On Sun, Dec 6, 2015 at 4:43 AM, Markus Geiß <mge...@mifos.org> wrote: >...
> Joining Apache, preparing the proposal, nominating the initial committers, > and agreeing on mentors is a process governed by our community by having a > healthy discussion and finding consensus on all of these things. > Please be careful with a phrase such as "governed by our community", as that sounds somewhat isolationist and exclusive. One of the primary things to learn about how Apache views/wants its communities to operate, is to be as inclusive as possible. And that means trying to avoid the implied boundary defined by "our community", especially when speaking about governance/authority. ... I believe the goal here is reduction of authority. We *do* want our TLPs to be self-governing, but to do so through consensus rather than an application of rules and power structure. When I was Chairman of the ASF, I learned a very important lesson: I did not want to impose, or to use my position of authority, but *others* viewed me in that position regardless. I didn't like it, but couldn't avoid it. My personal words were sometimes viewed as the Chairman's words. Along similar lines, incoming podlings may/will view Mentors' words in light of an authority we don't wish/want them to have. The podling needs a few people to provide a +1 when required (Mentors), and it needs many people to teach it about typical Apache culture (Community volunteers). I'm not entirely sold on this specific approach, but I definitely see some sense in minimizing the potential for mistaken authority, especially for those new-to/learning how we work here at Apache. Us "old hands" get it, but that doesn't apply to noobs. Cheers, -g
