[LEDE-DEV] openwrt and lede - remerge proposal

[Eric Luehrsen]

I read this on going thread and ... (sigh).

"Good fences make good neighbors." Robert Frost

People don't like rules and that could be even more true with open 
source work groups. However, a good set of _limited_ rules can make life 
easier. You may focus on important work or joyful recreation while not 
worrying about accidental trespasses.

I was trying to hold back a thought as formal as "bylaws" but perhaps 
that is really the best way. That is ignore all the thoughts of what to 
name the community, who would handle the accounts, and where to point 
the DNS to. First thing and prerequisite to all others is a set of 
governing principals for a yet unnamed community. This community is for 
members who share a common affliction that they cannot help themselves 
but hack on embedded networking software.

This applies not only to the voting members, but to the interactions 
respective to the wider community of contributers and power users. Much 
of OpenWrt/LEDE progress, interest, relevance, and value is made by 
these members of the wider community. The size of the sphere of 
influence and the community's self worth are determined by issues such 
as: on-boarding of voting members, on-boarding of committing members, 
separating requirement of commits from votes, transparency of decision 
making, email accounts, other privileges that over emphasize badge of 
authority, and general attitude of the core voting members.

Such schisms occur in all organizations (business and nations). When it 
happens the first time, then it is a leaning opportunity. If the 
opportunity is ignored, or the solution glosses over the details of the 
underlying root cause, then the situation will repeat. A repeat event is 
more damaging to the credibility of an organization than the first one.

- Eric