On Fri, Jun 15, 2018 at 12:06 PM, Stephen Gallagher <sgall...@redhat.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 10:42 PM Josh Boyer <jwbo...@fedoraproject.org>
> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Jun 14, 2018 at 5:51 PM Till Maas <opensou...@till.name> wrote:
>> >
>> > On Thu, Jun 14, 2018 at 03:57:36PM -0400, Josh Boyer wrote:
>> > > On Thu, Jun 14, 2018 at 3:53 PM Randy Barlow
>> >
>> > > > Downside is that it would be possible (though I'd guess unlikely)
>> for
>> > > > all of FESCo to suddenly change to 9 different people and there'd
>> be no
>> > > > members who know the current state of things. We would also need to
>> do
>> > > > something a little awkward to get into this state since we currently
>> > > > have staggered terms.
>> > >
>> > > The election structure was setup specifically to avoid this problem.
>> > > The alternative solutions were all pretty poor.
>> >
>> > This seems to be a very theoretical problem because it would mean that
>> > we have nine times the number of new candidates that we have now and
>> > everyone is so unsatisfied with FESCo that only new candidates will be
>> > elected. And if there is so deep dissatisfaction, a fresh start might
>> > even be a good idea. Also there would still be other people around to
>> > provide guidance or there is another problem.
>>
>> It was a solution to a practical problem when we came up with it.
>> Fedora was young, core and extras had just merged.  People were
>> excited about guiding Fedora at a technical level.  We needed the
>> structure to ensure we didn't have massive swings in direction on
>> technologies and sufficient transfer of knowledge.  The overall number
>> of contributors was smaller, but the interest level was greater.
>>
>> I'm not against reworking the election schedule or terms, but it's
>> good to know why something was put in place before you change it.
>> Dismissing it as theoretical does nothing but make me feel old, which
>> is OK because I am.  I'm not convinced a change in the election
>> structure or term limits is really going to drum up interest in FESCo
>> though.  The problems we face there are more fundamental than that.
>>
>> josh
>>
>
>
> Over the past five years or so, the membership in FESCo has rarely changed
> except when an existing member voluntarily gives up their seat. The
> elections rely heavily on name recognition and so being on FESCo is
> self-reinforcing. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, however. Clearly it
> has been working for Fedora, since the Project is thriving.
>
> I'd like to suggest a more radical approach then: what if we only hold
> elections under two circumstances?
>
> 1) An existing member steps down and announces that a seat is opening.
>
> 2) A vote of no-confidence is raised for one or more individuals currently
> serving. In this case, those individuals can also remain on the ballot to
> retain their seat. The details of the no confidence clause would need to be
> worked out to avoid constant jeopardy and too frequent elections, but I
> think that could be feasible.
>

I understand the sentiment here, but it worries me in several ways:

* These kinds of policies make it harder for those on the border of burn
out (or similar issues) to step back.  Elections/terms reverse the question
to a "do you want to keep doing this" instead of "we assume you are still
good."

* It is very hard to get a no-confidence movement together.  It makes it
hard to deal with small issues because no-confidence is a "huge deal."
This is not to say that lots of people have small issues, but
elections/terms create a natural opportunity for turn-over based on a
variety of factors.

regards,

bex


>
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-- 
Brian (bex) Exelbierd | bexel...@redhat.com | b...@pobox.com
Fedora Community Action & Impact Coordinator
@bexelbie | http://www.winglemeyer.org
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