I have been using Julia for a number of years now. What I appreciate about this forum and what the Julia community has been doing is their passion. I think this passion is irreplaceable.
When I join a new community, whether as a volunteer or in some formal function, I always figure it takes 6 months to a year to figure out the dynamics of this community. To determine whether it is functional or dysfunctional would take a period of time as well, unless the dysfunction spills over into the public domain, which obviously is not the case here.
To critique an organization, from the outside without knowing how it works, to me is bad form. To suggest that it change its organizational structure when you don’t know what the organizational structure is, or how effective it is, is quite immature. Personally I would be reticent to invite someone like this to volunteer for the organization. This type of diversity can be really destructive.
Our culture seems to have subscribed some kind of magic to diversity. While some diversity within a commitment to a common goal is obviously good and as long at there is more than one person in the room inevitable, broad diversity without this commitment can be a problem or worse. I would far rather choose from a pool of passionate people than from a pool of diverse people.
Finally I want to say a sincere thank you to the passionate people that developed Julia, that developed the infrastructure around Julia, and all the passionate people that have developed packages around Julia. I find it phenomenal. I appreciate all you do.
Edit: graphic on the effectiveness of diversity
