Why can only apache committers ask for a lab?
Apache Labs wants to be a place were it’s easy and natural for people to work on new things and collaborate, without fearing that somebody is trying to ‘abuse’ the apache brand and boost their web visibility by just placing their stuff overhere. Since it’s really hard to create a ‘trust’ filter, Apache Labs is simply reusing the collective social filtering that project do in their normal activity by granting commit access. This drastically simplifies the labs operations and reduces social friction: you have to earn your social respect somewhere else in the foundation before you can ask for a lab. We are aware that this might potentially reduce our ability to innovate, but we are willing to pay this price for a simpler day-to-day operation.
