[Osmf-talk] Hostile takeover of the OpenStreetMap Foundation?

[Simon Poole]

Am 22.11.2022 um 18:55 schrieb Zeke Farwell:
> ...
> I'm a member of the US community, and I didn't read anything in 
> Roland's statement (translated through DeepL) antagonizing us as a 
> whole.  The hostility was directed at several individuals and one 
> company.  I'd say this was rather unprofessional, but not something 
> I'm going to concern myself with.   What I did find concerning was the 
> implication that Germany needs German representatives on the board to 
> represent German interests over all others.  I find this to be quite 
> an unacceptable statement coming from an OSMF board member.  Board 
> members are elected at large and their duties are to the entire OSMF, 
> not a specific geographic region or nation.

I didn't want to pick apart Rolands mail in detail, and I've already 
pointed out that I consider it bad form for board members to actively 
engage in the election process outside of promoting participation, but 
in Rolands defence a bullet point breakdown of the mail;

- danger of a corporate takeover that would take the project away from 
community control (I note that this is a board position so difficult to 
fault Roland for expressing this),

- that a community (implied non-corporate) board member that does 
nothing is still better than a corporate delegate,

- that (at the time Roland wrote the mail) there was no German candidate 
and that if somebody stood there would be a high likelihood that they 
would get elected (because numbers),

- a warning that there might be last minute nominations and he calls out 
three individuals that have done that in previous years (to be clear: 
the rules allow that, but that doesn't mean that it will not be noted as 
a negative).

There was no implied or other statement that German interests are more 
important than others, there -was- a clear statement that Roland 
believes that the non-corporate community interests are more important 
than corporate interests. Is that something that a board member should 
express pre-election? I suspect that the opinions vary widely.

Simon

>
> --
> Zeke Farwell
> Vermont, USA
>
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