Gentoo Archives: gentoo-project

From: Alec Warner <antarus@g.o>
To: gentoo-project <gentoo-project@l.g.o>
Subject: Re: [gentoo-project] William Hubbs council manifesto 2018-2019
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2018 18:07:29
Message-Id: CAAr7Pr_kA1k2iRJ0konWhVekVJqNJodun=x2SKBC+dj9Fa9r2Q@mail.gmail.com
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-project] William Hubbs council manifesto 2018-2019 by Rich Freeman
1 On Sun, Jun 17, 2018 at 1:37 PM, Rich Freeman <rich0@g.o> wrote:
2
3 > On Sun, Jun 17, 2018 at 1:26 PM William Hubbs <williamh@g.o> wrote:
4 > >
5 > > My opinion though is we should give the trustees time to catch up
6 > >
7 >
8 > How much time? We're 14 years in, and Robin has been working on the
9 > books for a few years I think. Don't get me wrong - I appreciate the
10 > work he is doing, but I'm not convinced it is a one-person project,
11 > and it doesn't end when the past is caught up.
12 >
13
14 I'm fairly confident we can fix the current tax problems (in the end, its a
15 problem we can solve with money, and we have some money.)
16 I'm less convinced the non-profit yields any value over other alternatives,
17 and so from an effort-basis I feel its necessary to wind down and replace
18 with something else.
19
20
21 >
22 > >
23 > > Once that happens, I think it is better to work with them to choose the
24 > > future path since they own the Gentoo trademark, name, logo etc [1].
25 > >
26 >
27 > Working with somebody isn't the same as deferring everything to them.
28 >
29 > The problem with leaving the fate of the Foundation entirely to the
30 > Trustees is that there is a lot of selection bias at work. Trustees
31 > are a bunch of individuals selected for their interest in running a
32 > non-profit (for the most part, simply volunteering for the post is
33 > sufficient to be voted in). Should we be surprised when they advocate
34 > for continuing to run a non-profit?
35 >
36
37 I really don't think this is true. Its explicitly not true for me. I was a
38 trustee because there were open slots and someone had to 'keep the lights
39 on.'
40 Other people who ran for the board have expressed similar sentiments. I am
41 running again in the next election on a platform of dissolution (closing
42 the foundation) which is again contrary to your argument. There is no point
43 in continuing to run a non-profit that continues to nominally accrue risk
44 with little or no upside. Eventually it will become so toxic that you will
45 be unable to find anyone to run it (some may say this has already begun to
46 happen.) This is evident partially by the board's reduction in numbers.
47 Previously the board had 13 seats, then 7, then 5. I'm not superbly
48 confident we will be able to fill 5 seats in the next election.
49
50
51 > There is also no need to wait for the Foundation to fix everything
52 > before working on a path forward. Just as individuals can use their
53 > own property to work on Gentoo-related projects, or donate their own
54 > money to the Gentoo Foundation, so other entities can use their own
55 > property to work on Gentoo-related projects, or donate their money to
56 > the Foundation.
57 >
58
59 I think some of the conflict is a result of communication style (America v
60 European) and also the internet-based communication methods we use to meet
61 and converse with each other. I've often pitched something else (audio or
62 video) but have never reached consensus. This isn't to discount the actual
63 area of conflict (e.g. Finances) but how ones communicate ones ideas
64 matters a fair bit.
65
66 -A
67
68
69 >
70 > --
71 > Rich
72 >
73 >

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-project] William Hubbs council manifesto 2018-2019 "M. J. Everitt" <m.j.everitt@×××.org>