How to Build an Open Source Community
I recently spoke about Open Designs and my disappointment that it was struggling to make much progress in becoming all that it promised to be when it was launched. I was probably less than kind to the current Admins which was unfair as mostly they do a good job.
To me the problem seems to be that we are collectively unable to make a decision and move the community forward. To that end, I feel that we need to come up with a way to decide on rules and settle disputes.
Once we can start to make decisions we should be able to reach a level that is easy to maintain. Maybe there needs to be some letting go!
At the present we do far too much squabbling in the forum about what we should do rather than getting to the point and doing it. Unfortunately, as in any forum, there are those disruptive spirits that are more interested in bitching about what others have said rather than making constructive comments. This is fairly normal in forums. Their opinions need to be taken in context of the greater issues and not allowed to stand in the way of common sense and progress.
Personally I think we need to start breaking the issues down and voting on them as a community. One member one vote. Until we find our way to make decisions, we won’t make progress!
What else can we do - do you have any sensible suggestions?
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 9:36 am and is filed under General, Opinion, Templates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I used to vitit open designs all the time; I even made a few post in the forums and I was really looking forward to see were the site and community would go. But it seems to have just stayed still and havn’t made much progress.
I remain hopefull that something new will come out of it.
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I’ve followed the OpenDesigns saga for awhile now, and have come to the conclusion that it simply isn’t going to survive in a meaningful way. There are too many strong personalities pulling in different directions… too many agendas on the table…. not enough leadership. It’s a shame, since it was started with the best of intentions.
May 28th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Following up on the OpenDesigns saga, it is truly sad to see that it is going down the commercial path of its predecessors OSWD and OWD.
Having said that, I want to commend you on your support of the spirit of open source. It is refreshing to see that there are still some who understand that it’s not all about the money.
You sir, have my respect.
May 28th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Thanks, Trin.
Hey, maybe we’ll start another Open Source community web site for template designers.
May 29th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Another one!?!? LOL
I don’t know if the “community driven” bit can work. While I think it’s a grand idea to have a template design site that embodies the spirit of Open Source, I personally think it would need to be run by a small group of people who share a common belief system… and while I know that your comment was tongue-in-cheek, it’s not a bad idea.
May 29th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Isn’t that what we do? When it breaks we make a new one. Lol.
I still think OD is in for some hard times yet. I’m not sure the current Admins are committed to the job (yet they seem reluctant to share responsibilities) and I’m not entirely sure this sponsored link thing won’t blow up on them yet. Then there’s going to be the money issues that I’m 100% sure are going to be a problem. All these sorts of things were being discussed 12 months ago and things haven’t be resolved yet.
I’ve been bringing this up in the forums and trying to discuss the future but it seems nobody wants to face these issues. Am I just moaning and wasting my time? I think we should face up to them and fix them…
I’m not sure the world needs another open design community but I have actually been thinking about it! Seriousley. You’ll read it here if it happens
OD was supposed to be run by 3 admins and 10 moderators but things seem to have gone awry as democracy (we used to vote on things) has been forgotten. I think part of the problem is that most of the people running the site have no experience or management skills. Even this sort of project needs management skills to control and nurture it along.