Re: Is bp dying a slow death?
I believe in BP. It’s not going to disappear until FaceBook does.
I remember a few years ago when I belonged to an online forum of table top gamers. Our groups were kept active by community leaders who were yearly actually elected by the community. I think this was helpful because:
1. Tunnel Ends: The leaders knew that they only had to commit a year at a time to the project and therefore weren’t “committing-their-time-and-resources-for-eternity”. Since there was a specific end-to-the-tunnel if they so chose they were more likely to finish strong.
2. Ego: Face it, people have egos and enjoy being flattered. Being elected to lead by a group says a lot. Most of us here on BP are guys, just like the table-top gaming group… and guys like being competitive.
3. Meritocracy: Hey, if you want to stay a leader, then do your job… or else get voted out.
4. Open: This could be my personal opinion, but doesn’t electing leaders just feel more “Open”?
Proposal: Hold a 2 week nomination period where BP.org users can nominate members to be 6-month “temporary core developers” (or TCD). Then hold elections for another 2 weeks to choose 5 or so TCDs. After the 6 month stint we would hold nominations again.
Pros: All the stuff that I mentioned above, plus I’m sure there’s other stuff that I can’t think of currently.
Cons: Would there be some degree of upheaval if developer leaders changed every 6 months? Some other downsides?
