Fedora Board election results

[Jeff Spaleta]

On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 10:29 AM, inode0 <inode0 at gmail.com> wrote:
> We can't hold your feet to the fire if you won't tell us what you do. :)

Actually you can and as a community you must!

If there are issues that you feel are not being addressed by any
existing group... you bring them to the board.. and we figure out how
to address the issue. We might task you with creating a policy draft,
we might take the issue to an existing group and bully them into
dealing with it.. or we might stand up a whole new community group to
find consensus and do the necessary work.  But we do all of that at
the urging of community members.  If people are not bringing issues
forward.. then we have to assume things are working smoothly and there
is absolutely no reason for us to meddle.

The mandate of the Board is very general....we are the fixers.  If
shit breaks down we make an effort to fix it.  But if people aren't
telling us its broken, we don't do squat as the Board. We as
individual maybe doing a lot as project leaders to do new things, but
as the Board we are here to be responsive.  We endeavor to stand up
all the day-to-day project work as subgroups of community members who
take ownership of that space. We support active community members in
deed and thought and word, and resolve conflicts when there is a need.
We act as a firebreak on legal shitstorms so that the project doesn't
dissolve under the weight of legal liability.  Every bit of that is
important, and every bit of that are things which we can't easily take
personal credit for as sitting Board members.... because its not about
the personal credit.

This sort of work is vitally important to the health of a large
project. The ability to be responsive to problems and get them solved.
It has nothing to do with whatever sort of big ideas you come in with
as a candidate on new things to do. It doesn't matter what you helped
resolve last year either.  What matters is growing an understanding of
what the current frustrations are in the community, getting people to
talk through them, and then empowering someone to deal with it.

If community members are not bringing issues forward, then the
community is not doing its part.  The Board is a construct meant to be
responsive to project needs.  if those needs are not brought forward,
then basically the best candidate ends up being people with certified
mind-reading abilities.  Sitting on your hands, expecting candidates
to know what you are looking for is quite frankly pathetic. Challenge
them, challenge the sitting board, by putting issues forward and
explaining your frustrations in a timely manner.  Ask the candidates
pointedly what they think about those issues.  Don't evaluate what
issues candidates think are important...evaluate what a candidate
thinks about the issues which are important to you as the community.
Bring those issues to the table, and demand the Board and the Board
candidates talk about them.

-jef