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On Tue, 2003-07-08 at 09:18, Kurt Lieber wrote: |
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> > This GLEP proposes that we extend the current proposed management |
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> > structure by adding a position of Ombudsman that would fall under |
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> > devrel, qa, and pr. An ombudsman is one who has been assigned to |
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> > *impartially* investigate complaints and settle disputes. |
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> |
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> Settle how? Does this position (as proposed) have any power to make |
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> decisions or is it more intended to try and find a common ground through |
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> discussions and negotiations? |
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Replace "settle" with "mediate", as the ombudsman has no actual power |
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other than persuasion; it's intended entirely to facilitate finding |
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common ground through discussions and negotiations (good phrase; mind if |
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I use it?). |
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> When is it appropriate to use this ombudsman? How does one contact the |
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> person? Are disputes logged and/or public? |
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In principle it is appropriate to use an ombudsman at any time, which |
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one can do simply by sending an e-mail to ombudsman@g.o. A user |
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who's ticked because her bug has been sitting on bugzilla for three |
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months can send the ombudsman an e-mail, as can developer Y who's |
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finally had it w/ developer X changing the ebuilds that Y maintains |
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without consulting Y first. The ombudsman's first job is to listen, and |
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then to try to mediate a solution. |
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In practice ombudsmen tend not to be overwhelmed because people |
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generally have to be pretty upset to go to the effort of complaining to |
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an ombudsman. Of course, it's just those people who are likely to |
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create significant havoc if things are allowed to blow up. |
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All that said, ombudsmen are hardly a panacea, since some disputes |
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simply cannot be resolved effectively. Even so, an ombudsman might be |
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able to mediate so that the parties affected can go their separate ways |
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_without_ rancor, but maybe not. |
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As for whether or not disputes should be public or logged, I have my own |
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thoughts, but I'm willing to go with the prevailing wind on this one. |
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My feeling is that disputes should be logged by the ombudsman (it's very |
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hard to investigate w/o having the facts in front of one, and if the |
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dispute should recur it would be helpful to have a record of what |
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happened before), but that they should not be public unless the parties |
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involved make it public. |
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I hope that helps. Please feel free to be harshly critical, as it's |
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always possible that there are serious details that I'm missing. |
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-g2boojum- |
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PS. I should note that the role of the ombudsman is to mediate |
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interpersonal disputes, not policy disputes. Policy disputes are better |
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handled by GLEPs, since they really _do_ need to be public. |
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-- |
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Grant Goodyear <g2boojum@g.o> |