On Sat, Dec 8, 2012 at 9:50 AM, janI <j...@apache.org> wrote: > Could you please or someone else make a wiki page, that explains the setup, > and why we (as volunteers) have to report to a board !! > > I might be the only one, but I have found no hint of the organization of > apache, and why we suddenly needs to feel responsibility towards a board > that I do not even know !! ' >
Maybe it is a good thing that day-to-day we see no hint of a hierarchy at Apache? We have an old political saying in the U.S, "The government that governs least governs best", > Making reports to be boards bring me back to the days where I worked for an > international company (sie....) and today I want to be working for > end-users not a anonymous board !!!! > But as you say, until now you didn't even know Apache had a Board of Directors. > I might (again) be completely out of line, but please ASF is NOT a big > share holder company, it is driven by volunteers, so lets not just make > "reports" we want to get something back !!! the very minimum is a > presentation of the board, and their responsibilities. > > Sorry for being frank, but I for one, am against making ASF a big company > look-alike, I want a commity of motivated people, and not a bunch > responsible to a board, I do not even know !! > The ASF is a corporation, a special kind of corporation yes, but still a corporation. This is a good thing. It lets the ASF collect donations in the U.S, enter into contracts, hire contractors, offer limited liability to its officers, provide governance that can outlive its founders, etc. This is a source of strength and stability for Apache. This is a good thing. The ASF is not alone in having this structure. Firefox has the Mozilla Foundation. Eclipse has the Eclipse Foundation. Wikipedia has the Wikimedia Foundation, LibreOffice has the Document Foundation, etc. But the important thing to note is that there is a big difference between being a volunteer in a non-profit corporation and being an employee in a corporation. We're not reporting to the Board our status in the sense of things we accomplished at the Board's direction. We're reporting our status, as one of many Apache projects, so the Board can preserve a high-level overview of all Apache projects, so they can, among other things, plan for the future, be aware of trends, problems, etc. Remember, the Board members are volunteers just like you. They are only trying to help. Regards, -Rob > Jan. > > Ps. I totally agree with your report. > > > > On 8 December 2012 14:19, Andrea Pescetti <pesce...@apache.org> wrote: > >> I started drafting the Board report for December, due on December 12. >> >> You can find the current draft at >> https://cwiki.apache.org/**confluence/display/OOOUSERS/**2012+Dec<https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS/2012+Dec> >> >> Please complete/improve it directly on the wiki page, or send comments >> here. The report should cover, more or less, the period between graduation >> and today. >> >> Thanks, >> Andrea. >>
