[Osmf-talk] SOTM Africa

[Christoph Hormann]

On Sunday 24 November 2019, Joost Schouppe wrote:
>
> The 'official questions' process is intended to make the election
> easier for candidates and voters alike. It is not intended to
> restrict discussions, or limit them to a certain time box.

To be clear in case i have not been clear in my previous statement:

The call to respect the procedure was not based on the board having 
decreed this but based on the community (after the initiative from the 
board) having adopted this procedure as a consensus position.  For that 
it does not immediately matter if the board decides to recede their 
previous statement or not.

I have never been a fan of such procedures and i have critically 
commented on it both last and this year but still i find it an 
acceptable solution and see it has its benefits.  Procedures like this 
however can only work if they are followed by the vast majority of 
participants.  I would not shed any tears if we loose consensus on that 
and return to a process of open questions and discussion from the time 
of nomination on but it is not something i would work towards myself.

But having the respectful and considerate candidates and questioners 
stick to the procedure while others boldly ignore it is not going to 
work.  So if i have the impression consensus on this is lost i would 
next time proactively ignore the procedure to ensure this does not 
happen.

And another clarification:  My understanding of the consensus procedure 
is not that candidates have to stay silent from nomination to the 
publication of the answers to the official questions.  Candidates 
active in the community obviously can continue with their normal 
community interaction.  But if i read somethink like:

"I think sending board members to all the SOTM conferences is an obvious 
thing and I’d push for if elected. It’s something that should be 
required."

that is directly campaigning and should according to the procedure go 
into the candidate's manifesto.  Communicating things like that before 
the publication of the manifestos breaks with the procedure.

For reference:  The original board statement regarding the 
campaigning/questioning process from which the wiki page quotes can be 
found on:

https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Annual_General_Meetings/2018#Questions_to_Candidates_-_New_process

-- 
Christoph Hormann
http://www.imagico.de/