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On 2/1/08, George <cokehabit@×××××.com> wrote: |
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> Although he has already said no I hope to convince him to say yes by |
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> nominating him again: |
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> |
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> Daniel Robbins |
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|
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Hey George, |
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One of the reasons I wanted to come back in the manner I initially |
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suggested is because I have limited time. To work as a trustee, |
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particularly to do what I would hope to do, would require a very large |
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investment of time to work within the structure that currently exists. |
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|
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I don't have the amount of free time required to do that, so I would |
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either need to choose to have a stressful and overly busy life and |
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succeed with improving Gentoo or to be disciplined about not investing |
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too much time in the project but then not getting much done as a |
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trustee, in which case you would probably be disappointed in me as a |
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trustee. Coming back to Gentoo as a trustee as it currently operates, |
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for me at least, would basically be a 40-hour-a-week full-time job. |
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|
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One of the benefits of moving away from a purely democratic model is |
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that having people who can simply make decisions is *way* more |
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efficient in terms of time. Yes, people can always disagree and leave |
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the project if you don't get them on board with your ideas, but that's |
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life. I don't see Linus taking polls and reading tea leaves because he |
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worries that he might alienate some Linux developers by a decision |
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that he makes. Competent people won't make decisions in a vacuum and |
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will consult with the appropriate subject matter experts first. Often, |
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the "experts" are the users and other members of the community. |
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|
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If the structure stays pretty much the way it is, I think there might |
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be some need to have a full-time and competitively paid President or |
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Chief Architect position so some skilled and experienced person could |
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actually devote their efforts full-time to improving Gentoo. I am |
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aware that this is out of the realm of possibility right now, so that |
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leaves the option of streamlining the efficiency and effectiveness of |
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the organization to better match up with peoples' real-world time |
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commitments as volunteers. |
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|
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That may involve scaling back ambitious plans in terms of joining |
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various other NFP entities and simply running the Foundation as it |
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currently exists, filing paperwork on time (which is not hard), etc. |
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The time wasted on investigating SPI and other entities far exceeds |
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the time that is required to actually run the Foundation as it exists. |
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I realize that this leaves some aspects of the Foundation's goals |
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unrealized. I think as long as this is communicated to the community |
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clearly, then this is OK for the time being. First things first. Get a |
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track record of getting the critical things taken care of - things |
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like getting a registered agent for the existing organization so that |
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the Foundation has a valid mailing address when its charter is |
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renewed, ensuring that the NM records are up-to-date and reflect |
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reality, etc. There is more than enough money to get an experienced NM |
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lawyer to help that can take care of this quite easily. |
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|
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For the project, steps need to be taken to reduce bureaucracy without |
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harming the quality o the Portage tree, to improve efficiency and |
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streamline decision-making mechanisms and reduced centralized decision |
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making when possible. |
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|
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Anyway, I'm getting off-topic. So I hope that gives you some more |
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insight into why I chose to decline the nomination. My initial offer |
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is what I determined I could personally handle while balancing other |
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commitments. (Note that I'm not secretly hinting that my initial offer |
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is still available, it isn't.) |
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|
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Today, actually, I was planning to unsubscribe from -nfp due to other |
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commitments, which will probably happen in a few minutes. |
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|
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-Daniel |
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-- |
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gentoo-nfp@l.g.o mailing list |