Online Communities Are Still Catching Up to My Mother's Garden Club

URL

https://hackernoon.com/online-communities-aint-got-nothing-on-my-mothers-garden-club-because-of-implicit-feudalism-gc2z34y4

Author

Nathan Schneider

Publisher

Hacker Noon

The Internet has been plagued by a phenomenon I call “implicit feudalism”: a bias, both cultural and technical, for generating absolutist fiefdoms. Think about it: When was the last time you participated in an election for a Facebook Group, or sat on a jury for a GitHub project? Implicit feudalism is how platforms nudge users to practice (and tolerate) nearly all-powerful admins, moderators, and “benevolent dictators for life.”

– Online Communities Are Still Catching Up to My Mother's Garden Club

Software project governance should be participatory.