Author: Michael Folkson 2023-05-08 09:36:27
Published on: 2023-05-08T09:36:27+00:00
In an email to David A. Harding, Michael Folkson expressed concern about the decision-making process for adding and blocking proposed new maintainers in the Bitcoin Core project. He wondered if decisions would be made without discussing them with long-term contributors, excluding them from important discussions and decision-making processes. He further believed that this approach would make it even more critical who becomes a maintainer. Michael had thought that any long-term contributor who showed good temperament and added value to the project could become a maintainer. However, the situation surrounding Vasil as a maintainer was a red flag for him, particularly as fanquake and Gloria refused to publicly discuss why Vasil was being blocked. Michael believes that future decisions could be contentious consensus changes with no justification or rationale. In response, David noted that most organizations are run by current members of a board or other governance group choosing who will become a new board member. The questions we need to ask are whether the current set of maintainers is capable of moving Bitcoin Core in the direction we want and what can be done if they are ill-suited or malicious. David also suggested that discussion about internal project decisions belongs in communication channels dedicated to that project.
Updated on: 2023-06-16T17:31:48.695035+00:00