cutting off their nose

Posted Oct 29, 2025 12:18 UTC (Wed) by anselm (subscriber, #2796)
In reply to: cutting off their nose by AntiISO
Parent article: Python Software Foundation withdraws security-related grant proposal

the core one being that merit is apparently immeasurable

I don't think there's an absolute “merit” scale where if you score highly everybody will be falling over themselves to roll out the red carpet for you. You can presumably be a priceless asset to project A based on your outstanding technical capabilities, vast experience, pleasant personality, and burning zeal to contribute to project A, and still be nobody in particular to project B based on exactly the same traits (possibly just because you're a crackshot Rust programmer but project B happens to be based on Java). Or your combination of traits may be just what project C is looking for while project D already has loads of other people who do what you're doing, and (while they'd be generally happy to have you chip in) would really welcome a different type of volunteer who could fill a real gap. So even if “merit” is in fact “measurable”, the same yardsticks don't seem to apply everywhere.

Props to the Python Software Foundation for standing up to its principles. Money is nice but it is more important to be welcoming and to encourage and enable people who want to contribute, regardless of their background.