Hi everyone,

currently there is some discussion on the board list that really belongs on the 
general discuss list. Cameron has put a summary in an e-mail which got sent to 
the wrong list (OGC TC discuss instead of OSGeo discuss), I’m forwarding it 
below as a starting point for discussion.

Basically the question is how should we determine who gets elected and who not? 
Currently there is a proposal to raise the threshold from 5 to 50%, but two 
board members (including myself) have already voted -1 on this proposal, main 
reason being that we don’t know the opinion of the broader community on this.

The board discussion is unfortunately scattered over multiple threads with 
titles like:

motions from June 18 meeting - making OSGeo Charter membership more exclusive
motions from June 18 meeting

http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2015-June/thread.html

Best regards,
Bart

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: Cameron Shorter <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [Board] motions from June 18 meeting - making OSGeo Charter 
> membership more exclusive
> Date: 20 Jun 2015 01:59:56 CEST
> To: [email protected], "Discuss, TC" <[email protected]>
> 
> OSGeo board,
> As an OSGeo Charter member, I request that the following motion (see below) 
> not be passed without first discussing publicly on the OSGeo Discuss email 
> list.
> 
> The current process for joining OSGeo Charter Membership [2] was specifically 
> refined to be more inclusive than before, in order to make it easy for all 
> passionate people within the OSGeo community to join, while aiming to protect 
> against the now relatively unlikely possibility of a hostile takeover.
> 
> Based on the proposal below, 11 out of 64 of last years successful 
> nominations would be rejected under the  proposed new rules. I suggest this 
> is not in OSGeo's interests.
> 
> It is possible that some of these 11 people are not very involved in OSGeo, 
> and maybe haven't contributed much since being nominated, but is that a bad 
> thing? Have any of these 11 people been actively detrimental to OSGeo while 
> being an OSGeo Charter member? Note, the only official duty of a charter 
> member is to vote for the board. However, being recognised as a charter 
> member is useful for many of our members looking to gain OSGeo credibility, 
> such as when presenting at conferences.
> 
> If we are more inclusive, and add 10 new non-active/non-disruptive OSGeo 
> Charter members, then I'd argue that it is worth it for the 1 passionate 
> Charter member we also gain.
> 
> I remember a quote from Jeff which rang true with me, and which I think is 
> applicable here:
> 
> "I once heard an interview with a legendary lead singer of a band, who said 
> his goal each concert was to make the kid sitting in the very back row to 
> feel like he's as much a part of the concert as the kid sitting in the front 
> row, and this is exactly how I focus my community work for OSGeo."
> http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2014-August/013498.html 
> <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2014-August/013498.html>
> 
> Warm regards, Cameron Shorter
> 
> On 20/06/2015 5:29 am, Vasile Craciunescu wrote:
>> Dear all, 
>> 
>> Please also vote for motion below. 
>> 
>> 5) For the new charter members elections, change the threshold of required 
>> YES votes of charter members from 5% to 50%. See Jeff's e-mail [1] for 
>> detailed explanations and the rationale of this change. If needed, also 
>> check the Membership Process [2]. 
>> 
>> My vote is +1. 
>> 
>> Best, 
>> Vasile 
>> 
>> [1] http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2015-May/012863.html 
>> <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2015-May/012863.html> 
>> [2] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Membership_Process 
>> <http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Membership_Process>
> 
> On 26/05/2015 2:18 am, Jeff McKenna wrote:
>> 3. Decide on 2015 Selection Process 
>> ----------------------------------- 
>> 
>> To refresh everyone's memory, last year we (Board) modified the selection 
>> process[3] for Charter members; but in my opinion we made a mistake with the 
>> voting change of "Each candidate with more YES votes than NO votes, and 
>> greater than 5% of voting charter members voting YES for them, will be 
>> included as new charter members." 
>> 
>> What I saw was, for the first time in OSGeo history, strategic nominations 
>> by certain projects, for relatively unknown community members; the result 
>> was that all 64 nominations were accepted as Charter members. 
>> 
>> For 2015, I am proposing we make 1 change, instead of the 5% acceptance, 
>> change that to 50% or greater voting YES.   Such as: 
>> 
>> *** 
>> Each candidate with more YES votes than NO votes, and greater than or equal 
>> to 50% of voting charter members voting YES for them, will be included as 
>> new charter members. 
>> *** 
>> 
>> I have checked the 2014 results again, and with those new 50% rules, we 
>> would have accepted 45 nominations versus all 64 nominations.  I believe 
>> this is much better. 
>> 
>> But of course this needs to be decided by the Board and community.  I am 
>> merely kicking off the process   So please speak your mind, or edit the 2015 
>> Elections wiki directly. 
>> 
>> Yours, 
>> 
>> -jeff
> -- 
> Cameron Shorter,
> Software and Data Solutions Manager
> LISAsoft
> Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
> 26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
> 
> P +61 2 9009 5000,  W www.lisasoft.com <http://www.lisasoft.com/>,  F +61 2 
> 9009 5099
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