Re: [gentoo-project] Merging Trustees and Council / Developers and Foundation - 1.0 reply

[Raymond Jennings]

On Wed, Jan 11, 2017 at 4:24 AM, Matthias Maier <tamiko@g.o> wrote:

> Hi Matthew,
>
> On Wed, Jan 11, 2017, at 04:59 CST, Matthew Thode <
> prometheanfire@g.o> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > I think I'm leaning towards
> > the 'board' being what is currently trustees + hr(comrel) + pr + infra.
> > Under that would go what is currently being done by council.
>
> I am a bit astonished by the sudden proposal to centralize more power
> under the Gentoo Foundation, A US based non-profit. As was laid out by
> ulm and dilfridge, there are a number of severe legal uncertainties for
> non-US citizens participating in such a construct and frankly speaking I
> do not see the need for it. On the contrary.
>
>  - It is my firm believe that it is *vital* for an open source project
>    that essentially consists of volunteers from around the world to be
>    organized as a community and not as a legal entity under some
>    jurisdiction.
>
>    Therefore the status quo makes a lot of sense:
>
>      - the developer community organizing itself
>
>      - the Foundation taking care of legal matters (finances and
>        infrastructure) that need a legal entity in some jurisdiction
>
>    The vital bit is the fact that the developer community is
>    self-organizing and this includes the power to decide who is a member
>    and who is not.
>
>  - Now, all you essentially propose is to shift the "hr(comrel)" part to
>    the Foundation - all the rest (trustees, pr, and infra) it is already
>    in charge of.
>
>    So, why is it important to give the Foundation the power to decide
>    over the "hr" part of the Gentoo developer community?
>
>    If it is just about comrel, well, we can easily reorganize comrel
>    into an elected body (by the Gentoo developer community) similarly to
>    the council.
>
>    I do not see any necessity for the Foundation to be involved in the
>    self organization of the developer community. On the contrary, there
>    is the danger that a strengthened Foundation will severely undermine
>    the authority of our developer community procedures, with
>
>      - trustees being able to overrule the council on technical and
>        community decisions
>
>      - trustees being able to overrule our (developer) recruiting
>        process
>
> So, as  a trustee (and the one proposing this move), why do you want to
> have this power presiding over the developer community?
>
> Best,
> Matthias
>

What concerns me is that this post seems to indicate a degree of concern
that the foundation might not have the best interests of the gentoo
developer community at heart.

Isn't it the foundation's job to advance gentoo's cause?  And wouldn't that
make the developer community a ward of sorts that it's the foundation's job
to protect?

I would like to ask why the foundation having power over HR issues is even
a problem to begin with.

I will say that I think better communication is a good thing between the
foundation and the developer community, perhaps monthly meetings between
trustees and council would be good.

But I would be very surprised to see them as enemies of the developers in
any sense of the word.

I find it alarming that foundation trustees are even being hinted as a
potential enemy.  The solution is better communication, not a standoff that
would provoke a civil war of sorts.

The details may work out later but seriously...why exactly would we be
afraid of the trustees having this power?

I ask this of everyone.  What would motivate the trustees to use this or
any other power in a manner detrimental to Gentoo?

This isn't a rhetorical question either.  If the trustees cannot truly be
trusted, then I think that would raise a serious set of questions of its
own.