Fig Follies, Part 2
This is the second of three posts I intend to make regarding the condition and actions of the FIG, and what they reveal.
The Present
The complaint against me (and the subsequent show trial and vote) are only a symptom of an underlying cause. The true cause behind the complaint, as well as many other events, is that there is a rivalry of visions regarding the FIG.
One vision holds that the FIG should remain true to its originating mission: focus on member projects, find existing commonalities among them through research and discussion, and codify those commonalities as PSRs. It is a more bottom-up approach, and is represented mostly implicitly, in the minds and actions of those who hold it. (Some artifacts of this vision remain on the FIG website, but I realize now they are not explicit enough.) I will call this the “founding” vision.
Another vision holds that the FIG should change its mission and broaden its scope to the entirety of PHP land, and in doing so accept the role that some people feel it should have: that of an overarching PHP Standards Group for all PHP coders, member projects or not. It is a more top-down approach, and is represented explicitly by the FIG 3.0 proposal. I will call this the “grand” vision.
These two visions are mutually exclusive. They are rivalrous.
This rivalry of visions might not matter, if the FIG had not already gained a level of perceived authority to many people in PHP land. It has earned a level of legitimacy through wide adoption of PSRs 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 (and to some extent 6 and 7). That authority and legitimacy are valuable commodities, hard to come by among PHP developers (who are notoriously independent-minded). That means the FIG is perceived as a high-value property, which makes it worth being rivalrous over.
Those holding the “founding” vision, under which the vast majority of accepted PSRs have been published, believe the high value of the FIG derives from that “founding” vision and mission. Those holding the “grand” vision wish to use that value to launch what is effectively a new organization, without any achievements of its own, and claim the value built under the “founding” vision as its own.
To me, as a holder of the “founding” vision, the “grand” vision is an expression of conceit, of hubris. I think the holders of the “grand” vision believe they are entitled somehow to capture the successes earned by the “founding” vision, and claim those successes as their own. They have not earned those successes through the vision they espouse.
Until the conflict between these visions has been resolved, the contention within the FIG will continue, because neither set of vision-holders wants to relinquish the FIG territory.
I see only two ways out of this dilemma. I will present them not tomorrow, but the day after.
Read the Reddit discussion about this post here.