Re: Thanks and Decision making working group (was Re: General Resolution: Statement regarding Richard Stallman's readmission to the FSF board result)

[Wouter Verhelst <wouter@debian.org>]

Hi Sam,

On Mon, Apr 19, 2021 at 10:58:51AM -0600, Sam Hartman wrote:
> Certainly in the systemd process there were a number of short comings
> that came to light that are worth improving:
> 
> 1) The person who introduces a GR is treated differently than anyone who
> introduces an amendment in ways that are odd, and are subject to
> strategic abuse.
> 
> 2) The fact that a single person ends up calling for a vote has become
> problematic in three important Debian elections now--one on the TC and
> and two GRs.

I don't think this is necessarily a problem, provided that the rules for
calling for vote vis-a-vis discussion time are reasonable.

(I don't think they are, currently)

> 3) It seems like we could do better surrounding discussion time
> management.
> 
> 4) It seems like there is an emerging consensus that we want either all
> votes secret or to be able to have secret non-DPL votes.
> 
> None of these would have made the decision different, but I think they
> would together have improved the process.
> 
> However, I don't think any of the above needs a working group.

I agree with this. In my opinion, all historic attempts to create a
ballot through a working group or something similar have failed
miserably.

Our current processes work best, I believe, if proposals are written in
the open, so that if people disagree with the proposed texts, they can
start working on their amendment right away, which is much more
difficult to do under the time pressure of a GR procedure.

-- 
     w@uter.{be,co.za}
wouter@{grep.be,fosdem.org,debian.org}