[ad404b8a372f2b9]

I have been saying this for years.

The contribution graph of most projects looks like a power law, this is a failure of open source. We need to lower the barrier to entry to flatten the contribution graph and to enable mass collaboration. And that goes through a focused effort on what they call open knowledge.

And I think that implies giving up on some agile principles for most open source projects. You cannot rely on people over documentation, for example, when the potential contributor pool has 1000s of developers and the knowledge is held by one guy in Wyoming who does it part time after work.

[AlexandrB]

Frankly, I don't think flattening the contribution graph is possible unless you put a cap on how much people can contribute.

Most online communities of any kind follow a power law with a small number of heavy contributors and many more occasional contributors and "lurkers". This isn't a consequence of barriers to contributing but of human nature.