Thanks,
this gives some information about how to become more involved. However, the
process is quite informal.
There are some more pages, but most of them from 2012 (like the one about
finances)
https://trisquel.info/en/forum/open-distribution-closed-development#comment-28053
https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/proposed-policies-procedures-solutions
On these pages, there are many issues raised which are close to mine:
suggestions of building a board, etc.
It becomes clear that there are, on the one hand, a small number of
developers, heavily burdened with dozens of issues and bugs.
On the other hand, the are Trisquel users which may reduce their contribution
or leave the project at any time. This makes it risky and difficult to
involve them.
I understand these problems, but they will only be solved if there is some
kind of comprehensible structure.
Responsibility in the community is increased when observers can see who you
are and what you do. In that case, leaving the project or not fulfilling your
task would damage your reputation. Staying committed, in turn, would increase
your renown.
The ability to attract funding, especially regular payments via membership,
depends on knowledge about how the money is used. It's essential. People want
to know where their money goes - or they will support something different. I
guess this is the reason why most people donate less than 20 bucks.
Many of the possible solutions don't require invention - there are a lot of
examples.
Perhaps it might be an idea to build a group that works on suggestions of how
to solve these issues, and present them to the project leader. This would be
a way of showing commitment first, and receiving a reward for it.
Besides, the term "benevolent dictator" so often used in these discussions is
nonsense. No maintainer of these software projects is able to force someone
else to do anything. Maintainers only keep a minimum of personal rights on
projects they shared with others by retaining the final decision on
implementation of others' contributions. It's like inviting someone into your
home, and keeping the decision to offer him or her another beer. Maintainers
of software projects are more like welfare workers, who gave their work as a
present to society. We shouldn't call them dictators.
