[Foundation-l] Agenda for October board meeting

[Ting Chen]

Florence Devouard wrote:
> I think your concern will not improve. After I sent my "10 wishes for 
> 2008", where I tried to outline what was important to me, what I 
> intended to truely put my own energy on, I was told that individual 
> board members should not express such public personal opinions. That 
> such documents should only be the result of a carefully brainstormed 
> time between all board board members and management. That board members 
> should thrive to always appear in agreement, and in particular always 
> supportive of any acts of the management. In short, learn to disagree in 
>   silence or quit.
>
>   
Hello Florence,

since this was before my time. I don't know why you are criticized. I 
personnally agree with you in most of your 10 points except the 
Wikiconcil part, as we see in Alexandria and thereafter here, the 
discussion is very tedious and a little aimless.

For my part I would criticize one point on your 10 wishes. Though you 
made it clear that it is your personnal wishes, you publiched it on the 
foundation site, and not on your personal user page or as a subpage of 
your user page. Because not everyone can and should publish their 
personal wishes on the foundation site, it makes it somehow official. It 
looks like "The State of the Nation of the President". As such it can be 
understood as an official stance of the foundation and the board. And 
since it is not, that is bad.

I think it is not the problem that every board member take part in 
discussions inside the community, but as that they are one member of the 
community, just every other member of the community. As such they should 
have their own oppinions. I don't think that the board would blame me 
take part on discussions on this mailing list while I don't discuss 
every of my opinion with the board. (If it is so, I will inform you. I 
promise it.) But if you do that, you should always make clear, you are 
speaking for yourself, not for the board and the foundation. I do think 
if you are speaking for the foundation or the board, it should be 
discussed with the other members. Then it is official, and in that case 
I think the board member should take the official opinion.

Ting