Re: [gentoo-nfp] One Outsider's View

[Chris Gianelloni]

(I snipped out everything but what I plan on responding to, not because
your points were bad, but because I had nothing to add to them.)

On Mon, 2008-01-21 at 15:32 -0500, Dan Moulding wrote:
> Given these facts, a logical inference is that it is probably not best
> for the current leadership to decide what form the foundation should
> take in the future. This is because this decision, whether it will be
> to put the reins in the hands of the SFC or SPI or whatever, is a
> decision that has the potential to have a very serious and lasting
> impact on the community as a whole. The current leadership, by their
> own admission, seem to lack the track-record that would indicate their
> qualification to make such an important decision on behalf of the rest
> of the community.

Well, this is being discussed by the developer pool as a whole.  We're
not only including current Foundation members, but also soliciting the
opinions of all developers, even those that have chosen not to join the
Foundation, as we feel that this is something that will have some
lasting effects on Gentoo as a whole.  As such, "the current leadership"
isn't doing any decision-making.  Rather, they're simply doing the work
to get things done, since their names are legally bound to the
Foundation and they and only they have the legal leg to stand on when it
comes to Foundation matters.  I'm not really sure where you got the idea
that the Trustees have anything to do with "leading" Gentoo, but they do
not.  The Gentoo Council is the elected leadership of Gentoo.  The
Gentoo Foundation's Board of Trustees are elected to maintain and
protect Gentoo's intellectual property and assets (and nothing more).
It is *very* likely that this is going to change, but our current
thinking is more along the lines of "let's get this fixed, as is, then
we can make any changes we want once we're back on firm legal ground."
In this plan, we will be likely be using interim Trustees, such as
Grant, to complete the tasks required to become legal.  Once those tasks
are completed, we are planning on running an election for a new Board of
Trustees.  It makes no sense, at all, to bring in a completely new set
of people who have no idea what needs to be done to get us legal and for
it to take weeks to get up-to-speed when Grant is doing just fine,
currently.  Also, Renat is helping and I have offered my services, as
well as several other Gentoo developers.  We've got things covered for
the initial goal of being reinstated.

> To an independent observer, it seems the only solution is to first
> allow the foundation's members to elect a new board of trustees.

This seems counter-productive, as elections take 2 months (1 month
nominations, 1 month voting period).  We could be already legal by then,
at our current rate.

> Although any newly-elected board might also not have a proven
> track-record, such a move would at least lend credence to the notion
> that the ultimate decision reflects the will of the community. Any
> actions taken prior to such an election, that would alter the course
> or composition of the foundation in a major way, would seem to be
> premature.

Realize that the "community" of the Foundation is only the Foundation
members.  Even Gentoo developers who are not Foundation members actually
have no say in Foundation matters.  Sure, they can voice their opinion,
but they don't have a vote, so to speak.  We're listening to all
opinions, though, and are open to new ideas and suggestions.  First, we
want to clean up our house a little before we try to sell it, if you
catch my meaning.

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Release Engineering Strategic Lead
Games Developer