Re: Can a foundation member have access to the sponsorship history?

[Fabiano Fidêncio <fabiano fidencio org>]

On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 8:20 A

>> 3) Check if the values spent are okay
>
> Here I am unsure what you are asking for.  I published summaries in the
> past regarding to GUADEC, for example (Sorry for my English, it was
> rustier than now):
> http://calcifer.org/notes/2009/05/status-of-guadecs-sponsorship-requests.html
> http://calcifer.org/notes/2010/04/guadec-status-of-travel-sponsorship-requests.html

Also at:
http://blogs.gnome.org/kittykat/2013/06/07/sponsorships-for-guadec-2013/

Thanks for the link, Ekaterina!

 

> If you are asking for details of how much we have sponsored per every
> individual, it was decided at the very beginning to keep that
> information private.  It was also part of the announcement (see the
> links below):
>
>     "Any information you send the TC will be private"
>
> If we provide the names and numbers, there will be missing contextual
> information to explain some things.  And this could refrain people of
> requesting sponsorship. So, there is a trade-off between transparency
> and privacy.
>
> And this is mostly the case for GUADEC and GNOME.Asia. For hackfests,
> you still have the wiki page that has that information.  Something that
> might change once we start having a fixed amount for the hackfests
> altogether.
>
>> Although I'm not the one who would like to dig into these data, I'd feel
>> really more comfortable knowing that I can do this, if I'd like to.
>> Does it make sense? Am I asking too much?
>
>> Please, as I told before, I'm kind-of new here. So, If this discussion
>> already happened in the past, please, point me some links and I'll be happy
>> reading them and trying to understand why this process is not transparent
>> for all the Foundation members. (Seriously, I'm not trying to put my finger
>> in anyone's face about how the money is or should be spend. Just would love
>> to understand how the process works)
>
> The Travel Committee was proposed and discussed in 2009. You can see the
> original proposal in the following link:
> https://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-February/msg00007.html
>
> This was lengthly discussed, see for example the archives of February
> 2009:
> https://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-February/thread.html
>
> And you can see a follow-up on March on a related topic ("Sponsoring
> hackfests"):
> https://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-March/thread.html
>
> And the announcement in April:
> https://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-April/msg00012.html
>
>> With my thoughts and my doubts, yesterday I approached the Treasurer (who
>> is also member of the Travel Committee) and asked her about those things
>> and I'd like to share my disappointment with the answers.
>> [comments deleted]
>> After that, I was told to raise it with the Foundation, and that's the
>> motivation for my email :-)

There is indeed lack of context here. You strongly implied that the
board and the travel-committee was corrupt, which is an opinion that
you have every right to hold. If you do truly think that this is the
case, then it is my opinion that you should indeed raise the matter
with the membership rather than keeping quiet.

Wait a bit. Asking for information means that I imply that board and travel-committee is corrupt?

If yes, sorry the Board, sorry Travel Committee. I've noticed that I think both of you are corrupt!

Come on, Ekaterina. We know that everyone is equal for GNOME Foundation and we know we had problems about decisions being taken differently for the same situation and different people. Is it corruption? I don't think so.

What I do think so is that having every detail opened would help people to understand this kind of situation without have to argue with you and hear those kind of answers.

 

Regarding the travel committee issues and taking quotes out of
context, I would prefer to be clear on the matter:

You asked me where the amounts of sponsorship were recorded, I
responded by saying on hackfest pages and in board minutes.

You asked me for exact amounts that every individual has been
sponsored for, I responded by explaining that you can make an educated
estimate from the above two resources.

You asked me why the exact amounts of sponsorship for each individual
are not published, I explained that one of the reasons is that they
would make little sense without context and context is not ours to
publish. I also assured you that they are recorded properly, as that
seemed to be of concern to you, and the board also has access to them
in case the board ever wants to audit them.

I believe you when you say that you have no agenda, but you have yet
to give me a good reason for telling the world (you were asking me in
a public IRC channel) on which service to try guessing a travel
committee member's password

Come on. Asking where are those info is "try guessing a travel committee member's password"?

Now I'm really surprised, again!

 

and where to look for sponsorship details which, as Germán pointed out, the travel committee does promise to
keep private.

You could have answered this, right? But you took the non-polite way. 

 

Best Regards,

--

Fabiano Fidêncio