Maybe linux isn't the best example here, but programming languages are. Usually they have huge open discussions on their forums where people come up with their suggestions that are then discussed by users with different levels and tasks, and than they make core changes (not just extended libraries which could be compared to bl mods), based on that community feedback and proposed solutions. That's how I see development in bl should work, mainly because their designers are not competent enough to make good balance patches. It's not their fault that they have no time to actually play the game, but they have a lot of competent players with thousands of hours played.
For each patch we predicted all balance issues just by reading patchnotes when changes were not even implemented, and each time it turned out that we were right. I don't get it why they make obvious (from experienced player perspective) mistakes over and over again and don't want to change their approach of making balance patches.