Dear TB This is not a technical topic, but a governance one on which I'd appreciate your perspective.
When we set all this up, we knew from observation that a code of conduct and a firm governance structure would be important, and by and large I think our arrangements in this regard have helped us balance complex webs of interests for the best benefit of all participants in the project. The CC plays a critical role in the project; a large part of their responsibility is to act as a trusted and neutral arbiter of differences between teams or individuals in Ubuntu. In addition to regular meetings with different councils and team leads, and the running of the selection processes for those teams the CC acts as a neutral trustee of the values encoded in the CoC. There have been a number of occasions when individuals have been asked to step down from positions of responsibility or membership after complaints raised by one party against another, arbitrated b the CC. It has been pointed out that a potential conflict of interest arises if it is a member of the CC who is a party to such a dispute. We have general guidance that a conflicted party should recuse themselves from such deliberations. If it were a single member of the CC, then the remainder could probably handle the issue in a way that was seen to be independent. If however the issue is more systemic, then we might need to bolster the ranks of those able to weigh in, independently. While the general idea is that "appeal is to the BDFL", in some cases, I too might be obviously conflicted on a matter. A suggestion to address this is that the TB, as a very well-respected team that is elected with support of a broad segment of the project (though not as broad as the CC), would be a useful source from which to draw independent perspectives in such a corner case. The suggestion feels reasonable and appropriate to me. I think we would all want to avoid an infinite loop of appeals, or the TB being drawn into every matter on which the CC makes a tough decision, but I think in the decade-long history of the project there have perhaps been only one or two such issues and I think we would be able to scope this practice to the simple case where there is no non-CC complainant , or where the CC or substantial members of the CC are direct parties to a dispute. I like the idea that, when needed, we would have an obvious and pre-selected place to seek independent perspectives rather than me (as a potentially conflicted party) having to constitute a fresh, independent body. I am writing to see how you, as a representative TB, feel about the proposal. If you are comfortable with handling such discussions in the very unlikely event they were to occur, that would be sufficient support for me to suggest it as a good practice to the CC for future reference. As the project gets a little older, it's not inappropriate for us to endeavour to be a little wiser too, so put this email in that bucket :) Mark
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