Q: How many voters does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. Because voters can't change anything.

Now if you believe that silly joke you can just stop reading. It would be a 
suboptimal use of your time to continue. On the other hand, if you think the 
Trustee Elections have any relevance, you might find some ideas and concepts 
here that may be of use.

Would be really great if voter turnout went a bit above 50% ... if people 
don't vote they don't have the right to complain. The most important thing of 
democratic structures is to keep everyone involved, otherwise you can just 
put in a BDFL and be done with it. It's also a way of communicating, if you 
don't express your opinion (which a vote basically is) people can't be 
expected to know what you want.

So, what's my battleplan? I'm not going to promise anything. That only leads 
to false assumptions and lots of trouble. But I can suggest things I really 
want to see done. And maybe enough people can be motivated to spend enough 
time on it so that things happen. We'll see.

(*) Copyrights. Currently the Gentoo Foundation expects copyright assignments 
for many things, mostly code-related. This is problematic for two reasons:
	- it is not valid for most non-USians. If you live in germany, for example, 
you can only delegate usage rights, but the authorship and with that some 
rights stick to you eternally. Finding an acceptable compromise to cleanly 
handle that would be great
	- some people object to transferring their rights to their own creations to 
other entities. A shared copyright assignment might be easier to accept and 
thus allow more contributions.

Lots to discuss there. But it's not that urgent.

(*) Paperwork and representing Gentoo in other regions
Get the paperwork done, can't be that hard.
The Foundation is inherently US-centric. A European counterpart would be nice, 
including trademark things (the german Gentoo e.V. should be a good 
discussion partner!), possibly extending to other regions soon after.

(*) Define and discuss the roles of the Trustees
Paper-pushers? Guardians of the good mood? Visionaries? What exactly is the 
role of the Trustees, and how are they supposed to do it?
	- board of advisors: Sounds like a great idea, needs to be discussed
	- Be more visible and accessible

(*) PR
This is inherently Community-building etc. If Trustees don't work on it 
actively they should at least see to it that PR is always staffed. Important 
for perception, keep good news flowing!
	- Website redesign, needs to be revived and finally done. Part of PR / public 
perception
	- status reports: make it easy to see that gentoo is very alive. Improves 
communication. Doesn't have to be much, but people have no idea where to 
search!

(*) What NeddySeagoon said. There's not much one can add to that, It's a great 
manifesto.

(*) Internal politics:
Opinions are good. Disagreements are expected. Constant flaming and asshattery 
is not useful. Affects the public perception too, so Trustees should lead the 
discussion on CoC and other social guidelines. 

It's supposed to be fun. People forget how many great things there are. Tone 
down the flamewars, make people feel part of a community. Increases retention 
of old devs, improves recruitment of new ones. More people means more things 
getting done. Less stress. More "Wow" feeling.
Get things back to the bleeding edge feeling, make things just work. Don't let 
others steal your thunder, if we all pull together we're unstoppable.

And now for some endorsements:

fmccor: As he stated he's a lawyer, so he knows how to keep the bureaucratical 
side running. Excellent at conflict resolution and very helpful. You want to 
vote for him.

NeddySeagoon: His manifesto says it all. One of the older, but wiser devs. You 
want to vote for him too.

tgall: I don't know him personally, but he seems to be perfect for that role. 
Give him a chance to show what he can do.

Nominated, but have not accepted yet:
beandog: Just a nice person. He tries to help others where he can. Would be 
good to have as Trustee :)

jakub: the no-bullshit counterweight. A firm believer in the "Get it done" 
philosophy, including the use and abuse of stabbing implements. Might not be 
the most popular, but one of the most effective persons. And he likes beer!

I hope these two can be convinced to accept ...

So that's all for now, don't forget to have fun, and be excellent to each 
other!

Patrick Lauer
Currently hiding on neutral ground in Switzerland
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