I like this article.. we should archive it and put it on the site
hahaha
At least the picture is clearer to me now... Raymond, u make a bad
teacher.. hahaa..... (joking hor???)
Elvin
-
On Sun, 6 Jun 1999, Rhandeev Singh wrote:
> > > ps : we may not be ready for a leaderless group (I notice that you are
> > > always harping on this), but knowing that creating a leader will break
> > > the group, I would rather venture into uncharted waters.
> > I'm willing to give it a try :)
>
> We should uphold our freedom, since this is a primary value of the
> technical people we need [1]. Besides, we mustn't forget our roots :)
>
> No, that doesn't mean that we don't take responsibility for anything; to
> the contrary, it means that each one of us takes responsibility for just
> those things that we are best at, and no one can fault us for failure
>
> Unless someone does it better himself; in which case, we have inspired
> another to take up the leadership role.
>
> It also means that everyone has the freedom to lead in the contexts that
> he is most capable in, and everyone is at liberty to follow the direction
> of whichever leader in whichever context he sees fit.
>
> But most of all, it means that everyone has the freedom to help everyone
> else, because no work is the "official responsibility" of any one person.
> (i.e. where one falls, another is free to pick him up.)
>
> To elect an "official" leader for anything is a mistake; leaders must
> remain "unofficial", spontaneously finding themselves in positions of
> leadership simply because they care most about something.
>
> Rules should be set to a minimum; instead, we allow the "core rules" of
> society to be upheld by society itself. In any virtual community, this is
> the model that has been most historically successful on a large scale [2].
>
> The reason we haven't taken off yet is not so much because we are
> disorganised, but because we are small and the local Linux community
> is fragmented [2,4]. (Sidenote: I am thinkink that there is somethink
> wrong wit Sinkapore -- so few volunteers?)
>
> Because about 19% of the on-line community contributes actively while the
> remaining 81% are passive listeners (at any one time, that is), we need a
> large group to set up a self-sustaining system [1].
>
> It is for this reason that our first priority should be to get big. This
> means using the tools of the open source revolution [4,5,6] to establish
> communications links -- mailing lists, project home pages, news, etc.
>
> In tandem with this, we should provide virtual homes so people can
> exchange ideas and set up a proper community of Linux hackers [6]. i.e,
> a system of concept home pages as well as project home pages, each with
> their own discussion forums or mailing lists so people can discuss.
>
> Another reason I can currently think of is, as Elvin correctly pointed
> out, we have no server of our own (specific).
>
> This is a specific instance of the more general problem: we need free
> access to working, connected hardware, so that we can let the Hands-On
> Imperative drive each of us to do the work of several people [3].
>
> It is this point that Raymond (mis)stated when he wrote "throughout
> history... achievement... one person alone... ". (Of course I understood
> you; I was just pulling your leg ;P).
>
> All the above brings us to one short, simple conclusion:
>
> (1) Secure a server. This is top priority. Beg/borrow/hack :P
> (2) Increase accessibility. This is next in priority.
> (i.e. set up basic infrastructure like mailing list archives,
> etc).
> (3) Assume the role of the 19% to bootstrap the development
> process. (We have to start it ourselves in order to attract
> more people like us.)
>
> Lon Voon, is the CVS server ready? All you gotta do is rpm -i the ssh
> server and dump the respective keys into the respective directories; I'll
> do the rest.
>
> Just my 3 cents,
> Rhan.
>
> References:
>
> [1] "The How-to-be-a-Hacker-HOWTO"
> Eric S Raymond
> [http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html]
>
> [2] "The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier"
> Howard Rheingold, Addison-Wesley 1993
>
> [3] "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution"
> Steven Levy, Anchor Press/Doubleday 1984
>
> [4] "OpenSources: Voices of the Open Source Revolution"
> Bruce Perens & Eric S Raymond Ed., O'Reilly 1999
> [http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/toc.html]
>
> [5] "The Cathedral and the Bazaar"
> Eric S Raymond
> [http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/index.html]
>
> [6] "Homesteading the Noosphere"
> Eric S Raymond
> [http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/homesteading/index.html]
>
