Anki's Growing Up

[CravingCrates]

@sukitha

Yes exactly, was wondering the same thing about AnkiCollab.

@sorata

Now it would be the start of enshittification if AnkiCollab and other competitors are prevented from being integrated into Anki and AnkiHub is shoved down our throat

You all need to take a deep breath and at least wait until there is something concrete to be upset about. This is a major shift, yes, but it is not the doom scenario some of you are making it out to be right now.

Abdo has been on the AnkiHub payroll for as long as I can remember and is still one of the very few people with merge rights in the main Anki repo. That did not suddenly compromise Anki. David has been a strong open-source defender for years and now gets to work on Anki full time. That is a win for the community, too.

From what I understand, the AnkiDroid maintainer team is largely on board with this as well.

Please do not drag AnkiCollab into this. So far they have not attacked me in any way. Quite the opposite, actually. They have supported the project since the beginning.

So yes, have some faith. Hold your fire until there is an actual reason to be upset

[abdo]

Feel free to continue the discussion on GitHub. Maybe Anki can instead do better for add-ons in the near future with clearly defined APIs and documentation: JS API for add-ons · Issue #4529 · ankitects/anki · GitHub

[whatchu]

Theoretically hard forks are a safeguard against complete destruction. And they are

In practice, unless is because upstream is dead, it can go many paths. They tend to be drama filled even in the best case scenario. The worst case scenario can really hurt the project. Ive gone over a few. And its usually ugly. Specially when a company is involved. On top of that, is usually a lot of work. Nobody wants to go that road

Everybody agrees on people being properly compensated for their work. Its different when a company is simply another big contributor, but a company driving changes is usually ugly for the community and that is the strong reactions of some people you are seeing. They anticipate it because we have seen it many times by now. It also creates imbalances into contributors. It will disengage people not being employed by anking

Thanks to the direction the project had so far, I truly believe no ill intentions are in the table right now and that truly bad actors have been kept away. I dont doubt anking has the best interest of anki in mind

But once a company takes over, the temptation for things go south is too high

This case in particular everything looks right. On top of that @dae gives his thumb of approval that is all i need to know about the people taking over

Im optimistic short term. It removes the current bottle neck. But still this smells like drama and forks down the road

[harrylang100]

@ArthurMilchior

I’ve seen over the years the number of complaints about iOS being sold instead of free.

With respect, I think the complaint is the high price, not that it is sold. £25 is a lot more than average for an iPad app.

[dyzur]

Why does AnkiMobile cost more than a typical mobile app? - Anki FAQs

[dae]

There’s a fair bit of misinformation and fear-mongering here and on Reddit at the moment. To clarify a few points:

There are zero planned changes to the revenue model:

• The computer version of Anki, and future releases of it, will remain free and open source.

• Syncing will continue to be free, supported by sales of the iOS app.

• AnkiMobile will continue to be a $25US one-time purchase.

Some posts have attempted to paint AnkiHub as a faceless corporation only interested in money. That’s quite the mischaracterisation I’ve had a fair number of dealings with Nick and Andrew, and while we may not see eye to eye on every little thing, I think we and their team are aligned on open source, open access, and treating users fairly. As part of the planning for this transition, I’ve also seen AnkiHub’s financials. They are healthy, and invest heavily back into the business.

I feel the need to stress that I was the one that reached out to them about this transition, not the opposite. I’ve struggled with the pressure of being project lead for some time, but felt trapped as I didn’t want to leave things in the hands of people I don’t trust. AnkiHub are the first people to come along where I have a reasonable degree of confidence in their ability to execute, and preserve the ethics I’ve run it by until now. Had Nick and Andrew not agreed to step up and take on this responsibility, I suspect I would have ended up burning out completely, leaving Anki in an even worse state.

To those of you saying “we trust dae but don’t trust AnkiHub”, that’s fair - trust needs to be earnt. But if you trust me, please also trust that I put a great deal of thought into this, and believe it’s the best available option for Anki moving forward. Please see how things go over the following months - I suspect you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

[guillempalausalva]

@dae

I feel the need to stress that I was the one that reached out to them about this transition, not the opposite

I think this is a key aspect to take into account. I got the opposite direction from your original post. I may assume I am not the only one. This part in particular:

@dae

Some months ago, the AnkiHub folks reached out to me, wanting to discuss working more closely together in the future

[Anon_0000]

@guillempalausalva

AnkiHub wanted to work together, dae asked if they’d be willing to take over anki. See the next paragraph dae wrote:

@dae

During the course of those talks, I came to the realisation that AnkiHub is better positioned to take Anki to the next level than I am. I ended up suggesting to them that we look into gradually transitioning business operations and open source stewardship over, with provisions in place to ensure that Anki remains open source and true to the principles I’ve run it by all these years.

[guillempalausalva]

I know, I have read the message several times actually. What I meant is that, based on repeated experience, most redditors won’t read the entire article, and the phrasing of that sentence can be missinterpreted; so unless you keep reading people will get it wrong, as I did initially.

[talusito]

Even after explaining everything in detail, you still take the effort to make the situation clear. Take your well-deserved break and let the doomsayers tire themselves out. Let actions speak louder than words.

[guillempalausalva]

What about a some sort of podcast episode in youtube (still voice only is fine) to mention all of this transition? Some sort of official statment from both sides. If both parties are present I think that would be much efficient into communicating transparency, trust and avoid further fear-mongering than just the written medium. What do you think?

After all that tremendous work at the expense of your well-being, the last thing needed would be getting harsh comments. I’d be furious in that position. I know you were well aware of the community reaction, just saddened to see it unfold. I did my video as an personal attempth to mitigate this, but my influence is minuscule.

Best whishes

[L.M.Sherlock]

When will the transition become stable? I wonder when the pending PRs will get reviewed

[sorata]

@CravingCrates

You all need to take a deep breath and at least wait until there is something concrete to be upset about.

I was retorting with a hypothetical to someone who thinks AnkiHub is already enshittifying things, clearly by contradicting them, not by affirming them. I obviously was doing the opposite of maligning AnkiHub.

I wasn’t even speculating what is likely to happen if you read me closely. It was more like “It is only going to be bad if XYZ happen, no need to worry now.”

[SirianSTO]

Please for the love of all things holy, implement the ability of putting a hyperlink in the body of a card that takes you to another card.

EVERY modern SRS has this.

[sorata]

Add-on that does this. I don’t think this will be added as out-of-the-box feature anytime soon.

[md5hash]

I’ve been with Anki for most of those 19 years, Dae. (Remember that weirdo in Japan around 2010 who asked for your 振り込み info to send a donation?) It’s no exaggeration to say that Anki has had a substantial impact on my life and I can’ thank you enough for your years of tireless effort. Congratulations on your decision. Wishing you all the best in this next chapter.

[NameLessGO]

Post explained by memes

@dae

Anki’s 19th birthday was about 4 months ago. It would have been a good time to pause and reflect on what Anki has become, and how it will grow in the future. But I ended up letting the moment come and go, as I didn’t feel like I had the free time. It’s a feeling that’s been regrettably common of late, and I’ve come to realise that something has to change.

@dae

This is a step back for me rather than a goodbye - I will still be involved with the project, albeit at a more sustainable level. I’ve spent 19 years looking after my “baby”, and I want to see it do well as it grows up.

@dae

Some months ago, the AnkiHub folks reached out to me, wanting to discuss working more closely together in the future. Like others in the community, they were keen to see Anki’s development pace improve. We’ve had a symbiotic relationship for years, with their content creation and collaboration platform driving more users to Anki. They’ve managed to scale up much faster than I did, and have built out an impressive team.

@dae

During the course of those talks, I came to the realisation that AnkiHub is better positioned to take Anki to the next level than I am. I ended up suggesting to them that we look into gradually transitioning business operations and open source stewardship over, with provisions in place to ensure that Anki remains open source and true to the principles I’ve run it by all these years.

@dae

There’s a fair bit of misinformation and fear-mongering here and on Reddit at the moment. To clarify a few points:

@dae

Some posts have attempted to paint AnkiHub as a faceless corporation only interested in money. That’s quite the mischaracterisation I’ve had a fair number of dealings with Nick and Andrew, and while we may not see eye to eye on every little thing, I think we and their team are aligned on open source, open access, and treating users fairly. As part of the planning for this transition, I’ve also seen AnkiHub’s financials. They are healthy, and invest heavily back into the business.

@dae

I feel the need to stress that I was the one that reached out to them about this transition, not the opposite. I’ve struggled with the pressure of being project lead for some time, but felt trapped as I didn’t want to leave things in the hands of people I don’t trust. AnkiHub are the first people to come along where I have a reasonable degree of confidence in their ability to execute, and preserve the ethics I’ve run it by until now. Had Nick and Andrew not agreed to step up and take on this responsibility, I suspect I would have ended up burning out completely, leaving Anki in an even worse state.

@dae

To those of you saying “we trust dae but don’t trust AnkiHub”, that’s fair - trust needs to be earnt. But if you trust me, please also trust that I put a great deal of thought into this, and believe it’s the best available option for Anki moving forward. Please see how things go over the following months - I suspect you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Thanks Dae, contributors, AnkiDroid, and Ankihub team for the continuous effort towards the development of Anki!

Anki-tan emojis by Shigeyuki

[hssm]

Don’t have much to add that hasn’t already been said. Just wanted to personally say thank you for your work over the years. I’m hardly involved these days but I’ve been a diligent end-user for 16 of those years with no intention of giving it up anytime soon. I trust your judgement on the handover, and I’m cautiously optimistic about the future. I hope the new custodians can carry on the spirit of the project to the same standard you have done all those years.

[SirianSTO]

Is that the add-on where you faff about with note ids? No, thanks.

[MIZMU]

---

A few words from me as a long-time Anki power user for about five years, and as a community manager for roughly ten thousand Anki users.

@dae
I’m very excited to finally have the opportunity to say thank you — both on my own behalf and on behalf of all the people I represent (most of whom do not have access to the internet). I believe that if there were a gathering of all Anki users, you would meet an enormous variety of people: with different, even opposing opinions, different ways of thinking, different aspirations, professions, and ages. But they would all share one thing in common — every single one of them would feel deeply grateful to you.

The saying on Anki’s website, “Make memory a choice, not a talent,” is so true. You have made new abilities accessible to people — abilities that, without you, would have seemed almost supernatural to them.

Over the years I’ve been active in the community spreading Anki, and out of the hundreds of people I’ve spoken with face to face about it, there wasn’t a single one who said they don’t use Anki because it isn’t effective. The main concerns were always about commitment and tight schedules that make daily use difficult.

In my opinion, despite your modesty, you are one of the people who have had the greatest impact on humanity in recent years. The ripple effects of the benefits this software brings reach far and wide, across virtually every field.
If there is any award for contribution to humanity, you are certainly more than deserving of it.

I’m grateful that I had the privilege of contributing to Anki through translations and a few other development-related efforts, even if I didn’t always have the opportunity to submit proper pull requests — and therefore may have taken up some of your precious time.

Regarding AnkiHub — a few years ago I went through a short period where I developed several paid features for it, and from my experience, it was handled very fairly. In some cases, even more fairly than I would have been with myself. Overall, it seems to me that Anki is heading in a better place — a much better one. I feel comfortable saying this both because it was several years ago and I no longer have any financial connection, and because I recognize the fear that often comes with the unknown. At least from my perspective, my experience has been a positive one.

Nick — congratulations on your new role. I’m confident you’ll continue leading Anki as it has been led until now — and even beyond.

And to ease the concerns of those worried about the future, I decided to bring at least a bit of joy to the present: I’ve opened up the improvements I made to the “beautify-anki” add-on to free Patreon subscribers as well.

You can sign up and download it here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/beautify-anki-2-93302743