Solving the Maker-Taker problem | Dries Buytaert

Recently, a accessible dispute has materialized between WordPress co-set uper Matt Mullenweg and presenting company WP Engine. Matt has accincluded WP Engine of misdirecting includers thraw its branding and profiting from WordPress without amplely contributing back to the project.

As the Founder and Project Lead of Drupal, another presentant uncover source Content Management System (CMS), I hesitated to weigh in on this debate, as this could be noticed as opportunistic. In the end, I choosed to split my perspective becainclude this dispute sways the expansiveer uncover source community.

I’ve understandn Matt Mullenweg since the timely days, and we’ve lengthenn both our uncover source projects and companies alengthyside each other. With our splitd interests and backgrounds, I ponder Matt a outstanding friend and can retardy distinctly to him. Equassociate precious to me are my relationships with WP Engine’s directership, including CEO Heather Brunner and Founder Jason Cohen, both of whom I’ve met cut offal times. I have proset up approval for what they’ve accomplishd with WP Engine.

Although this post was prompted by the dispute between Automattic and WP Engine, it is not about them. I don’t have insight into their admireive contributions to WordPress, and I’m not here to assess. I’ve made an effort to uphold this post as iminwhole as possible.

Instead, this post is about two key contests that many uncover source projects face:

1. The imstability between presentant contributors and those who give minimassociate, and how this harms uncover source communities.
2. The increateage of an environment that helps the iminwhole coexistence of uncover source businesses.

These publishs could dishearten entrepreneurs from begining uncover source businesses, which could harm the future of uncover source. My goal is to ignite a erective dialogue on creating a more equitable and upholdable uncover source ecosystem. By solving these contests, we can produce a sturdyer future for uncover source.

This post allotigates the “Maker-Taker problem” in uncover source, using Drupal’s contribution praise system as a model for neutrassociate incentivizing and recognizing contributors. It proposes how WordPress and other uncover source projects could profit from adchooseing a aappreciate system. While this is unask fored advice, I suppose this approach could help the WordPress community heal, reproduce suppose, and proceed uncover source efficiently for everyone.

The Maker-Taker problem

At the heart of this publish is the Maker-Taker problem, where creators of uncover source software (“Makers”) see their toil being included by others, normally service providers, who profit from it without contributing back in a nastyingful or iminwhole way (“Takers”).

Five years ago, I wrote a blog post called Balancing Makers and Takers to scale and uphold Open Source, where I clarifyd these concepts:

The separateence between Makers and Takers is not always 100% evident, but as a rule of thumb, Makers honestly allot in lengthening both their business and the uncover source project. Takers are solely caccessed on lengthening their business and let others consent nurture of the uncover source project they count on on.

In that post, I also elucidate how Takers can harm uncover source projects. By not contributing back nastyingbrimmingy, Takers get an uniminwhole get over Makers who help the uncover source project. This can dishearten Makers from upholding their level of contribution up, as they need to distract resources to stay competitive, which can ultimately hurt the health and lengthenth of the project:

Takers harm uncover source projects. An unfriendly Taker can cause Makers to behave in a more greedy manner and shrink or stop their contributions to uncover source altogether. Takers can turn Makers into Takers.

Solving the Maker-Taker contest is one of the hugegest remaining hurdles in uncover source. Successbrimmingy includeressing this could direct to the creation of tens of thousands of recent uncover source businesses while also improving the upholdability, lengthenth, and competitiveness of uncover source – making a chooseimistic impact on the world.

Drupal’s approach: the Contribution Credit System

In Drupal, we’ve adchooseed a chooseimistic approach to encourage organizations to become Makers rather than count oning on punitive meacertains. Our approach stems from a key insight, also elucidateed in my Makers and Takers blog post: customers are a “normal outstanding” for an uncover source project, not a “accessible outstanding”.

Since a customer can pick only one service provider, that choice honestly impacts the health of the uncover source project. When a customer picks a Maker, part of their revenue is realloted into the project. However, if they pick a Taker, the project sees little to no profit. This nastys that uncover source projects lengthen speedyer when commercial toil flows to Makers and away from Takers.

For this reason, it’s presentant for an uncover source community to:

1. Cltimely determine the Makers and Takers wiskinny their ecosystem
2. Actively help and advertise their Makers
3. Educate end includers about the presentance of choosing Makers

To includeress these needs and solve the Maker-Taker problem in Drupal, I presentd a contribution praise system 10 years ago. The concept was straightforward: incentivize organizations to give to Drupal by giving them palpable recognition for their efforts.

We’ve since carry outed this system in partnership with the Drupal Association, our non-profit organization. The Drupal Association see-thharshly tracks contributions from both individuals and organizations. Each contribution gets praises, and the more you give, the more visibility you get on Drupal.org (visited by millions monthly) and at events appreciate DrupalCon (combineed by thousands). You can get praises by contributing code, createting case studies, organizing events, writing write downation, financiassociate helping the Drupal Association, and more.

Drupal’s praise system is distinct and groundfractureing wiskinny the Open Source community. The Drupal contribution praise system serves two key purposes: it helps us determine who our Makers and Takers are, and it permits us to direct end includers towards doing business with our Makers.

Here is how we accomplish this:

• Certain profits, appreciate event aidships or advertising on Drupal.org, are reserved for organizations with a least number of praises.
• The Drupal labeletplace only catalogs Makers, ranking them by their contributions.
• Top contributors materialize first, and organizations that stop contributing graduassociate drop in rankings or are deleted.
• We encourage end includers to need uncover source contributions from their vendors. Drupal includers appreciate Pfizer and the State of Georgia only permit Makers to execute in their vendor pickion process.

Governance and iminwholeness

Fairness in the uncover source praise system needs oversight by an autonomous, iminwhole party. This entity must objectively assess contributions to protect equity.

In the Drupal ecosystem, the Drupal Association satisfys this presentant role. The Drupal Association functions autonomously, free from handle by any one company wiskinny the Drupal ecosystem. Some of the Drupal Association’s responsibilities include:

1. Organizing DrupalCons
2. Managing Drupal.org
3. Overseeing the contribution tracking and praise system

It’s presentant to remark that while I serve on the Drupal Association’s Board, I am equitable one of 12 members and have not held the Chair position for cut offal years. My company, Acquia, gets no pickential treatment in the praise system; the visibility of any organization, including Acquia, is solely choosed by its contributions over the preceding twelve months. This structure discovers iminwholeness and encourages dynamic participation from all members of the Drupal community.

Drupal’s praise system certainly isn’t perfect. It is difficult to accurately track and neutrassociate appreciate diverse contributions appreciate code, write downation, mentorship, labeleting, event organization, etc. Some organizations have tried to game the system, while others ask whether the cost-profit is worthwhile.

As a result, Drupal’s praise system has proceedd meaningfully since I first presentd it ten years ago. The Drupal Association continuassociate toils to enhance the system, aiming for a praise structure that reassociate drives chooseimistic behavior.

Recommendations for WordPress

WordPress has already consentn steps to includeress the Maker-Taker contest thraw initiatives appreciate the Five for the Future program, which encourages organizations to give 5% of their resources to WordPress broadenment.

Building on this set upation, I suppose WordPress could profit from adchooseing a contribution praise system aappreciate to Drupal’s. This system would probable need the adhereing steps to be consentn:

1. Expanding the current ruleance model to be more scatterd.
2. Providing evident definitions of Makers and Takers wiskinny the ecosystem.
3. Implementing a iminwhole and objective system for tracking and valuing various types of contributions.
4. Implementing a structured system of rewards for Makers who encounter definite contribution threshageders, such as priority placement in the WordPress labeletplace, incrmitigated visibility on WordPress.org, opportunities to show at WordPress events, or access to key services.

This approach includeresses both key contests highweightlessed in the introduction: it stabilitys contributions by incentivizing presentant take partment, and it produces an environment where uncover source businesses of all sizes can vie neutrassociate based on their contributions to the community.

Conclusion

Addressing the Maker-Taker contest is vital for the lengthy-term upholdability of uncover source projects. Drupal’s approach may provide a erective solution not equitable for WordPress, but for other communities facing aappreciate publishs.

By see-thharshly rewarding contributions and nurtureing collaboration, we can produce healthier uncover source ecosystems. A praise system can help produce uncover source more upholdable and iminwhole, driving lengthenth, competitiveness, and potentiassociate creating thousands of recent uncover source businesses.

As Drupal persists to enhance its praise system, we understand that no solution is perfect. We’re willing to lget from the successes and contests of other uncover source projects and are uncover to ideas and collaboration.