I agree with Rich here. Organizing meetups, BoFs, etc. are essential for a healthy community.
I would like to clarify though, that the meetups should not claim as being organized "by the PMC" without a prior notification to the PMC (private list?). On Wed, Oct 11, 2023 at 6:40 AM <rbo...@rcbowen.com> wrote: > On Wed, 2023-10-11 at 02:07 -0400, David Smiley wrote: > > Hello ComDev, > > > > I'm the Apache Solr PMC chair and I have some brading/trademark > > questions > > pertaining to policies around event organization and ASF rules of > > such. > > > > I've read: > > [1] Policy for Event names using Apache marks: > > https://www.apache.org/foundation/marks/events.html#events > > [2] Approval of small Apache-related events: > > https://community.apache.org/events/small-events.html > > > > Question: > > * At ASF Community-over-Code, if someone organizes a Birds of a > > Feather for > > Solr and it gets onto the event schedule, should it be necessary to > > get the > > Solr PMC's approval beforehand? Would it matter if the person who > > arranged > > it is a PMC member themselves or not? Please ultimately explain the > > answer > > with a rationale against the current policy. It's unclear if the BoF > > *itself* is a "small Apache-related event" or if the fact that it's > > at an > > ASF ticketed conference overrides because then the policy wouldn't > > apply at > > all (nothing is "3rd party"). > > No, I see no need for that degree of process or overhead. Meetups, > BoFs, local gatherings, are no different than chatting over dinner with > friends, and I would *not* want to require PMC oversight there. > > The policy is for when the brand is being used to promote something > publicly and there's a chance of confusion that you are somehow > speaking on behalf of the project. A meetup does not have this kind of > potential for confusion. > > > > > * If such a BoF were to be organized at a non-Apache conference (e.g. > > Berlin Buzzwords), presumably Solr PMC permission is needed as > > specified by > > [2]. > > Even there, I'd say no. Having a "let's get together to talk about > Solr" gathering at All Things Open, or Open Source Summit, does NOT > require the PMC's approval, or even acknowledgement. > > Now, if you're a group of project members making *decisions*, then that > must go back to the mailing list to involve the whole community. But > you already knew that. > > > > > An unclear aspect of the policy is what the "event" is -- is it the > > entire > > conference or could it be the proposed BoF talk as well, even though > > it's > > composed as part of another event? If we're only looking at the > > BoF/talk > > itself, then would it be "3rd party" if the primary speaker is a PMC > > member? The text at > > https://www.apache.org/foundation/marks/resources > > (search for "third party") seems to contrast PMC members & committers > > in a > > way to imply they are *not* third party. > > > Interesting question. > > I would never consider a BoF "an event" for the purposes of this > policy. Nor would I consider something arranged on meetups.com or > whatever to be "an event". An event implies marketing, tickets, and so > on. > > Yes, it's a fuzzy line, but I am not in favor of creating process that > discourages user meetups. > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@community.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@community.apache.org > > -- Anshum Gupta
