Why?

[Elliot Lee <sopwith redhat com>]

Because.

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	Why are you sending this so-far useless e-mail?

Because I want you to elect me as a member of the GNOME Foundation board.

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	Why should I trust you enough to fulfill your request?

Because I have been working on GNOME long enough, producing results of
high enough quality, and supporting the GNOME effort enough to set my
trustability level to "stun".

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	How long have you been working on GNOME?

Since the beginning.

I even continue to insist that I thought up the expansion for the 'GNOME'
acronym, though what few IRC logs we have left have been unable to
authoritatively prove this.

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	Have you done any actual work with GNOME, or are you just one of
	those people who runs around trying to find a free software
	cowpie to stir?

An HTMLized Bonsai query result 16721709 bytes long. Over 7700 commits
(conveniently padded by my part in the Great CVS Debacle). Over 2000
mailing list posts. One man: Elliot Lee!

I tried to help GNOME out by thinking about those commits too - I am proud
to have originally designed OAF and Nautilus (not that others haven't
since done more work in this area than I ever did). ORBit didn't turn out
too badly either, and there are pieces of gnome-libs that I will admit to
having created. These days I am working on a massive rework of ORBit -
typically I enjoy working on infrastructure that will allow app writers to
add amazing features to their applications. I also help out with GNOME
CVS/WWW/FTP/system administration & maintainance.

I coordinated the October GNOME release, proving that I am capable of
working with all you superhackers, providing assistance in making good
things happen.

I have a lot of time invested in GNOME, and am fortunate enough to be paid
to spend many of my days working on GNOME infrastructure at Red Hat Labs.

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	A lot of other people say they can be trusted too. Why you over them?

Because I can fill the following roles better than them:
	. I have the technical knowledge of a broad range of
	GNOME components, necessary to help provide meaningful suggestions
	on the direction of GNOME insofar as the foundation is involved.
	. I have the knowledge necessary to help manage the
	financial aspects of the foundation, necessary so that the
	foundation can make a real, positive difference for the GNOME
	project.
	. I have past flaming experience (emphasis on past!) and
	coordination experience. This gives me understanding of how to aid
	in diplomatic solutions when possible, and shut my piehole when not. :)
	. I like working behind the scenes helping people make
	cool things happen.

I believe that these attributes qualify me for your vote over others.
Should I be fortunate enough to receive such, I will follow through in my
duties as your humble servant on the board.

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	Why?

Because I think you, the people who have made GNOME happen, deserve the
best possible help in getting GNOME where you want it to go. If you
remember only one thing about me when voting, please remember that my goal
will be to help you out with all the distractions, problems, and boring
work that GNOME and its foundation need doing, so that you can focus on
having fun contributing.

I'm willing and I'm able. Please elect me.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
-- Elliot
[ "In a democracy, the government is the people," Milo explained. "We're people,
aren't we? So we might just as well keep the money and eliminate the middleman." ]
							- Catch-22