[apparently my newsgroup message from May 27 didn't make it, so trying
to re-send over the email side of things]
Patrick Finch schrieb:
The first line of Mozilla’s governance[0] states, “Mozilla is an open
source project governed as a meritocracy.”
The use of the term “meritocracy” to describe communities that suffer
from a lack of diverse representation is increasingly seen as
problematic: it proceeds from an assumption of equality of opportunity.
There is now quite substantial evidence [1] as well as opinion [2] that
we should challenge this usage.
The word definitively got a bad reputation nowadays in circles we try to
attract to be able to increase diversity, so I agree it's a good idea to
remove it while keeping the essence of what we actually mean by it.
Also, back in the days when I started to become a contributor or was new
in the project, I remember having a hard time understanding what that
term actually meant - and I'm sure I was and am not alone with that.
"Mozilla is an open source project. Our community is structured as a
virtual organization. Authority is primarily distributed to both
volunteer and employed community members as they show their ability
through contributions to the project. The project also seeks to debias
this system of distributing authority through active interventions that
engage and encourage participation from diverse communities."
That sounds to me like a good way of putting it (though we can discuss
how much it currently reflects reality, I think it's a good target to
set for us there). It still clearly says what we mean, and emphasizes
that we actively strive for diversity, which nowadays can't be said
enough. I find it even much better to understand for someone like a
20-year-old me than the version with "meritocracy" in it which always
was a stumbling block for my understanding back then. ;-)
Thanks for looking into that and trying to improve those documents!
Cheers,
KaiRo
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