ForumAmbassadors
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| ##(see the SpecSpec for an explanation) | == Initial Notes == |
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| ''Please check the status of this specification in Launchpad before editing it. If it is Approved, contact the Assignee or another knowledgeable person before making changes.'' | This a draft. Everything here is completely open for discussion and reevaluation. It is, as of the time of writing, the work of only two people and will only represent those views until you start on it. Additionally, this document can updated with time when it stops working. For example, if a 3-5 person board becomes problematic, we can change it. Changes to this can be made by agreement of both the FC and the CC. |
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| * '''Launchpad entry''': https://features.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/forum-ambassadors * '''Packages affected''': |
Finally, it should go without saying but may still benefit from being said: This document is ''not'' meant as an attack on the current forums staff or administrators. ''The forums are one of the largest and smoothest running parts of the Ubuntu community. This document aims to help create a more documented, democratic, accessible governance structure for the forums and to integrate it into the rest of the Ubuntu community.'' ''The best way to solve a problem is to prevent it from ever happening. At a moment when the forums are running more smoothly than ever, it seems an ideal moment to help pave the road for a long and smooth future.'' == Forums Community Governance Codification == The forums represent many people's first meeting with Ubuntu and is an important resource for support and social interactions and have become one of the most important subprojects within Ubuntu. They are the single largest GNU/Linux support forums and one of the most important venues for community support and interaction. Started independently by "Ryan Troy two years ago, their rapid success was officially recognized when they were designated as the Official Ubuntu Forums. In a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons, the forums have not been given the recognition that they deserve. Their governance systems remain both separate and isolated from the Ubuntu decision-making systems. While the forums have built successful and effective internal governance systems, including their resolution center, their relationship to the rest of the Ubuntu is less clear. The forums currently have no CC-delegated governance council and no official team delegation. In short, the Official Ubuntu Forums have not been given an opportunity to live up to their name. This specification, which ultimately aims to be approved by both the current forum staff and the Ubuntu Community Council, tries to lay out a plan for bringing the Ubuntu forums into the fold. A closer relationship between Ubuntu and the forums will: * Increase recognition of contributions in the forums with membership which is ultimately used to approve community council members. * Provide a clear delegation and codifications of the existing leadership in the forums and plan for handling these decisions in the future. * Describe clear democratic and meritocratic processes for the appointment of leadership and staff positions in the forums. * Remove several "single points of failure". (this is not an attack on the people who currently fill those roles, but a recognition that single points of failure are problematic) * Describe methods for both preventing and resolving any future inter-administrator or inter-staff conflicts within the forums. * Recognize the hard work of the forums staff through recognition as an integral and *integrated* part of the forums community. * Provide a straightforward process for top forums contributors to be recognized as full members in Ubuntu, with the right to vote on resolutions posed by the Community Council. * Provide for a reporting process so that news, ideas and work done in the project by Forums users will be communicated to the broader community and appropriately recognized. == Changes to Current Ubuntu Policy == The proposal includes both new policy and the codification of a few existing Ubuntu policies. These should be discussed with the CC and the forum staff. After it has been approved by the CC we will add it to the community governance page (http://www.ubuntu.com/community/processes/governance) in the Ubuntu website. Note that the document is structured to describe NOT JUST the Forums, but instead all the areas of the project which are large and independent enough to have their own dedicated leadership structures. == Team Councils == For active teams and subprojects with Ubuntu, the Ubuntu Community council delegates many of its responsibilities to "Team Councils." These councils act as proxies for the Community Council over a particular team or scope of activity within the Ubuntu community. These governance councils are ultimately responsible for the actions and activity within their team or scope and resolves disputes and manage policies and procedures internal to their team and frequently appoint Ubuntu members on behalf of the CC. The Ubuntu Forums Council (FC) is the team governance council for the the official Ubuntu forums. == Forums Council Charter == ''The following text is a draft of the charter for a forums council. It is subject to acceptance or amendment by the Community Council in consultation with the forums council members. If anything in this document needs updating or changing, the forums council should submit a amended version to the CC for approval.'' The forums council is the group that is ultimately responsible for the governing the forums and interfacing between the forums and the rest of the Ubuntu community and governce systems. It will: * Consist of five (5) members. Membership should be public and published. * Decisions will be made by a majority of voting forums council members when at least three and more than half of the total members have voted. * FC members should be accessible by and responsive to the forums community (i.e., through a dedicated forum). * Hold "meetings" regularly and visibly. Meetings can either be in IRC in the "ubuntu-meeting" channel or in a special, publicly visible area or sub-forum. * Be appointed by the Ubuntu Community Council in consultation with the Forums Council, forums staff, and active contributors to the forums. Nominations would be open and public and would be considered and evaluated by the CC. Each candidate should prepare a wiki page summarizing their nomination and their contributions and including and referencing testimonials (e.g., something similar to what is prepared for Ubuntu membership). The CC commits to evaluating all nominations on the following criteria, listed in order of importance: - The nominees active status as an Ubuntu member ''(essential)''. - The nominees support from ''at least'' one active forum staff member (essential). - Opinions and testimonials (positive and negative) from current members of the forums council; - Opinions and testimonials from current forums staff; - Opinions and testimonials from Ubuntu Members, Ubunteros, and other active participants in the forums; - Clear evidence of activity within the forums (quality, quantity and duration); * Serve terms of two (2) years. FC members could serve multiple or repeated terms. Weight will be given to proved contributors and reelection of consistently active members should be both easy and common. * Be formed, initially, of the current forums administrators (i.e., Ryan Troy, John Dong, and Mike Braniff). As forums founder, Ryan Troy will be assigned lifetime membership dependent on his continued desire to serve on the council and continued compliance with the Ubuntu Code of Conduct and Leadership Code of Conduct. * Have a chairman with a casting vote, appointed by the Community Council, initially to be Ryan Troy. The FC would have a number of rights and responsibilities, and be ultimately responsible for the smooth operation of the forums. These include: * Appointing or recalling administrators, moderators and forums staff or determining criteria by which they are appointed. * Resolving disputes between forums staff and moderators as per the existing dispute resolution system and forums guidelines. * With advice, feedback, and help from the forums staff, maintaining and enforcing the Forums Guidelines and associated infrastructure (e.g., the resolution center). * Regularly and when possible (i.e., monthly), sending reports or representatives to CC members to weigh in on issues of membership and to update the council on the FC business. === Staff and Ubuntu Membership === Forums staff will be appointed by the forums council. Forums staff are expected to uphold and set an example that is consistent with the Code of Conduct. Forums staff and participants have the option to become Ubuntu members. Current staff can apply for membership at an Ubuntu CC meeting. Their contributions as staff members and contributors on the forums should provide more than sufficient evidence of a sustained and significant contribution to the Ubuntu community. === Dispute Resolution === The FC will be responsible for maintaining forum guidelines and systems for internal conflict resolution (e.g., the forums resolution center). Additionally, there should provide a documented method whereby any disagreements or conflicts ''between'' moderators can request a hearing by the FC. In extreme situations, users and moderators who feel that they have not been given a fair hearing by the FC can appeal a decision to the CC. The CC considers the FC to be a greater authority on forums matters and in the majority of these cases, the CC will likely refer these issues back to the FC. Any deadlock within the FC will can be referred to the community council for resolution. == Commentary on Changes == As per our discussion with Ryan yesterday, we have changed this document into a "charter" for a team council subject to approval at a community council meeting. Additionally, we have made the following changes: * Added an explicit lifetime appointment to the FC for Ryan Troy subject to continued active involvement as described in the CoC. |
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| == BoF agenda and discussion == * Currently this spec is in drafting. * There will be another BOF about this on Thursday or Friday. Interested forum members should try to attend. * Many of the current comments are things that should actually be bullets, as they're valid points and ideas, not just comments. Before the next drafting, this should be amended. I'll work on it, so help me :) == Summary == This document specifies how to improve communication (bugs, ideas, forum users feedback) between the forums and the developers. The idea is to elect Forum Ambassadors and/or have a special forum for this to help to improve communication. This idea originated on the forums. It was originally by Aysiu but many people have contributed. The current discussion is here : the forum thread : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1708930 Forum Ambassadors might become a team like : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=289810 * Summary - Subforum on the forums where people have opinions and ideas. Make a team that connects to the developers to facilitate communication. * Use ambassadors to collect ideas,bugs and feedback from users. |
* Created a chairman position with a casting vote, initially to be filled by Ryan. |
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| TODO: improve the spec and make it more clear == Rationale == Currently there's little communication between the forum users and the developers. The forums can be a great resource for developers that are looking for bugs, testers, or improvement of useablity -- but not in a way that they have to spend too much time browsing the forums. The idea is to bring the forums to the developers with this team. The proposed Forum Ambassadors Team will improve information flow between the forums and the developers. This information flow will be bi-directional. It's not practical for the developers to spend much time monitoring the forums. The amount selected by the ambassadors team for the developers should be a lot easier to handle than the huge amount of posts on the forums. Instead of waiting for developers to come to the forums let's take a more active approach and create this team. It also provides a sense of entitlement to the users at Ubuntu Forums. They will feel represented, involved, and perhaps be able to take a larger part in making Ubuntu better. True this is definetely good for improving the integration and communication of the forums with the rest of the community. == Use cases == * Right after Feisty's release there's a big thread on the forums about the breakage of a certain important package. Paul, a forum ambassador, contacts the maintainer of this package to let him know about this. * Karel, a forum user, creates a new thread with some nice workarounds for certain problems. Paul, a forum ambassador, discovers that a couple of these problems are unknown to the devs and encourages and assists forum users to report these problems as bugs. * Joe, a forum user, posts with annoyance at how a certain package is not compiled with options to perform something he wants, for example ipod support for a music app. The ambassador informs Joe he will pass on his request by filing a bug to the right package. * Traci, a Forums Ambassador, creates a thread asking for suggestions regarding ideas for improved usability, new things that don't ring very true with the users. Traci summarizes the discussion, filters out trivia and senseless complaints, and forwards the good ideas and suggestions to the developers in the following way : first create specs for these ideas, secondly send an e-mail to ubuntu-devel for discussion and thirdly attend the next UDS to discuss these specs. == Scope == This spec is focused on creating a Forum Ambassadors team which will provide a bi-directional communication interface between the forum users and the developers. The focus of this team should not be to try to educate every new user, although the team would assist communication between forums users and developers. * The Forum Ambassadors will also not be responsible for resolving inter-user and user/staff grievances. We have a resolution centre for that (Also FC and CC in the future). * The only purpose of this project is to gather feedback and input from the users and convey it directly to the developers, and to convey the intentions/thoughts of the developers back to the users. The Ambassadors team's responsibilities will not extend beyond that. == Design == Possible tasks for the Ambassadors Team : * To encourage and assist forum users in bug reporting, wiki usage and other community tools. Types of relevant information : bugs, specs and ideas, priority of specs as felt by the forum users. * One method may be by producing documentation on the forums to easily introduce users to launchpad. ''-ManiacMusician : Good idea. This is something that users can do without any super-skills. and launchpad is definitely a strange creature to most; even me. '' ''-PriceChild : Yeah, I don't like it some times. There are specs to help integrate it into the forums. :S'' ''-Hobbsee : That wont mean that everything moves to the forums though, as much as some users seem to want it. Jono was looking to write an easy guide on "how to file bugs" - probably not one on the rest of launchpad, though'' ''- UbuntuDemon : Yeah, we can use their work. They are thinking about something like reportingbugs.ubuntu.com. See the reporting bugs spec for more info.'' ''- ManiacMusician : That could be a good long-term gobby project. We do need one big guide for launchpad '' '' -Hobbsee : i would assume there would be space so we can do that. That's probably less scary than bzr, which the devs tend to use.'' ''-UbuntuDemon : IMHO let Jono's spec do this. But it would be nice to provide input on it. <--ManiacMusician : oh, yes. I would never suggest that the ambassadors take it on. Just commenting.'' ''-PriceChild : Btw i think that there is a bit of documentation on ubuntuforums by one of the staff on how to file a bug *searches* '' ''-Hobbsee : There's also some for mozilla, but I've got no idea where it is anymore. However, that's probably a moot point, seeing as we don't have jono here.'' * Purposes of ambassadors: * Communicating ideas to developers (gists and zeitgeists) ''- PriceChild : what are gists and zeitgeists? '' '' - ManiacMusician : zeitgeists are trend-trackings...they track the change of trends over time. Or just show popularity of certain things. ie; google trends'' '' - UbuntuDemon : some fancy words of Mako ;).'' * Some people are comfortable collecting information. (Collector) * Some people are comfortable diseminating information. (Disseminators) * ^^^^ Two way communication. (Bidirectional) * Triaging people and volunteers (being in touch with the interests of users) * File bugs (Good bugs, not just follow either, is it a feature or a bug? They need to be able to contact people who are willing to contribute.) (''see'' [:LoCoTeamsUDSMVSpecs/CommunityBugReporting:CommunityBugReporting]) * Integration of projects that start on the forums into the distribution. (Inviting people into the greater community.) * Involve other active members of the forums that don't yet contribute to the organization. (Get the active members to join the project) * "I've stopped using Ubuntu because XXX is, or works better, in Some Other Distro" <-- high priority * Recognition of forums contributions * Integration of other forums (all the LoCo forums and other languages). How do we get their feedback integrated? (Tough, this will be another spec). '' -ManiacMusician : This can be taken care of eventually, as the ambassador project grows bigger and can accomodate more mediums. Should we make a priority list of where to deploy our teams to first? '' ''- Hobbsee : Have you been able to link in with various developers on how you can help out? '' ''- ManicMusician : ...Not yet. '' ''- Hobbsee : Better get to it. ;) People at MTV will probably find this easiest '' ''- ManiacMusician : problem is getting the word out and getting them all to listen.'' ''- UbuntuDemon : the devs seem to be most interested in bugs and regressions (that is high priority bugs and bugs around feature freeze)'' ''- PriceChild : Could we get them in the next gobby if there is one?'' ''- UbuntuDemon : We'll put this spec into drafting and improve it a little bit. Move it back into discussion with medium priority after that ( we don't want t it to block essential BOFs). I hope to have at least another BOF about this. But I will do at least a lot of informal talking with people.'' * Ambassadors from other forums? ''- Hobbsee : As in, the kubuntu forums? (not official)'' ''-ManiacMusician : ...something like that would be very hard. Maybe if we ever have enough manpower. As an alternative, I suggest delegating this task to the users at their seperate, unofficial forums. They can report back to "Ambassadors HQ" for the sake of organization'' ''-Hobbsee : I haven't seen many others wanting to participate, so that sounds fine.'' ''-UbuntuDemon : My take on this is that this team could be an example to other Ambassadors Teams on other forums for example different languages or derivatives.'' ''-ManiacMusician : Yes, absolutely...but we can't have 50 teams interacting with the developers. It would be a hassle. It's more ideal to have a centralized Ambassadors Panel that can take in information from various teams and send it all out together, in an organized fashion'' * Launchpad team for Ambassadors ''- Hobbsee : - It would be just for reference on who they are. That requires them to have LP accounts though. Also, you probably want to have something on the forums about that as well - seeing as most users wont look at LP '' ''- ManiacMusician : We plan to get a subsection on the forums...most users should be aware of our existence, at the very least (UbuntuDemon : and we will get a Forum Ambassadors Team enstated as part of the staff)'' ''- PriceChild : I think that's more for dev's reference than normal users?'' ''-Hobbsee : I think so too, but it will be necessary'' ''-PriceChild : yup :) *Report on the team's work and achievements over a timeframe... monthly? == Implementation == * Document HOWTO be an ambassador ''-PriceChild : How about a separate document to start this? * create ambassador team leaders * set criteria that we want to see from members * How to file a good bug report * Asking good questions * Submit submittor to bug report. * Create special forum section dedicated to make it easy for forum users to contact Forum Ambassadors * Two way street. Developers and forum users. * Central point of contact? Or distributed by team? How do you get decent coverage? ''-ManiacMusician: I feel it should be a combination. A central team that coordinates the movements of all the teams, and then separate teams of 3 to 5 people that cover special areas or branch out in some way'' * Existing staff too busy to be ambassadors? ''-ManiacMusician : For the most part, yes'' * Don't need to be staff, but if they're contributors, then do it. * How toons (one or two), then elections. (Coleadership) ''-ManiacMusician : What does this mean? Can the writer clarify? Or remove if it's no longer a concern?'' * Set of criteria of contributions. * List of volunteers. ''-UbuntuDemon : Mark just told us he would like to highlight some specs on the forums for discussion and get developers relevant to that spec into that ''-UbuntuDemon : We'll start small and slowly grow to a big team of Forum Ambassadors. We want to try to cover everything that is really important to the users. * It's important that people know that they don't have to be developers to talk on a developer level - it's not like the developers are unapproachable, nor that they need to be talked to in a weird language - they do understand day to day English. I suspect there are a lot of people who think "I cant do this, I'm not skilled enough to." If you have a reasonable knowledge of what is feasible and isn't, we need you! * We have to make sure we can post to ubuntu-devel , edubuntu-devel and kubuntu-devel. There is a spec for closing down ubuntu-devel for non-users. Let's not forget to contact Matt Zimmerman / James Troup about this. ''- Hobbsee : I've not seen the result of that, but we'd probably want this to be on the non-locked down list, if there are two lists'' * The issue of electing forum ambassadors is still open. We can't accept every volunteer...it's a demanding job, and we can't afford to have people that may quit after a little while of doing it. it's a team-based effort. We have to formulate a way to accept members without being too elitist ''- PriceChild : Who has final say on Ambassadors? - Forums Staff? Admins or FC?'' ''- Hobbsee : Forum council, i guess. Which will mostly be the forums staff, i thought?'' ''- PriceChild : Nope, starts with 3 admins, will change. How about the entire staff team with final decision by FC?'' '' - Hobbsee : Sounds sane to me. That's what we do for kubuntu, but it's not my decision" ''-ManiacMusician : Not sure how I feel about external influences in this. I was kind of hoping to keep it inside the forums, because that's where the community is...those are the people that will have to be represented and they'll probably want to know or have a say in what's going on. What would the FC know about users on the forum? ''- PriceChild: Forums Staff & FC are all in forums. FC HAVE to be a good member of the forums to be selected. i.e. admins to start with, maybe with the most experienced staff.'' ''- Hobbsee : Seeing as the FC is made up of all/mostly staff - a lot. No one's out to get anyone else.'' ''-ManiacMusician : Didn't mean to imply that. Just wondering about the what the reaction will be at the forums.'' ''- Hobbsee : Presumably it'll be made very clear on the forums who the members of the FC are, and so users can easily see that they're well known forum people.'' == Evaluation == * ambassadors + dev teams should know each other * ambassadors should know what's going on (#ubuntu-devel, ubuntu-devel, mailinglist, developer forum section) == Unresolved issues == * It's not possible to create a bug in the name of someone else. ''-MikeBasinger But you can subsubscribe other people to the bug'' ''- Hobbsee : Only if they have a LP account'' ''-ManiacMusician : I think that if they're not going to file their own bugs, they might not need (or deserve) to take the credit for it. So, does it really matter whose name the bug is created in?'' ''- Hobbsee : No, karma doesnt really apply to forum people anyway*de'' * Need feedback from developers on what they would like to see in this spec. ''- Hobbsee : Devs probably need to wait for the forum half to get more organised before we can say much about it. However, we can try to help point out what is feasible and what isn't'' ''-ManiacMusician : I think everything in this spec is pretty reasonable; especially since most of the work is not being done by the developers. They basically just need to agree that they want to hear users' opinions. On the forums themselves, it'll be the job of the ambassadors to weed out the unfeasible. '' "-Hobbsee - Yes, and figure out how the communication will happen. -Hobbsee'' "-ManiacMusician : I think an Ambassadors mailing list would be reasonable. People who care or are integral can subscribe, and the rest don't have to.'' * need feedback from Forum users * Centralized team leader or should each team member have a point of contact. * I, UbuntuDemon, have been doing some talking with some devs and stuff. I'm going to do some informal talking about this Forum Ambassadors stuff to developers. I have been getting good feedback. |
* Clarified that the procedure for appointing staff is fully under the discretion of the FC. Current ad-hoc systems are fine as long as they have the approval of the FC and can be changed without consultation of the CC. |
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| == Brain Dump == * expand to other forums * offtopic : all Ubuntu forums linking to eachother (for example forums for different languages) * bi-directional * communicate / relay ideas : gisting + zeitgeist??) * prioritization of specs,etc * What do other distros do regarding ambassadors ? * Communicate what users like in other distros ''-ManiacMusician : this is a priority'' * file + follow up good bugs / inital triage / judgement calls * integration of code into community + core distro/repos * invite forum members into Ubuntu project + recognition of forums contributions * use launchpad == Comments == * I think this is a great Idea. From a forums perspective at least the English one it will be really simple to allow this to be setup as a team with the option of users to request to join etc. I would like to see this implemented for sure. Ryan Troy * I think its a great idea to really well thought out. if its implemented right will work out great. zenrox * Bug Reporting: * "Someone on the forums find a bug, want a way to quickly get that information to developers." Mako: It would be nice if people who represent others know how to file good detailed bug reports. * Someone needs to collect information from the forums, it's unreasonable to expect all users to register with launchpad, etc. etc. * Very often forum users post their opinions (requests, problems, desires, etc.) in the "Ubuntu Development" section of the forum thinking that the developers would see their posts there. * quote from http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=179 "Please note developers are not very active here. If you wish to file a bug report please do so here." (here is link to https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+filebug ---- CategorySpec |
* Clarified that meeting procedures are entirely up to the FC. If the the FC wants to hold these "meetings" on the forums, that is their decision. * Reaffirmed a committment by the CC to follow the guidelines in this document for appointment of FC members. This document describes the responsiblities of the CC as well as the FC and they both need to live up to their ends of the deal. |
Initial Notes
This a draft. Everything here is completely open for discussion and reevaluation. It is, as of the time of writing, the work of only two people and will only represent those views until you start on it. Additionally, this document can updated with time when it stops working. For example, if a 3-5 person board becomes problematic, we can change it. Changes to this can be made by agreement of both the FC and the CC.
Finally, it should go without saying but may still benefit from being said:
This document is not meant as an attack on the current forums staff or administrators.
The forums are one of the largest and smoothest running parts of the Ubuntu community. This document aims to help create a more documented, democratic, accessible governance structure for the forums and to integrate it into the rest of the Ubuntu community.
The best way to solve a problem is to prevent it from ever happening. At a moment when the forums are running more smoothly than ever, it seems an ideal moment to help pave the road for a long and smooth future.
Forums Community Governance Codification
The forums represent many people's first meeting with Ubuntu and is an important resource for support and social interactions and have become one of the most important subprojects within Ubuntu. They are the single largest GNU/Linux support forums and one of the most important venues for community support and interaction. Started independently by "Ryan Troy two years ago, their rapid success was officially recognized when they were designated as the Official Ubuntu Forums.
In a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons, the forums have not been given the recognition that they deserve. Their governance systems remain both separate and isolated from the Ubuntu decision-making systems. While the forums have built successful and effective internal governance systems, including their resolution center, their relationship to the rest of the Ubuntu is less clear. The forums currently have no CC-delegated governance council and no official team delegation.
In short, the Official Ubuntu Forums have not been given an opportunity to live up to their name. This specification, which ultimately aims to be approved by both the current forum staff and the Ubuntu Community Council, tries to lay out a plan for bringing the Ubuntu forums into the fold.
A closer relationship between Ubuntu and the forums will:
- Increase recognition of contributions in the forums with membership which is ultimately used to approve community council members.
- Provide a clear delegation and codifications of the existing leadership in the forums and plan for handling these decisions in the future.
- Describe clear democratic and meritocratic processes for the appointment of leadership and staff positions in the forums.
- Remove several "single points of failure". (this is not an attack on the people who currently fill those roles, but a recognition that single points of failure are problematic)
- Describe methods for both preventing and resolving any future inter-administrator or inter-staff conflicts within the forums.
- Recognize the hard work of the forums staff through recognition as an integral and *integrated* part of the forums community.
- Provide a straightforward process for top forums contributors to be recognized as full members in Ubuntu, with the right to vote on resolutions posed by the Community Council.
- Provide for a reporting process so that news, ideas and work done in the project by Forums users will be communicated to the broader community and appropriately recognized.
Changes to Current Ubuntu Policy
The proposal includes both new policy and the codification of a few existing Ubuntu policies. These should be discussed with the CC and the forum staff. After it has been approved by the CC we will add it to the community governance page (http://www.ubuntu.com/community/processes/governance) in the Ubuntu website.
Note that the document is structured to describe NOT JUST the Forums, but instead all the areas of the project which are large and independent enough to have their own dedicated leadership structures.
Team Councils
For active teams and subprojects with Ubuntu, the Ubuntu Community council delegates many of its responsibilities to "Team Councils." These councils act as proxies for the Community Council over a particular team or scope of activity within the Ubuntu community. These governance councils are ultimately responsible for the actions and activity within their team or scope and resolves disputes and manage policies and procedures internal to their team and frequently appoint Ubuntu members on behalf of the CC.
The Ubuntu Forums Council (FC) is the team governance council for the the official Ubuntu forums.
Forums Council Charter
The following text is a draft of the charter for a forums council. It is subject to acceptance or amendment by the Community Council in consultation with the forums council members. If anything in this document needs updating or changing, the forums council should submit a amended version to the CC for approval.
The forums council is the group that is ultimately responsible for the governing the forums and interfacing between the forums and the rest of the Ubuntu community and governce systems. It will:
- Consist of five (5) members. Membership should be public and published.
- Decisions will be made by a majority of voting forums council members when at least three and more than half of the total members have voted.
- FC members should be accessible by and responsive to the forums community (i.e., through a dedicated forum).
- Hold "meetings" regularly and visibly. Meetings can either be in IRC in the "ubuntu-meeting" channel or in a special, publicly visible area or sub-forum.
- Be appointed by the Ubuntu Community Council in consultation with the Forums Council, forums staff, and active contributors to the forums. Nominations would be open and public and would be considered and evaluated by the CC. Each candidate should prepare a wiki page summarizing their nomination and their contributions and including and referencing testimonials (e.g., something similar to what is prepared for Ubuntu membership). The CC commits to evaluating all nominations on the following criteria, listed in order of importance:
- The nominees active status as an Ubuntu member (essential).
- The nominees support from at least one active forum staff member (essential). - Opinions and testimonials (positive and negative) from current members of the forums council; - Opinions and testimonials from current forums staff; - Opinions and testimonials from Ubuntu Members, Ubunteros, and other active participants in the forums; - Clear evidence of activity within the forums (quality, quantity and duration);
- Serve terms of two (2) years. FC members could serve multiple or repeated terms. Weight will be given to proved contributors and reelection of consistently active members should be both easy and common.
- Be formed, initially, of the current forums administrators (i.e., Ryan Troy, John Dong, and Mike Braniff). As forums founder, Ryan Troy will be assigned lifetime membership dependent on his continued desire to serve on the council and continued compliance with the Ubuntu Code of Conduct and Leadership Code of Conduct.
- Have a chairman with a casting vote, appointed by the Community Council, initially to be Ryan Troy.
The FC would have a number of rights and responsibilities, and be ultimately responsible for the smooth operation of the forums. These include:
- Appointing or recalling administrators, moderators and forums staff or determining criteria by which they are appointed.
- Resolving disputes between forums staff and moderators as per the existing dispute resolution system and forums guidelines.
- With advice, feedback, and help from the forums staff, maintaining and enforcing the Forums Guidelines and associated infrastructure (e.g., the resolution center).
- Regularly and when possible (i.e., monthly), sending reports or representatives to CC members to weigh in on issues of membership and to update the council on the FC business.
Staff and Ubuntu Membership
Forums staff will be appointed by the forums council. Forums staff are expected to uphold and set an example that is consistent with the Code of Conduct.
Forums staff and participants have the option to become Ubuntu members. Current staff can apply for membership at an Ubuntu CC meeting. Their contributions as staff members and contributors on the forums should provide more than sufficient evidence of a sustained and significant contribution to the Ubuntu community.
Dispute Resolution
The FC will be responsible for maintaining forum guidelines and systems for internal conflict resolution (e.g., the forums resolution center).
Additionally, there should provide a documented method whereby any disagreements or conflicts between moderators can request a hearing by the FC.
In extreme situations, users and moderators who feel that they have not been given a fair hearing by the FC can appeal a decision to the CC. The CC considers the FC to be a greater authority on forums matters and in the majority of these cases, the CC will likely refer these issues back to the FC.
Any deadlock within the FC will can be referred to the community council for resolution.
Commentary on Changes
As per our discussion with Ryan yesterday, we have changed this document into a "charter" for a team council subject to approval at a community council meeting.
Additionally, we have made the following changes:
- Added an explicit lifetime appointment to the FC for Ryan Troy subject to continued active involvement as described in the CoC.
- Created a chairman position with a casting vote, initially to be filled by Ryan.
- Clarified that the procedure for appointing staff is fully under the discretion of the FC. Current ad-hoc systems are fine as long as they have the approval of the FC and can be changed without consultation of the CC.
- Clarified that meeting procedures are entirely up to the FC. If the the FC wants to hold these "meetings" on the forums, that is their decision.
- Reaffirmed a committment by the CC to follow the guidelines in this document for appointment of FC members. This document describes the responsiblities of the CC as well as the FC and they both need to live up to their ends of the deal.
ForumAmbassadors (last edited 2008-08-06 17:01:37 by localhost)