Why do the lead engineers on Mastodon seem to lead so much design work without the typical rigor you'd expect for software used by millions of people. What is it about open source in general that design process seems to be under valued by those with po...

Nick

Why do the lead engineers on Mastodon seem to lead so much design work without the typical rigor you'd expect for software used by millions of people. What is it about open source in general that design process seems to be under valued by those with power?

Irenes (many)

@nickcolley we should clarify that we've never gotten directly involved with Mastodon development, so this is just on our general knowledge as somebody who's been in free-software and open-source communities for around thirty years

there is a very common pattern where somebody starts a project essentially as a way to be at the center of something that people care about (rather than, for example, as a public service for the sake of service)

Irenes (many)

@nickcolley people who do this tend to buy into individualist and elitist rhetoric that flatters them, and their own role, which is necessarily coding because nearly all non-corporate software projects start with a single person and you can't do it without a coder

Irenes (many)

@nickcolley every successful technology is also a community, and as projects started with this goal of personal fame grow, those individualist and elitist ideas become embedded in the structure of the community

Irenes (many)

@nickcolley it is then essentially impossible to change later, no matter how persuasive a case one might make

Irenes (many)

@nickcolley fortunately, the situation is not hopeless! when other avenues of change are closed to a community, communities change by splintering. this is an age-old pattern, and it's natural and often good.

the main thing we see missing these days is a clear positive vision of how software development culture COULD work better

Irenes (many)

@nickcolley (codes of conduct are important, but they are negative rather than positive, in that their role is to forbid things)

Irenes (many)

@nickcolley anyway, we hope that helps. if it wasn't rhetorical. thanks for the chance to blather about it, either way