As you said, if the groups purpose is to map ambassadors, so only
ambassadors should be added to those groups. If we are to be a more open
community and embrace more people, then I believe the ambassadors
sponsoring program should be reviewed. As someone pointed out, these
groups are just a shortcut to get CLA+1 priviledges without the need of
following any protocol. I do not have a problem with doing so, but then
we should be doing that openly.
I recently became admin of one of these groups and I do not know what to
do whenever some not CLA+1 user requests access. The policy of the
former admin was just to accept the request. If you check the first
email, I also proposed alternative 'A', where we give these groups
better purposes and guidance (maybe a wiki page).
As you pointed out, ambassadors are ambassadors. Our ambassadors fulfil
a specific purpose, being an ambassador to the project. As such they
were supposed to be able to have proven themselves and show a distinct
knowledge base and show a certain decorum, when representing the project
as a whole. That is a very sensitive and important role, which can and
would damage the project as a whole, and far worse, its reputation.
People joining the regional groups, as just doing that, joining a
regional group, mainly because they want to be kept up to date on
potential regional events or issues. Some of those people, will edit
wiki pages, show their interest in the project, for their various
personal reasons or just want to remain in the loop. Some undoubtedly
will also want to show their support for the project by being a member
of the Fedora Project.
In other words, why people join Fedora, or one of the many SIGs is
varied. We also allowed people in the past to create groups of their
own, because that is how you foster projects and sub-projects. You give
people the resources they require to achieve the advancement of the
Fedora Project or another FOSS initiative.
Also, may I take this opportunity again, to remind everybody on this
list, that in the voluntary sector, you do not try to alienate people by
expecting them to perform constant specific tasks or making it harder to
include interested people. If that was the case, you would alienate
volunteers and potential volunteers from anything to do with
volunteering. People have jobs and other responsibilities and for most
people contributing to the Fedora Project as a whole, that means
sacrificing their free time to better themselves and what they believe in.
But I come back to specific problems. If there are specific issues they
should be brought to the attention of the admins of that group, or the
council. For instance spamming etc, would naturally be such an offence.
So, if somebody has any specific issues they are aware of, I would be
grateful if they brought those to all of our attentions, of in the case
of the Fedora UK group, mine or Paul's or another Admins or supervisors'.
Regards,
Tristan
--
Tristan Santore BSc MBCS
TS4523-RIPE
Network and Infrastructure Operations
InterNexusConnect
Mobile +44-78-55069812
Tristan.Santore(a)internexusconnect.net
Former Thawte Notary
(Please note: Thawte has closed its WoT programme down,
and I am therefore no longer able to accredit trust)
For Fedora related issues, please email me at:
TSantore(a)fedoraproject.org