On 7/3/2014 8:33 PM, James Salsman wrote:
a volunteer who has
single-handedly saved volunteer-centuries of time and then taken a
principled, non-zero sum stand to offer agreement to the FOSS release
requirement on Wikimedia Labs in return for the resources necessary to
build new systems.
If that's an accurate characterization of his position, it sounds like
he doesn't actually want to be a volunteer, he wants to be compensated.
While I know nothing of his qualifications, there are certainly openings
that might be considered if that's the case. But there are also
tradeoffs involved in that, notably that one's work becomes subject to
the direction of others, instead of just doing whatever one wants.
Without the ability to experiment in an unfettered
manner, "Labs" should be renamed "Unpaid Intern Server Farm."
Allowing unfettered experimentation is highly irresponsible, as
highlighted by the recent furor over Facebook's practices. There should
always be some minimum level of oversight; after all, much of the
premise behind our massively collaborative projects is that your work is
subject to review at any time. The posture that's apparently being taken
is also not especially conducive to fostering trust, which is needed if
the prospect of closer supervision is objectionable for some reason.
--Michael Snow
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