[OSGeo-Discuss] [Election 2014] Nominations finish tomorrow!!

[Jeff McKenna]

Thanks for adding this to the Board agenda Eli (your draft text looks 
good), I agree it makes sense to keep Charter Members aware of this, 
even though it is unlikely to happen.

-jeff



On 2014-08-02 1:04 AM, Eli Adam wrote:
>
> When I approach someone who I want to nominate for charter membership,
> I sometimes explain that their only real functional role in OSGeo as
> charter members is to be aware of and respond to hostile takeover
> attempts of OSGeo or OSGeo funds/assets.  And to serve as the pool
> from which board members are drawn.  As unlikely as hostile takeover
> attempts are, recognizing and responding to that is the only thing
> that charter members can do that non-charter members can not (other
> than serving on the board).  In most cases, individuals have already
> long been doing and can continue to do all the positive actions and
> attributes listed,
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Membership_Process#Positive_Attributes
>
> I get some "are you serious" responses for approaching people this way
> but do think it is worth reminding people of this important (although
> unlikely and hopefully never needed) role.  I think that the process
> is self-actualizing, i.e. since we have a policy in place that
> prevents or guards against hostile takeover attempts, there will be no
> attempts since it would not work.  Since we have a maybe somewhat
> cumbersome process to guard against something that will never happen
> since the process exists, it makes it look like the process is
> entirely unnecessary and a pointless headache.
>
> I think that this function is sufficiently obscure that the board
> should consider adding it to the positive attributes sought from
> charter members and have taken the liberty of putting it on the board
> agenda [1].  If the board has time and so desires, they may undertake
> this.
>
> I'm not trying to ignore the important role that charter members play
> by serving as the pool of potential board members, it is just that
> most charter members will never serve on the board but all charter
> members can and should actively be aware of and respond to potential
> hostile takeover attempts (which once again are unlikely and will
> probably never happen so long as we have effective policies in place
> to prevent them).
>
> Preposterously, Eli
>
> [1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2014-08-14#Agenda
>
>