Re: About expulsion requests

[Sven Luther <sven.luther@wanadoo.fr>]

On Mon, Apr 10, 2006 at 08:15:29PM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
> Sven Luther <sven.luther@wanadoo.fr> writes:
> 
> > The only real way to handle this, is to modify the expulsion process,
> > and to start the process not with a public or private lynching process,
> > but with a first step consisting of asking the DPL, or someone delegated
> > by him, to do a private mediation process, and only if this step fails,
> > should more advanced steps be taken.
> 
> Correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression was that the *current* process
> started with a *private* message to the DAM asking to start this process
> (and at that point, mediation could certainly be done if appropriate).

Well, you may be right, but my expulsion process started with Andres posting
on debian-devel, debian-kernel and debian-boot, quoting the rules for
expulsion, and searching for seconds, so ...

> So far as I can tell, the decision to make the first message public or
> semi-public has been a decision taken by the people who chose to start it,
> not by the process, and changing the process isn't going to address that
> problem (unless, I suppose, there's some ban in the process for starting
> that way, but that gets rather tricky).  Since Debian's mailing lists are

Simple, any request for expulsion which doesn't pass through the DPL or
whoever is in charge first before going public, is dismissed out of hand, (and
maybe the expulser being publicly reprimanded or something).

> not moderated, I doubt we're going to be able to prevent people from
> publicly calling for the expulsion of developers if that's what they
> decide they want to do.

By making it clear that such mails are not the start of an expulsion process
but just random public ranting, such mail will probably only embarass the
posters in the long run and ...

> Maybe we can convince more people to ignore such public statements unless
> the expulsion process *actually* starts (which so far as I can tell has
> yet to ever happen).

... make ignoring it much easier.

Friendly,

Sven Luther