An Open Letter to Mozilla Bangladesh Community

How can a volunteer define his/her love for the community? My answer would be, “ I don’t know.” But I do know one thing, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” Now at this point, my fellow reps and “Mozilla Bangladesh leaders” might ask, “How long have you been involved with Mozilla Bangladesh to call it your child?” In polite gesture I would like to ask here, is it really necessary to be a senior contributor or superior in some manner in a certain community to love it and to contribute to it? [1]

A contributor might be a newbie in the community, (s)he might have just become a rep months ago (does (s)he even have to be a rep?) but does it mean that (s)he shouldn’t have any statement or suggestion on how the community should be operated, should their thoughts be steam-rolled over by the thoughts of “superior people”? and can’t (s)he ask questions ? or can (s)he ?

IMO, everyone is free to express their thoughts and the decisions should be taken judging each one of those thoughts, that’s what i believe in and that’s what i learned from Mozilla . I learned to value and respect contributor’s unique thoughts. I learned to be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if disagreements happen with some of what is being said. Because someone formed a community, we give them credit and a certain amount of respect. But that doesn’t literally mean that they should control everything, that’s why it’s called a community- free will and participation.

That’s the beauty and speciality of open communities, everyone’s opinions are taken into count and the opinions matter.

In my social network statement (facebook) – I expressed my grief and expressed my thought on quitting over Mozilla Bangladesh Community.

I quit on my own community because –

• I felt my decisions , my thoughts , suggestions on community issues were being steam-rolled over or rather hijacked .
• I saw people being blind followers forgetting the community practice and supporting wrong judgement out of devotion ? Or , I don’t know may be out of being more emotional than logical , may be ?
• I fear of seeing more favouritism in empowering volunteers  and autocratic practice in this community.
• I have seen the cycle of empowerment of volunteers by these leaders (except few)  which IMHO is not mozillian’s way to help out and guide. Here i am criticizing idea of operating the community, not people. Please don’t misinterpret .

This problem haven’t raised over night but was brewing inside for a while . Thought it would be resolved but both team need to co-operate in order to resolve a matter . I have to admit with regret that each time i try to be open either i have received Knee-jerk contradiction or being treated as invisible Instead of being provided with reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.

Lastly I feel to be invisible in this community because neither my opinions nor my efforts to resolve  this issue are not being paid heed in last two months.

These leaders (except few) finally decided to pay heed (in my facebook statement) when i made a social statement of quitting on Mozilla Bangladesh community and that too in such a manner that is to responding to the post’s tone instead of its actual content and diverting the topic by changing it from my disagreement with autocracy to personal problems with someone from the community and blaming the whole community whereas i love my community !!

Thanks to Salman Rahman Desh ,  Md. Anisur Rahman , Shafiul Azam , Aniruddha Adhikary , my fellow womozs who cared and tried to resolve but it really doesn’t help much when you have problems at the root. I really appreciate the way the Mozilla staff and my fellow mozilla reps family members approached to me, even without knowing me personally (!) on my toughest days in my very own community.

I want to apologize for that statement in a social network ( facebook) but i needed to be heard and i was suffocating to some extent.

I want to sum it up saying , I still believe that situation can be improved in this community . I believe in mozilla’s mission and i shall continue promoting openness . I will fulfil my reps responsibilities and continue contributing , just may be with least possible dealings with community. I will surely guide my people and whoever reach out to me.

Last Piece of note for my dear community members :

(sorry for the knee jerk contradiction in this section of the blog but can’t help it . please ignore if you want.)
I may seem to be the Helen of troy to you now because you are blindfolded but i have observed and i have seen the community to be operated standing at the edge of it and that is why i ( trust me i am not alone in sensing it ) can sense what went wrong after Rahid’s demise. Please know that i have always loved my community and i have always loved you all. I will be there if you reach out to me . It’s been an honour to serve the community with you guyz beside me.