• "To seek permission is to seek denial"

Often used side by side with better to ask forgiveness. Cultures based on seeking permission generally move slower than cultures based on cultures based on fixing issues as they arise.

• Feature development in the Plugins web is essentially an exercise in better to ask forgiveness - things are just done without seeking permission, checking for fit etc.
• Feature development in the WebHome is essentially an exercise in better to seek denial - you can't effect changes unless you stick completely to the model outlined by the core team, and even then you cannot assume any change will get through (It can be vetoed in the brainstorming, development or patch phase). If you write a plugin, you know your feature will get through.

Better to seek denial shows up in many places in many forms, including one web master syndrome. A more wiki approach to working is better to ask forgiveness - if permission was always needed to edit a wiki page, it wouldn't be wiki, or as wiki. Nonetheless better to seek denial wikis do exist if 3D17 is considered a wiki. The pros and cons and possible advantages of such a wiki are detailed in WikiFeaturesWiki:StagedCommits

Contributors

NB This isn't criticism, I'm defining the term. If you disagree, with the examples, please put better ones there.