Gatekeepers are a problem in communities. They decide — often arbitrarily — who can and cannot be members of a community. Are you a true Scotsman? A gatekeeper will tell you. And if there’s something they don’t like about you, or they’re feeling particularly ornery, they’ll keep you away from the community.

Gatekeeping is a problem in open source communities. More experienced (or just louder) contributors set a bar that new contributors cannot meet. This is bad for folks who want to contribute to the project, and it’s bad for the project’s sustainability.

A recent Opensource.com article asked “What is a Linux user?“. In the initial version, it left open the possibility that if you’ve only used a Linux desktop that doesn’t require a ton of tinkering, then you’re not a real Linux user. Fortunately, the comments called this out quickly. And the author, to his credit, did not hold this view. He quickly updated the article.

The revised article does a much better job of closing the door on gatekeeping, but I would rather it have never run at all. By engaging in debate on the question, you give it validity. It’s best to deal with gatekeeping by not even acknowledging that the question is valid.