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The challenge for society going forward is to recognize this and to not reflexively try to remove all authority and hierarchy. OSS does well with the BDFL mode

The challenge for society going forward is to recognize this and to not reflexively try to remove all authority and hierarchy. OSS does well with the BDFL model ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictator_for_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictator_for_life ). The people who practice it best use their authority to set tone and agenda and then step back to let people own their participation. They step back in only when they have to. In universities today the idea of a "safe space" is in vogue. We might recognize that safe spaces require some sort of protection. It can come from campus police, in online communities it can come from people who are charged with that role, and in companies it can come from managers and executives. Not all overt power is abused.

dalke 10y ago
There are two aspects to the BDFL model: 1) a BD, 2) FL. There are several OSS projects with a BD, but who is not FL. For example, I co-founded the Biopython project, which has rotated through several leaders. Jo Freeman encourages several principles, one of which is: > Rotation of tasks among individuals. Responsibilities which are held too long by one person, formally or informally, come to be seen as that person's "property" and are not easily relinquished or controlled by the group. Conversely, if tasks are rotated too frequently the individual does not have time to learn her job well and acquire the sense of satisfaction of doing a good job. This is an argument against a BDFL. Note that even in Python development, van Rossum does not always have the final say. Mark Shannon was the "BDFL-Delegate" for the type hints PEP 484. The main point of the essay is not that overt power is inherently abuse, but rather describes methods to limit abuse of both overt and implicit power. Emphasis mine in the following: > If the movement is to grow beyond these elementary stages of development, it will have to disabuse itself of some of its prejudices about organization and structure. There is nothing inherently bad about either of these. They can be and often are misused, but to reject them out of hand because they are misused is to deny ourselves the necessary tools to further development.
- golemotron 10y ago
  The point is that we can decide not to fix what isn't broken. Rotation of leadership is a great solution if you have a problem that calls for it. If you don't, then it's not worth it.
zby 10y ago
BDFL is actually very primitive model - it is really very much alike some ancient kingdom system - it only works because it is counterbalanced by forking.
- golemotron 10y ago
  Why the implicit dis against primitive things? They work.
x5n1 10y ago
Society going forward is not going to need producers. Most of the jobs are going the way of the dodo along with the concept of management, etc. Going forward, we need better political structures that don't need to feed egos of sociopaths. Corporations by their very nature are tyrannical dictatorships. Human society should be more about humanism and less about sociopaths and production and consumption.
- eru 10y ago
  > Corporations by their very nature are tyrannical dictatorships. How so? A boss can only ask for so much before people leave. (And yes, bad management of the economy can make it hard to find a new job. That's a wider political problem.)

dalke 10y ago

There are two aspects to the BDFL model: 1) a BD, 2) FL. There are several OSS projects with a BD, but who is not FL. For example, I co-founded the Biopython project, which has rotated through several leaders. Jo Freeman encourages several principles, one of which is: > Rotation of tasks among individuals. Responsibilities which are held too long by one person, formally or informally, come to be seen as that person's "property" and are not easily relinquished or controlled by the group. Conversely, if tasks are rotated too frequently the individual does not have time to learn her job well and acquire the sense of satisfaction of doing a good job. This is an argument against a BDFL. Note that even in Python development, van Rossum does not always have the final say. Mark Shannon was the "BDFL-Delegate" for the type hints PEP 484. The main point of the essay is not that overt power is inherently abuse, but rather describes methods to limit abuse of both overt and implicit power. Emphasis mine in the following: > If the movement is to grow beyond these elementary stages of development, it will have to disabuse itself of some of its prejudices about organization and structure. There is nothing inherently bad about either of these. They can be and often are misused, but to reject them out of hand because they are misused is to deny ourselves the necessary tools to further development.

golemotron 10y ago
The point is that we can decide not to fix what isn't broken. Rotation of leadership is a great solution if you have a problem that calls for it. If you don't, then it's not worth it.

zby 10y ago

BDFL is actually very primitive model - it is really very much alike some ancient kingdom system - it only works because it is counterbalanced by forking.

golemotron 10y ago
Why the implicit dis against primitive things? They work.

x5n1 10y ago

Society going forward is not going to need producers. Most of the jobs are going the way of the dodo along with the concept of management, etc. Going forward, we need better political structures that don't need to feed egos of sociopaths. Corporations by their very nature are tyrannical dictatorships. Human society should be more about humanism and less about sociopaths and production and consumption.

eru 10y ago
> Corporations by their very nature are tyrannical dictatorships. How so? A boss can only ask for so much before people leave. (And yes, bad management of the economy can make it hard to find a new job. That's a wider political problem.)