On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 6:09 PM, Stephanie Daugherty <[email protected]>wrote:
> > > > On the other hand, nothing about a "closed place to chat" feels right to > > me. As a volunteer contributor that serves as an "air traffic > controller", > > directing and introducing interested people in the Brazilian community to > > Mozilla projects, I watch a lot of different places in order to know > what's > > going on and who's doing what. I am constantly talking to people that had > > no idea about existing projects/forums inside Mozilla because those are > > hard to discover. One of the greatest qualities about Mozilla is that not > > only our products, but also our processes are completely open. Let's keep > > it that way. I'm concerned that by hiding our decision making we're going > > against our existing projects to ease the path for new contributors – and > > by new I mean new to a project, not necessarily new to Mozilla –, and > > making it harder for people to feel like they are part of the project. > > > > > Generally agree with this, however in the wake of the Thunderbird leak and > it's potential motivations (one of them being a lack of perceived ability > to discuss the matter during the embargo), which created a lot of > unwarranted FUD about the future of Thunderbird, I think this is something > we need to look at. I'm strongly against maintaining a closed chat system > on an ongoing basis as I feel like it's anathema to the values of openness > and transparency that make Mozilla great, however, I do see the need to > have the capability on a less-regular basis - specifically in response to > particular events and announcements that require discretion, and would > suggest one approach would be that closed chats only happen as needed, in > response to specific communication needs, and are always hosted events > focused on a particular sensitive topic, rather than just keeping a private > "backroom" available at all times where it will be seen as some sort of > private exclusive club. > > -Stephanie > _______________________________________________ > governance mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/governance > I think it would also help the situation to talk about why things can't or shouldn't be open. If the community at large can have a greater understanding of the reasons behind it, it will make it easier to be more cooperative rather than adversarial about making sure everything is as open as possible. It's a conversation that would need to happen regularly, and repeated when specific examples come up. I do like the idea of a forum closed to vouched Mozillians. I don't have a problem with this as anyone can meet the criteria to join - be an active contributor. There will still be lots of blog posts and other things for potential contributors who probably aren't best off jumping straight in to all the noise. I think the lack of this is part of why the leak happened. There was no place to ask questions and raise fears that the community was being left out. Discussing it on any of the mailing lists would have made it public! _______________________________________________ governance mailing list [email protected] https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/governance
