On Bruce Perens and Dave Cinege, etc.
Sorry to have come into this so late, but I was tuned in to a
different soap opera ;)
This is not the first time someone has requested that Bruce
be "impeached" or removed from his post as project leader,
or president, or whatever it is currently. This is the
first time Dave Cinege has done it. Its usually not met
with such unilateral support for Bruce. This is a testimony
to how frightening an individual Dave Cinege really is.
On the one hand, I do think most of his posts are hilarious.
On the other hand, he's sent some that I thought bordered on
"violent criminal intent". I believe in a freedom much
broader than the GPL, but freedom is a right only as long as
it doesn't become an instrument for victimization. I fear
that I've come to a conclusion that may bring a fair bit of
flame mail my way, but Dave Cinege has to be dealt with. We
must revoke his license to victimize the community at large.
He can practice freedom of speech elsewhere on the net.
Please "digest-ize" his (apparently private) domain.
However, please do not include the digest posting to
debian-user (or debian-user-digest) as was the case a few
weeks ago.
As far as Bruce goes, I sometimes think he's a putz. But
then again, I sometimes think I'm a putz, so there. That's
a part of life. I do remember that Bruce was not going to
pursue project leadership at all last "term", but then
changed his mind and accepted nomination to the Board of
Directors. He was later elected president by this board,
behind closed doors. He then stated that this would be his
last year as leader, a sort of turnover year. That, of
course, has not been the case.
I think Bruce has done an enormous service to Debian. His
contribution has been so significant, I can't begin to thank
him for it. He's done an absolutely outstanding job. But
its time to pass the baton. I sincerely hope the "election"
will be between more than just two candidates. I also think
that there should be a formal term limit decided. Below, I
have proposed such a limit. For all I know there may
already be one, but recent posts suggest otherwise.
PROPOSAL FOR TERM LIMITS
I propose that all elected posts in the Debian organization
be subject to the following term limits:
All terms will necessarily be limited to no more than two
consecutive years, unless there is no electoral challenge
for the post. If there is only one challenge, there must be
a fair election between incumbent and challenger. But if
there are two challengers, and the incumbent has served two
consecutive years, the incumbent is necessarily replaced by
one of the two challengers.
I suggest that this is for the greater good of the project.
Change is good. It keeps things fresh. The above should
apply to all elected posts, and all who hold them. If
agreed upon, this policy should apply from this time forward
(limiting any one post currently held by anyone, necessarily
open in the event of an electoral challenge for the year
2000.)
Since Bruce has already held his position for longer than
two years, I suggest he consider the above policy request.
If he finds it sound, he should endorse it and withdraw his
nomination for re-election (although the policy would not
require it until the year 2000.) This does not mean that
Bruce (or anyone) needs to become uninvolved in the Debian
process. Indeed, we have many contributers who are not
project leader ;) Bruce was indeed a major contributer
_before_ he became project leader. I suspect he'll be a
major contributor in any event.
This has been sent to debian-user since that's where I got
the original thread from. It has also been cross posted to
debian-policy, in the event anyone actually gives a rat's
behind about the proposal ;)
By the by, for the record, I think Bruce is a huge asset
to debian as a computer scientist and as project leader.
Thanks
--
"Until we extend the circle of our compassion to all living
things, we will not ourselves find peace" -Albert Schweitzer
Richard G. Roberto
Reply to: