TL;DR: Because I care.
As some of you can probably relate to, I've had my fair share of disagreements with the Plone Foundation Board over the years. The good news is, for the most part, it (just like the community) is staffed with very reasonable people who if you push them on an issue, will acknowledge that there are always competing viewpoints to any issue you can think of. This is life.
The Fallacy Of False Cause
I don't like what you have to say, therefore you must be quiet. Not necessarily. You may choose not to listen.
Don't like what I have to say? Guess what? You don't have to listen. As long as you are polite, respectful, and on topic: you can have a civil discussion with almost any human individual or group in today's world. At least, this is what I believe to be true [0]. The challenge is in sticking to those criteria. Conversations often become heated and stray outside of respectful lines, because we are human. Did you step out of line? It's OK. You can apologize. If someone does not accept your apology, they were never actually your friend to begin with, sorry. Which is also not a problem: you don't have to be friends with everyone. Not everyone has to like you. This, also, is life. I like myself, other people like me, and that's enough for me. And note: if someone doesn't like you? That's not your problem, either. The Taliban probably doesn't like me, but there's absolutely nothing in this lifetime I can do about it. Life goes on.
Issues
From the famous (?) pricing scrap of 2010 (i wanted a more expensive server with VM capability, they didn't) to various financially sensitive issues: i.e. I occasionally want to be financially compensated as a "volunteer". And whilst the Board does compensate volunteers in many ways, they frequently don't agree with the ways I've suggested. This again, is life. And who could forget Plone Conference 2008? This was the first year that the Foundation received a percentage of the ticket sales. Now if I recall correctly while there were certainly some heated debates, none were too taxing or unreasonable (unless you count the ones we collectively had with The Ronald Reagan Building ;-)).
Now on to my point.
This is personal
Actually, first, let me tell you a personal story: about 8 years ago I was a UNIX hacker with a good day job at the National Institutes of Health. It paid well enough, but I was in debt from years of poor money management. I had been there about 3 years when something amazing happened. I met the love of my life. And not only has she enriched my personal life more than I can express in words, but she has joined me in running a consulting firm: ACLARK.NET, LLC. Like my disagreements with the Board, running ACLARK.NET, LLC has not been easy. But we've managed to be successful [1]: today I'm debt-free and gainfully employed by my own business (HT/gr33tz!: limi, runyaga, et al.). I'm still a hack, but I'm a hack with BUSINESS CREDIBILITY. I do excellent technical work, and my wife does excellent everything else: from business coordination to project management to financial management and more.
Now, back to my point.
Success
We live in a suburb of Washington, DC, USA called Bethesda, MD, USA and it's tough living here. I'm not going to pretend I personally care too much, or that I even think about it every day. I like living here fine (and it's not far from where I grew up: Baltimore, MD, USA) But I do think about this: making a living for my family of two. Alone, I probably wouldn't care about much other than hacking and playing music. As 1/2 of a personal and professional partnership, I ABSOLUTELY MUST SUCCEED. Now, more than ever. Fortunately I'm in the best position to succeed than I ever have been before. This is in no small part due to the fact that I am constantly throwing myself into unfamiliar territory in order to better myself.
Plone's success is my success and vice versa. I do a lot of different things in life, so I'm not going to say that Plone must succeed for me to succeed. But I must succeed, and if I can help Plone succeed too, I'm going to do everything within my power to make it happen. Let me be clear: Plone does not need me to be successful. But if you've seen the "Plone: I wish I could quit you." T-Shirt by Tarek Ziadé (shown above), you may know why I keep struggling to make Plone as good as it can be, albeit by my excessively high and overly strict (but not unrealistic) standards; which some, I am sure, do not like.
Conclusion
I hope, after reading this, you may have some better idea of who I am and why I do what I do. I've made a commitment in my life to open source software, helping people, and being the best human I can be. I hope you will join me in my quest. If not, at the very least I hope you will respect my right to undertake it. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me to express them. Either in the comments below, or here: aclark@aclark.net.
Here's to you, Plone. And to the next 10 years of success.
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[0]
Inasmuch as one can define a truth in this context.
[1]
Success means different things to different people.