[Foundation-l] Software Policy Draft

[Thomas Dalton]

> Seems like instruction creep to me. Why do we need such a policy? Have
> there been any challenges to these principles lately? Are there likely to be?

There seems to be a desire by the board to put things in writing.
There are some benefits to this. While the community knows what our
values are (since they are our values), we would never do anything
against this policy. However, the staff at WMF aren't necessarily
members of the community with the same values we have - their job is
to do what the board tells them, we can't and shouldn't assume they
know what we want instinctively. These policies are how the board
guides the staff.

Even if we could assume the staff are psychic, there are still
problems with unwritten rules. When an unwritten rule conflicts with a
written one, the written one will always take priority, regardless of
which is more important. We can't really function with nothing in
writing, so it's necessary to put everything in writing.