Re: [gentoo-project] rfc: council members and appeals

[Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org>]

On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 12:58 PM, Daniel Robbins <drobbins@funtoo.org> wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 10:46 AM, Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org> wrote:
>>
>>
>> "a situation in which a person is in a position to derive personal
>> benefit from actions or decisions made in their official capacity"
>
> I think the definition in the world of Gentoo would be expanded to cover
> non-financial benefit, since Gentoo is a very egalitarian organization
> (unlike a for-profit company) and there is an expectation of impartiality.

If somebody isn't impartial they shouldn't be involved in either a
Comrel or Council decision.

If they are impartial, then I don't see how the Comrel decision
suddenly makes them not.  Sure, it does make it less likely that an
appeal will be overturned, but that is only a problem if the original
decision was incorrect, and if the decision of the Council is correct
by definition, then having more Council members casting their votes
earlier would tend to impart correctness to the Comrel decision and
not the other way around.

> Also, in very few circumstances are the trustees or council voting on issues
> that even have the potential for financial benefit.

Honestly, this seems like saying that according to the best practices
of most organizations Gentoo doesn't have an issue, therefore we need
to create an issue where no issue would otherwise exist otherwise we
don't have a problem to solve.

> It wouldn't be binding but could be requested, and the council/trustees
> could decide whether the request is legitimate. Again, if there is the
> *perception* of a potential conflict of interest, that can be enough for
> someone to abstain from voting because it strengthens the legitimacy of the
> vote.

In the last year or so it doesn't seem like we've had an issue with
people not being able to voice concerns...  But of course they should
be free to do so.

I just want to be careful because the standard should be what a
reasonable person would perceive, not what somebody who is convinced
that Gentoo is run by the Illuminati would perceive...  :)

IMO it seems like a majority of people voicing opinions here have
non-mainstream opinions on this matter.  I don't think this is
healthy, but ultimately I guess the community gets to decide how much
tinfoil to apply...

-- 
Rich