On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 5:40 AM, Robert Schweikert
On Jun 3, 2015, at 5:40 PM, PatrickD Garvey
wrote: So far, I haven't seen anyone participating in this discussion recognize the root cause of the need for the discussion or the letter: there has been an overloading of the meaning of the English word 'member'.
Those that apply have one understanding of the meaning of 'member' and those that reject that application have another.
Perhaps, if you better labeled the status gained by the granting of certain privileges, people would wait until they felt qualified. Maybe, 'openSUSE elector' could be used for that which must be requested?
Lets make the assumption that the issue lies with the overloading of "member" as in:
Member of the openSUSE community: A person that contributes to the project but does not vote, have an @opensuse.org e-mail etc. (no form required)
openSUSE Member: A person that has provided sustained substantial contributions to the project and has applied for and received membership "blessing/status/INSERT_OTHER_NOT_QUITE_APPROPRIATE_WORD_HERE". Has voting rights and @opensuse.org e-mail....
Now lets rename the two and see where we end up
Member of the openSUSE community: A person that contributes to the project but does not vote, have an @opensuse.org e-mail etc. (no form required)
openSUSE Voting Member: A person that has provided sustained substantial contributions to the project and has applied for and received membership "blessing/status/INSERT_OTHER_NOT_QUITE_APPROPRIATE_WORD_HERE". Has voting rights and @opensuse.org e-mail....
Would we not end up in the same predicament?
Having to explain the difference between "member" and "voting member", having to separate these two in a friendly way such that those that apply to become a voting member and do not get accepted as such don't run away because the form e-mail they received is not friendly? Would we not need to fix the wiki to avoid all the red warning labels? Add all the arguments that have already been made in this thread.
The key difference is you start with two labels that are more likely to be distinguished in the mind of the requester. They know that requesting "voting member" status is a step up from "member" before they make any request. They may actually research what is required to move up.
No matter the "title" chosen, the basic conundrum remains. Given the governance model of the project and the logical need to limit the pool of people with certain rights/obligations to those that "show they care" creates a certain degree of separation. No matter what the "title" bestowed on each group, an explanation of/to both is required.
I totally agree.
Therefore I proclaim that we can do just a good a job explaining the first (current) double meaning as we can explaining the modified naming.
I'm sorry, but I think you have missed the only opportunity to show there is a reason for an acceptance process without first confusing the applicant. "You only have one chance to make a good first impression." I think there is ample evidence the first impression currently generates confusion that is compounded by a poorly worded rejection letter.
Later, Robert
PatrickD -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner@opensuse.org