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This makes no sense. |
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|
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On Thursday, January 26, 2017 4:03:17 PM EST Michał Górny wrote: |
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> [discussion intended at -nfp, CC-ing -project] |
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> |
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> Hi, |
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> |
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> I would like to add an additional clause to the Gentoo Social Contract |
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> [1], to guarantee that Gentoo will remain a volunteer-based project |
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> and will not turn into some kind of paid enterprise. The suggested text |
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|
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While others head the other direction... |
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https://www.freexian.com/en/services/debian-lts.html |
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|
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> would be: |
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> | Gentoo is and will remain independent volunteer work. We will never |
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> | pay anyone to develop Gentoo, nor will we accept any donations given |
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> | on the condition of any particular development. |
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> |
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> Text improvements welcome. |
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> |
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> The main idea is to protect volunteers spending their time on Gentoo. |
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> I don't want to learn one day that my opinion doesn't matter anymore |
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> because a new lead (Council, Trustees, Board, BDFL or any other |
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> possible future form) decides that they/he/she will use the donation |
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> money to hire paid workers doing the Gentoo work that they desire. |
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|
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Despite many others doing this successfully, Gnome, FreeBSD, etc |
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|
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FOSS does not come about solely due to volunteers. If it was not for paid FOSS |
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development, most would not exist. It is not 100% because of non paid |
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volunteers. |
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|
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> I believe that any possible lead Gentoo might elect in the future |
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> should still represent the whole Gentoo community, and the community |
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> should have the right to refuse to follow the directions set by |
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> the lead if he/she stops listening to the community. As volunteers, |
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> we have the right to refuse to do something that in our opinion harms |
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> Gentoo. |
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|
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Represent the community? I think you mean the developers. There is no |
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representation of the community and many are opposed to such. Need to stop |
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calling Developers the community, and stop making it like the community is |
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more than Developers. When clearly speaking of Developers only. |
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|
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> Sadly, this could become pointless if the leading bodies keep the power |
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> to hire people to work on Gentoo for money. This means that effectively |
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> they have the power to spend Gentoo money on pursuing their own goals |
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> as long as they can legally claim that the work is done for |
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> the benefit of Gentoo. In volunteer-based project, they effectively |
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> have to *convince* others to work on their ideas and/or spend |
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> a significant effort working on them themselves. |
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|
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This is not how most volunteer projects are run. If volunteer projects were |
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all convincing others of your mission. Most would go no where. |
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|
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Go volunteer somewhere in person and see... |
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|
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> The other part is pretty much a formality, that means to make it clear |
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> that Gentoo is not supposed to be bribed by third-party companies to |
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> alter its course. I don't think it really changes anything but it looks |
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> like a nice thing to state. |
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|
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Ok, so no sponsors. As a sponsor would likely fund development in a given |
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area. Which means if there is no formal process for such, just have to resort |
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to other means. |
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|
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> I should note that this doesn't mean to prevent anyone from being paid |
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> by third parties to work on Gentoo, or receive any money on account of |
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> what he did or is doing for Gentoo. I think that's fine as long as |
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> the wider Gentoo community has the right to reject any work that it |
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> sees unfit. |
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|
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Wait, you do not want Gentoo to spend its money to further Gentoo. But you are |
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fine with outside companies hiring Gentoo developers to have them enact their |
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will. That makes allot of sense... |
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|
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I could hire a few Gentoo developers and have them enact my will. They would |
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still be volunteers. Not beholden to the Gentoo Foundation but who is cutting |
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their pay checks. Wonderful logic! |
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|
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That makes NO sense. Volunteers cannot be paid directly by the project. But |
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letting outsiders pay for influence in the project. Then who is really deciding |
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what is best? The project or outsiders? |
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|
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-- |
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William L. Thomson Jr. |