[OpenID board] Data on board vs. board-private usage
David Recordon
drecordon at sixapart.com
Wed Dec 3 07:26:37 UTC 2008
I decided to go and pull actual data and graph the usage (number of
messages per month) of the two mailing lists overtime. (Note that the
messages from the board list were copied over to the board-private
list as the foundation was announced.)
http://www.davidrecordon.com/board-list-usage.png
The delta between the usage of board versus board-private seems to
have increased in 2008 about a month after the board grew to also
include corporate board members which was in February. This certainly
isn't to say that the private list was always used less before that,
but the delta clearly seems to have increased around that period.
Yes, this board (and the new board) must do a better job being
transparent but I also truly believe that we've already seen through
the work of those like Snorri, Nat, Brian and others that if there is
something you want to see accomplished the board will help to empower
you to make it happen if you're not able to do so yourself.
As I look back through the archives of the board-private mailing list,
there are certainly threads which I believe we made the right choice
of being private such as discussing non-public press opportunities
with other organizations (whether that be Microsoft at RSA or the
Liberty Alliance), meeting minutes after each meeting for review
before they're posted publicly on (http://wiki.openid.net/OpenID_Foundation/Board
), or the contract we have with our existing ED and our efforts to
hire a new one. There are also certainly threads which I see no
problem if they were public and that they weren't either due to an
oversight or a board member feeling uncomfortrable participating if
the discussion were public.
I'm personally sorry for this, know that I've tried in multiple
private discussions to ask the question if it really needs to be
private, and will try even harder to push discussions off of the
private list and onto this one.
At the same time, I think I'd have to ask all of you to realize that
delegation can be more productive than groupthink whether it be by the
board or the community. I've seen this in the past with a discussion
occurring on this public list only to have it stalled by one very
vocal person who hasn't actually been involved in the rest of the
public discussion or decision making. Whether it be a board member,
Foundation member, or community member we all must remember that at
times the most productive thing we can do is allow for progress even
if we don't fully agree with the methodology.
--David
On Dec 2, 2008, at 5:43 PM, Johannes Ernst wrote:
> For what it's worth, my e-mail client saved:
>
> * board-private: 1600 messages, since its inception (February 2007)
> * board: 1490 messages, since January 19, 2007 (slightly longer
> period)
>
> This may not be entirely accurate as I may have deleted some
> messages or perhaps have duplicates. But the ballpark is probably
> right.
>
> I have observed a creeping "privatization" of the OpenID movement
> over the months and years, which I think is part of our current
> troubles and I think which the numbers above are reflecting.
>
>
> I for my part think it's time to change the OpenID movement back to
> a broad-based barnraising movement, not a board that holds the
> cards, and not particularly well.
>
>
>
>
>
> Johannes Ernst
> NetMesh Inc.
>
> <lid.gif> <openid.gif> http://netmesh.info/jernst
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> board at openid.net
> http://openid.net/mailman/listinfo/board
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