Editorial body
The old guard is not evil.
Let us establish this immediately.
The old guard is merely old.
It has relationships.
Memory.
Experience.
Private telephone numbers.
People who answer those telephone numbers.
People who remember when somebody's father bought something from somebody else's uncle in 1987.
This is valuable social infrastructure.
The difficulty begins when social infrastructure starts behaving like customs control.
There are no border officers.
No passport booths.
No immigration forms.
Yet somehow newcomers discover an invisible border.
Who introduced you?
Who do you know?
Who supplies you?
Who already buys from you?
Which association are you in?
Where did you study?
Who cut that?
Who valued that?
Who said you could have this much confidence?
The stone watches patiently.
The stone has seen continental drift.
It remains unimpressed.
The source-side operator should respect established relationships without becoming psychologically subordinated to them.
Networks are useful.
They are not natural law.
If one network refuses access, another may not.
If one market prefers incumbent suppliers, another may want new origin.
If one circle is closed, excellent.
There are several billion people outside it.
The mistake is spending ten years knocking harder on the same door while a perfectly functional airport sits nearby.