Gentoo Archives: gentoo-project

From: Thomas Deutschmann <whissi@g.o>
To: "Michał Górny" <mgorny@g.o>, gentoo-project@l.g.o
Cc: Aaron Bauman <bman@g.o>, "Andreas K.Huettel" <dilfridge@g.o>, Kristian Fiskerstrand <k_f@g.o>, slyfox <slyfox@g.o>, Matthias Maier <tamiko@g.o>, Ulrich Mueller <ulm@g.o>, williamh <williamh@g.o>, amynka <amynka@g.o>, soap <soap@g.o>, Rich Freeman <rich0@g.o>
Subject: Re: [gentoo-project] Gentoo Council nominee 2018/19 questions
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2018 21:50:38
Message-Id: cd0c36b1-ea79-5385-8b40-86e8f3944ff9@gentoo.org
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-project] Gentoo Council nominee 2018/19 questions by "Michał Górny"
1 Hi,
2
3 here's my semi-manifesto and my answers (note: I started to write
4 something before I got the questions... I didn't rewrite to
5 integrate questions):
6
7 My vision of the Gentoo council:
8 The Gentoo Council should not be a committee that makes decisions for the
9 community based on the Council members' own opinion. Of course I have my
10 own opinion but I don’t feel special that my opinion should count more
11 than the opinion of anyone else just because I got elected. So from my
12 point of the view the council should act more like an administrative
13 council and keep track of the opinion/arguments within the community and
14 vote for the opinion of the majority after all arguments are shared and
15 no new points of views are getting added.
16
17 If you are looking for someone who should do the research for you, make
18 decisions for you and knows everything better than you and can be blamed
19 for decisions you don’t like then please don’t vote for me.
20
21 However, if you have your own opinion you want to share, want to
22 contribute on topics you are an expert in and just looking for someone
23 who will represent the opinion of the majority after the community has
24 finished discussion, I would be very happy to get your vote!
25
26
27
28 > What do council-nominees think about the current lack of manpower in
29 > Gentoo as a whole, and how do you propose to confront this situation,
30 > with facts?
31
32 Lack of manpower is always a problem. But I don't think it is the
33 council's job to change this. Job is maybe the wrong word but if you
34 would hope for a new council which will create a PR campaign for Gentoo
35 then please don't vote for me. Like I don't think that any government in
36 this world can create jobs on their own, I don’t believe that a single
37 committee in Gentoo alone can lead to interested persons becoming
38 developers.
39 For me, it is the project itself which must be interesting enough. But a
40 closed or toxic community would scare away anyone interested in the
41 project. However, it is not the council's job to make sure these
42 requirements are met. It is the responsibility of every single member of
43 the Gentoo community to keep this project interesting and make sure that
44 people want to join and stay in the community. So it is the community
45 which must define and live the rules. And the council will only act only
46 by majority decision of the community.
47
48
49 > In the same line that previous question, what global decisions do you
50 > consider necessary in order to solve the manpower issue?
51
52 From my personal point of view, I would immediately start a discussion in
53 the community to reconsider to reopen Gentoo for everyone. For me it is
54 unacceptable to restrict access just because less than 10 individuals are
55 misbehaving/trolling. If the majority is unable to ignore those trolling
56 people or are concerned about Gentoo’s public image if we wouldn't
57 respond to any false claims we should find different ways and use
58 existing projects like ComRel to handle them. But it is unacceptable
59 allowing fewer than 10 trolls with bad behaviors to make us to close
60 Gentoo for the public.
61 BUT: Like said I wouldn’t act on this as council member. I would just
62 start a new discussion in the community like anyone else can do all the
63 time and once all arguments are shared the council would check if the
64 majority of Gentoo developers has changed their mind or not. And only if
65 the majority of Gentoo developers would want to open up the community
66 again I would vote with YES.
67
68
69 > Finally, and this is just a personal opinion, right now I see many devs
70 > trying to pull Gentoo to different sides, but what I can't see is a set
71 > of common beliefs that join us all in the same vision of what Gentoo
72 > should be or do in the near future... how could you address this issue?
73
74 We have to differentiate: If we talk about projects, than there's not
75 much we can or should do. Every developer is free to create their own
76 project within Gentoo. As long as their project doesn’t conflict with
77 another project, there won’t be any problems. If their project affects
78 other projects they have to arrange with the other project. But it is
79 unacceptable if a project or committee with power like QA project our
80 council would abuse their given power to force Gentoo in a direction
81 against the will of the majority of the community. In this case, if a
82 person/project is pulling Gentoo into a direction against the will of
83 the majority of the community, council would have to ask this
84 person/project to stop or solve the issues with the community. If the
85 person/project don’t want or can’t solve the problem with the community
86 but keep pulling Gentoo in a direction against the will of the majority
87 of the Gentoo community, it would be ComRel’s job to force them to stop
88 as last resort to protect the community (after a council decision based
89 on a previous community discussion).
90
91
92 > And I'd like to ask the inevitable question: what do you think should
93 > be the roles of Gentoo Council and Trustees appropriately?
94
95 I share same opinion like Kristian and Aaron on this topic. I'd like to
96 add that I especially like the idea to dissolve current foundation in
97 favor of something such as SPI. But it is too early for me to make a
98 clear decision on that yet given that we don’t know all
99 details/consequences yet.
100 But again: Even if I would personally want something such as SPI, if the
101 majority of the community would want to keep current model or something
102 different but not SPI, I would follow the community because that's my
103 understanding of my role in council (to represent community but don't
104 make my opinion the opinion of the community by voting like I want) if
105 I should get elected.
106
107
108 > 1. Do you believe that Council members should respect the requests of
109 > the developer community even if they disagree with them? Or should
110 > Council members decide based on their own judgment of arguments
111 > presented?
112
113 Please see "my vision" from my introduction. In short:
114
115 In the perfect world we all agree after arguments were presented.
116 If we don't agree, Council member should follow the majority.
117
118
119 > Example: there's a heated debate, and the majority of respondents
120 > request that X is implemented. However, after reading all the arguments
121 > you don't think that X is a good idea but you haven't managed to
122 > convince others. Would you vote for X (as your electorate demands)
123 > or against it (as you believe is better for the distro)?
124
125 I would follow majority. If this will be against my fundamentals and
126 cannot support the opinion of the majority, I'll have to resign. Please
127 see my "Final note" for additional details which I had written before the
128 last 3 questions arrived.
129
130
131 > 2. Do you believe that the Council should proactively research the state
132 > of affairs and make decisions whenever they believe the direction
133 > of the distribution needs to be adjusted? Or should it be passive
134 > and avoid involvement unless developers explicitly request Council's
135 > intervention?
136
137 Council should be passive and avoid involvement unless developers
138 explicitly request Council's intervention.
139
140
141 > 3. Do you believe the developer community should hold the power
142 > to veto or dissolve the Council at any point? Provided there's a global
143 > developer vote agreeing on that.
144
145 No, when all council members will share my vision. :)
146
147 Yes, if the community is looking for a committee which will decide for
148 them, a Council which knows everything better or a Council which will act
149 proactively.
150
151
152 Final note: When I say "vote for me if you want someone who represents
153 the majority of the community" because "I would vote for the opinion of
154 the majority of the community" I have to admit that there's a limit or
155 red line I will not cross: In this case I would abstain or even consider
156 to resign from council. To give you an example: For me, the worst
157 decision in the past 12 months was the decision to close Gentoo for
158 public contribution via mailing lists. This was such a bad signal to the
159 world I am really ashamed of. I especially accepted nomination because I
160 think that the majority of the community didn't feel represented by
161 council's decision on that matter. If I would have to vote on this as
162 council member and the majority of the community would want something I
163 really can't support because it is against my fundamentals, I would
164 resign because I would not be able to represent the community anymore.
165
166
167 --
168 Regards,
169 Thomas Deutschmann / Gentoo Linux Developer
170 C4DD 695F A713 8F24 2AA1 5638 5849 7EE5 1D5D 74A5

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