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On Mon, 2004-04-26 at 02:49, Daniel Robbins wrote: |
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> Corey wrote: |
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> > What about paypal donations in regards to the NFP transition? |
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> > The proceeds from the store will go towards Daniel's debt, and that |
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> > has been agreed upon. |
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> |
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> This is not an accurate summary of what I said. What I said is, and I quote: |
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> |
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> "OK. The purpose of this is to allow me to continue to support my family by |
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> doing things like pay for a house, pay for food, and potentially pay off |
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> some of the $20,000 in debt I accumulated during my tenure as Chief |
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> Architect of Gentoo, etc." |
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> |
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> So, to make try to make this impossible to misunderstand -- what I said is |
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> that the Store would be used to support me and my family in our ability to |
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> cover _basic living expenses_, and *potentially* help pay off *some* (notice |
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> I did use the word *some* in my original email) accumulated debt. That is |
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> probably more wishful thinking than anything. That's why I used the word |
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> "potentially." People seem to have focused on the fact that I mentioned the |
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> word "debt" and ignored the main thing I said. |
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> |
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> The main reason for continuing to run the store is to ensure that my family |
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> has its basic living expenses covered. This NFP transition involves some |
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> financial risk on my part. I need to make sure my family doesn't get hurt in |
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> the transition. This could happen if the funding I am currently receiving to |
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> work on Gentoo full-time disappears. This would be very hard for my family, |
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> since as I've pointed out, I have $20K in debt. We have no savings, |
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> investments or retirement at all. I have no money to pull from if I lose |
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> funding. If I were just a single guy then I could justify making some risky |
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> decisions, but I have a wife and two small children and they shouldn't have |
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> to suffer due to any risky decisions I make. Making a smooth transition that |
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> works for the NFP and my family involves some careful planning on my part. |
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|
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This all seems like it's not worth arguing over. You're the store |
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employee, you get the money. Seems pretty clear-cut to me. Replace when |
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Corey said "debt" with "living expenses" and the whole point becomes |
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moot, as far as I can tell. |
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|
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> |
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> > Will the donations go into an account that gets controlled by the NFP? |
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> |
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> Another thing I explained in prior emails is that the Store would continue |
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> to cover the costs associated with setting up the 501(c)(6), and the legal |
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> fees by the time this is completed would probably be around $7-$10K (also |
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> including misc. legal stuff and continuing costs associated with federal |
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> trademark apps, logo usage agreements etc..) I'd hope that donations could |
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> go towards paying these tabs before we look at re-routing this money to set |
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> up an operating budget for the NFP. It really isn't enough for any kind of |
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> real budget anyway. |
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> |
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> I think I'm going to avoid answering financial questions because the stuff I |
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> have already said gets misinterpreted and distorted. I don't want to |
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> continue to participate in what seems to be an unavoidable downward spiral |
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> of confusion. It doesn't seem to be helping anyone. I really do try to be |
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> clear in my emails, but that doesn't seem to be enough. |
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> |
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> To be honest, after having to put my financial situation in writing, it |
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> seems rather stupid for me to be making any kind of personal commitment to |
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> keep the store running and get the money to cover $7-$10K of Gentoo legal |
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> fees. It would probably be best if I get a job as soon as possible and bail |
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> out of Gentoo after the NFP is set up next week, and leave the NFP to |
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> continue running the store and arrange its own funding for the 501(c)(6) |
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> application process. But that would be really high-stress for everyone and |
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> is what I am trying to avoid. |
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|
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I'm getting deja vu here -- we've gone over this ground before. |
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|
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What does putting your financial situation in writing really have to do |
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with commitments to the store and the NFP anyway? It's not that big of a |
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deal -- public officials are required to share their financial |
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situations, for example. This seems awfully dramatic. I'll tell you all |
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about mine, if you like. |
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|
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From what I gather, you sort of look at Gentoo and its developers like |
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your children and you want to do what's best for us. But sometimes the |
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"children" like to understand _why_ things are happening too -- thus the |
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questions. Yeah, it may be aggravating, but I believe it's for the |
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better. (Have your kids hit that stage yet?) |
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|
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-- |
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Donnie Berkholz |
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Gentoo Linux |