told the person I wrote privately that I will pour out my full anger), I still feel disappointed and somewhat angry. I do understand that the individuals involved in the linked issue might be angry (even angrier with me) because the changes they are requesting has not been implemented by NVDA developers, and turning a GitHub issue about Outlook and screen layout toggle into a suggestions soapbox was their way to vent frustrations. But it doesn’t have to be that way – there are ways to vent frustrations in a way that follows the GitHub etiquette such as separate issues for different topics and providing justifications and inviting people to comment on your idea (after all, NVDA development is a community effort). As for the individuals involved in the linked GitHub issue, it will be a while before I can take their comments and suggestions seriously again.
Thank you for reading rants from a software developer and a community member.
With disappointment and sadness,
Joseph
Richard Turner
Well said, Joseph.
.
Richard, USA
“Reality is the leading cause of stress for those who are in touch with it.”
– Jane Wagner, from The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.
My web site: https://www.turner42.com
--
***
Please note: the NVDA project has a Citizen and Contributor Code of Conduct.
NV Access expects that all community members will read and abide by the rules set out in this document while participating in this group.
https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
You can contact the group owners and moderators via nvda-user...@nvaccess.org.
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Michael Chopra
Mujtaba Merchant
Dear Joseph,
I can sense the frustration and disappointment in your words, and I want to acknowledge the emotional toll that the abuse of the GitHub platform has taken on you. Your dedication to the NVDA community and your passion for creating accessible technology are truly inspiring, and it's clear that you care deeply about the well-being of the community.
I appreciate your courage in speaking out against the hijacking of the issue and the disregard for GitHub etiquette. Your words serve as a reminder that we must prioritize respect, professionalism, and constructive communication in our interactions.
As someone who values the NVDA community, I'm committed to being more mindful of my own behavior and to promoting a culture of respect and empathy. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for being a voice for the community.
* The response was generated using AI but the thoughts were fed to it by me
Sincerely,
Mujtaba Merchant
Bangalore | INDIA
Mail: mujt...@gmail.com
Website: The Somebody, Nobody, Anybody & Everybody Blog!
Sent from Outlook ® for Windows 10
From: nvda-...@nvaccess.org <nvda-...@nvaccess.org> On Behalf Of joseph....@gmail.com
Sent: Friday, October 31, 2025 8:35 AM
To: nv...@nvda.groups.io
Subject: [NVDA] A plea from an NVDA contributor (please read): the emotional labor associated with software development profession, GitHub is not your personal suggestions soapbox
Dear NVDA Community,
--
Gene Asner
available and becomes widely enough used. If possible, to resolve the
situation and stop the emotional difficulty of dealing with it, can
people be banned from Github groups after they are told not to do
something that causes problems and still do so perhaps once or twice more?
Gene
On 10/31/2025 4:27 AM, Mujtaba Merchant wrote:
> Dear Joseph,
>
> I can sense the frustration and disappointment in your words, and I want
> to acknowledge the emotional toll that the abuse of the GitHub platform
> has taken on you. Your dedication to the NVDA community and your passion
> for creating accessible technology are truly inspiring, and it's clear
> that you care deeply about the well-being of the community.
>
> I appreciate your courage in speaking out against the hijacking of the
> issue and the disregard for GitHub etiquette. Your words serve as a
> reminder that we must prioritize respect, professionalism, and
> constructive communication in our interactions.
>
> As someone who values the NVDA community, I'm committed to being more
> mindful of my own behavior and to promoting a culture of respect and
> empathy. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for being a voice for
> the community.
>
> * The response was generated using AI but the thoughts were fed to it by me
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Mujtaba Merchant
>
> Bangalore | INDIA
>
> Mail: mujt...@gmail.com
>
> Website: The Somebody, Nobody, Anybody & Everybody Blog!
> Sent from Outlook ® for Windows 10
>
> *joseph....@gmail.com
> *Sent:* Friday, October 31, 2025 8:35 AM
> *To:* nv...@nvda.groups.io
> *Subject:* [NVDA] A plea from an NVDA contributor (please read): the
> is not your personal suggestions soapbox
>
> Dear NVDA Community,
>
>
> This is one of those posts that is quite different from how I write
> things across the NVDA community because, for the most part, it is a
> structured rant. You may know me as reserved and professional even when
> working on difficult tasks and try my best to understand difficult
> people. However, people who have been in the blindness community long
> enough knows that I can transform into a fiery volcano, and today, you
> will see the volcanic side of me. In short, I usually do not rant on a
> public venue like the NVDA community forums, but today, I want to let
> you glimpse some of my inner thoughts (I know that I am putting my
> reputation and professional image on the line with what I am writing).
>
> A few hours ago, I read a GitHub issue that has tested my self-control.
> What started out as a discussion about an issue with NVDA while using
> Outlook (I assume classic) turned into what I might describe as a
> suggestions train, complete with hijacking the issue. While reading the
> issue and subsequent comments, I was doing my best to not throw
> something against the wall.
>
> The issue in question:
>
> Use screen layout (when supported) doesn't work in microsoft outlook365
> desktop app · Issue #19153 · nvaccess/nvda
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "NVDA Screen Reader Discussion" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
> an email to nvda-users+...@nvaccess.org
> https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/003501dc4a13%24219f6300%2464de2900%24%40gmail.com
> --
> ***
> Please note: the NVDA project has a Citizen and Contributor Code of Conduct.
> NV Access expects that all community members will read and abide by the
> rules set out in this document while participating in this group.
> https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
> <https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md>
>
> You can contact the group owners and moderators via
> nvda-user...@nvaccess.org.
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "NVDA Screen Reader Discussion" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
> an email to nvda-users+...@nvaccess.org
> <https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/000b01dc4a48%249e28b180%24da7a1480%24%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
joseph....@gmail.com
Project maintainers can report individuals to Microsoft (the entity that owns GitHub) if people violate GitHub's own terms of service. Even if GitHub accounts are banned, people and things (including bots) behind it can come back by creating a new GitHub account.
In my email to NV Access, I have asked folks there to address the individuals and the GitHub issue under discussion. Further, in my communication to one of the individuals involved, I basically told this person to reconsider their behavior in the strongest terms I can muster (without resorting to profanity because I wouldn't dare going there, knowing that people can leave a bad taste with their choice of words).
Cheers,
Joseph
--
***
Please note: the NVDA project has a Citizen and Contributor Code of Conduct.
NV Access expects that all community members will read and abide by the rules set out in this document while participating in this group.
https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
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You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NVDA Screen Reader Discussion" group.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/0c462248-0352-b05d-62c9-b732649efae6%40gmail.com.
