Re: Draft GR for permitting private discussion

[Michael Gilbert <mgilbert@debian.org>]

On Sun, Jul 8, 2012 at 11:37 PM, Ian Jackson wrote:
> Russ Allbery writes ("Re: Draft GR for permitting private discussion"):
>> The change to the core of the wording seems fine to me.  However, in our
>> previous discussion on IRC, we talked about adding a sentence along the
>> lines of:
>>
>>     The Technical Committee is encouraged to hold discussions in public
>>     where feasible.
>
> Sorry, I seem to have dropped that (probably because it wasn't in
> email AFAICT).  So:
>
> ...
>    Therefore, amend the Debian Constitution 6.3 as follows (wdiff -i):
>
>      3. Public [-discussion and-] decision-making.
>
>         [-Discussion,-]
>         Draft resolutions and amendments, and votes by members of the
>         committee, are made public on the Technical Committee public
>         discussion list. There is no separate secretary for the
>         Committee.
>
>         [+<cite>The Technical Committee is encouraged to
>         hold discussions in public where feasible.</cite>+]

I feel like this wording comes across as sacrificing too much in the
openness/transparency of the tech committee's discussions.  Perhaps
something along the following would be better?

Discussion, draft resolutions and amendments, and votes by members of
the committee, are made public on the Technical Committee public
discussion [-list.-] {+list to the maximum extent possible. There are
however certain circumstances that require private deliberation, which
is permissable, but such actions should be kept to a minimum.+}  There
is no separate secretary for the Committee.

Best wishes,
Mike