ZeroMQ

Care and Feeding

I wish a community could be 100% self-steering, and perhaps one day this will work, but today it’s not the case. We’re very close with ØMQ, but from my experience a community needs four types of care and feeding:

• First, simply because most people are too nice, we need some kind of symbolic leadership or owners who provide ultimate authority in case of conflict. Usually it’s the founders of the community. I’ve seen it work with self-elected groups of “elders,” but old men like to talk a lot. I’ve seen communities split over the question of who’s in charge,” and setting up legal entities with boards and such seems to make arguments over control worse, not better—maybe because there seems to be more to fight over. One of the real benefits of free software is that it’s always remixable, so instead of fighting over a pie, one simply forks the pie.

• Second, communities need living rules, and thus they need a lawyer able to formulate and write these down. Rules are critical. When done right, they remove friction. When done wrong, or neglected, we see real friction and arguments that can drive away the nice majority, leaving the argumentative core in charge of the burning house. One thing I’ve tried to do with the ØMQ and previous communities is create reusable rules, which perhaps means we don’t need lawyers as much.

• Thirdly, communities need some kind of financial backing. This is the jagged rock that breaks most ships. If you starve a community, it becomes more creative ...