[OpenID] What election?

Wed Dec 3 02:24:31 UTC 2008

Also worth pointing out that most of the highly effective people pushing
OpenID forward over the past 12 months (guys like Nat, Snorri, Brian Kissel,
Eric Sachs, Allen Tom, Chris Messina, etc) are not even on the board.   They
didn't wait for someone else to act; they went ahead and acted themselves.

That said, I'm not disagreeing with a single thing that Eran and others
expressed.  Just please don't forget that while the board is responsible for
running the Foundation, we are *all* responsible for making OpenID
successful, board member or not.  The board itself should be small potatoes
compared with the community at large.  If you are personally concerned with
the governance of the Foundation specifically, please do run for a board
seat.  (Now is the time!)  But no matter what, please participate in the
committees, join the working groups, write the specifications, build the
software, and evangelise the technology.  Ultimately that is the most
important contribution of all.

Oh, and please do join the Foundation as a member, and please do vote for
those that you feel best represent what you want the OpenID Foundation to
become.  I think we're all excited about holding the community elections.
It will be invigorating.

-DeWitt

On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 6:03 PM, Scott Kveton <scott at kveton.com> wrote:

> And while we all bicker about administrivia, Facebook Connect is
> cleaning our clocks.  Anybody notice this is really just Passport 2.0?
> (hat tip to Eran on that one)
>
> All of this arguing doesn't move the organization forward.
>
> Please join the foundation.
>
> Please run for a community board seat.
>
> Please *get involved* and ask *how can I help* and *make a difference*.
>
> This is an open community, there is no secret plot or conspiracy and
> clearly we need the fresh blood.  I'm excited to see people riled up
> and wanting to participate.
>
> All that said, as a current board member, I'm not going to blame the
> rest of the board for our inability to execute over the past few
> years.  Guess what?  I'm as much to *blame* (wait, ignore that, I said
> no more finger pointing) as the rest of the board.
>
> The sooner we can get over ourselves, the sooner we can start looking
> at how OpenID can be a *solution* and not a technological footnote.
>
> Thanks Eran for prodding folks about the OpenID election and
> membership ... I'll get a post up about the election up on OpenID.net
> ASAP.
>
> Looking forward to working with all of you to make that a reality,
>
> - Scott
>
> PS - if you need helping joining the foundation, running for a board
> seat or getting involved please mail me or even this entire list at
> large.
>
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 4:56 PM, Eran Hammer-Lahav <eran at hueniverse.com>
> wrote:
> > The OpenID Foundation community election (which you might not know is
> > happening) is a joke. A 100 or so members are going to choose 7 people to
> > seat on the board. There are currently 12 people running which means each
> > person have a little over 50% chance of winning. Not much for a
> democracy.
> >
> > I have been arguing for lower membership fees for about a year now, and
> > finally, but embarrassingly secretive, the fees were dropped from $100 to
> > $25. It is still not free, but at $25 it is very hard to argue about it.
> > Still, the sum of advertising for the current election can be summed up
> in a
> > single email sent to this list. The election of community members is the
> > single real benefit members have. This is the first election and so the
> > first time there is a reason for people to join.
> >
> > When were the elections announced? The day nomination started... Was
> there a
> > membership drive associated? No. Were bloggers contacted about this event
> > and the election and membership drive advertised (note the amount of bad
> > press OpenID is getting this week because of Facebook Connect)? Not that
> I
> > can tell.
> >
> > I have friends on the current board but that does not stop me from
> declaring
> > it incompetent. I don't need to go after the big failures of how this
> board
> > is unable to get anything done (other than establish itself). I can just
> > point to how this election process is being (miss) managed to make my
> case.
> >
> > If we can't get 1000 people to join as members, even with a $25 ticket
> > price, why do we have a foundation? It is *not* too much to expect 1000
> > people to care enough about OpenID to join. Is the foundation there
> simply
> > to make a bunch of large corporation feel more in control over this
> > enterprise? (And yes, one of those companies is my employer).
> >
> > This board had a long meeting at the recent IIW, but ironically, there
> was
> > no membership drive outside the secret meeting room. Is there any more
> > relevant group of people to sign up? IIW had more than twice participants
> > than OpenID has members. I am sure the foundation could have doubled its
> > size right there. Or even ask the IIW organizers to add an option to the
> > event registration to also join the OpenID foundation (since people are
> > already paying a couple hundred dollars which they are likely to
> expense).
> >
> > I am running for a community board seat in the upcoming elections, and
> this
> > is the kind of stuff that drives me nuts and motivated me to run in the
> > first place, so consider this me campaigning. I'm not running on a
> message
> > of change. I'm running on a message of a strong kick in the ass.
> >
> > EHL
> >
> > Ps. Knowing my gift to piss people off, I am going to do my part in
> helping
> > increase the membership count. If you want to make sure I am not on the
> > board, go to http://openid.net/foundation/, spend $25, and vote for
> someone
> > else.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > general mailing list
> > general at openid.net
> > http://openid.net/mailman/listinfo/general
> >
> _______________________________________________
> general mailing list
> general at openid.net
> http://openid.net/mailman/listinfo/general
>
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