Why Silicon Valley Can’t Build Global Developer Communities (And What We’re Learning Instead)
Yesterday I shared our experiment in preserving developer community soul. As we’ve been building GistFans with developers from six continents, something has become crystal clear: Silicon Valley thinking can’t solve global developer community problems.
Result: Infrastructure that handles massive traffic but can’t preserve authentic relationships. Algorithms that maximize engagement but destroy genuine knowledge sharing.
Result: Quality gets sacrificed for quantity. Meaningful contributions get buried under viral content. New user acquisition matters more than existing community health.
Result: Platforms optimized for addiction rather than genuine value. Features designed to keep people scrolling rather than actually helping them solve problems.
**Step 4: Autocratic Governance** “We can’t let the community make important decisions — they don’t understand the business.”
