[gentoo-nfp] Request for vote on removal Matthew Thode from Trustees

[gentoo-nfp] Request for vote on removal Matthew Thode from Trustees

[Michał Górny]

Hello, everyone.

As some of you may know I have been recently defamed on Gentoo mailing
lists by one of the Trustees (at the time). I have been attempting to
resolve this matter peacefully for 2 months now, and I haven't had any
success in getting justice. In fact, I haven't received more than 8
words from the Trustees on the matter.

All things considered, I would like to request per Section 5.6 of Bylaws
 [1] a Foundation members vote on removal of Matthew Thode from his
position as President of the Foundation and Trustee. I believe that
Matthew has not succeeded in ensuring professional behavior among
Trustees and that he has abused his position towards his private goals
that were not in line with the best interests of Gentoo
and the Foundation.

To support my request, I will note here a number of facts regarding past
actions of the Trustees during Matthew's term that I'm aware of and that
I believe to be contrary to the best interest of Gentoo. I do not wish
to defame anyone, therefore I will not comment on those actions, merely
list them and link the evidence whenever publicly available. I leave
judging those actions to the Foundation members.

Please note that I'm not implying that all the listed facts are related
to one another. However, I believe that all of them are relevant to
judging Matthew's actions.


2017-01-05
  Matthew Thode lays out a proposal that merges the Council
  and Trustees into a single 'Board' on top of Foundation [2].

2017-01-11
  Matthew Thode lays out an alternative proposal in which Council
  is reduced to handling technical matters, and 'Board' gains control
  over ComRel [3].

2017-12-10
  Daniel Campbell (signed as a Trustee) sends a mail with a number of
  defaming accusations [4]. I have replied to that mail correcting
  the false facts, and I have opened a bug with Daniel in CC pointing
  this out [5].

2017-12-16
  Daniel Campbell sends his resignation mail in which he blames for it,
  and further defames me [6]. I have to point out here that he brings
  a few true facts for which I am sorry, and I specifically only mind
  those that are lies.

2017-12-16
  Matthew Thode files a ComRel bug [7] in which he requests banning me.
  In his request he mentions the decision of Daniel Campbell.

2018-01-03
  Daniel Campbell withdraws his resignation [8].

2018-01-14
  Matthew Thode apologizes to Rich Freeman for the defamation made
  by Daniel Campbell in his resignation thread [9].

2018-01-18
  Daniel Campbell resumes his activity on Bugzilla [10]. I repeat my
  request for correction of his defaming mails via direct mail. I never
  receive any reply from him.

2018-01-28
  Since Daniel Campbell has been acting as a Trustee, I send the same
  request to Trustees. The same day I receive a reply from Matthew Thode
  requesting clarification of the exact statements that are defaming.

2018-01-29
  I reply with exact list of defaming statements and explanation why
  they are false. I never receive any reply.


At this point, 2 months have passed since the first defaming mail was
sent, and 2 weeks have passed since the specific request to Trustees was
sent. The mails still spread false information that is signed
by a Trustee without any correction.

All I ever asked for was correcting the false facts. Rich Freeman had to
wait almost a month to get it. I am pleading for two months already,
with no result.

I do not know what Matthew Thode's motivation is for his actions or lack
of them. However, I do believe that it is in the best interest of Gentoo
and the Foundation to pursue peaceful and professional collaboration.
Defaming posts made by a Trustee, followed by complete passiveness
of the other Trustees in resolving the situation peacefully certainly
do not serve this goal.

Furthermore, I believe such actions make the Foundation vulnerable to
lawsuits. I personally neither do wish or am capable of pursuing this
but this doesn't change the fact. I believe that a responsible President
would have apologized ASAP, as either actively or passively supporting
this defamation serves no purpose to the Foundation.

All those things considered, I believe that my only recourse at this
point is to request a vote on removing Matthew Thode from the position
he currently holds. I believe it is important that the President of
Gentoo Foundaties is a person who can represent Gentoo professionally.

If any of the matters I have brought here are incorrect, I apologize for
that.


[1]:https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Foundation:Bylaws#Section_5.6._Resignation_and_Removal_of_Trustees
[2]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-project/message/20eb05be025ee734fb01a0c9b35e38ef
[3]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-project/message/d7e4a5fb53717fd4e6d961091d63fef1
[4]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-dev/message/16a584443dd6ea013a3dd7f57e9ecbcd
[5]:https://bugs.gentoo.org/640470
[6]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-project/message/c3755ad531fa6b0f1e481d88e42ee72f
[7]:https://bugs.gentoo.org/641268
[8]:https://bugs.gentoo.org/545022#c17
[9]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-project/message/7801aefef15605be45111d189540516e
[10]:https://bugs.gentoo.org/644902

-- 
Best regards,
Michał Górny

Re: [gentoo-nfp] Request for vote on removal Matthew Thode from Trustees

[Matthew Thode]

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On 18-02-11 01:11:52, Michał Górny wrote:
> Hello, everyone.
> 
> As some of you may know I have been recently defamed on Gentoo mailing
> lists by one of the Trustees (at the time). I have been attempting to
> resolve this matter peacefully for 2 months now, and I haven't had any
> success in getting justice. In fact, I haven't received more than 8
> words from the Trustees on the matter.
> 
> All things considered, I would like to request per Section 5.6 of Bylaws
>  [1] a Foundation members vote on removal of Matthew Thode from his
> position as President of the Foundation and Trustee. I believe that
> Matthew has not succeeded in ensuring professional behavior among
> Trustees and that he has abused his position towards his private goals
> that were not in line with the best interests of Gentoo
> and the Foundation.
> 
> To support my request, I will note here a number of facts regarding past
> actions of the Trustees during Matthew's term that I'm aware of and that
> I believe to be contrary to the best interest of Gentoo. I do not wish
> to defame anyone, therefore I will not comment on those actions, merely
> list them and link the evidence whenever publicly available. I leave
> judging those actions to the Foundation members.
> 
> Please note that I'm not implying that all the listed facts are related
> to one another. However, I believe that all of them are relevant to
> judging Matthew's actions.
> 
> 
> 2017-01-05
>   Matthew Thode lays out a proposal that merges the Council
>   and Trustees into a single 'Board' on top of Foundation [2].
> 
> 2017-01-11
>   Matthew Thode lays out an alternative proposal in which Council
>   is reduced to handling technical matters, and 'Board' gains control
>   over ComRel [3].
> 
> 2017-12-10
>   Daniel Campbell (signed as a Trustee) sends a mail with a number of
>   defaming accusations [4]. I have replied to that mail correcting
>   the false facts, and I have opened a bug with Daniel in CC pointing
>   this out [5].
> 
> 2017-12-16
>   Daniel Campbell sends his resignation mail in which he blames for it,
>   and further defames me [6]. I have to point out here that he brings
>   a few true facts for which I am sorry, and I specifically only mind
>   those that are lies.
> 
> 2017-12-16
>   Matthew Thode files a ComRel bug [7] in which he requests banning me.
>   In his request he mentions the decision of Daniel Campbell.
> 
> 2018-01-03
>   Daniel Campbell withdraws his resignation [8].
> 
> 2018-01-14
>   Matthew Thode apologizes to Rich Freeman for the defamation made
>   by Daniel Campbell in his resignation thread [9].
> 
> 2018-01-18
>   Daniel Campbell resumes his activity on Bugzilla [10]. I repeat my
>   request for correction of his defaming mails via direct mail. I never
>   receive any reply from him.
> 
> 2018-01-28
>   Since Daniel Campbell has been acting as a Trustee, I send the same
>   request to Trustees. The same day I receive a reply from Matthew Thode
>   requesting clarification of the exact statements that are defaming.
> 
> 2018-01-29
>   I reply with exact list of defaming statements and explanation why
>   they are false. I never receive any reply.
> 
> 
> At this point, 2 months have passed since the first defaming mail was
> sent, and 2 weeks have passed since the specific request to Trustees was
> sent. The mails still spread false information that is signed
> by a Trustee without any correction.
> 
> All I ever asked for was correcting the false facts. Rich Freeman had to
> wait almost a month to get it. I am pleading for two months already,
> with no result.
> 

I'm sorry that we haven't sent out an apology or retraction yet, we've
been gathering info on the situation before making a statement.  The
first time I saw a request for comment on zlg's statement was two weeks
ago.  I asked others for final input before I give a response tomorrow.

I sent this two hours ago.

17:07 <     prometheanfire@> NeddySeagoon: not sure if still around (probably not), but I'm going to email out an appology (without stating fault) tomorrow, it'll go basically the same as the response to rich0
17:07 <     prometheanfire@> robbat2: alicef kensington ^
17:08 <     prometheanfire@> dabbott: ^
17:08 <     prometheanfire@> klondike isn't here atm

> I do not know what Matthew Thode's motivation is for his actions or lack
> of them. However, I do believe that it is in the best interest of Gentoo
> and the Foundation to pursue peaceful and professional collaboration.
> Defaming posts made by a Trustee, followed by complete passiveness
> of the other Trustees in resolving the situation peacefully certainly
> do not serve this goal.
> 
> Furthermore, I believe such actions make the Foundation vulnerable to
> lawsuits. I personally neither do wish or am capable of pursuing this
> but this doesn't change the fact. I believe that a responsible President
> would have apologized ASAP, as either actively or passively supporting
> this defamation serves no purpose to the Foundation.
> 
> All those things considered, I believe that my only recourse at this
> point is to request a vote on removing Matthew Thode from the position
> he currently holds. I believe it is important that the President of
> Gentoo Foundaties is a person who can represent Gentoo professionally.
> 
> If any of the matters I have brought here are incorrect, I apologize for
> that.
> 
> 
> [1]:https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Foundation:Bylaws#Section_5.6._Resignation_and_Removal_of_Trustees
> [2]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-project/message/20eb05be025ee734fb01a0c9b35e38ef
> [3]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-project/message/d7e4a5fb53717fd4e6d961091d63fef1
> [4]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-dev/message/16a584443dd6ea013a3dd7f57e9ecbcd
> [5]:https://bugs.gentoo.org/640470
> [6]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-project/message/c3755ad531fa6b0f1e481d88e42ee72f
> [7]:https://bugs.gentoo.org/641268
> [8]:https://bugs.gentoo.org/545022#c17
> [9]:https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-project/message/7801aefef15605be45111d189540516e
> [10]:https://bugs.gentoo.org/644902
> 
> -- 
> Best regards,
> Michał Górny
> 

You are welcome to call for a vote for removal as it is your right as a
current member.  It'll have to get the election people involved and send
out a notice to all members (full election protocol I guess).

I will try and comment on my earlier proposals to merge the Foundation
and Council.  The goal I had behind that was to have a clear org
structure for Gentoo.  Currently there is not a clear conflict
resolution method when the Council and Foundation have differing
opinions on things.  This didn't go well so I'm now trying to do joint
meetings so we at least work somewhat together (left hand knowing what
the right hand is doing).

-- 
Matthew Thode (prometheanfire)

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Re: [gentoo-nfp] Request for vote on removal Matthew Thode from Trustees

[Francisco Blas Izquierdo Riera (klondike)]

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Hi Michał,

El 11/02/18 a las 01:11, Michał Górny escribió:
> All things considered, I would like to request per Section 5.6 of Bylaws
>  [1] a Foundation members vote on removal of Matthew Thode from his
> position as President of the Foundation and Trustee. I believe that
> Matthew has not succeeded in ensuring professional behavior among
> Trustees and that he has abused his position towards his private goals
> that were not in line with the best interests of Gentoo
> and the Foundation.
To the best of my understanding, Section 5.6 is to be interpreted as an
additional restriction on the number of votes required to pass the
propossal as specified on Chapter 53, Article 8, Section 16 NMSA 1978
> A majority of the votes entitled to be cast on a matter to be voted
> upon by the members present or represented by proxy at a meeting at
> which a quorum is present shall be necessary for the adoption thereof
> *unless a greater proportion is required by* the Nonprofit Corporation
> Act [Chapter 53, Article 8 NMSA 1978], the articles of incorporation
> or *the b**ylaws*.

How such a voting shall be called is specified on Section 3.3 of the
Foundation Bylaws whcih defined the process to call for a special meeting:
> Special meetings of the members shall be held when directed by the
> Chairman, President or the Board of Trustees, or *when requested in
> writing by not less than ten percent (10%) of all members*.

This is reinforced by Chapter 53, Article 8, Section 16.C NMSA 1978:
> C. Special meetings of the members may be called by the president or
> by the board of directors. *Special meetings of the members may also
> be called by* such other officers or persons or *number or proportion
> of members as may be provided in the articles of incorporation or the
> bylaws*. In the absence of a provision fixing the number or proportion
> of members entitled to call a meeting, a special meeting of members
> may be called by members having one-twentieth of the votes entitled to
> be cast at such meeting.

Currently the foundation have 92 members, you need to be at least 10 to
call for such a voting (or get the Board to call for it). Also, as
specified on 5.6 you'll need 47 affirmative votes to pass the removal
propossal.

I have requested the other trustees as per 5.12 to see if they agree on
this interpretation so that we can address your concerns as soon as
possible, if no affirmative response from all of them this matter should
be brought on the next meeting.

--
Klondike

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Re: [gentoo-nfp] Request for vote on removal Matthew Thode from Trustees

[Michał Górny]

W dniu sob, 10.02.2018 o godzinie 19∶29 -0600, użytkownik Matthew Thode
napisał:
> On 18-02-11 01:11:52, Michał Górny wrote:
> > Hello, everyone.
> > 
> > As some of you may know I have been recently defamed on Gentoo mailing
> > lists by one of the Trustees (at the time). I have been attempting to
> > resolve this matter peacefully for 2 months now, and I haven't had any
> > success in getting justice. In fact, I haven't received more than 8
> > words from the Trustees on the matter.
> > 
> > All things considered, I would like to request per Section 5.6 of Bylaws
> >  [1] a Foundation members vote on removal of Matthew Thode from his
> > position as President of the Foundation and Trustee. I believe that
> > Matthew has not succeeded in ensuring professional behavior among
> > Trustees and that he has abused his position towards his private goals
> > that were not in line with the best interests of Gentoo
> > and the Foundation.
> > 
> > To support my request, I will note here a number of facts regarding past
> > actions of the Trustees during Matthew's term that I'm aware of and that
> > I believe to be contrary to the best interest of Gentoo. I do not wish
> > to defame anyone, therefore I will not comment on those actions, merely
> > list them and link the evidence whenever publicly available. I leave
> > judging those actions to the Foundation members.
> > 
> > Please note that I'm not implying that all the listed facts are related
> > to one another. However, I believe that all of them are relevant to
> > judging Matthew's actions.
> > 
> > 
> > 2017-01-05
> >   Matthew Thode lays out a proposal that merges the Council
> >   and Trustees into a single 'Board' on top of Foundation [2].
> > 
> > 2017-01-11
> >   Matthew Thode lays out an alternative proposal in which Council
> >   is reduced to handling technical matters, and 'Board' gains control
> >   over ComRel [3].
> > 
> > 2017-12-10
> >   Daniel Campbell (signed as a Trustee) sends a mail with a number of
> >   defaming accusations [4]. I have replied to that mail correcting
> >   the false facts, and I have opened a bug with Daniel in CC pointing
> >   this out [5].
> > 
> > 2017-12-16
> >   Daniel Campbell sends his resignation mail in which he blames for it,
> >   and further defames me [6]. I have to point out here that he brings
> >   a few true facts for which I am sorry, and I specifically only mind
> >   those that are lies.
> > 
> > 2017-12-16
> >   Matthew Thode files a ComRel bug [7] in which he requests banning me.
> >   In his request he mentions the decision of Daniel Campbell.
> > 
> > 2018-01-03
> >   Daniel Campbell withdraws his resignation [8].
> > 
> > 2018-01-14
> >   Matthew Thode apologizes to Rich Freeman for the defamation made
> >   by Daniel Campbell in his resignation thread [9].
> > 
> > 2018-01-18
> >   Daniel Campbell resumes his activity on Bugzilla [10]. I repeat my
> >   request for correction of his defaming mails via direct mail. I never
> >   receive any reply from him.
> > 
> > 2018-01-28
> >   Since Daniel Campbell has been acting as a Trustee, I send the same
> >   request to Trustees. The same day I receive a reply from Matthew Thode
> >   requesting clarification of the exact statements that are defaming.
> > 
> > 2018-01-29
> >   I reply with exact list of defaming statements and explanation why
> >   they are false. I never receive any reply.
> > 
> > 
> > At this point, 2 months have passed since the first defaming mail was
> > sent, and 2 weeks have passed since the specific request to Trustees was
> > sent. The mails still spread false information that is signed
> > by a Trustee without any correction.
> > 
> > All I ever asked for was correcting the false facts. Rich Freeman had to
> > wait almost a month to get it. I am pleading for two months already,
> > with no result.
> > 
> 
> I'm sorry that we haven't sent out an apology or retraction yet, we've
> been gathering info on the situation before making a statement.  The
> first time I saw a request for comment on zlg's statement was two weeks
> ago.  I asked others for final input before I give a response tomorrow.
> 
> I sent this two hours ago.
> 
> 17:07 <     prometheanfire@> NeddySeagoon: not sure if still around (probably not), but I'm going to email out an appology (without stating fault) tomorrow, it'll go basically the same as the response to rich0
> 17:07 <     prometheanfire@> robbat2: alicef kensington ^
> 17:08 <     prometheanfire@> dabbott: ^
> 17:08 <     prometheanfire@> klondike isn't here atm

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware of that. Given that my request has been
fulfilled, I will not pursue this further. I'm sorry it had to come
to this.

If I may suggest something for the future, then a simple response such
as 'thank you, we will verify this and reach back to you' would
certainly have been better than silence.

-- 
Best regards,
Michał Górny