On Sun, Jun 17, 2018 at 1:37 PM, Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org> wrote:

> On Sun, Jun 17, 2018 at 1:26 PM William Hubbs <williamh@gentoo.org> wrote:
> >
> > My opinion though is we should give the trustees time to catch up
> >
>
> How much time?  We're 14 years in, and Robin has been working on the
> books for a few years I think.  Don't get me wrong - I appreciate the
> work he is doing, but I'm not convinced it is a one-person project,
> and it doesn't end when the past is caught up.
>

I'm fairly confident we can fix the current tax problems (in the end, its a
problem we can solve with money, and we have some money.)
I'm less convinced the non-profit yields any value over other alternatives,
and so from an effort-basis I feel its necessary to wind down and replace
with something else.


>
> >
> > Once that happens, I think it is better to work with them to choose the
> > future path since they own the Gentoo trademark, name, logo etc [1].
> >
>
> Working with somebody isn't the same as deferring everything to them.
>
> The problem with leaving the fate of the Foundation entirely to the
> Trustees is that there is a lot of selection bias at work.  Trustees
> are a bunch of individuals selected for their interest in running a
> non-profit (for the most part, simply volunteering for the post is
> sufficient to be voted in).  Should we be surprised when they advocate
> for continuing to run a non-profit?
>

I really don't think this is true. Its explicitly not true for me. I was a
trustee because there were open slots and someone had to 'keep the lights
on.'
Other people who ran for the board have expressed similar sentiments. I am
running again in the next election on a platform of dissolution (closing
the foundation) which is again contrary to your argument. There is no point
in continuing to run a non-profit that continues to nominally accrue risk
with little or no upside. Eventually it will become so toxic that you will
be unable to find anyone to run it (some may say this has already begun to
happen.) This is evident partially by the board's reduction in numbers.
Previously the board had 13 seats, then 7, then 5. I'm not superbly
confident we will be able to fill 5 seats in the next election.


> There is also no need to wait for the Foundation to fix everything
> before working on a path forward.  Just as individuals can use their
> own property to work on Gentoo-related projects, or donate their own
> money to the Gentoo Foundation, so other entities can use their own
> property to work on Gentoo-related projects, or donate their money to
> the Foundation.
>

I think some of the conflict is a result of communication style (America v
European) and also the internet-based communication methods we use to meet
and converse with each other. I've often pitched something else (audio or
video) but have never reached consensus. This isn't to discount the actual
area of conflict (e.g. Finances) but how ones communicate ones ideas
matters a fair bit.

-A


>
> --
> Rich
>
>