Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) communities are composed, in part, of volunteers, many of whom contribute infrequently. However, these infrequent volunteers contribute to the sustainability of FLOSS projects, and should ideally be encouraged to continue participating, even if they cannot be persuaded to contribute regularly. Infrequent contributions are part of a trend which has been widely observed in other sectors of volunteering, where it has been termed “episodic volunteering” (EV). Previous FLOSS research has focused on the Onion model, differentiating core and peripheral developers, with the latter considered as a homogeneous group. We argue this is too simplistic, given the size of the periphery group and the myriad of valuable activities they perform beyond coding. Our exploratory qualitative survey of 13 FLOSS communities investigated what episodic volunteering looks like in a FLOSS context. EV is widespread in FLOSS communities, although not specifically managed. We suggest several recommendations for managing EV based on a framework drawn from the volunteering literature. Also, episodic volunteers make a wide range of value-added contributions other than code, and they should neither be expected nor coerced into becoming habitual volunteers.

中文翻译：

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揭开边缘：对自由/自由和开源软件社区中插曲式志愿服务的定性调查

自由/自由和开源软件 (FLOSS) 社区部分由志愿者组成，其中许多人很少做出贡献。然而，这些不常见的志愿者为 FLOSS 项目的可持续性做出了贡献，理想情况下应该鼓励他们继续参与，即使他们不能被说服定期做出贡献。不频繁的贡献是其他志愿服务部门广泛观察到的趋势的一部分，在那里它被称为“插曲式志愿服务”（EV）。之前的 FLOSS 研究集中在 Onion 模型上，区分核心和外围开发人员，后者被视为同质组。我们认为这太简单了，考虑到外围群体的规模以及他们在编码之外执行的无数有价值的活动。我们对 13 个 FLOSS 社区的探索性定性调查调查了在 FLOSS 环境中的插曲式志愿服务是什么样的。EV 在 FLOSS 社区中很普​​遍，尽管没有专门管理。我们根据从志愿服务文献中提取的框架提出了一些管理 EV 的建议。此外，插曲志愿者除了代码之外，还做出了广泛的增值贡献，不应期望也不应强迫他们成为习惯性志愿者。