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Message-ID: <ceb609d80611130435m863955l5cb418a9f02ed6a4@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 13:35:52 +0100
From: "Eelco Hillenius" <eelco.hillenius@gmail.com>
To: general@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: Top Reason to join the ASF (or not)
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References: <8b3ce3790611101134o1ef8242w93b462372e051ca5@mail.gmail.com>
	 <ceb609d80611101204t3c033784gc6358686cbb2c6ac@mail.gmail.com>
	 <31cc37360611101222wc814aeak687459c9363f4933@mail.gmail.com>
	 <8b3ce3790611130413l1f2a8153lb9ec911a58fe2ef8@mail.gmail.com>

> By joining the foundation, we would hope that at least some of the
> project volunteers willl go on to become Members, and accept
> responsibility for the Foundation. But, up front, I'm not sure that we
> are communicating our implicit hope that every committer will become a
> Member, and that we all share responsiblity for the Foundation.

That was communicated very clearly by our mentors when we started
discussing whether we wanted to incubate, and it is also imo pretty
clear from reading the documents about Apache, incubation, etc.

What triggered me to write a response earlier in the first place
however, was the negative vibe that pulsated from the message. Does
Apache have grave problems finding enough volunteers? Is it felt too
many projects incubated without trying to contribute to the 'greater
cause'? Or is it a matter of new incubators not being humble enough
when expressing their views? To get back to the project level again:
of course, when people use your project it is clear that you hope at
least some of them will actively contribute to the project so that
they help it improve. That's how open source works. Surely the average
committer of projects that start incubating at Apache understand this
principle, and understand that Apache works with volunteers in the
same fashion.

I guess you *could* stress more that joining ASF is not a free lunch.
However, rather than this atmosphere of deterrence that can be seen in
this email and others, why not try to get a more positive message
across? 'Hey, great you want to join this fabulous club, let us make
the best of it, looking forward to working together with you blah
blah'.

Eelco

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