Your Bayes is showing.

In high school.

Only in ones that are not based on merit and long term relationships.

Can you give an example of one that is?

* * *

Pretty much every human community has to be to some extent, with the exception of communities that face no external competition. Non-meritorious communities subject to competition quickly disappear.

“…to some extent…” is, i think, the most important piece of your reply.

sure, merit plays some kind of role, but so do many other things. what so many comments in this discussion (and every other discussion surrounding this issue over and over and over again ad nauseum) really seem to want to ignore is the many other factors that play into long term group/project success.

merit alone? hardly ever, if ever.

What? Non-meritorious communities are known to last literal millennia.

Caltech's undergraduate community was, at least in the years I attended.

Just because someone doesn't deserve something based on merit, doesn't mean they won't be resentful and vindictive if they don't get it. You could even say the concept of merit and the reality of differentiation of competence and ability itself leads to drama and conflict.

The funny thing is the typical response to basic drama is aggressive moderation/oversight, which often generates as much or more drama than before.

Online communities have a natural tendency to turn inward and become disconnected from the original purpose of the community. A good measure is how much meta/political stuff comes up in every thread.

To misquote John Cleese - "This is exactly how Nazi Germany started"

Drama is actually the name of a town in Greece