Hi Cornelia,
Thank you for starting a discussion on an important topic!
"Cornelia S." cornelia.sulzbach@protonmail.com writes:
I have learnt the FSFE is abolishing their community representatives in their board (remember the Linux Foundation?????)
Yes, that is something that the GA discussed at their last meeting (I was not there because I was not a member at the time)[0]. The Fellowship seats are one measure to grow the membership base because the elected people often stay in the GA after the end of their term. There is a conflict between what is ideal for an election and what is ideal for growing the GA, though. In an election, ideally, there are multiple people who are qualified for the position. In terms of growing the membership, an election is not the ideal tool, though, because it means multiple qualified people compete for one position and several people that really should become part of the GA do not in the end.
All you need an e-mail to mk@fsfe.org and say that you apply.
Yes, this process has been there for a long time and it does grow the membership slightly. I actually joined through this process recently. Matthias discusses applications with the GA and if the GA agrees, people are admitted until their actual confirmation (or potential rejection, but that is unlikely with the discussion beforehand) at the following GA meeting. One problem with that process is that it does not scale well.
Another problem with that system is that it has no mechanism to increase diversity. For all these reasons, the GA is looking into better ways to increase membership and as part of that process, we are want to abolish the Fellowship seats. Another way of looking at it is this: What good is an election if the candidate who loses the election can just apply to become a GA member right after the election?
Please do it now!
I understand your worries about losing representation. The path to membership through some form of application will always be there, though, so there is no rush. The GA always has the power to admit new members and from my understanding of German law (the FSFE is a German e.V.), there is no way to take away that kind of power from the GA. The GA will always be able to vote on anything within the scope of an e.V.
Also, I promise that I will vote against any motion to remove the Fellowship seats as long as we do not at the same time take steps to have a decent replacement system in place. I feel very strongly about this and if you had not written this email, I would have not made a public statement about my intention to vote this way, but I would have voted that way anyway.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Happy hacking! Florian