[Off-topic] justacuriouscat:
I've spent year upon years using tools, custom ROMs, open-source code and software without ever asking myself who are the people behind all this work. Without ever wondering how all of this is available for free, with no ads and no data leaks, for the world to use. In the past few weeks, I've been observing the Android community from a different perspective. I have been wondering who are the people behind the technology I use in my daily life.

For the first time, I decided to join the forum as a registered user. It's been a day and the people behind XDA are already giving me so much help, free of charge. I've observed a tendency where normal users ask developers for more, even pretending updates and fixes, forgetting that none of this is granted. Majority of people working on these projects are doing it at their own expense, investing their time without getting any economical return.

What's both sad and beautiful, is that developers often engage in the community and feel personally responsible when users are unhappy with their work. In this forum I have seen people that could teach university classes about reverse engineering and somehow still find that time to answer the same questions over and over again. Moreover, they still find time to listen to the users when really, they could be doing whatever they want. They could say **** it and discontinue whatever they are working on, as many did, leaving users with no reason or explanations.

So, my question is: What keeps you motivated? Or better, why do you do what you do?

If we stop being humble for a moment, we realize there are some incredible minds behind the Android community. I would say some of these guys are outright geniuses. Now, you might think this is an exaggeration, but think about this for a moment: if these individuals were able to create what they did on their own, or working with a small team at best, then just imagine what they could have done if they had unlimited resources, as a big tech company.

But instead of choosing money, fame, power, or whatever it is human beings are after, these people have decided to give their time and energy to their community rather than a private company. Instead of locking their knowledge and their hard work behind a paywall, a contract or a trademark, these people decided to give back to the world. These people have helped new generations forming their skills with the latest information and discoveries, completely free of charge. Often without even asking for a donation. They've helped thousands upon thousands of people circumventing censorship, telemetry, locks, blocks, limitations. All of this just to say, you are my heroes. Thank you.

Let me know what you think, I'm genuinely curious to read your answer. It could be one word, it could be one paragraph. Optionally,

tag someone else and ask the same question

. Let's get to know each other better, but most importantly let's remind ourselves there are people behind these projects, and they don't owe you anything. You should be grateful for their time, because very often you are not paying them, nor supporting their work in any way.

I'll start by tagging some people who I believe are very talented in no specific order of merit, but this is not a comprehensive list by any means. XDA is full of little (or not so little) geniuses that deserve better recognition. Feel free to tag more than one person as well.

@osm0sis @badabing2003 @Umgak @simplepinoi177 @TheFreeman193 @dosbuddy @sawdoctor @V0latyle @Retrial @bgcngm @Terminator.J @raystef66 @rootfan @kdrag0n