From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1QsZD1-0004LM-Im for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sun, 14 Aug 2011 11:50:27 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id DD43721C1D1; Sun, 14 Aug 2011 11:50:17 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-fx0-f53.google.com (mail-fx0-f53.google.com [209.85.161.53]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C6A3121C1CA for ; Sun, 14 Aug 2011 11:50:08 +0000 (UTC) Received: by fxd23 with SMTP id 23so3943152fxd.40 for ; Sun, 14 Aug 2011 04:50:08 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:sender:in-reply-to:references:date :x-google-sender-auth:message-id:subject:from:to:content-type; bh=sOsVRbvXdqI/Ai8foGfGJO10OmXZdDrbGBit7M4QIYU=; b=jq69Ow0gouorg5VSOLSpvnJxwha/qD/gpztgBcPLACXi9Gt4UbhLuqdkna81tJD7Yo Iodak4MgMq2sasu508uf7hPJW2Kig+kqgVZyilgfyrrU+lHcAoCvJW+X52QECgwA/74T fDLx/WXa3PCCfrLeFPPC3zKHDq8d4ZqwlTHHA= Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Project discussion list X-BeenThere: gentoo-project@lists.gentoo.org Reply-To: gentoo-project@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.223.51.204 with SMTP id e12mr3980668fag.50.1313322607970; Sun, 14 Aug 2011 04:50:07 -0700 (PDT) Sender: freemanrich@gmail.com Received: by 10.223.105.208 with HTTP; Sun, 14 Aug 2011 04:50:07 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <4E47B22D.1060005@gentoo.org> References: <4E47ADA0.2060906@gentoo.org> <20110814112715.GG460@gentoo.org> <4E47B22D.1060005@gentoo.org> Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2011 07:50:07 -0400 X-Google-Sender-Auth: 2pEozIKf_e8-76QbrDQ0b-nk-vQ Message-ID: Subject: Re: [gentoo-project] Should DevRel members be in Council? From: Rich Freeman To: gentoo-project@lists.gentoo.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Archives-Salt: X-Archives-Hash: 7d4d013ad4b0bb088491867102b1b5cf On Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 7:31 AM, Markos Chandras wrote: > On 08/14/2011 12:27 PM, Fabian Groffen wrote: >> >> Perhaps the Council should be released from this task at all, and >> instead should be given the job to assemble a jury out of the dev >> community (with non-involvement in DevRel) that is to examine the >> case, and make a final verdict that the Council will accept/act >> upon. >> > Same problem as before. You need to make sure that the jury will not be > biased. This introduces another layer of bureaucracy. We have enough of > them already > I'm not sure we want an "unbiased" jury (as if such a thing could ever exist). We want a jury that is biased to agree with the majority of the Dev community. I'd suggest that one already exists - the council. It seems to me that there is some kind of concern about "fairness" and that begs the question "what is fair?" Gentoo is a community-driven distro, and we all have to live with each other. We should try to foster a diversity of ideas, but when somebody is acting like a jerk, then we're allowed to call them on that. Ultimately if they don't want to cooperate we're not required to let them disrupt the project. Nobody has a right to be an asshole, and when they're prevented from being such it isn't "unfair." So, what is fair? I'd say that fair is whatever a majority of the community wants it to be. It is in our interests to not turn away help, and to seek contribution from wherever it is offered. So, we already have incentive to bear with productive people who sometimes behave poorly. We don't need to find some kind of arbitrator who will force us to bear with a problem longer than we wish to. Now, having a team that specializes in dealing with problems just makes sense, just like it makes sense to have people who love PERL maintain the PERL herd. The only reason PERL issues should go before the Council is if a PERL problem causes trouble for everybody else. If that happens then the council should do its job - figure out what the community needs and make it happen. Devrel decisions are no different. I think the only cause for a council or trustee member to recuse themselves is a personal conflict of interest. If I propose some great way to spend foundation funds, I'm not going to recuse myself from the vote just because it was my idea. On the other hand, if I propose that a company I own shares in do some job for the foundation then I'm going to disclose that conflict of interest up-front, and more than likely I would recuse myself. Having an educated opinion isn't a conflict of interest, but having a specific and personal relationship to the matter being discussed is. My feeling is that Council members should only recuse themselves from Devrel actions if they're very personally involved - such as being a very close personal friend or relative of the "accused," or if they were personally heavily involved in the complaint itself. Even that is a gray area - just because a council member points out that somebody is behaving badly doesn't make them personally involved - the problem needs to strongly impact them in a personal way that it doesn't impact the community at large. Rich