Re: code of conduct question for Board candidates
Hi Marina, Thanks for your question! What do you think about adopting a detailed code of conduct, similar to the one used for GUADEC 2014 [3], for all GNOME events and creating a similarly detailed code of conduct for the GNOME community? I hold the view that the vast majority people will consciously do their best to avoid drawing negative attention to themselves unless they feel they have support. Ideally, we want to be able to do what we can to nurture an atmosphere where members still feel free to express themselves, but also recognise that this self expression will not be supported if it comes at the direct expense of anyone else’s rights. We also want to be able to provide a concrete means of reassuring contributors that their wellbeing matters to us. I would therefore advocate that the event CoC initiative employed last year at GUADEC continue and I would also advocate taking the idea of a community CoC forward in principle too. As regards the formal community CoC idea specifically: I reckon it would likely need to contain some very considered wording to ensure it’s not left too open to subjective misinterpretation and it would probably be advisable for us to ensure we publish it along with a clear and transparent complaints policy which outlines a) how complaints are going to be handled, b) how long they are going to take to be processed, c) who is specifically responsible for dealing with them and d) what our approach to confidentiality is. Anyway, I am really pleased you have raised a debate about this and I agree that it is important. I hope that the idea gets a heathy concensus from the rest of the community too, as I would be very willing to get behind it. Magdalen ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: Question to candidates: Best use of Trademark Fundraiser money?
Hi! On So, 2015-05-24 at 19:23 +0200, Andreas Nilsson wrote: What, in your mind, is the best use of these funds now? Kept as a War Chest [2] or spent on something specific? I don't have a particular idea for those funds (as opposed to the funds earmarked for Security and Privacy), so I am open to ideas. But we must stick to what we promised to our donors: If we are able to defend the mark without spending this amount, we will use the remaining funds to bolster and improve GNOME. Cheers, Tobi ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Question to candidates: Best use of Trademark Fundraiser money?
Dear candidates. Thank you all for running! As part of the GNOME Trademark Fundraiser [1], the Foundation raised $102 608 USD. Since the trademark claims from the other part in the issue was withdrawn, it was never taken to court and the money was never spent on that. What, in your mind, is the best use of these funds now? Kept as a War Chest [2] or spent on something specific? 1. https://www.gnome.org/groupon/ 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_chest - Andreas ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: code of conduct question for Board candidates
On Sat, May 23, 2015 at 10:06:49AM -0700, Josh Triplett wrote: I'm entirely in favor of an improved code of conduct, both for events and in general. And thank you for raising this issue. Some searching turned up https://wiki.gnome.org/Foundation/CodeOfConduct , but that's definitely insufficient. (It's a nice set of sentiments, but not a functional code of conduct.) By contrast, the GUADEC 2014 code of conduct you linked to sets the higher standard I would expect, and that I've come to expect from other conferences as well. I'm in favor of improving the general code of conduct to the same standard. Why and how is it definitely insufficient? I quite like the Code of Conduct and I've signed it. By contrast, the 2014 GUADEC one is a very long statement specifically about a conference, not about a community. I don't see how the board has _any_ influence on the GNOME community. This while the conference one assumes you're attending a conference and that someone can expel you, can possibility contact law enforcement, etc. I don't follow why I'd sign something can cause legal issues for me if I could do without that. I think in the question the GNOME community vs foundation members are mixed up. Those are not the same thing. I'm a bit surprised that people see a Code of Conduct as something new. See e.g. https://mail.gnome.org/; we already expect people to follow the Code of Conduct. And before someone misunderstands, I have enforced the Code of Conduct, I've signed the existing one and agree to the thoughts behind both. This maybe my annoyance with volunteering and then getting too much do this or else.. that takes the fun out of it. I prefer assume people mean well. For lurkers: https://2014.guadec.org/conduct/ https://wiki.gnome.org/Foundation/CodeOfConduct -- Regards, Olav ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: code of conduct question for Board candidates
Hi Olav, I don't follow why I'd sign something can cause legal issues for me if I could do without that. I am not sure why you are concerned that a community code of conduct could cause legal issues for you, are you able to elaborate on that? I think in the question the GNOME community vs foundation members are mixed up. Those are not the same thing. I'm a bit surprised that people see a Code of Conduct as something new. See e.g. https://mail.gnome.org/; we already expect people to follow the Code of Conduct. Marina can correct me if I am inadvertently misrepresenting her intention here, but I think the reason she is suggestion a community code of conduct is essentially because the mailing list code of conduct is (as the name suggests) specific to the mailing list and there is also no official enforcement of those sorts of principles (nor should their be, in my view). And before someone misunderstands, I have enforced the Code of Conduct, I've signed the existing one and agree to the thoughts behind both. Which CoC are you referring to here? (there's so many in this thread now, I can't keep up! ;-)) This maybe my annoyance with volunteering and then getting too much do this or else.. that takes the fun out of it. I prefer assume people mean well. I am aware this concern exists for some members of the community about the principle of CoCs and I can sympathise with that worry too, but let's explore in context: Assuming people mean well on the mailing list is really just another way of saying don't jump to conclusions. Objectively that's a really sensible thing to suggest people to think about doing on mailing lists, since lots of people do often react without thinking on those things... However, this is about how we propose to address *serious* examples of detrimental misconduct, not trivial mailing list squabbles which members are able to resolve between themselves. Magdalen ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: code of conduct question for Board candidates
Hi Richard, I agree, it is probably appropriate for those of us who have answered to hold off on debating about CoCs for the time being. Apologies for the noise. I'm happy to back off so other candidates can answer Marina's question. Do carry on... :D Magdalen On Sun, May 24, 2015 at 10:15 PM, Richard Stallman r...@gnu.org wrote: [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider]]] [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]] [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]] I suggest that we postpone discussion on codes of conduct until after the election. It is likely be a very big debate and likely to drown out discussion with the candidates. -- Dr Richard Stallman President, Free Software Foundation 51 Franklin St Boston MA 02110 USA www.fsf.org www.gnu.org Skype: No way! See stallman.org/skype.html. ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: code of conduct question for Board candidates
Hi Marina, On Sat, May 23, 2015 at 8:41 AM, Marina Zhurakhinskaya mari...@redhat.com wrote: What do you think about adopting a detailed code of conduct, similar to the one used for GUADEC 2014 [3], for all GNOME events and creating a similarly detailed code of conduct for the GNOME community? I welcomed the adoption of an event code of conduct for GUADEC 2014, and I would support extending similar rules for events organized by GNOME. I don't think that all events necessarily need the same level of detail though; as an example in events that are invite-only, like hackfests, it might be overkill or not viable for the organizers to formalize a code of conduct, or have a team to enforce it. I also like to think that in such settings the social situation is less prone to incidents that require a code of conduct to resolve, as participants likely know each other already and are pre-selected. I'm more ambivalent about extending a community-wide code of conduct beyond the current one; mostly because it can be hard to determine the boundaries of the community such code would try to protect and really hard to enforce anything on some channels in practice. The current code also does not make distinction between disrespect/harassment (Be respectful and considerate, even though the word harassment is not used) and etiquette best-practices (Try to be concise), and I don't think there should be any enforcement on the latter parts. I would be interested in understanding what kind of improvements and goals you have in mind for such a community code of conduct. Cheers, Cosimo ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: Question to candidates: Best use of Trademark Fundraiser money?
Hi Liam, On Mon, May 25, 2015 at 12:09 AM, Liam R. E. Quin l...@holoweb.net wrote: On Sun, 2015-05-24 at 21:52 +0100, Magdalen Berns wrote: Hi Andreas, I think most of us haven't seen latest the accounts yet, but I think it's probably fair to assume that a war chest of ~$100,000 is probably a wee bit excessive. ;-) It doesn't sound like a lot of money to me. It's probably not enough to fight a single trademark case in court in the US - you'd need two or three times as much money [1, 2]. Just as well Groupon didn't catch on to that before they conceded then ;-) GNOME originally registered as a public benefit cooperation (i.e. a charity) so our income must be substantially related to GNOME's exempt purposes or it could be taxable and as you can see $100,000 would normally amount to a significant chunk of our average annual income.[1] So, I still agree with Tobias and I also agree with everything Cosimo has said, on this: There really ought to be some compelling reason for us to want to sit on that kind of money rather than invest it back into the project. I'll leave it there, so the rest of the candidates can answer. Magdalen [1] http://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Details.aspx?agency_id=1license_id=1043846; ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: Question to candidates: Best use of Trademark Fundraiser money?
Hi Andreas, Thanks for your question! On Sun, May 24, 2015 at 6:44 PM, Tobias Mueller mue...@cryptobitch.de wrote: Hi! On So, 2015-05-24 at 19:23 +0200, Andreas Nilsson wrote: What, in your mind, is the best use of these funds now? Kept as a War Chest [2] or spent on something specific? I don't have a particular idea for those funds (as opposed to the funds earmarked for Security and Privacy), so I am open to ideas. But we must stick to what we promised to our donors: If we are able to defend the mark without spending this amount, we will use the remaining funds to bolster and improve GNOME. I think most of us haven't seen latest the accounts yet, but I think it's probably fair to assume that a war chest of ~$100,000 is probably a wee bit excessive. ;-) so in principle, I'd echo Tobias and also advocate we take ideas from members like yourself on what we ought to spend surplus funds on in order to bolster and improve GNOME. Magdalen ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: code of conduct question for Board candidates
[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider]]] [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]] [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]] I suggest that we postpone discussion on codes of conduct until after the election. It is likely be a very big debate and likely to drown out discussion with the candidates. -- Dr Richard Stallman President, Free Software Foundation 51 Franklin St Boston MA 02110 USA www.fsf.org www.gnu.org Skype: No way! See stallman.org/skype.html. ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: Question to candidates: Best use of Trademark Fundraiser money?
Hi Andreas, On Sun, May 24, 2015 at 10:23 AM, Andreas Nilsson li...@andreasn.se wrote: As part of the GNOME Trademark Fundraiser [1], the Foundation raised $102 608 USD. Since the trademark claims from the other part in the issue was withdrawn, it was never taken to court and the money was never spent on that. What, in your mind, is the best use of these funds now? Kept as a War Chest [2] or spent on something specific? It's hard to answer this question without a good understanding of the Foundation cash flow, and even then economics is not my best skill :-) Having said that, assuming the Foundation has some cash reserves outside this war chest, I don't think keeping the money in the bank is the best use of it, as it will quickly lose its value over time; I don't have a single specific idea in mind, but I would like the money to be spent on people. GNOME is in the unique position to be able to support and connect people with the same or converging interests. This can take many concrete shapes: outreach into new communities, bounties for features or fixes, conferences and many more. In other words, I would love to see that money used in a way that leaves the GNOME community enriched with more human capital, and that criteria would guide my choices on how to spend it. Cosimo ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
