Stepping down from the IRC team

[Dave Walker]

Jussi Schultink wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Firstly, May I remind everyone this isnt a "dump the ops" thread. If
> you have a genuine problem with the operators or the way Ubuntu IRC is
> run, you need to bring that to the IRC Council through one of the
> official contact methods, our mailing list or our IRC channel
> #ubuntu-irc-council (As documented here
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IrcTeam/AppealProcess). If this is not done,
> we have no way of tracking an issue and making sure it is resolved.
> Secondly, Mez I want to thank you for your contribution over the time,
> effort is always appreciated. However, we have not received _anything_
> officially from you (we have checked our mailing list archives) in the
> last year, so its very hard to deal with this in a timely manner, as
> the problem was never reported.
>
> If you care to write us a confidential email to the mailing list, then
> your concerns can be dealt with properly.
>
> If you do not wish to follow this up, then I consider the matter closed.
>
> Thanks
>
> Jussi Schultink  (jussi01).
>
<SNIP>

Hi Jussi,

I feel you (and seemingly the IRCC) have somewhat missed the point of
the initial idea of an open discussion that I proposed in my initial reply.

This isn't an issue limited to Martin's experience alone, if he wishes
to pursue the matter or not, is largely irrelevant.  I can only assume
that one of his reasons for stepping down, is that he is too exasperated
with the current situation to try and resolve it.  With that
presumption, I wouldn't blame him if he didn't want to try and get
further involved in this discussion.  Although, as he has said in
another mail in this thread, he clearly is.  With respect, it's not your
"call" to consider this issue closed if Mez didn't want to pursue in a
private email exchange with the IRC Council.

When there are notable people in the community raising issues that they
are uncomfortable with the current implementation, it is both the
ubuntu-irc team, and the councils responsibility to discuss it.  To name
a few that have raised concerns publicly this year include both Richard
Johnson (via Mez's blog), and Scott James Remnant regarding the IRC
council being involved with the ubuntu developer channels.  I should
also mention that a number of people have also mentioned this issue to
me privately, and didn't want to get involved with this discussion.

There has been quite a decisive change in the governance of the
ubuntu-irc team this year.  I find it unfortunate that the IRCC clearly
deliberated in-camera prior to your reply, which to be fair, is somewhat
delayed from the initial issue being raised.  This year, we've seen an
increasing top-down and heading towards an authoritative governance
stance.  Perhaps unintentionally, your mail is a good example of this.
That is outlining a procedure which is not relevant in this instance
(there isn't an appeal being called for), and even if it did, it's a
procedure that has never really worked in my memory.

I think it is prudent that we remember the purpose of the IRC team, and
that is to keep the channels functioning efficiently.  It's my opinion
that it is not an opportunity for people to gain an elevated position in
the Ubuntu community.  Since IRC began, people have been saying that
operator status is a thankless job, and i agree it is.  However, the
people that take this on-board, and are still willing to continue in a
fair and reasonable way are the real hero's of the team.

I really do fail to understand why it's considered unsuitable for
non-op's (of the core channels), to not be allowed to be in #ubuntu-ops,
which is a publically logged channel.  Many reasons for this have been
stated, including "Seeing who is waiting to be helped".  I would imagine
that if people needed help, then they would mention this in a similar
way to any other channel.

In regards to the councils recent decision to make the above policy
firmer, we have seen many experienced and useful people within the
channel asked to depart, this in itself can only be considered
counter-productive.  It is my opinion that, the team should be tightly
coupled within the channels and operators should be considered helpful,
rather than a policing service.  This is consistent with Freenode's
recommendation of not maintaining operator privileges, which we follow,
in an effort to follow these recommendations.

One of the side effects of the current issues, is that it is
increasingly creating a "them and us" situation between both community
users and operators, and more worryingly starting to form the same
between the Ubuntu-IRC team and the Ubuntu IRC council.  I do not
believe that any member of the team that frequents #ubuntu-ops can claim
they haven't noticed a cold atmosphere, which would seem to be evidence
that there are problems within the team and it's vital we remedy these.

I can't stress enough, that I feel that this issue should be discussed
purely in an open and calm manner.  This issue will keep coming back
year after year, unless we tackle it in a suitable way.  I don't believe
it is conducive at this stage to mention individual names, and/or
actions.  I believe first, that we need to recognise there is a negative
issue, and not try to sweep it to one side.  Once we have recognised the
issues within the team, we can then attempt to look at the causes of
these and allow the discussion to flow as necessary.

Kind Regards,
Dave Walker