Fedora EMEA e.V. (was: Re: [Ambassadors] Re: What Fedora makes sucking for me - or why I am NOT Fedora)

[Max Spevack]

On Thu, 11 Dec 2008, Christoph Wickert wrote:

Hi Christoph,

I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.

> Let me repeat my question from half a year ago: The "ME" in EMEA 
> stands for "Middle East", the A for Afrika. Does anybody really think 
> somebody from Africa or the Middle East is able to pay 128 euros a 
> year? Do we have anyone from ME or A in in the e.V?

Not right now, we don't.  At least, I don't think we do.  I don't know 
off the top of my head our exact membership roster.

I am on the record as saying that I believe we need to dramatically 
reduce the membership fee.  That is a "business" decision that will 
continue to be discussed.  It's not my decision to make alone, of 
course.

> And you are doing very well with that, so I suggest to make the NPO's 
> budget available somewhere too. I don't care if it's in the fpo wiki 
> or somewhere on fedoraemea.org

I think that once we finalize all of the 2008 finances in January, 
making that information available is a fine thing to do.  In order to do 
the job right, though, people need to be patient for another 4-6 weeks. 
I would hope that you guys all trust me enough to know that I want to 
make sure we do a good job of this.

> Here is one, not only addressed to you, Max: Half a year ago I asked
> what will happen if the ambassadors and the NPO disagree on a topic. The
> answer I got was: This wont happen, because the NPO is committed to the
> community of ambassadors. Is it really? As Jörg said [1]:
> <----
> "The Fedora Board has given Fedora EMEA e.V. the right to use the
> Brand "Fedora" (Name, Artwork, Logo ...) and requested quarterly Report
> to have the overview that we act in there terms. If we will not do our
> Job, they can take us this right - without this Fedora EMEA e.V. is
> nothing."
> ---->
> Has the Fedora Board ever received such a quarterly report?

Yes.  A while back, the Fedora Board asked for a status update on Fedora 
EMEA e.V.  I attended the Fedora Board meeting, gave a short talk, 
answered a few questions, etc.  I expect that once 2008 is concluded, 
the Fedora Board will ask for another report, and I will again provide 
it.

> I doubt that from a legal POV the Fedora Board even has the power to 
> request it, so the only 100% save solution I can think of is to write 
> this down in the NPO's statutes. ATM the statutes say nothing about 
> the relation from the NPO to the ambassadors or it's duties. We (or 
> the members of the e.V.) should work out an addition to the statutes 
> that everybody can agree on and that can be ratified during the next 
> general member meeting
>
> Can you please put this onto the agenda for the next general member 
> meeting?

I'll leave this to Gerold, Jeroen, or Fabian.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

--Max