Can you start an original, open source, project without writing a line of code?
lethain: Could you be a bit more clear? Are you asking if an individual can come up with some idea, write a blog post about it, and have other people build it?Yes, that can definitely happen, but only if the original person has capital. Most developers who do opensource work have a bunch of ideas and projects they'd like to be working on, so you're going to have to pay them to work on your project instead. Payment doesn't have to be money, it can be reputation or an exchange of services, but basically you have to have something to contribute.Otherwise you're asking them to do something for you for goodness sake without actually put any effort into the project yourself. In particular if you want to be the legal or cultural head of the project, people will sniff that funk  immediately.