[maemo-community] Request: council at maemo.org

[From: Ryan Abel]

On Nov 24, 2008, at 3:58 PM, Jamie Bennett wrote:

> On Sun, 2008-11-23 at 17:41 -0500, Ryan Abel wrote:
>
>> On Nov 23, 2008, at 1:25 PM, Graham Cobb wrote:
>>
>>> Maybe it should be set up but my concerns still stand.
>>
>> . . . and this was one of our first concerns too, which is why we set
>> our policy to address it. You'll concede that there are clearly
>> sensitive and confidential things that the council may have to deal
>> with, though, yes?
>
> Although with a community project I can't see where the 'sensitive and
> confidential things' would be. Is this an open effort or not?


OK, here are some examples then:

  * Dealing with Nokia. Nokia clearly has some confidential and  
sensitive things, and some of those things may, on occasion, intersect  
with the council.
  * Planning an announcement. Immediately beginning the planning for a  
new project in public (especially one that may be touchy for the  
community) is generally a good way to get a bad reaction fast.  
Sometimes a little private discussion beforehand is needed to make  
sure all parties to be involved are OK with it, and make sure all the  
prerequisites are met, then make the announcement.
  * Any 3rd party that wishes to contact the council. Not everybody  
will wish to contact the council through a public mailing list, and a  
pain-free way to get to us is better than having them harvest email  
addresses.
  * Sensitive personal information (timeless's example). There may be  
instances where sensitive personal information may need to be  
exchanged, in which case a public mailing list is somewhat less than  
ideal.

There are quite a number of things that an open project may have to  
deal with that can't be dealt with out in the open. Hopefully my list  
here has convinced you of that. We've been through exactly the same  
closed-down mess with Nokia you have, and don't wish to repeat their  
mistakes. :)

--
Ryan Abel
Maemo Community Council chair