Hi,
Private sending first. Attached are a set of similar yet simplified
community bylaws. What was modified:
sorry for being so late on this, Charles. Replying in public, since I think the topic is interesting to everyone.
Our statutes (http://documentfoundation.org/statutes.pdf) foresee at various places, that we have so-called Community Bylaws. Although the same term is used, it is not necessarily the same as we have currently in the wiki. The wiki page of the same title served as basis for the statutes, so some parts have already been incorporated.
The main points in the statutes where the Community Bylaws are mentioned are the following:
- § 10 III 1: "Further details on admittance or exclusion from the board of trustees shall be regulated in the community bylaws, which are enacted by the board of directors."
- § 12 V: "Details on admittance and exclusion from the membership committee shall be regulated in the bylaws which are enacted by the board of directors."
I think we should start with a blank document that only contains regulations as outlined above. It does not harm if we add some more to this document. However, keep in mind the following things:
1. Nothing that's already mentioned in the statutes should be mentioned again in the bylaws.
2. Regulations in the bylaws cannot be contradictory to the statutes.
3. After the initial set-up, per § 10 III 2 the board can *not* just change them. We need a vote by the members, and looking at the participation rate during the LibOCon voting, we should not expect that everyone replies upon first request.
So, my proposal would be to start with a lightweight Community Bylaws. Other "best practices" might fit into separate documents that are not subject to such requirements.
Florian