Queen Shrugged

It’s easy to be a queen. Why? Because you can always count on your true selfless friends. I learned this already as a young princess. Nothing brightens a ball quite like a comment from one of your most trusted girlfriends:

• “Oh I love how you applied foundation — it’s not particularly aging, and it almost covers your zests.”
•  “You are SO brave to wear this dress — I would have worried it makes me look… well… a bit much.”

It’s beautiful. It’s pure. It’s a sign of true friendship and it has nothing to do with the fact that this girlfriend is interested in the same prince  who has spent the whole evening dancing with you…

When I grew up and acquired a kingdom of my own, I discovered — with some surprise and even more delight — that I am surrounded by an entire court of such selfless friends.

People who have no stake whatsoever in my success or failure.
People who care so deeply that they generously dedicate their time to explain what I am doing wrong.
People who construct intricate theories about my motives — always fascinating, rarely correct.

So this post is not for them.

This is for my selfish friends.

The greedy ones. The calculating ones. The ones who dare to act in their own interest.

The ones who contribute code because it scratches their itch, or because it saves their costs  — and in doing so, move the entire system forward.

The ones who submit bug reports not out of charity, but because they expect things to be fixed — and trust that by sharing, they will get something better back.

The ones who engage, challenge, build, extend — not because they are “supportive”,  but because they have skin in the game.

And yes — the ones who support the Foundation financially.

Not out of pure altruism. Not because they woke up one morning overcome with generosity.

But because:

Their own products and projects depend on MariaDB Server — and they want it to be better.

They want visibility in an ecosystem that matters.
They want their technology positioned in real architectures, not abstract slides.
They want to be part of something that is actually used, not just discussed.
They want to be seen as builders, not commentators.
They want access — to conversations, to direction, to momentum.

In short, they want a return.

How refreshingly honest.

Because here is the quiet truth of kingdoms, markets, and open source alike:

Nothing meaningful is built on pure selflessness.

It is built on aligned interests.

On people who gain from making something better — and therefore actually do the work.

So to my selfish friends:

Thank you for your contributions.
Thank you for your expectations.
Thank you for your impatience when things don’t work.
Thank you for demanding that this ecosystem be worth your time.

You are not here out of kindness.

You are here because it makes sense.

And that, more than anything, is why I trust you.