I'm not going to dig into all the details of how a vote is called in the ASF.
In posting this I am not asking for the current vote to be recalled, there is no need. I am just wanting to flag something that concerns me about how the vote was called (and as per usual this is just advice from a mentor, these are not rules that must be adopted). In an ASF community everyone is entitled to an opinion. Everyone should be encouraged to express that opinion in a formal vote, just as much as they should be encouraged to express their opinions in day to day discussion. It is true that only some members of the community have binding votes. However, this only becomes important in the event of an absence of community consensus. Therefore, when calling a vote please do not word it in such a way that implies others in the community do not have a vote that counts. It does count. A responsible PPMC member will use their own vote to support any appropriate objections from the community. They can only do that if the community is encouraged to express their views alongside everyone else.. Specifically, there is no need to define binding votes in the vote thread, the way Apache Projects vote is well documented and, over time, the AOOo project will gain its own guidelines. Secondly, do not list the people who are "important" enough to have a binding vote. Thirdly, explicitly call for all community members to express their preferences in the vote. In other words, make every action of the PPMC as inclusive as possible. Finally, Denis - thank you for calling the vote. Ross -- Ross Gardler (@rgardler) Programme Leader (Open Development) OpenDirective http://opendirective.com
