This is the ultimate in free and ultimate in open. Because it means anyone, ANYONE, who is willing to help out can move through the hierarchy of decision making. You can do almost anything b/c you do the work and people trust and rely on you.This really isn't "the ultimate" in free and open-- it's what it free and open were supposed to be all along. Anyone who has any delusions about FOSS being a democracy or coming about as a result of some democratic process is foolishly mistaken. Ever since day one of GNU and then Linus' famous posting, the process has never been democratic. If it were, then everyone under the sun would be afforded a voice and say in every decision.
This is what open source governance has always been. No one really speaks of it much b/c we like to think open == democratic. It doesn't. Open means unlimited social mobility. No glass ceilings.
The model of buying in by contributing something useful is the way it's been, and the only way it should ever be. That really is the only way to get a good signal to noise ratio. It's been a Meritocracy all along, and that's the way it should stay.
