Re: [board-discuss] Merged proposal for in-house developers at TDF

2022-06-12 Thread Emiliano Vavassori

Hi Simon,

Il 11/06/22 20:02, Simon Phipps ha scritto:
I will remind you 
that you started this negative approach about how TDF is acting 
illegally when you and I were on the Board together last decade.


I'm honestly struggling to see how your comments can be thought as positive.

And how should users and members should voice their unsettlement, 
without risking to be stopped at every corner and called out for 
violations of CoC.


Regards,
--
Emiliano Vavassori
syntaxerror...@libreoffice.org

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Re: [board-discuss] Merged proposal for in-house developers at TDF

2022-06-12 Thread Simon Phipps
Hi Emilliano,

On Sun, Jun 12, 2022 at 9:31 AM Emiliano Vavassori <
syntaxerror...@libreoffice.org> wrote:

> Hi Simon,
>
> Il 11/06/22 20:02, Simon Phipps ha scritto:
> > I will remind you
> > that you started this negative approach about how TDF is acting
> > illegally when you and I were on the Board together last decade.
>
> I'm honestly struggling to see how your comments can be thought as
> positive.
>

They are to help newcomers like you become aware that the complaints being
made are not in fact new or related to the current situation but date back
to a dispute that is many years old and still unresolved due to
personal enmities. I am sorry you do not find this helpful, but being aware
of the true history of the project (especially at a time when there are
voices trying to reframe history) is very important and refusing to do so
may lead to incorrect assumptions and the acceptance of untrue framing.


>
> And how should users and members should voice their unsettlement,
> without risking to be stopped at every corner and called out for
> violations of CoC.
>

By entering into a dialogue. By hearing and evolving compromises with other
members through selecting positive elements of their contributions. By
collaborating together even when uncomfortable. By respecting the honest
contributions of long-time contributors. This place is hardly a close venue.

How should members voice their concerns when they see entryists harming the
project and old unsettled grudges being repeatedly raised regardless of how
they are answered?

Sincerely,

Simon
-- 
*Simon Phipps*
*TDF Trustee*


[Meta] Discussing in board-discuss [ was: Re: [board-discuss] Merged proposal for in-house developers at TDF]

2022-06-12 Thread Emiliano Vavassori

Hi Simon,

Il 12/06/22 11:17, Simon Phipps ha scritto:
They are to help newcomers like you become aware that the complaints 
being made are not in fact new or related to the current situation but 
date back to a dispute that is many years old and still unresolved due 
to personal enmities.


That is still setting a (partial, angled) framing of the situation (as 
Andreas was doing, to some extent).


What still worries me is that said frictions are still there after a lot 
of years and weren't solved, and honestly I don't buy it is a 
constellation of personal issues, rather than a misunderstanding on how 
effectively implement the shared goals we all should have.


I am sorry you do not find this helpful, but being 
aware of the true history of the project (especially at a time when 
there are voices trying to reframe history) is very important and 
refusing to do so may lead to incorrect assumptions and the acceptance 
of untrue framing.


I didn't say I found it useless, I said it wouldn't really still help 
with moving the general balance of the discussion towards a positive 
outcome, which was the main objections to Andreas' mails.


By entering into a dialogue. By hearing and evolving compromises with 
other members through selecting positive elements of their 
contributions.


I'd generally agree, but what I can read from the thread is that some 
discussions and objections are less likely to be acknowledged and 
recognized, and taken as a basis to work on a positive compromise, 
mostly because that is not coming from a long-time contributor. That's 
not the case for Andreas, who you are confirming he is akin to the 
Foundation since a lot of time.


How should members voice their concerns when they see entryists harming 
the project and old unsettled grudges being repeatedly raised regardless 
of how they are answered?


Let's start by acknowledging that if there are objections and they are 
even consistently confirmed from long relationships and from short ones, 
possibly something to discuss is there.


Cheers,
--
Emiliano Vavassori
syntaxerror...@libreoffice.org

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Re: [board-discuss] Merged proposal for in-house developers at TDF

2022-06-12 Thread Paolo Vecchi

Hi Simon,

On 12/06/2022 11:17, Simon Phipps wrote:

Hi Emilliano,

On Sun, Jun 12, 2022 at 9:31 AM Emiliano Vavassori 
 wrote:


Hi Simon,

Il 11/06/22 20:02, Simon Phipps ha scritto:
> I will remind you
> that you started this negative approach about how TDF is acting
> illegally when you and I were on the Board together last decade.

I'm honestly struggling to see how your comments can be thought as
positive.


They are to help newcomers like you become aware that the complaints 
being made are not in fact new or related to the current situation but 
date back to a dispute that is many years old and still unresolved due 
to personal enmities.


I was a newcomer in 2020 and I didn't get much help from you or other 
old members of the board in understanding the past to take decision for 
the future of TDF.


I had to spend a lot of time reading lots of minutes of past meetings 
and keep asking difficult questions to get to the point where I could 
clearly see that some decisions being passed down to us (eg TDC) had 
issues that haven't been considered.


It is good to have people like Andreas that point out issues that should 
be evaluated by newcomers before they fall into a group thinking 
situation that does not help with addressing problems and moving forward.



I am sorry you do not find this helpful, but being aware of the true 
history of the project (especially at a time when there are voices 
trying to reframe history) is very important and refusing to do so may 
lead to incorrect assumptions and the acceptance of untrue framing.


It is important to learn about the past to plan for the future. 
Discovering some details that are not widely publicised helps in fixing 
some issues that have been overlooked.


TDF is not just a small group of friends developing LibreOffice any 
more, it is now a larger organisation that needs to apply some rules so 
that it creates a level playing field for everyone that wants to 
contribute in many ways, not only with code which for some seems to be 
the only measure if some people or organisations are more equal than others.





And how should users and members should voice their unsettlement,
without risking to be stopped at every corner and called out for
violations of CoC.


By entering into a dialogue. By hearing and evolving compromises with 
other members through selecting positive elements of their 
contributions. By collaborating together even when uncomfortable. By 
respecting the honest contributions of long-time contributors. This 
place is hardly a close venue.


Compromises and unanimity in decisions would be great but are not always 
possible as some points of view are too far apart.


Some cling very hard onto their acquired positions and it is very 
difficult and frustrating to get them to understand that times have 
changed and that is not only their code that makes TDF, our community 
and LibreOffice great for all.


Even when compromises have been agreed some decide to walk away and not 
contribute back to a project like LOOL that isn't made up only by code 
but also by lots of contributions from the rest of our community.




How should members voice their concerns when they see entryists 
harming the project and old unsettled grudges being repeatedly raised 
regardless of how they are answered?


"Entryists" bring also fresher, different point of views and ask the 
questions that some don't want to hear. "Entryists" helped in stopping a 
project you promoted that would have been damaging for TDF and our 
community, "entryists" tried to bring clarity on what LOOL really was 
and found out that reality was different from what was promoted, 
"entryists" got finally a CoI Policy in place for the board and (IMHO) 
should implement it also for the ESC, "entryists" are still working on 
lots of other improvements that will help TDF serve better its community.


So yes, "entryists" should look at both side of the arguments, dig 
deeper in their merits and then promote the required changes.


I hope you noticed the usefulness of "entryists" and that you will help 
them with unbiased information in future instead of attacking them 
because they haven't conformed with your views.




Sincerely,

Simon
--
*Simon Phipps*
/TDF Trustee/


Ciao

Paolo

--
Paolo Vecchi - Member of the Board of Directors
The Document Foundation, Kurfürstendamm 188, 10707 Berlin, DE
Gemeinnützige rechtsfähige Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts
Legal details:https://www.documentfoundation.org/imprint


Re: [Meta] Discussing in board-discuss [ was: Re: [board-discuss] Merged proposal for in-house developers at TDF]

2022-06-12 Thread Paolo Vecchi

+1

Paolo

On 12/06/2022 12:03, Emiliano Vavassori wrote:

Hi Simon,

Il 12/06/22 11:17, Simon Phipps ha scritto:
They are to help newcomers like you become aware that the complaints 
being made are not in fact new or related to the current situation 
but date back to a dispute that is many years old and still 
unresolved due to personal enmities.


That is still setting a (partial, angled) framing of the situation (as 
Andreas was doing, to some extent).


What still worries me is that said frictions are still there after a 
lot of years and weren't solved, and honestly I don't buy it is a 
constellation of personal issues, rather than a misunderstanding on 
how effectively implement the shared goals we all should have.


I am sorry you do not find this helpful, but being aware of the true 
history of the project (especially at a time when there are voices 
trying to reframe history) is very important and refusing to do so 
may lead to incorrect assumptions and the acceptance of untrue framing.


I didn't say I found it useless, I said it wouldn't really still help 
with moving the general balance of the discussion towards a positive 
outcome, which was the main objections to Andreas' mails.


By entering into a dialogue. By hearing and evolving compromises with 
other members through selecting positive elements of their 
contributions.


I'd generally agree, but what I can read from the thread is that some 
discussions and objections are less likely to be acknowledged and 
recognized, and taken as a basis to work on a positive compromise, 
mostly because that is not coming from a long-time contributor. That's 
not the case for Andreas, who you are confirming he is akin to the 
Foundation since a lot of time.


How should members voice their concerns when they see entryists 
harming the project and old unsettled grudges being repeatedly raised 
regardless of how they are answered?


Let's start by acknowledging that if there are objections and they are 
even consistently confirmed from long relationships and from short 
ones, possibly something to discuss is there.


Cheers,


--
Paolo Vecchi - Member of the Board of Directors
The Document Foundation, Kurfürstendamm 188, 10707 Berlin, DE
Gemeinnützige rechtsfähige Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts
Legal details: https://www.documentfoundation.org/imprint


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Re: [Meta] Discussing in board-discuss [ was: Re: [board-discuss] Merged proposal for in-house developers at TDF]

2022-06-12 Thread Simon Phipps
Hi Emiliano,

On Sun, Jun 12, 2022 at 11:03 AM Emiliano Vavassori <
syntaxerror...@libreoffice.org> wrote:

> Hi Simon,
>
> Il 12/06/22 11:17, Simon Phipps ha scritto:
> > I am sorry you do not find this helpful, but being
> > aware of the true history of the project (especially at a time when
> > there are voices trying to reframe history) is very important and
> > refusing to do so may lead to incorrect assumptions and the acceptance
> > of untrue framing.
>
> I didn't say I found it useless, I said it wouldn't really still help
> with moving the general balance of the discussion towards a positive
> outcome, which was the main objections to Andreas' mails.
>

Please note that I have (intentionally) refrained from responding to
earlier messages. But no-one (including you) was addressing the repeated
negative framing of Andreas' many e-mails so I offered a contribution from
experience to balance it.

> By entering into a dialogue. By hearing and evolving compromises with
> > other members through selecting positive elements of their
> > contributions.
>
> I'd generally agree, but what I can read from the thread is that some
> discussions and objections are less likely to be acknowledged and
> recognized, and taken as a basis to work on a positive compromise,
> mostly because that is not coming from a long-time contributor.


I don't think it's primarily about the length of time contributing. I'd
suggest the problem is more that the decision-making style at TDF is a
friend-to-friend collaboration that, when there is a strong disagreement,
reverts to face-to-face discussion.

We have discovered over the long term that text-only discussions lead to
both misunderstandings and escalation that are (usually) resolved when
people meet in person. We have also discovered that text disagreements
discourage participation by people who are either conflict-averse or
concerned the argument is public and permanently recorded.  Attempts to do
what we always did in the past when there were disagreements - stop arguing
in e-mail and have a phone call, and have a face-to-face if that doesn't
work - have been blocked.

I am really pleased to see the Board has been gathered in-person this
weekend and sincerely hope you've all been able to devise ways to work
together. Doing everything by text-only for two years has been extremely
toxic.


> That's
> not the case for Andreas, who you are confirming he is akin to the
> Foundation since a lot of time.
>

Andreas was one of the founding generation of TDF so has been involved in
the project for a long time, yes. He contributed great work on
infrastructure and deserves credit for it. He was unhappy when TDF migrated
from Plone and I believe felt insulted by that step because his work was
lost, which we regretted. I do understand that frustration, and have
experienced it myself.

> How should members voice their concerns when they see entryists harming
> > the project and old unsettled grudges being repeatedly raised regardless
> > of how they are answered?
>
> Let's start by acknowledging that if there are objections and they are
> even consistently confirmed from long relationships and from short ones,
> possibly something to discuss is there.


Absolutely right. My original message however was to indicate that there is
a very old problem that has not been "let go" and which newcomers might not
recognise, and its repetition should probably not be heavily weighted as an
indicator of the validity of the concerns today.

Cheers

Simon
-- 
*Simon Phipps*
*TDF Trustee*


Re: [Meta] Discussing in board-discuss [ was: Re: [board-discuss] Merged proposal for in-house developers at TDF]

2022-06-12 Thread Paolo Vecchi

Hi Simon,

On 12/06/2022 12:42, Simon Phipps wrote:


Please note that I have (intentionally) refrained from responding to 
earlier messages. But no-one (including you) was addressing the 
repeated negative framing of Andreas' many e-mails so I offered a 
contribution from experience to balance it.


Some actually addressed Andreas' emails and understood the requests for 
a positive change for TDF.


If others wants to look away when there are criticisms they a free to do 
it but then they shouldn't negatively affect those that wants to fix issues.





> By entering into a dialogue. By hearing and evolving compromises
with
> other members through selecting positive elements of their
> contributions.

I'd generally agree, but what I can read from the thread is that some
discussions and objections are less likely to be acknowledged and
recognized, and taken as a basis to work on a positive compromise,
mostly because that is not coming from a long-time contributor. 



Doing everything by text-only for two years has been extremely toxic.



The positive side of it is that we now have clear records in email 
threads that allowed us to pinpoint issues that then had to be dealt with.




That's
not the case for Andreas, who you are confirming he is akin to the
Foundation since a lot of time.


Andreas was one of the founding generation of TDF so has been involved 
in the project for a long time, yes. He contributed great work on  
infrastructure and deserves credit for it. He was unhappy when TDF 
migrated from Plone and I believe felt insulted by that step because 
his work was lost, which we regretted. I do understand that 
frustration, and have experienced it myself.


Regardless of the reasons behind his will to participate to discussions 
I found Andreas' contributions very useful. Sometimes he's very direct 
but we have to accept that there are different communication styles and 
that we can't block or refer to the CoC people only because they say 
something that might not conform with our own ideas.


I hope that more community members will find the courage to speak out if 
they see that there are issues that need to be dealt with.




> How should members voice their concerns when they see entryists
harming
> the project and old unsettled grudges being repeatedly raised
regardless
> of how they are answered?

Let's start by acknowledging that if there are objections and they
are
even consistently confirmed from long relationships and from short
ones,
possibly something to discuss is there.


Absolutely right. My original message however was to indicate that 
there is a very old problem that has not been "let go" and which 
newcomers might not recognise, and its repetition should probably not 
be heavily weighted as an indicator of the validity of the concerns 
today.


Old problems should not be "let go" they should be evaluated objectively 
and addressed.


If Andreas was demanding that we re-implemented his Plone infrastructure 
I'll be one of those saying that it's probably better if he "let go" but 
as far as I can see Andreas comments had nothing to do with it and all 
to do with improving our processes, increasing transparency and adding 
bits of information that are difficult to source as they might be spread 
in old email archives.


I've been on the receiving side of Andreas' effort to keep an eye on 
board's decisions pointing out potential issues and I've actually 
appreciated that. I think there should be more people like him to keep 
the board in check and make sure we don't get too complacent or reliant 
on a narrative coming from only one source.




Cheers

Simon
--
*Simon Phipps*
/TDF Trustee/


Ciao

Paolo

--
Paolo Vecchi - Member of the Board of Directors
The Document Foundation, Kurfürstendamm 188, 10707 Berlin, DE
Gemeinnützige rechtsfähige Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts
Legal details:https://www.documentfoundation.org/imprint


[board-discuss] Re: [Meta] Interaction with Contributors (was: Discussing in board-discuss)

2022-06-12 Thread Andreas Mantke

Hi all,

Am 12.06.22 um 12:42 schrieb Simon Phipps:

(...)

Andreas was one of the founding generation of TDF so has been involved
in the project for a long time, yes. He contributed great work on 
infrastructure and deserves credit for it. He was unhappy when TDF
migrated from Plone and I believe felt insulted by that step because
his work was lost, which we regretted. I do understand that
frustration, and have experienced it myself.


sorry it was not about the migration from Plone to what ever tool. As
you mentioned above I invested a lot of my spare time to create, upgrade
and administrate the site (including user help). I did the project
management for TDF within the migration of the site to Python 3. Once
this project was finished in 2017 the board praised the work done and
the new site.
And then in Oct. 2018 there were this mail on the design list from a
member of the board out of the blue:
https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/design/2018/msg00322.html

Although I managed the extensions-templates website in my spare time at
that time, no one got in contact before this mail. There were never a
statement from the board that the communication process was not
appropriate. Also neither the board nor the sender of the mail ever
apologized for the non-collaboration and the vilification of my work in
public.

Regards,
Andreas

--
## Free Software Advocate
## Plone add-on developer
## My blog: http://www.amantke.de/blog


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[board-discuss] calming pause please

2022-06-12 Thread Caolán McNamara
I suggest a little calming pause for a day or two on this list, it has
become somewhat fraught. It would be great to hold off on posting
anything rash and give the part of the board here in Berlin a chance to
get back home and catch up.

-- 
Caolán McNamara, Member of the Board of Directors
The Document Foundation, Kurfürstendamm 188, 10707 Berlin, DE
Gemeinnützige rechtsfähige Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts
Legal details: https://www.documentfoundation.org/imprint

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[board-discuss] Status update developer hiring process

2022-06-12 Thread Thorsten Behrens
Dear community,

we should now seek to finalize work on the in-house developer
proposal.

- we agree that we want to hire developers
- there is now only very few areas where the merged proposal should be
  tweaked to reach broader consensus
- we do want a single document to vote on in the end
- we strive to finish the above within the next two weeks, in time
  to have the final proposal ready for the next regular board meeting

Also on behalf of Caolan, Cor, Emiliano, Gabor, Gabriel, Kendy and
Laszlo,

-- Thorsten


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