[gentoo-nfp] Request for vote on removal Matthew Thode from Trustees

[Michał Górny]

Hello, everyone.

As some of you may know I have been recently defamed on Gentoo mailing
lists by one of the Trustees (at the time). I have been attempting to
resolve this matter peacefully for 2 months now, and I haven't had any
success in getting justice. In fact, I haven't received more than 8
words from the Trustees on the matter.

All things considered, I would like to request per Section 5.6 of Bylaws
 [1] a Foundation members vote on removal of Matthew Thode from his
position as President of the Foundation and Trustee. I believe that
Matthew has not succeeded in ensuring professional behavior among
Trustees and that he has abused his position towards his private goals
that were not in line with the best interests of Gentoo
and the Foundation.

To support my request, I will note here a number of facts regarding past
actions of the Trustees during Matthew's term that I'm aware of and that
I believe to be contrary to the best interest of Gentoo. I do not wish
to defame anyone, therefore I will not comment on those actions, merely
list them and link the evidence whenever publicly available. I leave
judging those actions to the Foundation members.

Please note that I'm not implying that all the listed facts are related
to one another. However, I believe that all of them are relevant to
judging Matthew's actions.


2017-01-05
  Matthew Thode lays out a proposal that merges the Council
  and Trustees into a single 'Board' on top of Foundation [2].

2017-01-11
  Matthew Thode lays out an alternative proposal in which Council
  is reduced to handling technical matters, and 'Board' gains control
  over ComRel [3].

2017-12-10
  Daniel Campbell (signed as a Trustee) sends a mail with a number of
  defaming accusations [4]. I have replied to that mail correcting
  the false facts, and I have opened a bug with Daniel in CC pointing
  this out [5].

2017-12-16
  Daniel Campbell sends his resignation mail in which he blames for it,
  and further defames me [6]. I have to point out here that he brings
  a few true facts for which I am sorry, and I specifically only mind
  those that are lies.

2017-12-16
  Matthew Thode files a ComRel bug [7] in which he requests banning me.
  In his request he mentions the decision of Daniel Campbell.

2018-01-03
  Daniel Campbell withdraws his resignation [8].

2018-01-14
  Matthew Thode apologizes to Rich Freeman for the defamation made
  by Daniel Campbell in his resignation thread [9].

2018-01-18
  Daniel Campbell resumes his activity on Bugzilla [10]. I repeat my
  request for correction of his defaming mails via direct mail. I never
  receive any reply from him.

2018-01-28
  Since Daniel Campbell has been acting as a Trustee, I send the same
  request to Trustees. The same day I receive a reply from Matthew Thode
  requesting clarification of the exact statements that are defaming.

2018-01-29
  I reply with exact list of defaming statements and explanation why
  they are false. I never receive any reply.


At this point, 2 months have passed since the first defaming mail was
sent, and 2 weeks have passed since the specific request to Trustees was
sent. The mails still spread false information that is signed
by a Trustee without any correction.

All I ever asked for was correcting the false facts. Rich Freeman had to
wait almost a month to get it. I am pleading for two months already,
with no result.

I do not know what Matthew Thode's motivation is for his actions or lack
of them. However, I do believe that it is in the best interest of Gentoo
and the Foundation to pursue peaceful and professional collaboration.
Defaming posts made by a Trustee, followed by complete passiveness
of the other Trustees in resolving the situation peacefully certainly
do not serve this goal.

Furthermore, I believe such actions make the Foundation vulnerable to
lawsuits. I personally neither do wish or am capable of pursuing this
but this doesn't change the fact. I believe that a responsible President
would have apologized ASAP, as either actively or passively supporting
this defamation serves no purpose to the Foundation.

All those things considered, I believe that my only recourse at this
point is to request a vote on removing Matthew Thode from the position
he currently holds. I believe it is important that the President of
Gentoo Foundaties is a person who can represent Gentoo professionally.

If any of the matters I have brought here are incorrect, I apologize for
that.


[1]:https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Foundation:Bylaws#Section_5.6._Resignation_and_Removal_of_Trustees
[2]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-project/message/20eb05be025ee734fb01a0c9b35e38ef
[3]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-project/message/d7e4a5fb53717fd4e6d961091d63fef1
[4]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-dev/message/16a584443dd6ea013a3dd7f57e9ecbcd
[5]:https://bugs.gentoo.org/640470
[6]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-project/message/c3755ad531fa6b0f1e481d88e42ee72f
[7]:https://bugs.gentoo.org/641268
[8]:https://bugs.gentoo.org/545022#c17
[9]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-project/message/7801aefef15605be45111d189540516e
[10]:https://bugs.gentoo.org/644902

-- 
Best regards,
Michał Górny