Re: gnome.org Account Policies

[Owen Taylor <otaylor redhat com>]

Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org> writes:

> <quote who="Federico Mena Quintero">
> 
> > http://primates.ximian.com/~federico/docs/gnome-org-policies/index.html
> > 
> > Please review it and send your comments.
> 
> Hi Federico, thanks for posting this!
> 
> All very good, the only issue I have is the relatively loose policy on
> gnome.org mail aliases.
> 
> These is quite an important measure of representation, so perhaps it should
> only be given to people with CVS or shell access, given that they are
> already trusted with the "crown jewels".
> 
> Perhaps a <user>@people.gnome.org system would satisfy any complaints about

Note that the number of people with CVS accounts (725) is considerably
bigger than the number of GNOME foundation members (373), and we have
a considerably more formal process for foundation membership than
getting a CVS account. (Even with this new policy, CVS accounts basicically
given ou "if you need one")

I think as long as we have a policy that a @gnome.org alias does _not_
mean you speak on behalf of GNOME, giving out email aliases relatively
freely is not a huge deal. This is pretty standard ... acm.org, gnu.org, 
debian.org, universities... 

The reason for the very simple policy for accounts is basically to avoid
creating a admistrative nightmare where we need a _separate_ process
for deciding who gets aliases, and have to worry about how that works.

The choices for a policy that avoids separate decisions are small:

 * Nobody gets aliases
 * Only board members and officers of the GNOME foundation get aliases
 * Any foundation members can get a alias

But the second doesn't really work because you don't want to give out
aliases then remove them in the normal course of thing -- nobody is 
going to want to use an email alias that will go away in a year.

I don't think @people.gnome.org account really solves anything ... 
you still have to worry about who gets @gnome.org aliases. If nobody does,
then you've just added 'people.' for no good reason.

Yes, we probably need a "responsible use" statement for gnome.org email
aliases - something along the lines of:

 gnome.org email aliases are provided for the convenience of GNOME 
 foundation members and to facilitate the operation of the GNOME project.
 The GNOME board has the right to revoke aliases at any time for any
 reason. Types of mail that it is inappropriate to use a gnome.org alias
 in include:

  - Mail sent for commercial purposes
  - Mail that reflects badly on the GNOME project, including, but not
    limited to harassing mail, offensive mail, personal attacks, and
    attacks on competing projects.  
  - Mail that misleadingly attempts to portray the official positions
    of the GNOME project.

 Use common sense. If you have doubts whether you should send mail from
 your gnome.org account, use a different account. If your mail might
 be interpreted as an official statement about GNOME positions, include
 a disclaimer.

Ugh. But that's something we'd need in any case if we give out gnome.org
aliases to anyone, and I think there is a definite value to giving
out aliases in some fashion in terms of making people feel part of
the GNOME project.

Regards,
                                        Owen