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On 10/06/2016 08:32 PM, Daniel Campbell wrote: |
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> On 10/06/2016 03:02 PM, Rich Freeman wrote: |
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>> On Thu, Oct 6, 2016 at 5:45 PM, Daniel Campbell <zlg@g.o> wrote: |
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>>> (Targeting one specific comment here) |
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>>> |
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>>> On 10/03/2016 11:04 AM, Rich Freeman wrote: |
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>>>> [snip] |
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>>>> Ultimately if you want to rejoin Gentoo you're going to have to |
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>>>> convince either Comrel or the Council that you're not going to create |
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>>>> trouble. |
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>>>> [snip] |
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>>> |
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>>> Are you speaking for William's specific situation, or in general? |
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>> |
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>> I am speaking for the general situation where a developer wants to |
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>> return to Gentoo after having been removed as a result of Comrel |
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>> action (or with pending Comrel action from the sound of things here, |
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>> again I don't have the details personally but am going from what has |
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>> been publicly posted here). |
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>> |
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>>> |
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>>> Additionally, it appears that rejoining devs are merely treated like new |
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>>> devs. Or at least, *should* be[3]: |
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>>> |
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>> |
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>> They are, when there weren't Comrel concerns from the last time they were devs. |
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>> |
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>>> |
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>>> Given the above, I have to question the validity of Comrel's involvement |
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>>> and ask why things that (allegedly?) happened eight years ago are still |
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>>> relevant. |
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>> |
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>> Since I don't know the details of what happened eight years ago I |
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>> couldn't comment. Neither could anybody on Comrel who does know what |
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>> happened eight years ago since they're bound by the privacy rules. |
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>> Presumably Comrel would decide if those things are relevant, and if a |
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>> candidate developer disagreed with them they could appeal to the |
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>> Council. From what I've seen in the public comments and discussion |
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>> the concerns at this point have nothing to do with what happened eight |
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>> years ago, but the recent reactions to bringing them up. |
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> |
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> On one hand I understand the privacy angle, but if information is kept |
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> secret by Comrel in the interest of "privacy", how would we find out |
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> about any decisions made in poor judgment, an over-reach in power, or |
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> merely misunderstandings? |
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Anonymous statistics as already proposed work to show the general trend |
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of action by ComRel, and if a person feels that they have been unjustly |
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treated by ComRel, they have the right to appeal to ComRel and the |
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Council. Like a court system. You appeal to the next higher level |
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until you hit the top, if you truly believe that the decision against |
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you was unjust. Minor ComRel incident->Full ComRel incident->Council |
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review->(legal issues)->Trustees |
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> |
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> One such suggestion might be to join the project. However, I imagine |
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> Comrel would want to keep information as close as possible and only |
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> share it when absolutely necessary. For privacy this makes sense; for |
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> transparency and accountability, it enables corrupt behavior. |
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ComRel is directly accountable to Council. The only concern is if you |
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don't trust either body. Effectively, if you don't trust any of the |
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ruling bodies of Gentoo, I am not sure what your choices are, but that |
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means either you are off base, or there is something truly rotten in |
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Denmark (and I'm inclined to believe that we are NOT currently in that |
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situation). |
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> |
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> I have not personally spoken with anyone in Comrel, so I cannot speak |
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> about their methods, but without some degree of transparency my only |
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> view as a developer is to hope I don't end up on the business end of it. |
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>> |
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>>> As a case study, who else has had to appeal Comrel or the |
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>>> Council to rejoin Gentoo? |
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>> |
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>> I doubt that anybody could give you the "who" if there was anybody, |
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>> again due to privacy. They could speak to how many, and I can say |
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>> that I've seen all of two Comrel-related appeals in the entire time |
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>> I've been on Council (which is a few years now), and none from |
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>> prospective devs. So, I imagine this is pretty rare. There aren't |
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>> many devs who have been kicked out in general, and I imagine only a |
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>> small fraction attempt to return. Very few even appeal being kicked |
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>> out in the first place. |
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>> |
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>>> |
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>>> I think organizationally that each project deserves equal scrutiny into |
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>>> its workings and whether or not they are improving Gentoo as a whole. |
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>>> That includes Comrel and arguably *any* project within Gentoo, imo. |
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>>> |
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>> |
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>> Hence the reason I opened the discussion threads on aspects of how |
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>> Comrel operates... |
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> |
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> Thanks for doing that. Judging from the multitude of e-mails and |
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> responses, it's clearly something that has created poor situations and I |
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> hope we're able to move forward to resolutions. |
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>> |
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>>> |
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>>> As usual, this is just my two cents, offered only because I hope I would |
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>>> not be treated this way if I were to come back to Gentoo after leaving. |
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>>> (That said, I have no current plans of leaving Gentoo. It's just |
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>>> something to think about.) Thanks for reading. |
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>>> |
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>> |
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>> Devs who leave without pending Comrel complaints are not subject to |
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>> any unusual process when they return, as far as I'm aware. Devs who |
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>> had complaints just need to work with Comrel, and the fact that they |
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>> had a past issue is not generally disclosed unless they choose to |
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>> start a mailing list thread on the topic... |
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>> |
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> |
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> As a side note, why do we have Comrel if we're all expected to act like |
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> adults? Adults solve problems by communicating, and having an opaque |
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> group mediate conflicts doesn't strike me as ideal. If two people have |
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> trouble and cannot solve it, they go their separate ways or learn to |
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> work past their differences. |
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And what do you do when one person decides to continue to harass |
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another, despite another person trying to move on? You have to have |
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some sort of mediation with a third party when things break down in bad |
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scenarios. What are you going to do if a developer starts sexually |
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harassing another? Are you going to expect that the person is just |
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going to stop? And what if they don't? That's why ComRel exists. As |
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they say, you try to handle the issues on your own first, and if that |
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fails, then you escalate to ComRel, who attempts to mediate, if |
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mediation fails, then it may escalate to official action. ComRel is not |
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running around with a ban hammer beating people up left and right. |
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> |
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> Leadership requires accountability. Trustees and the Council have some |
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> degree of accountability, and can be removed from their positions as the |
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> developer community pleases. With a group as influential as Comrel, I |
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> would expect some level of accountability and responsibility. If we're |
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> going to trust a group with what's essentially HR, their decisions |
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> should be backed by an accountable person or group, such as the Council |
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> (or a similar group within Comrel that answers to the community). |
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It's the case with all representative governments. You elect some |
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officials who appoint others. If you don't like their choices, you |
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speak to them, or vote for someone else. |
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> |
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> In that vein, I believe that if Comrel is responsible for a particularly |
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> unpopular or otherwise disruptive change, they should be held |
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> accountable for it, including finding "replacements" or filling the |
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> holes left by the developer(s) they may take action against. |
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How do they do that? They can't force another developer to take their |
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place, nor can they suddenly will up other developers into existence |
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(which still has the force issue) |
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> |
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> Additionally, we should think about conflicts of interest. Should we let |
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> people act on both the Council and in Comrel? I recall certain |
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> situations call for council members to abstain from certain votes. Is |
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> that true of matters involving Comrel as well? QA? There are multiple |
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> "pits" of power, and I think we as a project should do what we can to |
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> ensure that powers between groups don't become imbalanced as one or a |
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> small group consolidate power among themselves and use it as a weapon. |
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> |
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Now, as far as conflict of interest is concerned, since the appeal of a |
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ComRel issue is a Council appeal, I think that a conflict of interest |
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warrants special attention. Whether we are best with a policy |
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preventing holding both positions, or forcing someone to recuse |
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themselves, I think we'd probably benefit from either. |
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> I digress, though. Thanks for clarifying your perspective. I have a |
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> better idea of what you're talking about now. |
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> |
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-- |
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NP-Hardass |