Hey all— I get to read this as a non board member which is great for me personally! No responsibility.
I had been involved of course last year as a board member when a lot of this transpired. Everything Joost shares matches what was under discussion between OSM be and osmf. I’ll also echo Ben’s message about the heroic effort to keep OSM BE strong through a turbulent time. Belgium community and OSM as a whole are in a better place due to the personal passion of dedicated volunteers. Thank you.
The board didn’t get into every detail on what transpired with okbe and I think the application is stronger after the substantive questions in the consultation. After this consultation it will be up to the osmf board to make the final determination. My opinion is that OSM BE should be a local chapter.
I think there’s a few concrete learnings as well about the LC process. The LCCWG has renewed effort to examine and evolve that process. I expect they’ll take points easier here into account at some point.
I find it really frustrating when good substantive content is wrapped up in a communication style that feels wrong. My technique is to rewrite those kinds of messages in my mind in a way that retains the content but doesn’t give me an ulcer. This feels like routing around damage in our community, but given the nature of human beings, it may be the best option. Just remember everyone here is an individual and being loud doesn’t equate being powerful.
Mikel
ps There was a reference to microgrants and conflict of interest. Myself and Joost were on the board and were part of a unanimous vote which approved a dozen or so microgrants recommended by the microgrants committee. A couple were from orgs we had involvement in, and properly should have separated out the vote on them. When this innocent oversight was discovered, we made a public statement apologizing for it. My opinion was the way it was handled should be a point of more trust in us personally.