In many open source communities, there are “benevolent dictators for life.” Is that Larry Sangers role here?
No. We believe that a collaborative online community, to be healthy, must resemble a law-governed, constitutional republic–just like offline communities. So, when the charter is adopted, Larry will be fully beholden to whatever processes it defines. He might then lose his role as editor-in-chief. He’s willing to take that chance in order to set up a community that is healthy, vibrant, responsible, and self-managing. In fact, since the beginning of the project, Larry has been committed to stepping down from the leadership of the Citizendium in 2009 or 2010 at the latest, to set the healthy precedent of allowing others–members of the volunteer community–to take over his role according to a rule-governed, regular transfer of leadership.
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