<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
<p>Hi Courtney</p>
<p>I completely agree that the cloud of doubt surrounding the voting
process is less than ideal, however as I pointed out post meeting
yesterday, the complexity of determining eligibility is of our own
making. We wanted the privacy preserving aspects of associated
membership, we wanted members that can't vote for a long waiting
period and we wanted unpaid membership achievable in two different
ways combined with the other complexities. Certain aspects of that
will "always" require custom handling (for example determining
mapping days) and with that will have an increased risk of going
wrong. <br>
</p>
<p>One of the hopes I've had for the domicile move of the OSMF is
that at least a bit of the complexity with respect to membership
could be removed, it is however unclear how far along that project
is.<br>
</p>
<p>All that said I would expect a short post-mortem from the MWG
outlining the root cause of the issue, how many members were
affected and what can be done to avoid the issue in the future.</p>
<p>Simon<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Am 20.10.2024 um 03:54 schrieb
Courtney:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAMXAyBFSJH5VvXw=oRO10bxkCEbo1U_zdkniAsDQh8T2GbP04w@mail.gmail.com">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<div dir="ltr">Hi, all,
<div><br>
I really hope that we can stop making personal attacks on one
another. <br>
<br>
I was very open in the GM today that I think the balloting
process was problematic--I think that is what Steve is
referring to. (I can't speak to the second half of his post.)<br>
<br>
First, this isn't a critique of any person. I know many people
worked hard on this issue. I am making an observation about a
broken system. <br>
<br>
It is quite clear to me that despite the efforts of many
well-intended people, including the very hard-working MWG, the
OSMF is currently not able to communicate accurately to all of
its members about their eligibility to vote at the Annual
General Meeting.<br>
<br>
It is my opinion that not being able to accurately manage the
data of its members is a fundamental problem for a membership
organization. </div>
<div><br>
Here are facts that I know. I hope others can fill in the gaps
so that the community has the full story. <br>
<br>
- There were known issues about the balloting process, some
of which date back to the 2023 election. You can read through
many of the threads here: <a
href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2024-October/008884.html"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2024-October/008884.html</a><br>
<br>
- 1971 people were eligible to vote (this was said in the
meeting.)<br>
- 740 voted<br>
- 122 people received an ineligibility notice<br>
- Of the 1971 who were eligible, some - it was not announced
how many - were incorrectly part of the 122 who received an
ineligibility notice. <br>
- Which means that some of the 122 were actually eligible and
may not have voted due to receiving an ineligibility notice. <br>
<br
style="color:rgb(232,234,237);font-family:Roboto,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-variant-ligatures:none;letter-spacing:0.1px;background-color:rgb(32,33,36)">
I was one of the 122. I got an email that said I wasn't
eligible. I knew I was eligible, so I emailed the MWG and
asked. Within one day, someone had responded and a ballot was
sent. It was said in the meeting today that anyone who
inquired about the ineligibility notice, who was eligible,
received a ballot. That's good to know and a credit to the
MWG.<br>
<br>
However, what about the people who did not know they should
inquire?<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>It is not an acceptable solution to expect the people who
receive inaccurate information due to a record keeping problem
to self-identify. <br>
<br>
In OSM it is not uncommon to have very detailed and prolonged
debates about tiny nuances to do with the map data. Accuracy
is one of the most commonly shared values in this community.
The fact that I was almost the only person at the meeting to
express any kind of concern about an election going forward
when there was a known issue with regard to the membership
data that is affecting the balloting really disturbed me. <br>
<br>
If the system doesn't have a mechanism for handling a
persistent, fundamental problem with membership record keeping
that affects election balloting, then the system is broken. <br>
<br>
I don't think it's enough to pass this on to the new board to
solve. People have been working on this problem for awhile--it
is clearly exceeding the limits of our volunteers' time. It is
not enough to "do our best" and try again later. The OSMF is a
dues paying membership organization. It is the OSMF's
responsibility to be exact in its financial accounting and
member record keeping. It also owes each of its members the
one tangible benefit it promises them: the ability to vote in
the AGM, provided the eligibility criteria are met. I don't
think that promise was kept this year. I am not even sure that
it was kept last year--I don't know. <br>
<br>
An expedient and, likely paid, solution must be sought. <br>
<br>
-Courtney</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Oct 19, 2024 at
7:29 PM Brian M. Sperlongano <<a
href="mailto:zelonewolf@gmail.com" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">zelonewolf@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">Yes.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It's a shame the original founder lacked the charisma
and vision to leave behind a more sustainable
organisation.</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Oct 19, 2024 at
3:10 PM Steve Coast <<a
href="mailto:steve@stevecoast.com" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">steve@stevecoast.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Hi
all<br>
<br>
I’m told that the OSMF doesn’t know who its members are,
that this is a long standing problem, and, that in 2024
ineligibility notices were sent to members incorrectly.<br>
<br>
Is this true?<br>
<br>
I’m also told OSMF forgot to invoice a donor for a $300k
grant and nearly lost the money.<br>
<br>
Is this true?<br>
<br>
Best<br>
<br>
Steve<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
osmf-talk mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org</a><br>
<a
href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk"
rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk</a><br>
</blockquote>
</div>
_______________________________________________<br>
osmf-talk mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org</a><br>
<a href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk"
rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk</a><br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="moz-mime-attachment-header"></fieldset>
<pre wrap="" class="moz-quote-pre">_______________________________________________
osmf-talk mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org">osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>