If you want to hear about a real example of pure meritocracy, you should listen to Tarus Balog on Linux Link Tech Show episode 343. This guy has truly understood how to lead an open source project, and a number of really interesting things such as Open Source Marketing are discussed. (VCs who want to invest $2,000,000 in a company are also welcomed to listen to the podcast episode).
If you have a (possibly good) product that you have open sourced, but without being able to gather a community around it, then I urge you to listen to the episode.
Tarus Balog, keep up the good work, you clearly have understood what a number of supposedly open-source companies totally miss ! Good work pays in the long run !