delius

The stage was dark, except for a sole spotlight bouncing of a bar stool on the stage. A frail girl, holding a battered guitar, a self-knit sweater over her long dress, sits down, adjusts her microphone and clears her throat. She starts to play, quietly at first, taking comfort from the crowd settling down to listen. Her voice isn't clear and bright, but rather coarse and smokey, as she starts to sing the first lines of the song that would become her signature :

Look what they've done to my song, Ma
Look what they've done to my song
Well it's the only thing I could do half right
And it's turning out all wrong, Ma
Look what they've done to my song

Following the recent tweets on #joomla, I'm reminded of Melanie's melodious complaint. At #jab11 (and previous community gatherings), I have heard people express concerns over what they're doing to their song. We've all expressed such feelings. Has it helped ?

Communities are great. When people get together with a common purpose, magic happens. People rise above their own expectations, work together, teach and learn from each other. Cultures don't clash, languages don't matter, distances are virtual. If you've never experienced anything like that, that's unfortunate - come to J and Beyond next year, meet the Joomla community and see the light.

That said, communities aren't perfect. For instance, they cannot be regulated easily - superdemocracy, or lack of followership, makes pushing a community in one direction as easy as pushing spaghetti out of a plate with one finger. Communities move when a majority of members drift in one or other direction, and others are OK with it. Some movements catch on, some die. Survival of the fittest. And communities thrive on 'free agents' that set new directions, take the first step and lead the way -- and so, the Joomla community has many leaders. We all know who they are, even though we don't always follow them.They influence us, show great stuff, write marvelous code, inspire us.

Good communities are temporal meritocracies - you lead for a while, as long as people follow you. If people follow someone else, that doesn't mean you are wrong - perhaps someone else is more right for them. Being 'in charge' is an illusion : if you want someone to follow you, get a dog and a leash, not a community. Leadership is just a symptom of people following your direction : which means you have to have one.