

A Community of Rockstars: comparing Rails and Apache communities. - jaaron
http://cubiclemuses.com/cm/articles/2009/04/28/a-community-of-rockstars/

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JeremyChase
I am not a fan of the superstar mentality either, but this story just seems
like a bash-fest. Rails core does this, and rails core does that. It doesn't
offer anything to really change the direction, or even food for thought.

If Merb taught us anything, it is showed us that dedicated people can change
the direction of this community. I worry less about the core team getting hit
by a bus, and more about stability of the framework and for large systems
built upon it.

I think if we focused on those issues we may care less about what is happening
at the top, for example extending maintenance cycles, stabilizing important
plugins, and giving older releases as much face time as the bleeding edge. The
edge is critical to expansion of the technology, but the platform will be
taken more seriously if it behaves like someone who has a financial stake in
its products.

jer

~~~
jaaron
I'm trying to point out that the real issue here isn't sexism, but excessive
individualism. This goes beyond the simple philosophy of working on what
interests you to an actual disdain to working with or for others. Rails core
doesn't care that you need maintenance cycles, stabilizing important plugins,
or giving older releases face time.

That mentality will indeed impact these technical points, which is exactly why
projects like the ASF repeat ad nauseam the mantras of consensus, respect and
community before code.

~~~
zby
Another name to this excessive individualism is: 'narcisism'. There are people
who defend that way of community organizing:
<http://perlmonks.org/?node_id=669062> (this is an example from the Perl
community - but I hope it will not be taken against Perl - as a part of that
community I just know more about it's dark corners - also note how many people
in that thread disagreed).

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planck
The "rockstar coder" nonsense needs to stop. If someone does excellent work,
then say that. If they're an ass, then say that. If they're an arrogant ass
who does excellent work, then say that - don't call them a "rockstar," thereby
glamorizing their condescension just because they're good at their job.

