On Thu Jan 15 2015 at 8:05:18 PM Rob Lanphier robla@wikimedia.org wrote:
So, where does that leave us? Do we need a BFDL? If so, who should pick? Should it be someone in the project? Should the WMF hire someone to lead this? If not, do we keep the committee? Do we just let this be consensus based?
The thing about a BDFL is they don't tend to be appointed or picked, they just naturally emerge from the developer community. In that respect, Brion and Tim are MW's BDFLs regardless of what committee they may or may not be a member of. We could hire someone to facilitate the process perhaps, but it would take a very long time for them to be in a position to really help arbitrate any disputes that may arise. And I would be hard pressed to call them a BDFL as they just haven't been around for over a decade.
I'm a huge fan of consensus. And even though we've invested the current committee with the power to decide, they've basically let the process run by consensus as it should be. So maybe we need less of a BDFL committee and more of a group who help facilitate RfCs? Such a group could be very fluid (people joining/leaving as they have interest and time) and would probably end up with more people from various areas of expertise.
-Chad