The debate that occurs among the community on FLOSS is great, and a healthy thing to have. It's a sing that all of those with something to share, or an idea to make any project better, can give put it out there so other can consider the merits it has.
This model is way better than having a centralized group just imposing their ideas on the community, regardless of the merits of what is being imposed to the community or what the community wants or not. Most of the time, the community at large that centralized model can't even have a say on what is being done.
When the community is engaged in every step of the development process, the end product tends to be a lot better and the community at large is more likely giving it all the support needed so the project is a success.
Let's not forget that at the end of the day the community around each project is the one factor that can make or brake any given project. If the community is not heard the most likely result would be failure, regardless of what the predictions say it would happen.
So, a healthy debate with all the members of the community should be kept. This results on having the majority of the community with you, and could also give new ideas to add to the project on the ongoing development process, or on the next development cycle.
Engaging the community is a win-win situation, since the developers get the support they need and the users get the features they want. It is fool-hearted to believe that a project can run in the long run without a strong community on the long run.
An open and transparent debate with all the community is one of the best ways to build support from the community, and have a shoot of having any possibility of building a great product.
So, encourage the community to debate the merits of the project. You'll be surprised on how beneficial the practice can be.
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