Networks of Trust
In small projects, ad hoc systems of trust through sustained interaction is unavoidable. In larger communities (like Debian), stand-in systems of cryptographic trust (webs of trust through PGP/GPG) and systems of social trust (the Debian New Maintainer process) have been devised.
Networks of trust imply that even if every participant does not know each other, they can, in a limited and/or work oriented capacity, trust their co-developers.
Results:
Libre software developers can engage in meaningful dialog and ethical cultivation, evaluation, and reevaluation through dialog within an environment of trust.
Counter-productive concerns of cooptation, competition, and dilution disappear or are deemphasized.
Counterexample:
Spaces for dialog within the medical community (e.g., the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization) support only limited dialog on ethical issues or discussions among leadership or within smaller groups (e.g., Doctors without Borders).