The Foundation began a public review of key Foundation documents on 19 January 2006, with the goal of revising these documents in line with the wishes of the membership.

The Purpose of the Review & Revision

The Board is aware that the membership is not happy with the current state of Foundation policies. Many of those policies are by-products of corporate documents which were initially created in the process of establishing the corporation. Some of those documents are not easily revised and will require formal adoption by the Board and changes to the basic coporate filings. The Board is willing to undertake this revision, in line with the wishes of the membership, but in order to avoid having to go through the process again and again, the process below is being instituted.

The Process

The process will begin with the publication here of a proposed revision of the first document. A comment period will follow during which members are encouraged
 to visit the Forums and discuss the document online. Once the comment period closes, the suggestions will be added to the document and a second revision will be posted, followed by another comment period. This process is iterative and will continue until we reach a consensus. At that stage the MSC will sponsor the revision formally to the Board for adoption.

The Documents Nominated For Review

Initial reaction shows the need for revision of the following:

• Rules of Association
• Membership Agreement 

It is also felt that it might be helpful to establish the following:

• Statement of Purpose
• Contributor's Agreement
  

Other documents can be considered for review or creation, as the membership sees fit.

The Documents Currently Under Review

Based on initial feedback from various parties, we've elected to begin the review process with the Membership Agreement.

• Join the discussion at the Foundation Forum.

Timing

There is not set timing in place. While we would like to see this resolved sooner rather than later, there is an argument that the present situation resulted from a rush to completion. Accordingly our attitude going forward is that it will take as long as it takes! As long as the membership wishes to comment and contribute in a productive fashion, we will continue to work towards consensus.

Progress and news will be published on this page, so please check back here for more current information in the coming weeks.

Join the discussion at the Foundation Forum.