Re: A summary of some open discussions

[Carlos O'Donell]

On Mon, Jan 6, 2020 at 5:16 AM Brandon Invergo <brandon@gnu.org> wrote:
> Mark Wielaard writes:
>
> >> There is no such thing as a FSF steward, GNU maintainers are appointed
> >> by RMS/GAC.  The FSF has no say in the topic.  You've keept
> >> misrepresenting this over and over again.
> >
> > This is just a legal technicallity. The FSF has oversight
> > responsibility over the GNU project. That means that the FSF needs to
> > determine that GNU maintainers operate in a manner consistent with
> > FSF's exempt purposes, have the needed expertise and that their
> > activities can be monitored by the FSF board. So GNU Maintainers and
> > Steering committees are technically appointed by the FSF (previously
> > RMS when he was FSF president and board member) as stewards of GNU
> > packages. Basically GNU maintainers serve at the pleasure of the FSF.
>
> This is absolutely false.

Which part?

The FSF is a tax-exempt charity that has oversight responsibilities
for the work being done with the resources it owns. So at least that
part is true.

The last two sentences are a reframing of the existing governance
structure based on the legal requirements placed on the FSF by its
tax-exempt status, which is why Mark uses the word "technically" not
"literally." You appear to have interpreted this as the literal
meaning, which is likely not Mark's intent. As Ludovic says, please
assume good intent. You can ask Mark what he meant by it before
calling all of it, incorrectly so, a falsehood.

I agree with Ludovic and Andreas' comments downthread that when you
join a volunteer organization you join it to further the goals of the
organization.

Cheers,
Carlos.