On Meritocracy

Meritocracy has turned into something else in recent years. Too many projects accept or reject contributions based entirely off the identity of the individual, their relationship to their employer, and their status.

This creates many issues which distract from the goals of the F/OSS movement. Some of these issues are: elitism, exclusive cliques, bias, and partisanship. These issues stifle innovation, derail project goals and create a hostile collaborative environment.

Meritocracy while well intended and a step in the right direction is not enough to achieve the philosophical goals of Dark Horse Linux.

An Egalitocracy

DHLP accepts contributions from almost anyone, however, the inclusion of contributions is a decision based entirely on the contribution's merit, purpose, and utility.

Contributors and decision-makers on DHLP projects are expected to operate within this imperative.

A Utilitarian, egalitocratic paradigm in the context of a Linux distribution places emphasis on selecting contributions based solely on their utility, merit, and purpose.

This approach diverges from traditional meritocratic systems, which, although valuing the merit and effectiveness of contributions, still acknowledges the contributor's identity as a secondary factor of the inclusion decision. Our goal in this approach is to eliminate personal bias against all contributors as we believe personal bias can stifle innovation within the project and create a hostile collaborative environment. By solely focusing on the utility and merit of contributions, the utilitarian philosophy aims to create a healthy collaborative environment for the project, ultimately promoting a more equitable and inclusive software ecosystem. This paradigm shift within the open source community fosters the development of a robust, efficient, and fair Linux distribution that maximizes the overall benefit for all, transcending the limitations of conventional merit-based systems.

Inclusion

DHLP strives to maximize inclusion within the project. We want everyone to be treated equally during the contribution process regardless of identity.

Exceptions

The primary exceptions to this philosophy are those who abuse its intent. This is an exception provided by its utility in order to stay true to the project goals.