[OpenID] What election?

[Dick Hardt]

On 2-Dec-08, at 4:56 PM, Eran Hammer-Lahav 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.

Well, let's see: in the last US election there were really only two  
candidates running for president, so each of them had a 50% chance of  
being elected, and the US does consider itself a democracy last time I  
checked.

>
>
> 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.

Agree there should have been more publicity about it.  There was no  
deliberate action to be secretive.

> 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.

Yes, the board sucked at promoting the election and benefits of being  
a member.
We have been working for months on having all of the pieces in place  
to be able to hold an election: membership value proposition,  
membership drive. Finally we decided we needed to have an election to  
refresh the board so that we get other things done.
>
> I have friends on the current board but that does not stop me from  
> declaring
> it incompetent.

Not much stops you from declaring anything from what I can tell! :-)

>
> 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).

Not sure why 100 members is not enough. 1000 would be better -- but it  
is not quantity we are looking for -- it is people that care that will  
take the time to make informed decisions.

>
>
> This board had a long meeting at the recent IIW, but ironically,  
> there was
> no membership drive outside the secret meeting room.

You can see the minutes from the meetings here.

http://wiki.openid.net/OpenID_Foundation/Board

Much of the time was interviewing and discussing hiring an Executive  
Director. The lack of an ED has been a major road block in getting  
things done. Remember, we are all volunteers. Myself, I have been  
putting in 4-8 hours per week on OIDF for the last few months.

>
> 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.

I was thrilled to see that you were running. We don't need a message  
that we need to get stuff done though. We already know that. We need  
people on the board that get stuff done. Hopefully you are signing up  
to the board so that you can help get stuff done!

>
> 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.

You do have a special gift! ;-)

-- Dick