Archive:Board meeting 2022-02-28

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Minutes of openSUSE Board meeting 2022-02-28

Present: Axel, Gerald, Gertjan, Maurizio, Neal, Syds
Guests: Ariez, bittin, Doug, Emily, Sasi

Minutes of recent meetings

  • Syds just done
  • Gentle reminder to Neal

openSUSE social media accounts (and openSUSE as a project) and events like the war in Ukraine

  • Doug liked a couple of posts from the openSUSE Twitter account that referred to Ukrainian leaders.
  • Another community member approach him and asked to remain neutral.
  • Doug notes "there are things we as a community should stand for."
  • Gertjan, Syds,...: "openSUSE should be about inclusion; we do not want to exclude people."
  • Maurizio: "As a board we should represent everybody."
  • A number of board members indicate they struggle how to best handle this situation.
  • Sasi suggests to take a stance for both Ukrainians and Russians; it's quite important to differentiate between political identities of a country and the people living there.
  • Gerald references on a "A note on principles ..." mail last year which got mixed responses.
  • Mau is in favor of a message of solidarity
  • "So, shall we send a public message?"
  • ...long discussion...
  • Agreement to primarily issue a statement when events like these encrouch on our project/community.
  • Agreement that there's a difference between personal opinion and actions vs those of projects.
  • Rough consensus to not send a generic statement at this point while definitely keeping an eye on the situation.

Online Communities

  • How to go about groups using the openSUSE name but not following our guiding principles?
  • Example: In 2020 a Polish Telegram group was created
    • Sasi was very excited originally.
    • The groupd quickly died down due to disagreement.
    • One person got banned for sexual orientation, others stigmatized.
    • Just one admin.
  • Agreement: There should be no group under/using the openSUSE flag not complying with our guiding principles.
  • Challenge: Guiding Principles are not very specific ...
  • Gerald believes we can enforce trademarks to expell/shutdown/... groups
  • AI: Gerald will check with SUSE Legal
  • Next steps?
    • Start working on a Code of Conduct with help of the community.
    • We do not need to change the Guiding Principles to implement a Code of Conduct.
    • But we can consider adjusting the Guiding Principles to be explicit about being open and welcoming versus discrimination.
    • AI: Mau and Gertjan to have a look.