[CentOS] Open Letter to Lance Davis

[Akemi Yagi]

On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 5:36 PM, Jim Perrin<jperrin at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 6:47 PM, Johnny Hughes<johnny at 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