Yeah, “dictator” was probably the wrong word. The characteristic of an actual dictator (even a benevolent one) is that they can enforce their will through violence if needed (benevolent ones usually don’t, but they could).
As quote goes, “I thought we were an autonomous collective.” Humans have some sort of tribal or pack instinct; if we want to do a project, we’ll often naturally form up around the person who’s doing it, willingly and without compulsion. The leader is the leader because everyone agrees they are doing good enough.
Open source project is sort of an ideal form of this. Unlike physical projects, the ability to fork for free means that the leader doesn’t even have the implicit moat that a potential alternative leader needs to take the current work-in-progress away from them.
As quote goes, “I thought we were an autonomous collective.” Humans have some sort of tribal or pack instinct; if we want to do a project, we’ll often naturally form up around the person who’s doing it, willingly and without compulsion. The leader is the leader because everyone agrees they are doing good enough.
Open source project is sort of an ideal form of this. Unlike physical projects, the ability to fork for free means that the leader doesn’t even have the implicit moat that a potential alternative leader needs to take the current work-in-progress away from them.
BDFL is just a joke title.