Archive:Board meeting 2023-06-05

Board Meeting Monday 2023-06-05 13:00 CEST

• Present: Doug, Gertjan, Mau, Neal, Patrick
• Excused: Gerald
• Missed:
• This week's report to be sent by: Neal
• Guests: Attila

Gerald not able to join today's meeting

• Unavailable for personal reasons (and "off" for 2 weeks, though that's not the reason for not being able to join)
• Provided as much input up front as possible; will try to follow-up quickly

Neutrality of the Board

Mau called for a vote for the openSUSE Board not to be "neutral" but actively participate in the protection of community members, particularly minorities and protected classes, in line with the openSUSE Code of Conduct. This does not mean being "impartial" when called to mediate a conflict resolution between two or more community members.

Question for vote: Are you in favor for the openSUSE Board to not be "neutral" but actively participate in the protection of community members (especially to support minorities and protected classes) in line with the openSUSE Code of Conduct? This recognizes that the Board remains "impartial" when called to mediate conflicts between participants in the openSUSE Project.

• AGREED: (5, 0, 0) for this vote
  • (N.B.: Gerald noted ahead of this meeting he was in favor.)

Immediate actions

Question for vote: Should we permanently ban the bad-faith actors that have inflamed the community in negative discourse?

• AGREED: (5, 0, 0) for this vote

Question for vote: Should we weaken the punishments meted out for those responding to the bad faith actors?

• AGREED: (4, 1, 0) for this vote
  • N.B.: Gertjan abstained

Question for vote: Should we rescind the punishments meted out for those responding to the bad faith actors?

• REJECTED: (0, 1, -4) for this vote
  • N.B.: Gertjan abstained

Question for vote: Should we offer the alternative of giving a public apology (acknowledge they're wrong, why they're wrong, and how they'd try to do better) instead of moderation?

• AGREED: (4, 1, 0) for this vote
  • N.B.: Gertjan abstained

Question for vote: Should we properly distinguish between temporary bans and permanent bans when classifying punishment for misconduct?

• AGREED: (5, 0, 0) for this vote

Next steps

• Reach out to moderated community members and provide an explanation and an apology for not having done it sooner.
  • This needs to be done now.
  • Tell moderated community members that a public statement from the Board will be issued soon

• Release a public statement:
  • what was done
  • mistakes made
  • what are we going to do to improve the situation
  • apology