[Foundation-l] Board statement of responsibility

[Ray Saintonge]

Birgitte SB wrote:
> My read of this thread is that some people find the language in the 
> "disparagement" part to loosely defined. Mike Godwin argues that they 
> are wrong it and that finds language rather narrow. Neither side 
> backed up their belief with anything substantial. Someone asked if for 
> an example of similar language in a similar agreement from another 
> organization; no one has produced such a thing. All and all I don't 
> know what to make of that issue; maybe Mike is correct, maybe not. I 
> do know I wouldn't personally sign such a thing until I was sure Mike 
> was correct. But since there is no prospect of me being asked to sign 
> such a thing; I am not sure my hesitation is a strong enough feeling 
> to be worth sharing.
I note your use of the expression, "I wouldn't personally sign such a 
thing."  I say this less because of the what it says then because of the 
phrasing.  Mike seemed to take pride in the fact that the word 
"personally" appears three times in the document, and that it would 
somehow refer to the making of personal attacks.  I would be more 
inclined to use the word in the manner that you have used it in 
reference to the subject of the verb rather than the object.

The biggest problem with these documents is that they purport to impose 
discretion, and discretion cannot be embodied in the signature that 
flows from one's pen.

Ec