This page held discussion intended to capture and maintain the traditions of the Linux Picnic for its charter under the SBAY.ORG By-Laws. This is the full proposed charter text. It has not yet been approved, and may still be subject to minor revisions such as clarifications and grammar corrections.

• requiring a statement of cause, a 2/3 simple majority vote of the members of the Linux Picnic cast by e-mail on the mail list, including a minimum number of votes in favor of removal of 3 in total or 10% of the total membership, whichever is greater

• create or remove volunteer positions
• appoint or remove individual volunteers in any existing position

• requiring a statement of cause, a 3/4 absolute majority vote of the Open Source Partner Organizations

Votes cast by Open Source Partner Organizations shall not be considered private information, and must be available for viewing to all Linux Picnic members and the Steering Committee.

• simple majority vote of the Linux Picnic membership
• simple majority vote of the Linux Picnic Steering Committee
• 2/3 absolute majority vote of the Open Source Partner Organizations

• A 3/4 absolute majority vote of the Open Source Partner Organizations and approval by a simple majority vote of the corporation's Board of Directors.

Revisions

Each calendar year and any time that there is a vacancy, the Steering Committee shall elect one of its members to act as the Linux Picnic Coordinator. If the Steering Committee does not select a Coordinator by Feb 1 in any year, the appiontment may be made by the Board of Directors of the corporation. If the Board of Directors selects an individual who is not already a member of the Steering Committee, that individual shall become a member of the Steering Committee.

The Coordinator shall act as the chair of the Steering Committee. All activities which represent the Linux Picnic externally shall be under the authority of the Coordinator.

The Coordinator shall have day-to-day responsibility and authority to lead the Linux Picnic organization within the bounds of this charter.

• Linux Picnic's charter (this document)

Qualifications of Steering Committee members

Each Steering Committee member shall be a member in good standing of the corporation. The Steering Committee may nominate pending new Steering Committee members for membership in the corporation if necessary in order to meet this qualification.

Each Steering Committee member shall be a member in good standing of the Linux Picnic.

Open Source Partner Organizations

The Steering Committee shall maintain a list of organizations which qualify as Open Source Partner Organizations. If there is no current list, organizations which participated in the previous year's picnic and would otherwise be eligible by the conditions below shall qualify.

Any non-profit organization, informal association or SIG of the corporation which is related to Open Source Software shall qualify to be an Open Source Partner Organization if it agrees to the following:

• It will encourage its members to participate in the Linux Picnic
• It will encourage readers of its mail lists, web sites and other means of communication that it operates to attend the picnic.

An organization's failure to comply with this agreement shall be considered grounds for disqualification at any time.

Procedures for election and removal of Steering Committee members

Steering Committee members shall serve on a calendar year term.

The Steering Committee shall consist of the following:

• up to 6 members elected by the Linux Picnic membership
• up to 6 members selected by Open Source Partner Organizations
• up to 3 members selected by the corporation's Board of Directors

If an individual is chosen for more than one seat on the Steering Committee, the individual shall only be qualified for the first seat, and disqualified from the remaining seats. In any case, no individual shall have more than one vote on the Steering Committee.

If more than 6 Linux Picnic members volunteer for the Steering Committee, a policy on "Election of Linux Picnic Members to the Steering Committee" shall determine the method of election, which shall be required to use a form of preference voting by the membership. If no such policy exists, the election shall use the Single Transferable Vote method.

If more than 6 individuals are selected by Open Source Partner Organizations, a policy on "Selection of Parter Organization Nominees to the Steering Committee" shall determine the method of selection. If no such policy exists, the remaining members of the Steering Committee shall select 6 from the list of nominees.

A member of the Steering Committee may be removed by one of the following methods:

• requiring a statement of cause, a 2/3 absolute majority vote of the Steering Committee
• requiring a statement of cause, a 2/3 simple majority vote of the members of the Linux Picnic cast by e-mail on the mail list, including a minimum number of votes in favor of removal of 3 in total or 10% of the total membership, whichever is higher
• with or without cause by the corporation's Board of Directors

Procedures for voting

The following procedure applies to votes on issues put before the Steering Committee or before the membership of the Linux Picnic.

• Voting shall take place within a minimum period set by policy. In the absence of such a policy, the minimum period shall be 24 hours.
• Only votes e-mailed to the entire votership will be counted. Votes shall be known to the entire votership. The smallest mail list including all the valid voters is recommended. Votes sent to an incorrect destination may be re-sent by the voter or forwarded with the voter's permission to the mail list.
• Only members in good standing shall be eligible to vote.
• Votes use the style from the BSD and Apache open source projects:
  • "+1" is a positive vote
  • "0" is an abstention
  • "-1" is a veto, which requires an explanation and follow-up discussion, in which the vote may be changed if reasons for the objection or question are resolved. Unless voting periods are specified by policy, the following rules shall apply:
    • If a veto occurs with less than 6 hours remaining in the vote, then the discussion period may continue until 6 hours after the veto.
    • Any period after the end of the 24 hours is called the "extended voting period".
    • A veto during an extended voting period shall not cause an additional extension.
  • Members may change their votes during the discussion period.
• Unless a specific margin to pass is specified by this charter, the following criteria are required for a vote to pass:
  • A vote on an issue fails if there are any unresolved vetos at the end of the voting period and extended discussion period.
  • Votes on any issue require a minimum of 3 positive votes in order to pass.

Any Linux Picnic member in good standing may also submit proposals for policies and rules. A draft of the policy shall be posted to the members mail list for a minimum of 24 hours of review, unless cancelled by its author.

In case of conflict, the corporation's by-laws, the corporation's policies, US Federal law, and laws of applicable state and local governments take precedence over any Linux Picnic policy. A policy or proposed policy found by the Steering Committee or the corporation to be in violation shall be cancelled and returned to its author with recommendations as a new proposal.

• The individual has volunteered to participate in the Linux Picnic, or has participated in any previous Linux Picnic.
• The individual has not been expelled for misconduct.

Discussion of Linux Picnic Charter in SBAY.ORG

This discussion is intended to capture and maintain the traditions of the Linux Picnic for its charter under the SBAY.ORG By-Laws. This is not the actual charter, but just a discussion and note-taking area for it.

Some parts were borrowed from the StratofoxCharterDiscussion when there was no equivalent experience from the Linux Picnic traditions, because that charter was farthest along in its development.

In some places this refers to SBAY.ORG's By-Laws, which can be found at http://corp.sbay.org/

Purpose

The Linux Picnic is an annual celebration of the anniversary of the Aug 25, 1991 release of the Linux kernel, the day Linus Torvalds invited the public to get involved in his project.

The Linux Picnic is a Special Interest Group (SIG) of the South Bay Community Network, Inc., a California non-profit corporation, also known as SBAY.ORG or SBAY. In this charter it will be called "the corporation." The Linux Picnic is organized under Article 12 of the corporation's By-Laws.

Definitions

A "simple majority vote" is a vote where the minimum number to pass must be greater than a fraction of the total votes that were cast. If no other fraction or percentage is specified then the vote must be greater than 1/2 to pass.

An "absolute majority vote" is a vote there the minimum number to pass must be greater than a fraction of the total eligible voters. If no other fraction or percentage is specified then the vote must be greater than 2/3 to pass.

Officers

This is currently a record of how we have done things. It can be changed based on discussion of participants.

The Coordinator or two Co-Coordinators are appointed by the President of the corporation based on available qualified volunteers with experience from previous Linux Picnics. This position is called the "Coordinator" (singular) throughout this charter, though the position and its responsibilities may be shared by two Co-Coordinators.

The Coordinator serves for the calendar year.

The Coordinator shall supervise and manage affairs of the Linux Picnic. All activities which represent the organization externally shall be under the authority of the Coordinator. The Coordinator may appoint, delegate or remove volunteers in any position in the organization.

The Coordinator shall have responsibility to ensure that the Linux Picnic complies with (in order from highest to lowest precedence)

• applicable federal, state and local laws
• the corporation's By-Laws
• the Linux Picnic's charter (this document)
• the corporation's rules and policies
• Linux Picnic rules and policies

The Coordinator or Co-Coordinators and all appointed volunteers who coordinate activities of groups of volunteers shall be considered officers of the Linux Picnic organization.

SIG Coordinator

The Linux Picnic Coordinator shall serve as the SIG Coordinator according to the corporation's By-Laws, and represent the Linux Picnic to the corporation.

E-mail lists

The Linux Picnic shall maintain e-mail lists for discussion. New e-mail lists may be created with the approval of the Linux Picnic Coordinator.

The Linux Picnic shall adhere to the corporation's e-mail list policies including e-mail etiquette. The Linux Picnic may make its own policies according to the Policies and Rules section below.

Voting on issues put before the participants

When a decision on an issue is put before the Linux Picnic participants, voting may take place by a web poll of the mail list subscribers.

Policies and Rules

A proposal for a new policy may be made by any Linux Picnic member. A draft of the policy shall be posted to Linux Picnic's mail list for a minimum of 72 hours of review, unless cancelled by its author.

The Linux Picnic may adopt proposed policies or remove existing policies of the organization by a simple majority vote of the Linux Picnic mail list subscribers.

Linux Picnic policies may be removed by the corporation's Board of Directors.

In case of conflict, the corporation's by-laws, the corporation's policies, US Federal law, and laws of applicable state and local governments take precedence over any Linux Picnic policy. A policy or proposed policy found by the Linux Picnic officers or the corporation to be in violation shall be cancelled and returned to its author with recommendations as a new proposal.

Qualifications for membership in Linux Picnic

There are no dues for membership.

There is no minimum age for membership. Under 18 years requires parental permission.

Linux Picnic members are not required to be members of the corporation. The Linux Picnic shall encourage its members to support the corporation by joining.

Any person who volunteers to work on any aspect of the Linux Picnic is considered a member of the Linux Picnic organization.

Handling of sensitive information

The Linux Picnic may at times be entrusted with information that requires restricted access. Examples of "sensitive information" include but are not limited to * confidential information of a person or organization which provides equipment or resources for the picnic

• personally private information of members and participants

All dissemination and discussion of sensitive information within the organization shall include "handling instructions" whenever possible regarding restrictions and proper usage of the information. These instructions may be updated by the owner or source of the information at any time. Handling instructions may include but shall not be limited to

• "need to know" - only Linux Picnic members with a need to know
• "project participants" - only invidividuals who have volunteered for a project or event, and the Linux Picnic officers

Linux Picnic members and other Linux Picnic participants shall provide handling instructions along with any sensitive information, and shall be held responsible to follow the handling instructions.

Anyone representing the Linux Picnic shall not accept on behalf of the organization any restrictions which are illegal, unreasonable or would violate the privacy of Linux Picnic participants.

Removal or suspension of Linux Picnic Members for misconduct

Any Linux Picnic member who is found by the Linux Picnic officers to have committed behavior contrary to the purpose of Linux Picnic or which endangers the reputation of the organization, including but not limited to inappropriate disclosure of sensitive information entrusted to Linux Picnic, shall be subject to disciplinary action. If the individual is an officer, the decision shall be made by the remainder of officers. If the individual is an Linux Picnic member, the officers shall decide whether the degree of the offense warrants an apology and temporary suspension of some or all membership privileges, or in the most severe circumstances expulsion from Linux Picnic.

An Linux Picnic member shall not be considered on good standing while a suspension of any membership privileges is in effect.

Decision-making procedures and conflict resolution

Decision-making procedures of Article 6 of the corporation's By-Laws shall also govern decisions within the Linux Picnic. It shall be the responsibility of the Coordinator to ensure that these procedures are followed and to perform or delegate the role of conflict resolution arbitration when necessary.

Amendments to the Linux Picnic Charter

This document may be amended when a proposed amendment is announced to the Linux Picnic members and approved by either of the following:

• A 2/3 absolute majority vote of the Linux Picnic members and approval by a simple majority vote of the corporation's Board of Directors.
• A 2/3 absolute majority vote of the corporation's Board of Directors.

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