# How does the Discourse project work?

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-does-the-discourse-project-work/19059
**Category:** Site feedback
**Created:** [August 19, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-does-the-discourse-project-work/19059 "2014-08-19T18:51:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 5

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### Author: ![erlend\_sh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/erlend_sh/32/119475_2.png) [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-does-the-discourse-project-work/19059/5 "2014-08-19T20:22:37Z")

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As for:

> [@downey](#):
>
> Is there one or more path for volunteers to become “leaders” with some type of accountability or responsibility?

Judging by how @zogstrip, @riking and @techAPJ all came to be part of the team through voluntary code contributions and community involvement, I’d say the Discourse project already has an excellent culture of [promoting from within](http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/04/05/why-promoting-from-within-usually-beats-hiring-from-outside/), as any healthy open source project should.

The _path_ is **do work that benefits the product & community**.

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