> But meritocracy has consistently shown itself to mainly benefit those with privilege, to the exclusion of underrepresented people in technology. The idea of merit is in fact never clearly defined; rather, it seems to be a form of recognition, an acknowledgement that “this person is valuable insofar as they are like me.”

That seems strange to me, because most projects are basically saying if you have no commits you're voice is essentially noise to them, which I agree with. If you want to join an FOSS project and a make a difference put your money where your mouth is - otherwise don't expect most people to listen. All the flowery words and PR likely won't change this reality, for good reason.

> an acknowledgement that “this person is valuable insofar as they are like me.”

Yeah, when evaluating PRs I rarely even look at the person making the contribution, I look at the code.

Quote from the covenant link:

> People with “merit” are often excused for their bad behavior in public spaces based on the value of their technical contributions.

Watch out, they are coming for Linus :)

I dont fear for Linus, I fear for linux the project once Linus Retires....