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Roy Bamford wrote: |
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> |
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> The Foundation needs a set of bylaws *now*, that suit Gentoo as it is |
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> *now* but written in such a way that allows for flexibility as Gentoo |
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> ch ages. |
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> |
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> The Foundation is set up as a business legal entity because that's the |
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> only sort there is. Its behavior is bound by New Mexico law, as |
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> interpreted by case law and the bylaws, which we are discussing here, |
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> Article by Article. William is quite right when he says there is no |
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> such thing as an informal foundation. Try informally filing your |
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> personal tax returns. |
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|
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Agreed. I'd really argue for KISS for now - we can always change it later. |
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|
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> |
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> Back to the now. |
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> The emphasis is very much on the *now*. There is no point in framing |
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> bylaws for what Gentoo might become - more than likely, it won't become |
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> what we expect today, We will never agree such speculative bylaws |
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> anyway. Even if we did, because of what we are today, we could not |
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> follow them. |
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> |
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> Its back to the simple here and now, with adaptability. |
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> |
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|
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I agree. |
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|
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I'm actually not completely opposed to many of the ideas being tossed |
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around in this discussion. But perhaps they should be tried out at |
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least informally before they are codified. Let's focus on getting the |
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bylaws to reflect the status quo (well, at least what it should be) - |
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and then worry about the grand plan after everything is in place. |
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|
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If we want to experiment with giving users more of a voice, why don't we |
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try creating some forums for this, which don't have any legal power? We |
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can then see how it all works without any commitment to go in a |
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particular direction. |
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|
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I happen to work in a highly regulated industry, and in many cases we |
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need to have formally documented processes that we are legally obligated |
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to follow - with routine inspections to ensure compliance. When we want |
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to try out something new, we usually try to pilot it in some area that |
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isn't too critical or overly regulated, and then if it is successful we |
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steadily embrace it across the company. The last thing we would want to |
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do is to formally and legally adopt untested processes and get ourselves |
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into a mess where we have to constantly justify not following those |
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processes because they don't work out as expected. |
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|
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I think we should try something similar here. Let's get the Foundation |
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running good and strong in its present scope, and then let's talk about |
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how we can improve things steadily. I think that once we get into an |
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environment where things are working successfully there will be a lot |
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more trust and goodwill towards taking on more. |
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|
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And I do want to thank the trustees for the work that goes into all of |
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this. I also recognize that formally being on a board of directors |
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comes with a lot of legal risk as well. Sure, Gentoo can indemnify |
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anybody it wants to, but the Gentoo coffers won't go far if a trustee |
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gets sued by some company ticked about Gentoo dropping their product |
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from portage or whatever. I also want to point out that while I |
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probably disagree with William about a few things I'm probably closer in |
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thought to him than might be immediately apparent and I appreciate all |
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he is doing here! |
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-- |
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