On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 5:36 PM, Jim Perrinjperrin@gmail.com wrote:
On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 6:47 PM, Johnny Hughesjohnny@centos.org wrote:
Why ... we are under no obligation to tell people how how we spend monies. There are costs that are incurred for any organization. We are probably going to disclose how monies are spent in the future because we choose to. If you run a private organization, must you tell me how you spend your money? You get an OS and can chose to donate monies or not.
We're not under any obligation to tell people how the money gets spent, but doing so certainly goes a long way building good will. In my opinion, a simple 'We got X monies in donations which were used to purchase dedicated hosting, bandwidth, and various novelties for booth and show kit' once in a while would do worlds of good for showing people how we use the money they choose to give us.
I don't have any legal obligation to help old ladies cross the street, or rescue cats from trees. It's what you do because you're a good person. Doing this in a community sense is what makes you a good neighbor, and what helps build community reputation.
I have to agree with Jim here. It is not legal obligation or anything. IF I am running a project and ask the community for help and I receive donations (monetary or in the form of thousands of donated hours), I would feel obliged to return back to the community. And in doing so, I would want to disclose everything. Once again, this is not due to any legal requirements but because I would feel the project is no longer my private toy and I owe the community.
We are hiding nothing ... why exactly does CentOS need to provide that information to you?
Thinking that this is entirely an internal manner is a bit short-sighted. Keeping all the problems internal doesn't solve them. Not to speak for Dag, but judging by his blog reaction to the news, the finance issue and lack of openness is part of what drove his departure. If we move to adopt a slightly more open approach and include more community efforts, I believe that we'll see a great deal of good from it.
It's not that we OWE the community anything. It's that we should do it because it's how we want to be treated, and how we SHOULD deal with them while we participate in the project.
I mostly agree with Jim. As I wrote above, if this was my project, I would feel I *owe* the community. But that is strictly my personal feelings. I cannot imagine how I can ever pay back if those who donated their time ask for refund. :)
Akemi