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About Me

I am a 30 year old IT Security professional. I received my degree in Security and Risk Analysis at Pennsylvania State University in the United States in December 2017.

I am an avid user of Ubuntu, and have been using and supporting it since the release of 9.04.

My interests focus primarily in networking and IT security, and I am an Ubuntu enthusiast.

In Ubuntu, my focus is on helping with Ubuntu Server, general support, and maintaining the NGINX package alongside the rest of the Server Team.

I am also a CoreDev and have been working as a primary supporter and sponsor/reviewer for the Ubuntu Studio team.

I have been on the Developer Membership Board since February 2020.

I am a member of the Ubuntu Community Council as well.

Contact Information

Contributions

• I have contributed via IRC to assisting users with basic Ubuntu support within #ubuntu since I registered on freenode in January of 2010.

• I have been an active member of the Ask Ubuntu support site since February of 2011, and have been providing support to users there for some time (click here for user profile).

• I have donated funds to Canonical in small denominations since I began using Ubuntu.

• I have worked to find and fix bugs in several packages within Ubuntu, and have contributed in part to current Projects run by other members by working with them to attempt to confirm/reject bugs within their projects (StackApplet is one of them, run by George Edison).

• I have successfully backported the Debian Sid / Precise version of ZNC, and IRC bouncer software, into Natty and Oneiric within a PPA. The same software has been approved for backporting to Oneiric, and may be backported to Natty, pending the fix of a bug that prevents building of the sources on Natty.

• Within the first 6 months of 2012, I began working with bugs actively. I joined the BugSquad on March 28, 2012. On May 29, 2012, I was added to the Ubuntu BugControl group for work on the 'nginx' package, and use Bug Control powers almost exclusively for nginx-related bugs.

• I have since worked on several bugs within Ubuntu, for several packages. My primary focus of work for packages (bugs or otherwise) are the nginx, znc, and display-dhammapada packages, but I try to help out with all of them.

• I have submitted multiple SRUs and security updates for the nginx package.

• I helped to get nginx included in Main. I have Per Package Upload rights for the nginx package in order to get fixes into Ubuntu where needed, and to provide continued maintenance and updates. This access is also used for Ubuntu merges.

• I received CoreDev status when my application was approved by the Developer Membership Board. This has given me access to upload fixes as drive-by fixes for bugs or to sponsor packages generally across the repositories.

• I was elected to be a member of the Developer Membership Board in February 2020, and among other things help to determine upload rights for those seeking package upload rights, as well as help to manage what developer teams have access to which packages, as part of the DMB.
  • I was elected to be a member of the Ubuntu Community Council for a two year term in October 2020.

I plan to continue the various contributions I've done throughout the various methods, whether its support on Ask Ubuntu or IRC, or bug work for various packages.

Beyond just Ubuntu, I hold other roles as well in other flavors of Ubuntu:

• Contributing member/advisor to the Ubuntu Studio dev team.
• Contributing developer / advisor to the Lubuntu Development Team.
• Lubuntu Council Member (elected January 2021, 1 year term)

Testimonials

If you know me and have something nice to say about me, please leave a comment here under the relevant section.

For Ubuntu membership

Thomas Ward is active in the Ask Ubuntu chat rooms, providing assistance in a number of areas - but most notably, he taught a two-part series in the Ask Ubuntu Classroom on packaging. The class was very thorough and covered many aspects of the packaging process. Thomas has also been very helpful in sorting through bugs for StackApplet, an AppIndicator-based application I wrote. -- George Edison

A packaging guru, Thomas is often on the Ask Ubuntu Chat room looking for a chance to help out someone with packaging or just hanging out with the community. Apart from that, he has been very useful in solving some of the more difficult questions, flagging (alerting mods) to things that need to be dealt with, and training (as George mentioned) - he doesn't hesitate to help others learn packaging, server slang, and other difficult topics. -- Roland Taylor

Thomas hangs out on Ask Ubuntu, answering questions, and generally being an all-around good guy who loves Ubuntu. He's more than happy to help someone who has a question. I recommend him for Ubuntu Membership with no reservations. -- James Gifford

Thomas has been a substantial contributor contributor to Ask Ubuntu. As well as providing very high quality answers, he can often be found in the Ask Ubuntu Chat, where he never misses a chance to help a user. Also, his packaging class, part of the Ask Ubuntu Classroom project, was outstanding. As an Ubuntu Member, Thomas would fit right in with the rest of this great community. --Stefano Palazzo

Thomas has been with us on Ask Ubuntu for a while now, but he really came into his own with the packaging classroom he held earlier in the year. Sharing skills like this is probably the most valuable thing somebody can do. He has also been helping keep the site clear of bad posts, flagging up 245 issues to date. Thomas is clearly a knowledgeable, helpful and well rounded community member and I'm sure there's a lot more to come! Keep it up! -- Oli

General Testimonials

(None at this time)

IRC Council Application Information

On March 15, 2020, the IRC Council announced nominations for IRCC members. I have been present on the IRC for a good while, and have been in #ubuntu-server primarily for some time, and primarily am on #ubuntu-server and #ubuntu-devel when I need to be, and via the Lubuntu Telegram Bridge (via lubot) and the Ubuntu Studio bridge, I am present heavily on the Lubuntu and Ubuntu Studio channels. I do, however, keep watch on other channels as a member of the IRC Ops team, as I am an operator in #ubuntu-server (one of the core channels) and other channels that are not core.

With my years of moderation duty on Ask Ubuntu, I've learned to take a 'defuse problems and deescalate, while reserving the harsh judgement for when it's absolutely necessary'. While I don't expect to have to get involved much on the moderation front unless absolutely necessary, it does help also guide the governance position of being on the IRC Council, which the additional expertise from my being on the Developer Membership Board, and Community Council, help to further guide the even-handed governance approach I try to take.

I would like to have some say in issues of the IRC teams, who has moderation duties, etc. and I believe that my long term contributions to Ubuntu and the Community at large, as well as my continued (if not small) presence on IRC and expanding roles in #lubuntu and #ubuntustudio namespace as is necessary for their operator needs, and my contributions to Ubuntu at large and engagement with others on IRC regularly, would give me insight to properly operate as a member of the Ubuntu IRC Council.

Other Pages

Per-Package Upload Rights Application for nginx package (Successful, rights granted; PPU Rights Testimonials present on that page)

Core Developer Application (Approved and Accepted, rights granted; testimonials present on that page)