Apache OpenOffice Wiki - User contributions [en]

User:Pitonyak

2013-01-06T02:07:30Z

Pitonyak:

My primary training is in computer science and mathematics. I spend most of my time working with computers. I first used "OpenOffice" when it was only available as StarOffice, because I wanted something that worked uniformly between Linux and Windows based systems.

Although I am not a writer by trade, but I have published numerous articles, I have numerous documents that I provide for free on my web site, and some of my documents have made it into the standard documentation.

I have been known to speak at conferences on topics related OpenOffice.org, Linux, and other general computer topics.

User:Pitonyak

2013-01-06T02:07:04Z

Pitonyak:

User:Pitonyak

2012-11-25T21:31:27Z

Pitonyak:

How to support a VBA API in OpenOffice

2012-05-05T06:46:26Z

Pitonyak:

[[Category:VBA]]
==Definition==
First, define the VBA API in the IDL. The IDL files are located in oovbapi/ooo/vba/*, which also contains the following subdirectories:
* constants,
* excel,
* msforms,
* word.
These directories contain more idl definitions. 
I will show you a sample on how to define the idl in oovbapi. 
Suppose I want to add a VBA API to OpenOffice, take WorkSheets.add for example. 
First, I need to add a file named XWorksheets.idl if it does not exist, also need to add the file name in makefile.mk. For exmaple, if Xworksheets.idl doesn't exist, I need to modify the makefile.mk under excel. 

http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/w/images/archive/d/de/20120502071820%21Cm.jpg

http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/w/images/5/59/AL%26SL.jpg
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/w/images/c/cb/Idl_makefile.JPG
 
Second, I need to add the function "add " to Xworksheets.idl, it is important that the argument names of the function are correct, so that the function can work correctly in OpenOffice. For correct the argument names you should to refer the function definition in MS VBA API. For optional arguments or variant types you need to use the type named "any". 
''any Add( [in] any Before, [in] any After, [in] any Count, [in] any Type );'' 
Third, after the definition is done, now you need to build and deliver them in oovbaapi .
Please first locate to the dir oovbaapi, run the command: ''build&deliver''. 
This will genarate a file named Xworksheets.hdl including the definition of "add" in sc module. 

==Implementation==
The implement code locates in diffirent dirs, for example, the idl in "exec" dir, the corresponded implementation is located in ''sc/source/ui/vba/vba***.hxx'', ''sc/source/ui/vba/vba***.cxx''. If you create new class, you should create the right header(*.hxx) and source(*.cxx) files, then add the $(SLO)$/**.obj to makefile.mk. Take workSheets.add for example. 
First, I should add vbaworksheets.obj in related makefile.mk. 

Second, I should create a header file named vabworksheets.hxx in sc/source/ui/vba/, then add the "add" method with the correct types and arguments to the header. It should be: 
''class ScVbaWorksheets 
{ 
...... 
public: 
...... 
virtual css::uno::Any SAL_CALL Add( const css::uno::Any& Before, const css::uno::Any& After, const css::uno::Any& Count, const css::uno::Any& Type ) throw (css::uno::RuntimeException); 
...... 
} 
''
Third, I should create a source file named vabworksheets.cxx under sc/source /ui/vba/, then using UNO API to implent the VBA API. 
''uno::Any 
ScVbaWorksheets::Add( const uno::Any& Before, const uno::Any& After, 
const uno::Any& Count, const uno::Any& Type ) throw (uno::RuntimeException) 
{ 
...... 
//implement with UNO API 
...... 
}'' 

Forth, after the implementation is done, now I need to build and deliver them in sc module. 
Please first locate to the dir sc, if you want to debug about the new api you develop, run the command "build debug=true". 
After build, it will genarate a new dll named "vbaobj.uno.dll", you need to use this dll to replace the one in your OpenOffice, then you can use it to debug the API is right or not.

User:Pitonyak

2010-09-25T04:23:48Z

Pitonyak: Created page with 'My primary training is in computer science and mathematics. I spend most of my time working with computers. I first used "OpenOffice" back when it was only available as StarOffic…'

My primary training is in computer science and mathematics. I spend most of my time working with computers. I first used "OpenOffice" back when it was only available as StarOffice, because I wanted something that worked uniformly between Linux and Windows based systems.

Although I am not a writer by trade, but I have published numerous articles, I have numerous documents that I provide for free on my web site, and some of my documents have made it into the standard documentation.

I have been known to speak at conferences on topics related OpenOffice.org, Linux, and other general computer topics.

Documentation/Dashboard/Who is Who

2010-09-25T04:15:56Z

Pitonyak: Added user Andrew Pitonyak

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Who is Who on the OOo Documentation Project}}
This is a list of Documentation Project members. The purpose of this list is to give us an idea of who the various team members are.

{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" border="1" width="80%" style="border-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); border-collapse: collapse;" class="sortable"
|- style="background-color: rgb(222, 222, 222);"
! width="180" | Doc Project user name
! width="150" | Name (optional)
! width="150" | Location <ref>Do '''NOT''' enter home addresses or other personal information in the Location column. If you fill in this column, just enter the country you live in.</ref>
! Comment
|-
| [[User:Ccornell|ccornell]]
| Clayton
| Germany
| Doc Project co-lead; developer docs; [http://smaug42.wordpress.com personal blog]
|-
| [[User:Jeanweber|jeanweber]]
| Jean
| Australia
| Doc Project co-lead; mainly user docs
|-
| [[User:Therabi|therabi]]
| Andy
| USA
| User docs; helping users
|-
| [[User:Clairedwood|clairedwood]]
| Claire
| UK
| Volunteer, mainly user docs & wiki
|-
| [[User:ggurley|ggurley]]
| Gabriel
| USA
| Contributor, [http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/OpenOffice.org_Conceptual_Guides Conceptual Guides] and User Guides; [http://gabrielgurley.com personal site]
|-
| [[User:TJFrazier]]
| TJ
| USA (UTC-4:00)
| Contributor, [[Documentation/BASIC_Guide]], occasional macros and extensions.
|-
| [[User:kicpd|kicpd]]
| Cecilia Cheung
| UK
| Volunteer, helping with Base user docs
|-
| [[User:Pitonyak|pitonyak]]
| Andrew Pitonyak
| USA
| Contributor, primarily with respect to macros; [http://www.pitonyak.org my home page].
|-
|
|
|
|
|-
|
|
|
|
|}
<references/>

[[Category:Documentation/Dashboard]]

Documentation/BASIC Guide/Branching

2009-01-23T01:13:21Z

Pitonyak: /* Select...Case */

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Branching}}
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Use branching statements to restrict the execution of a code block until a particular condition is satisfied.

== <tt>If...Then...Else</tt> ==

The most common branching statement is the <tt>If</tt> statement as shown in the following example:

<source lang="oobas">
If A > 3 Then
B = 2
End If
</source>

The <tt>B = 2</tt> assignment only occurs when value of variable <tt>A</tt> is greater than three. A variation of the <tt>If</tt> statement is the <tt>If/Else</tt> clause:

<source lang="oobas">
If A > 3 Then
B = 2
Else
B = 0
End If
</source>

In this example, the variable <tt>B</tt> is assigned the value of 2 when <tt>A</tt> is greater than 3, otherwise <tt>B</tt> is assigned the value of 0.

For more complex statements, you can cascade the <tt>If</tt> statement, for example:

<source lang="oobas">
If A = 0 Then
B = 0
ElseIf A < 3 Then
B = 1
Else
B = 2
End If
</source>

If the value of variable <tt>A</tt> equals zero, <tt>B</tt> is assigned the value 0. If <tt>A</tt> is less than 3 (but not equal to zero), then <tt>B</tt> is assigned the value 1. In all other instances (that is, if <tt>A</tt> is greater than or equal to 3), <tt>B</tt> is assigned the value 2.

== <tt>Select...Case</tt> ==

The <tt>Select...Case</tt> instruction is an alternative to the cascaded <tt>If</tt> statement and is used when you need to check a value against various conditions:

<source lang="oobas">
Select Case DayOfWeek
Case 1:
NameOfWeekday = "Sunday"
Case 2:
NameOfWeekday = "Monday"
Case 3:
NameOfWeekday = "Tuesday"
Case 4:
NameOfWeekday = "Wednesday"
Case 5:
NameOfWeekday = "Thursday"
Case 6:
NameOfWeekday = "Friday"
Case 7:
NameOfWeekday = "Saturday"
End Select
</source>

In this example, the name of a weekday corresponds to a number, so that the <tt>DayOfWeek</tt> variable is assigned the value of 1 for <tt>Sunday</tt>, 2 for <tt>Monday</tt> value, and so on.

The <tt>Select</tt> command is not restricted to simple 1:1 assignments — you can also specify comparison operators or lists of expressions in a <tt>Case</tt> branch. The following example lists the most important syntax variants:

<source lang="oobas">
Select Case Var
Case 1 To 5
' ... Var is between the numbers 1 and 5 (including the values 1 and 5).
Case > 100
' ... Var is greater than 100
Case 6, 7, 8
' ... Var is 6, 7 or 8
Case 6, 7, 8, > 15, < 0
' ... Var is 6, 7, 8, greater than 15, or less than 0
Case Else
' ... all other instances
End Select
</source>

Now consider a misleading (advanced) example, and a common error:

<source lang="oobas">
Select Case Var
Case Var = 8
' ... Var is 0
Case Else
' ... all other instances
End Select
</source>

The statement (Var = 8) evaluates to TRUE if Var is 8, and FALSE otherwise. TRUE is -1 and FALSE is 0. The Select Case statement evaluates the expression, which is TRUE or FALSE, and then compares that value to Var. When Var is 0, there is a match. If you understand the last example, then you also know why this example does not do what it appears

<source lang="oobas">
Select Case Var
Case Var > 8 And Var < 11
' ... Var is 0
Case Else
' ... all other instances
End Select
</source>

{{InterWiki Languages BasicGuide|articletitle=Documentation/BASIC Guide/Branching}}
{{PDL1}}

Documentation/BASIC Guide/Operators

2009-01-21T02:04:28Z

Pitonyak: /* Mathematical Operators */

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Operators}}
{{Documentation/BASICGuideTOC/v2
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{{OOo}} Basic understands common mathematical, logical, and comparison operators.

== Mathematical Operators ==

Mathematical operators can be applied to all numbers types, whereas the + operator can also be used to link strings.

{|
|<tt>+</tt>||Addition of numbers and date values, linking of strings
|-
|<tt>&</tt>||Link strings
|-
|<tt>-</tt>||Subtraction of numbers and date values
|-
|<tt>*</tt>||Multiplication of numbers
|-
|<tt>/</tt>||Division of numbers
|-
|<tt>\</tt>||Division of numbers with a whole number result (rounded)
|-
|<tt>^</tt>||Raising the power of numbers
|-
|<tt>MOD</tt>||modulo operation (calculation of the remainder of a division)
|}

Although you can use the + operator to link strings, the + operator can become confused when linking a number to a string. The & operator is safer when dealing with strings because it assumes that all arguments should be strings, and converts the arguments to strings if they are not strings.

== Logical Operators ==

Logical operators allow you to link elements according to the rules of Boolean algebra. If the operators are applied to Boolean values, the link provides the result required directly. If used in conjunction with integer and long integer values, the linking is done at the bit level.

{|
|<tt>AND</tt>||And linking
|-
|<tt>OR</tt>||Or linking
|-
|<tt>XOR</tt>||Exclusive or linking
|-
|<tt>NOT</tt>||Negation
|-
|<tt>EQV</tt>||Equivalent test (both parts <tt>True</tt> or <tt>False</tt>)
|-
|<tt>IMP</tt>||Implication (if the first expression is true, then the second must also be true)
|}

== Comparison Operators ==

Comparison operators can be applied to all elementary variable types (numbers, date details, strings, and Boolean values).

{|
|<tt>=</tt>||Equality of numbers, date values and strings
|-
|<tt><></tt>||Inequality of numbers, date values and strings
|-
|<tt>></tt>||Greater than check for numbers, date values and strings
|-
|<tt>>=</tt>||Greater than or equal to check for numbers, date values and strings
|-
|<tt><</tt>||Less than check for numbers, date values and strings
|-
|<tt><=</tt>||Less than or equal to check for numbers, date values and strings
|}

{{Documentation/Note|{{OOo}} Basic does not support the VBA <tt>Like</tt> comparison operator.}}

{{InterWiki Languages BasicGuide|articletitle=Documentation/BASIC Guide/Operators}}
{{PDL1}}

Documentation/BASIC Guide/Strings

2009-01-21T01:59:29Z

Pitonyak: /* Specification of Explicit Strings */

{{DISPLAYTITLE:String Variables}}
{{Documentation/BASICGuideTOC/v2
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__NOTOC__
Strings, together with numbers, form the most important basic types of {{OOo}} Basic. A string consists of a sequence of consecutive individual characters. The computer saves the strings internally as a sequence of numbers where each number represents one specific character.

==From a Set of ASCII Characters to Unicode==

Character sets match characters in a string with a corresponding code (numbers and characters) in a table that describes how the computer is to display the string.

===The ASCII Character Set===

The ASCII character set is a set of codes that represent numbers, characters, and special symbols by one byte. The 0 to 127 ASCII codes correspond to the alphabet and to common symbols (such as periods, parentheses, and commas), as well as some special screen and printer control codes. The ASCII character set is commonly used as a standard format for transferring text data between computers.

However, this character set does not include a range of special characters used in Europe, such as â, ä, and î, as well as other character formats, such as the Cyrillic alphabet.

===The ANSI Character Set===

Microsoft based its Windows product on the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) character set, which was gradually extended to include characters that are missing from the ASCII character set.

===Code Pages===

The ISO 8859 character sets provide an international standard. The first 128 characters of the ISO character set correspond to the ASCII character set. The ISO standard introduces new character sets ('''code pages''') so that more languages can be correctly displayed. However, as a result, the same character value can represent different characters in different languages.

===Unicode===

Unicode increases the length of a character to four bytes and combines different character sets to create a standard to depict as many of the world's languages as possible. Version 2.0 of Unicode is now supported by many programs — including {{OOo}} and {{OOo}} Basic.

==String Variables==

{{OOo}} Basic saves strings as string variables in Unicode. A string variable can store up to 65535 characters. Internally, {{OOo}} Basic saves the associated Unicode value for every character. The working memory needed for a string variable depends on the length of the string.

Example declaration of a string variable:

<source lang="oobas">
Dim Variable As String
</source>

You can also write this declaration as:

<source lang="oobas">
Dim Variable$
</source>

{{Documentation/Note|When porting VBA applications, ensure that the maximum allowed string length in {{OOo}} Basic is observed (65535 characters).}}

==Specification of Explicit Strings==

To assign an explicit string to a string variable, enclose the string in quotation marks (").

<source lang="oobas">
Dim MyString As String
MyString = " This is a test"
</source>

To split a string across two lines, add an ampersand sign at the end of the first line:

<source lang="oobas">
Dim MyString As String
MyString = "This string is so long that it " & _
"has been split over two lines."
</source>

To include a quotation mark (") in a string, enter it twice at the relevant point:

<source lang="oobas">
Dim MyString As String
MyString = "a ""-quotation mark." ' produces a "-quotation mark
</source>

{{InterWiki Languages BasicGuide|articletitle=Documentation/BASIC Guide/Strings}}
{{PDL1}}

Documentation/BASIC Guide/Program Overview

2009-01-19T23:25:00Z

Pitonyak: /* Markers */

{{DISPLAYTITLE:An Overview of a {{OOo}} Basic Program}}
{{Documentation/BASICGuideTOC/v2
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{{OOo}} Basic is an interpreter language. Unlike C++ or Delphi, the {{OOo}} Basic compiler does not create executable or self-extracting files that are capable of running automatically. Instead, you execute an {{OOo}} Basic program inside {{OOo}}. The code is first checked for obvious errors and then executed line by line.

=== Program Lines ===
The Basic interpreter's line-oriented execution produces one of the key differences between Basic and other programming languages. Whereas the position of hard line breaks in the source code of Java, C++, or Delphi programs is irrelevant, each line in a Basic program forms a self-contained unit. Function calls, mathematical expressions, and other linguistic elements, such as function and loop headers, must be completed on the same line that they begin on.

If there is not enough space, or if this results in long lines, then several lines can be linked together by adding underscores _. The following example shows how four lines of a mathematical expression can be linked:

LongExpression = (Expression1 * Expression2) + _
(Expression3 * Expression4) + _
(Expression5 * Expression6) + _
(Expression7 * Expression8)

{{Documentation/Note|The underscore must always be the last character in a linked line and cannot be followed by a space or a tab, otherwise the code generates an error.}}

In addition to linking individual lines, {{OOo}} Basic, you can use colons to divide one line into several sections so that there is enough space for several expressions. The assignments

a = 1
a = a + 1
a = a + 1

can be written as follows:

a = 1 : a = a + 1 : a = a + 1

=== Comments ===

In addition to the program code to be executed, an {{OOo}} Basic program can also contain comments that explain the individual parts of the program and provide important information that can be helpful at a later point.

{{OOo}} Basic provides two methods for inserting comments in the program code:

<ul>
<li>All characters that follow an apostrophe are treated as comments:

<source lang="oobas">
Dim A ' This is a comment for variable A
</source></li>
<li>The keyword <tt>Rem</tt>, followed by the comment:

<source lang="oobas">
Rem This comment is introduced by the keyword Rem.
</source></li></ul>

A comment usually includes all characters up to the end of the line. {{OOo}} Basic then interprets the following line as a regular instruction again. If comments cover several lines, each line must be identified as a comment:

<source lang="oobas">
Dim B ' This comment for variable B is relatively long
' and stretches over several lines. The
' comment character must therefore be repeated
' in each line.
</source>

=== Markers ===

A {{OOo}} Basic program can contain dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of '''markers''', which are names for variables, constants, functions, and so on. When you select a name for a marker, the following rules apply:

* Markers can only contain Latin letters, numbers, and underscores (_).
* The first character of a marker must be a letter or an underscore.
* Markers cannot contain special characters, such as ä â î ß.
* The maximum length of a marker is 255 characters.
* No distinction is made between uppercase and lowercase characters. The <tt>OneTestVariable</tt> marker, for example, defines the same variable as <tt>onetestVariable</tt> and <tt>ONETESTVARIABLE</tt>. There is, however, one exception to this rule: a distinction is made between uppercase and lowercase characters for UNO-API constants. More information about UNO is presented in [[Documentation/BASIC Guide/API Intro|Introduction to the {{OOo}} API]].

{{Documentation/Note|The rules for constructing markers are different in {{OOo}} Basic than in VBA. For example, {{OOo}} Basic only allows special characters in markers when using Option Compatible, since they can cause problems in international projects.}}

Here are a few examples of correct and incorrect markers:

<source lang="oobas">
Surname ' Correct
Surname5 ' Correct (number 5 is not the first digit)
First Name ' Incorrect (spaces are not permitted)
DéjàVu ' Incorrect (letters such as é, à are not permitted)
5Surnames ' Incorrect (the first character must not be a number)
First,Name ' Incorrect (commas and full stops are not permitted)
</source>

Enclosing a variable name in square brackets allows names that might otherwise be disallowed; for example, spaces.

<source lang="oobas">
Dim [First Name] As String 'Space accepted in square brackets
Dim [DéjàVu] As Integer 'Special characters in square brackets
[First Name] = "Andrew"
[DéjàVu] = 2
</source>

{{InterWiki Languages BasicGuide|articletitle=Documentation/BASIC Guide/Program Overview}}
{{PDL1}}

Talk:U.s.oo.o/Charter

2007-10-17T04:10:24Z

Pitonyak: /* Guest */

==Preamble==

=== '''Agreement-seeking culture''' ===

:We desire to create an agreement-seeking culture. That is, we endeavor to make plans and reach decisions based on achieving wide-spread agreement. Agreement-seeking is not the same as consensus, as consensus tries for universal agreement; elusive, if not impossible, to achieve.

:Agreement-seeking as a central principle is also different than majority rule. While voting can play a constructive role as an advisory means of expression of preference, binding procedures of any kind can under-emphasize and even undermine the critical role of discussion and deliberation in the shaping of plans. Voting is considered assertively consultative, not binding. '''Elections of individuals to fill roles within the organization, on the other hand, are binding.'''

:For agreements to be meaningful, it is important that those with a stake in the outcome be participants in determining the course of action. So, for instance, it's a matter of common sense that those with technical expertise should be intimately involved in technical decision-making.

:Further, given that User Community Volunteers (UCV) is focusing on developing services for non-technical users, it is also important that end-user interests be represented in the process of creating services.

=== '''Filling a role is a matter of taking responsibility, not imposing one's will.''' ===

:We believe in making progress through giving clear responsibilities to individuals. Taking responsibility for something is not the same as ownership, rather stewardship for an area, activity, or issue. Taking responsibility can also require, at times, acting as a driver. It should not be assumed that stewards and drivers typically operate by imposing their own decisions. Driving is primarily a matter of attending to a project with a goal, and taking steps to ensure the goal is reached (or, occasionally, redefining or setting aside the effort). Stewards typically solicit input and proposals, enable active participation, and facilitate discussion. In some (but not all) cases, the steward will also be an active content contributor to the matter at hand.

:The steward has a responsibility to consider multiple points of view and to try to reach widespread agreement. If there is disagreement, she or he should use methods to shed more light on the issue, e.g., by taking it to a wider group such as a mailing list or forum.

:However, it is also the stewards's responsibility to see that a decision is made, and he or she has the right in the end to make that call if in his or her judgment that's the right course of action.

=== '''Legitimate decisions are made with reference to the the vision, mission, and values of the organization.''' ===

:All decisions, but particularly ones about which there is disagreement, should not be made arbitrarily but should be in keeping with the vision, mission, and values of the organization. Decisions gain legitimacy when they can be linked to an underlying set of core beliefs widely shared by the participants.

:Some of our core values are:

::* personal integrity and accountability
::* individual initiative
::* respect
::* responsible risk taking
::* openness and transparency
::* teamwork
::* sustainability

:Applying these to forum behavior we might say, "Rude and personal comments on forums are disrespectful and not acceptable. Constructive criticism on the other hand is warmly encouraged."

=== '''Project proposals need to win community buy-in before implementation''' ===

:A good proposal or project plan not only sets out what is to be done and why, but also how, i.e., it addresses execution issues and seeks buy-in from those who will be implementing it. This is always important, but especially so when the proposer's plan requires significant resources not under his or her direct control, which will typically be the case.

=== '''Governance principles are more important than ownership''' ===

:In working through situations of disagreement, it is better to focus on applying governance principles rather than determining who has ultimate authority, as over-reliance on the latter can short-circuit opportunities to rely on and expand the use of healthy, open processes.

[http://chandlerproject.org/Projects/OsafProjectGovernance| Based on OSAF Governance Principles]

==Charter of the OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers==

=== Scope of this charter and interpretation ===

This charter relates to the affairs of OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers, hereinafter called the group ( "''the group''" ) having charge of the website users.services.openoffice.org (or any successor to that site) ("''the site''") and its sub-domains.

The primary purpose of ''the site'' is to provide information and support relevant to the end users of the OpenOffice.org software(or any software derived from or designed to work with).

''The group'' may adopt any other purpose, which in its judgment supports the primary purpose of the site or the performance of ''the group'''s functions.

Members of ''the group'' are referred to in this charter as ''volunteers''.

The charter shall be deemed to be enabling and not to impose liability.

Particular provisions are for the sake of clarification or extension and not intended to reduce the fullness of ''the group'''s power and authority.

Any notice relating to ''the site'' may be given to a person by email.

=== Functions of the group ===

The primary purpose of ''the group'' is to govern the site. ''The group'' may
* govern, regulate and supervise membership, content, management and administration of the site
* administer its own affairs as fully as those of the site
* appoint officers ( "officers" ) to perform any functions
* enlist any assistance it sees fit
* delegate any power or function
* conduct polls
* amend or replace this charter.

''Volunteers'' may hold discussions using any vehicle or vehicles they choose.

===Designated Roles within ''''the site''''===

==== User ====

a ''User'' is any person who enters or uses the web site in any way, even if that person only visited the home page of the web site.

==== Guest ====

A Guest is a user that is not logged onto the site, which means that they may not be registered. A guest may view and search site content that does not require special roles to view, such as a moderator only forum. If a guest is allowed to add content, the content will be approved by a moderator before it is accepted.

==== Member ====

A ''Member'' is a User who has successfully completed the site registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]) at the web site. A Member can also post or modify the information content of the site, within the content rules of the site.

=== Designated Roles within ''''the group'''' ===

==== Volunteer ====

A ''Volunteer'' must be a Member of ''the site''.

A Member of ''the site'' must request to become a member of ''Volunteer''.

Volunteers are collectively referred to as the OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers ('''''OUCV'''''). There is no cap on the size of the OUCV.

The Member must apply to become a Volunteer though the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and, if successful, will be elected to Volunteer status within the UCV. For a Member to be successful, some evidence of sustained commitment will normally be required; for example, numerous postings and wiki contributions, or a number of material articles over a six month period. An equivalent track record in an associated community will normally be acceptable, for example, one of the other active OpenOffice.org or Linux related forums.

he Member must apply to become a Volunteer though the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and, if successful, will be elected to Volunteer status within the UCV. For a Member to be successful, some evidence of sustained commitment will normally be required; for example, numerous postings and wiki contributions, or a number of material articles over a six month period. An equivalent track record in an associated community will normally be acceptable, for example, one of the other active OpenOffice.org or Linux related forums.

The OUCV is intended to comprise the community of the ''''active'''' Members within the site, Volunteers may, therefore, revert back to a normal Member.
* A Volunteer may resign from Volunteer status.
* A six month period with no activity at ''the site'' will automatically propose removal of Volunteer status. ( Reversion to simple Member status at ''the site'' [[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 15:28, 14 October 2007 (CEST))
* Any Volunteer may propose the removal of Volunteer status for any other Volunteer. Justification must be included with the request. For example, repeated abuse or disregard of the site, the membership, or standing instructions endorsed by the OUCV.
The removal of Volunteer status is also controlled through the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and where this occurs the individual will revert to normal Member status. A Member can always reapply for Volunteer status.

Volunteers are regarded as trusted members of the site and therefore have available elevated privileges associated with such trust:
* Full voting privileges within the OUCV.
* Ability to upload images and attachments to the site.
* Ability to use HTML in posts; most forum packages allow HTML as an option, and the layout is easier than in BBcode-style mark-up languages.
* Ability to blog.
* Eligibility for site roles.

== Site Roles available to Volunteers ==

The following site Roles are available to OUCV members. Notwithstanding this, the list of site roles and responsibilities may evolve over time under change control and endorsement through the OUCV voting process.

===Site Administrator===

Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to perform a due diligence in the following areas:

*Help maintain the security of the host system by:
**Maintaining a good working relationship with designated network administration staff at Sun Microsystems, Hamburg Germany.
**Maintain contact with the vendor's / supplier's information service for any applications run on the server.
**Take agreed upon steps when a security announcement is made by the vendors / suppliers.
**Follow agreed upon steps if a security breach of any application on the server is suspected. For example: notified by a board user that they suspect a problem.
**Perform steps necessary to carry out agreed upon configuration control procedures on application level services running on the server. During modifications of the applications, application of patches, reconfigurations.
**Follow agreed upon steps / actions to implement and maintain a disaster recovery plan ( e.g. off-site storage of backups, off-site storage of application modifications, included files and configuration settings).
*Support the Service Administrators and Content managers by performing the following tasks:
**Create or apply modifications to the applications source or configuration files as needed.
**Configure client communication settings for the service application.
**Configure server settings for the service application.
***Database indexing.
***Database backups ( working with network admins ).
***Install / configure support packages ( php libs, caching systems, etc ).

These individuals must also comply with all Standard Operating and Security Procedures defined by the hosting provider ( SUN Microsystems ), and to take whatever reasonable actions that the hosting provider requires of them in order to receive necessary host computer access privileges.

===Service Administrator===

Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to maintain an application level service. For example the Forum service Administrator would perform the following, and other, functions:
*May add, edit, delete, and reorder the forums, categories, and links.
*Manage User Accounts
*Manage Group Accounts
*Manage Board Level Settings ( Email, Template, etc )
*Support the Service Moderator's

These individuals are selected by the OUCV alone. The service administrator role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Service Moderator===

Moderator is a supporting administration role supported by some application services. For example in the case of forums, moderators have an elevated level of privilege which enables them to modify or delete user posts that violate site policy (e.g. SPAM or obscenity). Service Moderators are selected by the OUCV Voting Process. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Content Manager===

These individuals are selected by the OUCV alone. The Content Manager role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. Where required Content Manager's may be granted User Account Interactive Access and limited datadase access.

===Ombudsman===

The Ombudsman's role and responsibilities include:
* Administration and oversight of all polls
** The ombudsman can mandate that any specific vote be opened to the general membership, where he or she feels that there is a reasonable case for doing so.
* NON-Voting member of all change control boards to represent the general membership. (do we have a process for this?)
* Management and arbitration of Membership complaints.
To avoid conflict of interest the Ombudsman cannot hold any other User Community Role.

=== Chronicler — Tie-breaker, spokesperson ===

* Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues related to the interests and purpose.
* This person is not to vote unless there is a tie that freezes the issue at hand.

=== The Projects Manager ===
* Shall assist in infrastructural development so that documentation of projects is done to some extent.
* Maintains the projects' wiki pages.
* Shall take charge of post-mortems of projects so useful information can be amassed as to what structures worked and what didn't.

=== Group Publicity Person — OO.o Evangelist ===

* Shall come up with fun and useful "virtual events" that promote the use of OO.o and the support forums at ''the site''.
* Shall abide by all local regulations and group agreements when promoting the organization or its views.

== Footnotes ==

===Limitations on Site Access===

Some transactional rate limiting mechanisms may apply to prevent robot users from degrading the performance of the site for normal interactive users. We also need to consider whether we bar certain users and / or IP address/domains (based on bots, spam, abuse, etc).

===Site Registration Process===

The Site Registration Process has two variants:

*The standard process is for a Guest who wants to become a Member; a Member can post, a Guest can not. The main purpose for registration, is is to associate changes made by a user with an identity. For example, a common forum feature is to list posts by author. The registration process will minimize SPAM bots through use of tools such as a "Captcha" or equivalent. A valid contact email address is required along with a response to an email sent to the submitted address. The email address is retained as confidential and not published to general members without authorization by the Member. The email address provides a means of contacting the members, but is only available to the system (for automated requested contacts such as a forum topic has been updated) and to members with specific roles such as a system administrator or moderator. A Guest can not become a member without a valid, verified, contact address. There are various other optional fields that the User can specify.

*A stricter process controls the transition from Member to Volunteer, and from Volunteer to normal Member. Volunteers may be appointed to trusted roles, so the UCV must have confidence in the provenance and credentials of the Member.
** A forum exists for discussing the Registration Process. Although only Volunteers can post to this forum, all Members can view the forum('''+''').
** All applications for promotion to or removal from Volunteer status are posted to this forum as a new topic. Any Member can make an application through a Volunteer (for example the ombudsman) which typically contains a brief identity (name, country, work experience, etc.) and a short personal statement of why the candidate wishes to become a Volunteer.
** Any Volunteer may comment on the application.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate approval.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate a protest.
** The application is open for [two] weeks.
** If at the end of this period at least two approvals and no protest have been made then Volunteer status change is granted.
** The change is declined if there are not at least two approvals.
** If there are least two approvals and at least one protest, a vote of the UCV membership is performed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
** Where the application is declined, reapplication can be made after [3] months.

('''+''') There are issues of disclosure that we need to think about here. See the
[[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles#proposed_change_to_Process_of_becoming_a_volunteer|Talk page]] for further discussion on this.

===OUCV Voting Process===

Members of the Volunteer site team may hold votes on topics within their areas of interest separate from those interests voiced by Registered or unregistered users of the site. Technical issues of interest to Volunteers may include any topic, including which issues will be decided by general Registered Member votes. Topics under consideration will be posted to a Forum category devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Registered members may comment on these issues or raise questions.

==== Voting Guidelines ====

General Voting on issues of importance to the members regarding the site or the management will take place quarterly on the first Tuesday of January, April, July, and October. A Forum category will be set up devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Only registered site members will be able to vote in these quarterly events. In most cases, a simple majority vote will suffice. This means in the case of a stand-off, a vote will be rescheduled for the next quarter.

''Please do not change the logical content of this page without first discussing this on the [[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles|Talk Page]] and acknowledgement from the [[U.s.oo.o/Planning/User_services_Contact_list|UCV Contact list]].''

[[Category:UCV]]

Talk:U.s.oo.o/Charter

2007-10-14T18:51:07Z

Pitonyak: /* '''Filling a role is a matter of taking responsibility, not imposing one's will.''' */

==Preamble==

=== '''Agreement-seeking culture''' ===

:We desire to create an agreement-seeking culture. That is, we endeavor to make plans and reach decisions based on achieving wide-spread agreement. Agreement-seeking is not the same as consensus, as consensus tries for universal agreement; elusive, if not impossible, to achieve.

:Agreement-seeking as a central principle is also different than majority rule. While voting can play a constructive role as an advisory means of expression of preference, binding procedures of any kind can under-emphasize and even undermine the critical role of discussion and deliberation in the shaping of plans. Voting is considered assertively consultative, not binding. '''Elections of individuals to fill roles within the organization, on the other hand, are binding.'''

:For agreements to be meaningful, it is important that those with a stake in the outcome be participants in determining the course of action. So, for instance, it's a matter of common sense that those with technical expertise should be intimately involved in technical decision-making.

:Further, given that User Community Volunteers (UCV) is focusing on developing services for non-technical users, it is also important that end-user interests be represented in the process of creating services.

=== '''Filling a role is a matter of taking responsibility, not imposing one's will.''' ===

:We believe in making progress through giving clear responsibilities to individuals. Taking responsibility for something is not the same as ownership, rather stewardship for an area, activity, or issue. Taking responsibility can also require, at times, acting as a driver. It should not be assumed that stewards and drivers typically operate by imposing their own decisions. Driving is primarily a matter of attending to a project with a goal, and taking steps to ensure the goal is reached (or, occasionally, redefining or setting aside the effort). Stewards typically solicit input and proposals, enable active participation, and facilitate discussion. In some (but not all) cases, the steward will also be an active content contributor to the matter at hand.

:The steward has a responsibility to consider multiple points of view and to try to reach widespread agreement. If there is disagreement, she or he should use methods to shed more light on the issue, e.g., by taking it to a wider group such as a mailing list or forum.

:However, it is also the stewards's responsibility to see that a decision is made, and he or she has the right in the end to make that call if in his or her judgment that's the right course of action.

=== '''Legitimate decisions are made with reference to the the vision, mission, and values of the organization.''' ===

:All decisions, but particularly ones about which there is disagreement, should not be made arbitrarily but should be in keeping with the vision, mission, and values of the organization. Decisions gain legitimacy when they can be linked to an underlying set of core beliefs widely shared by the participants.

:Some of our core values are:

::* personal integrity and accountability
::* individual initiative
::* respect
::* responsible risk taking
::* openness and transparency
::* teamwork
::* sustainability

:Applying these to forum behavior we might say, "Rude and personal comments on forums are disrespectful and not acceptable. Constructive criticism on the other hand is warmly encouraged."

=== '''Project proposals need to win community buy-in before implementation''' ===

:A good proposal or project plan not only sets out what is to be done and why, but also how, i.e., it addresses execution issues and seeks buy-in from those who will be implementing it. This is always important, but especially so when the proposer's plan requires significant resources not under his or her direct control, which will typically be the case.

=== '''Governance principles are more important than ownership''' ===

:In working through situations of disagreement, it is better to focus on applying governance principles rather than determining who has ultimate authority, as over-reliance on the latter can short-circuit opportunities to rely on and expand the use of healthy, open processes.

==Charter of the OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers==

=== Scope of this charter and interpretation ===

This charter relates to the affairs of OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers, hereinafter called the group ( "''the group''" ) having charge of the website users.services.openoffice.org (or any successor to that site) ("''the site''") and its sub-domains.

The primary purpose of ''the site'' is to provide information and support relevant to the end users of the OpenOffice.org software(or any software derived from or designed to work with).

''The group'' may adopt any other purpose, which in its judgment supports the primary purpose of the site or the performance of ''the group'''s functions.

Members of ''the group'' are referred to in this charter as ''volunteers''.

The charter shall be deemed to be enabling and not to impose liability.

Particular provisions are for the sake of clarification or extension and not intended to reduce the fullness of ''the group'''s power and authority.

Any notice relating to ''the site'' may be given to a person by email.

=== Functions of the group ===

The primary purpose of ''the group'' is to govern the site. ''The group'' may
* govern, regulate and supervise membership, content, management and administration of the site
* administer its own affairs as fully as those of the site
* appoint officers ( "officers" ) to perform any functions
* enlist any assistance it sees fit
* delegate any power or function
* conduct polls
* amend or replace this charter.

''Volunteers'' may hold discussions using any vehicle or vehicles they choose.

===Designated Roles within ''''the site''''===

==== User ====

a ''User'' is any person who enters or uses the web site in any way, even if that person only visited the home page of the web site.

==== Guest ====

A Guest is a User accessing the site without being logged onto the site. No registration or validation is required to be a Guest for purposes of searching or browsing the forums. A Guest may post only to designated forums, requiring the use of a captcha mechanism and the post must be approved by a moderator before being placed into the main forum subject threads. Since the guest will not be required to provide any means for the forum to contact them, the forum software must clearly inform them they will not and can not be notified of any replies to their post, and should offer them the option to register with the site if they would like an email notification of such a response. A guest may not modify any existing content. The site is open to all. (1).

==== Member ====

A ''Member'' is a User who has successfully completed the site registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]) at the web site. A Member can also post or modify the information content of the site, within the content rules of the site.

=== Designated Roles within ''''the group'''' ===

==== Volunteer ====

A ''Volunteer'' must be a Member of ''the site''.

A Member of ''the site'' must request to become a member of ''Volunteer''.

Volunteers are collectively referred to as the OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers ('''''OUCV'''''). There is no cap on the size of the OUCV.

The Member must apply to become a Volunteer though the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and, if successful, will be elected to Volunteer status within the UCV. For a Member to be successful, some evidence of sustained commitment will normally be required; for example, numerous postings and wiki contributions, or a number of material articles over a six month period. An equivalent track record in an associated community will normally be acceptable, for example, one of the other active OpenOffice.org or Linux related forums.

he Member must apply to become a Volunteer though the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and, if successful, will be elected to Volunteer status within the UCV. For a Member to be successful, some evidence of sustained commitment will normally be required; for example, numerous postings and wiki contributions, or a number of material articles over a six month period. An equivalent track record in an associated community will normally be acceptable, for example, one of the other active OpenOffice.org or Linux related forums.

The OUCV is intended to comprise the community of the ''''active'''' Members within the site, Volunteers may, therefore, revert back to a normal Member.
* A Volunteer may resign from Volunteer status.
* A six month period with no activity at ''the site'' will automatically propose removal of Volunteer status. ( Reversion to simple Member status at ''the site'' [[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 15:28, 14 October 2007 (CEST))
* Any Volunteer may propose the removal of Volunteer status for any other Volunteer. Justification must be included with the request. For example, repeated abuse or disregard of the site, the membership, or standing instructions endorsed by the OUCV.
The removal of Volunteer status is also controlled through the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and where this occurs the individual will revert to normal Member status. A Member can always reapply for Volunteer status.

Volunteers are regarded as trusted members of the site and therefore have available elevated privileges associated with such trust:
* Full voting privileges within the OUCV.
* Ability to upload images and attachments to the site.
* Ability to use HTML in posts; most forum packages allow HTML as an option, and the layout is easier than in BBcode-style mark-up languages.
* Ability to blog.
* Eligibility for site roles.

== Site Roles available to Volunteers ==

The following site Roles are available to OUCV members. Notwithstanding this, the list of site roles and responsibilities may evolve over time under change control and endorsement through the OUCV voting process.

===Site Administrator===

Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to perform a due diligence in the following areas:

*Help maintain the security of the host system by:
**Maintaining a good working relationship with designated network administration staff at Sun Microsystems, Hamburg Germany.
**Maintain contact with the vendor's / supplier's information service for any applications run on the server.
**Take agreed upon steps when a security announcement is made by the vendors / suppliers.
**Follow agreed upon steps if a security breach of any application on the server is suspected. For example: notified by a board user that they suspect a problem.
**Perform steps necessary to carry out agreed upon configuration control procedures on application level services running on the server. During modifications of the applications, application of patches, reconfigurations.
**Follow agreed upon steps / actions to implement and maintain a disaster recovery plan ( e.g. off-site storage of backups, off-site storage of application modifications, included files and configuration settings).
*Support the Service Administrators and Content managers by performing the following tasks:
**Create or apply modifications to the applications source or configuration files as needed.
**Configure client communication settings for the service application.
**Configure server settings for the service application.
***Database indexing.
***Database backups ( working with network admins ).
***Install / configure support packages ( php libs, caching systems, etc ).

These individuals must also comply with all Standard Operating and Security Procedures defined by the hosting provider ( SUN Microsystems ), and to take whatever reasonable actions that the hosting provider requires of them in order to receive necessary host computer access privileges.

===Service Administrator===

Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to maintain an application level service. For example the Forum service Administrator would perform the following, and other, functions:
*May add, edit, delete, and reorder the forums, categories, and links.
*Manage User Accounts
*Manage Group Accounts
*Manage Board Level Settings ( Email, Template, etc )
*Support the Service Moderator's

These individuals are selected by the OUCV alone. The service administrator role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Service Moderator===

Moderator is a supporting administration role supported by some application services. For example in the case of forums, moderators have an elevated level of privilege which enables them to modify or delete user posts that violate site policy (e.g. SPAM or obscenity). Service Moderators are selected by the OUCV Voting Process. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Content Manager===

These individuals are selected by the OUCV alone. The Content Manager role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. Where required Content Manager's may be granted User Account Interactive Access and limited datadase access.

===Ombudsman===

The Ombudsman's role and responsibilities include:
* Administration and oversight of all polls
** The ombudsman can mandate that any specific vote be opened to the general membership, where he or she feels that there is a reasonable case for doing so.
* NON-Voting member of all change control boards to represent the general membership. (do we have a process for this?)
* Management and arbitration of Membership complaints.
To avoid conflict of interest the Ombudsman cannot hold any other User Community Role.

=== Chronicler — Tie-breaker, spokesperson ===

* Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues related to the interests and purpose.
* This person is not to vote unless there is a tie that freezes the issue at hand.

=== The Projects Manager ===
* Shall assist in infrastructural development so that documentation of projects is done to some extent.
* Maintains the projects' wiki pages.
* Shall take charge of post-mortems of projects so useful information can be amassed as to what structures worked and what didn't.

=== Group Publicity Person — OO.o Evangelist ===

* Shall come up with fun and useful "virtual events" that promote the use of OO.o and the support forums at ''the site''.
* Shall abide by all local regulations and group agreements when promoting the organization or its views.

== Footnotes ==

===Limitations on Site Access===

Some transactional rate limiting mechanisms may apply to prevent robot users from degrading the performance of the site for normal interactive users. We also need to consider whether we bar certain users and / or IP address/domains (based on bots, spam, abuse, etc).

===Site Registration Process===

The Site Registration Process has two variants:

*The standard process is for a Guest who wants to become a Member; a Member can post, a Guest can not. The main purpose for registration, is is to associate changes made by a user with an identity. For example, a common forum feature is to list posts by author. The registration process will minimize SPAM bots through use of tools such as a "Captcha" or equivalent. A valid contact email address is required along with a response to an email sent to the submitted address. The email address is retained as confidential and not published to general members without authorization by the Member. The email address provides a means of contacting the members, but is only available to the system (for automated requested contacts such as a forum topic has been updated) and to members with specific roles such as a system administrator or moderator. A Guest can not become a member without a valid, verified, contact address. There are various other optional fields that the User can specify.

*A stricter process controls the transition from Member to Volunteer, and from Volunteer to normal Member. Volunteers may be appointed to trusted roles, so the UCV must have confidence in the provenance and credentials of the Member.
** A forum exists for discussing the Registration Process. Although only Volunteers can post to this forum, all Members can view the forum('''+''').
** All applications for promotion to or removal from Volunteer status are posted to this forum as a new topic. Any Member can make an application through a Volunteer (for example the ombudsman) which typically contains a brief identity (name, country, work experience, etc.) and a short personal statement of why the candidate wishes to become a Volunteer.
** Any Volunteer may comment on the application.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate approval.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate a protest.
** The application is open for [two] weeks.
** If at the end of this period at least two approvals and no protest have been made then Volunteer status change is granted.
** The change is declined if there are not at least two approvals.
** If there are least two approvals and at least one protest, a vote of the UCV membership is performed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
** Where the application is declined, reapplication can be made after [3] months.

('''+''') There are issues of disclosure that we need to think about here. See the
[[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles#proposed_change_to_Process_of_becoming_a_volunteer|Talk page]] for further discussion on this.

===OUCV Voting Process===

Members of the Volunteer site team may hold votes on topics within their areas of interest separate from those interests voiced by Registered or unregistered users of the site. Technical issues of interest to Volunteers may include any topic, including which issues will be decided by general Registered Member votes. Topics under consideration will be posted to a Forum category devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Registered members may comment on these issues or raise questions.

==== Voting Guidelines ====

General Voting on issues of importance to the members regarding the site or the management will take place quarterly on the first Tuesday of January, April, July, and October. A Forum category will be set up devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Only registered site members will be able to vote in these quarterly events. In most cases, a simple majority vote will suffice. This means in the case of a stand-off, a vote will be rescheduled for the next quarter.

''Please do not change the logical content of this page without first discussing this on the [[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles|Talk Page]] and acknowledgement from the [[U.s.oo.o/Planning/User_services_Contact_list|UCV Contact list]].''

[[Category:UCV]]

Talk:U.s.oo.o/Charter

2007-10-14T18:45:58Z

Pitonyak: /* '''Agreement-seeking culture''' */

==Preamble==

=== '''Agreement-seeking culture''' ===

:We desire to create an agreement-seeking culture. That is, we endeavor to make plans and reach decisions based on achieving wide-spread agreement. Agreement-seeking is not the same as consensus, as consensus tries for universal agreement; elusive, if not impossible, to achieve.

:Agreement-seeking as a central principle is also different than majority rule. While voting can play a constructive role as an advisory means of expression of preference, binding procedures of any kind can under-emphasize and even undermine the critical role of discussion and deliberation in the shaping of plans. Voting is considered assertively consultative, not binding. '''Elections of individuals to fill roles within the organization, on the other hand, are binding.'''

:For agreements to be meaningful, it is important that those with a stake in the outcome be participants in determining the course of action. So, for instance, it's a matter of common sense that those with technical expertise should be intimately involved in technical decision-making.

:Further, given that User Community Volunteers (UCV) is focusing on developing services for non-technical users, it is also important that end-user interests be represented in the process of creating services.

=== '''Filling a role is a matter of taking responsibility, not imposing one's will.''' ===

:We believe in making progress through giving clear responsibilities to individuals. Taking responsibility for something is not the same as ownership, rather stewardship for an area, activity or issue. Taking responsibility can also require, at times, acting as a driver. It should not be assumed that stewards and drivers typically operate by imposing their own decisions. Driving is primarily a matter of attending to a project with a goal, and taking steps to ensure the goal is reached (or, occasionally, redefining or setting aside the effort). Stewards typically solicit input and proposals, enable active participation, and facilitate discussion. In some but not all cases the steward will also be an active content contributor to the matter at hand.

:The steward has a responsibility to take multiple points of view into account and to try to reach widespread agreement. If there is disagreement, she or he should use methods to shed more light on the issue, e.g., by taking it to a wider group such as a mailing list or forum.

:However, it is also the stewards's responsibility to see that a decision is made, and he or she has the right in the end to make that call if in his or her judgment that's the right course of action.

=== '''Legitimate decisions are made with reference to the the vision, mission, and values of the organization.''' ===

:All decisions, but particularly ones about which there is disagreement, should not be made arbitrarily but should be in keeping with the vision, mission, and values of the organization. Decisions gain legitimacy when they can be linked to an underlying set of core beliefs widely shared by the participants.

:Some of our core values are:

::* personal integrity and accountability
::* individual initiative
::* respect
::* responsible risk taking
::* openness and transparency
::* teamwork
::* sustainability

:Applying these to forum behavior we might say, "Rude and personal comments on forums are disrespectful and not acceptable. Constructive criticism on the other hand is warmly encouraged."

=== '''Project proposals need to win community buy-in before implementation''' ===

:A good proposal or project plan not only sets out what is to be done and why, but also how, i.e., it addresses execution issues and seeks buy-in from those who will be implementing it. This is always important, but especially so when the proposer's plan requires significant resources not under his or her direct control, which will typically be the case.

=== '''Governance principles are more important than ownership''' ===

:In working through situations of disagreement, it is better to focus on applying governance principles rather than determining who has ultimate authority, as over-reliance on the latter can short-circuit opportunities to rely on and expand the use of healthy, open processes.

==Charter of the OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers==

=== Scope of this charter and interpretation ===

This charter relates to the affairs of OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers, hereinafter called the group ( "''the group''" ) having charge of the website users.services.openoffice.org (or any successor to that site) ("''the site''") and its sub-domains.

The primary purpose of ''the site'' is to provide information and support relevant to the end users of the OpenOffice.org software(or any software derived from or designed to work with).

''The group'' may adopt any other purpose, which in its judgment supports the primary purpose of the site or the performance of ''the group'''s functions.

Members of ''the group'' are referred to in this charter as ''volunteers''.

The charter shall be deemed to be enabling and not to impose liability.

Particular provisions are for the sake of clarification or extension and not intended to reduce the fullness of ''the group'''s power and authority.

Any notice relating to ''the site'' may be given to a person by email.

=== Functions of the group ===

The primary purpose of ''the group'' is to govern the site. ''The group'' may
* govern, regulate and supervise membership, content, management and administration of the site
* administer its own affairs as fully as those of the site
* appoint officers ( "officers" ) to perform any functions
* enlist any assistance it sees fit
* delegate any power or function
* conduct polls
* amend or replace this charter.

''Volunteers'' may hold discussions using any vehicle or vehicles they choose.

===Designated Roles within ''''the site''''===

==== User ====

a ''User'' is any person who enters or uses the web site in any way, even if that person only visited the home page of the web site.

==== Guest ====

A Guest is a User accessing the site without being logged onto the site. No registration or validation is required to be a Guest for purposes of searching or browsing the forums. A Guest may post only to designated forums, requiring the use of a captcha mechanism and the post must be approved by a moderator before being placed into the main forum subject threads. Since the guest will not be required to provide any means for the forum to contact them, the forum software must clearly inform them they will not and can not be notified of any replies to their post, and should offer them the option to register with the site if they would like an email notification of such a response. A guest may not modify any existing content. The site is open to all. (1).

==== Member ====

A ''Member'' is a User who has successfully completed the site registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]) at the web site. A Member can also post or modify the information content of the site, within the content rules of the site.

=== Designated Roles within ''''the group'''' ===

==== Volunteer ====

A ''Volunteer'' must be a Member of ''the site''.

A Member of ''the site'' must request to become a member of ''Volunteer''.

Volunteers are collectively referred to as the OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers ('''''OUCV'''''). There is no cap on the size of the OUCV.

The Member must apply to become a Volunteer though the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and, if successful, will be elected to Volunteer status within the UCV. For a Member to be successful, some evidence of sustained commitment will normally be required; for example, numerous postings and wiki contributions, or a number of material articles over a six month period. An equivalent track record in an associated community will normally be acceptable, for example, one of the other active OpenOffice.org or Linux related forums.

he Member must apply to become a Volunteer though the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and, if successful, will be elected to Volunteer status within the UCV. For a Member to be successful, some evidence of sustained commitment will normally be required; for example, numerous postings and wiki contributions, or a number of material articles over a six month period. An equivalent track record in an associated community will normally be acceptable, for example, one of the other active OpenOffice.org or Linux related forums.

The OUCV is intended to comprise the community of the ''''active'''' Members within the site, Volunteers may, therefore, revert back to a normal Member.
* A Volunteer may resign from Volunteer status.
* A six month period with no activity at ''the site'' will automatically propose removal of Volunteer status. ( Reversion to simple Member status at ''the site'' [[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 15:28, 14 October 2007 (CEST))
* Any Volunteer may propose the removal of Volunteer status for any other Volunteer. Justification must be included with the request. For example, repeated abuse or disregard of the site, the membership, or standing instructions endorsed by the OUCV.
The removal of Volunteer status is also controlled through the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and where this occurs the individual will revert to normal Member status. A Member can always reapply for Volunteer status.

Volunteers are regarded as trusted members of the site and therefore have available elevated privileges associated with such trust:
* Full voting privileges within the OUCV.
* Ability to upload images and attachments to the site.
* Ability to use HTML in posts; most forum packages allow HTML as an option, and the layout is easier than in BBcode-style mark-up languages.
* Ability to blog.
* Eligibility for site roles.

== Site Roles available to Volunteers ==

The following site Roles are available to OUCV members. Notwithstanding this, the list of site roles and responsibilities may evolve over time under change control and endorsement through the OUCV voting process.

===Site Administrator===

Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to perform a due diligence in the following areas:

*Help maintain the security of the host system by:
**Maintaining a good working relationship with designated network administration staff at Sun Microsystems, Hamburg Germany.
**Maintain contact with the vendor's / supplier's information service for any applications run on the server.
**Take agreed upon steps when a security announcement is made by the vendors / suppliers.
**Follow agreed upon steps if a security breach of any application on the server is suspected. For example: notified by a board user that they suspect a problem.
**Perform steps necessary to carry out agreed upon configuration control procedures on application level services running on the server. During modifications of the applications, application of patches, reconfigurations.
**Follow agreed upon steps / actions to implement and maintain a disaster recovery plan ( e.g. off-site storage of backups, off-site storage of application modifications, included files and configuration settings).
*Support the Service Administrators and Content managers by performing the following tasks:
**Create or apply modifications to the applications source or configuration files as needed.
**Configure client communication settings for the service application.
**Configure server settings for the service application.
***Database indexing.
***Database backups ( working with network admins ).
***Install / configure support packages ( php libs, caching systems, etc ).

These individuals must also comply with all Standard Operating and Security Procedures defined by the hosting provider ( SUN Microsystems ), and to take whatever reasonable actions that the hosting provider requires of them in order to receive necessary host computer access privileges.

===Service Administrator===

Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to maintain an application level service. For example the Forum service Administrator would perform the following, and other, functions:
*May add, edit, delete, and reorder the forums, categories, and links.
*Manage User Accounts
*Manage Group Accounts
*Manage Board Level Settings ( Email, Template, etc )
*Support the Service Moderator's

These individuals are selected by the OUCV alone. The service administrator role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Service Moderator===

Moderator is a supporting administration role supported by some application services. For example in the case of forums, moderators have an elevated level of privilege which enables them to modify or delete user posts that violate site policy (e.g. SPAM or obscenity). Service Moderators are selected by the OUCV Voting Process. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Content Manager===

These individuals are selected by the OUCV alone. The Content Manager role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. Where required Content Manager's may be granted User Account Interactive Access and limited datadase access.

===Ombudsman===

The Ombudsman's role and responsibilities include:
* Administration and oversight of all polls
** The ombudsman can mandate that any specific vote be opened to the general membership, where he or she feels that there is a reasonable case for doing so.
* NON-Voting member of all change control boards to represent the general membership. (do we have a process for this?)
* Management and arbitration of Membership complaints.
To avoid conflict of interest the Ombudsman cannot hold any other User Community Role.

=== Chronicler — Tie-breaker, spokesperson ===

* Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues related to the interests and purpose.
* This person is not to vote unless there is a tie that freezes the issue at hand.

=== The Projects Manager ===
* Shall assist in infrastructural development so that documentation of projects is done to some extent.
* Maintains the projects' wiki pages.
* Shall take charge of post-mortems of projects so useful information can be amassed as to what structures worked and what didn't.

=== Group Publicity Person — OO.o Evangelist ===

* Shall come up with fun and useful "virtual events" that promote the use of OO.o and the support forums at ''the site''.
* Shall abide by all local regulations and group agreements when promoting the organization or its views.

== Footnotes ==

===Limitations on Site Access===

Some transactional rate limiting mechanisms may apply to prevent robot users from degrading the performance of the site for normal interactive users. We also need to consider whether we bar certain users and / or IP address/domains (based on bots, spam, abuse, etc).

===Site Registration Process===

The Site Registration Process has two variants:

*The standard process is for a Guest who wants to become a Member; a Member can post, a Guest can not. The main purpose for registration, is is to associate changes made by a user with an identity. For example, a common forum feature is to list posts by author. The registration process will minimize SPAM bots through use of tools such as a "Captcha" or equivalent. A valid contact email address is required along with a response to an email sent to the submitted address. The email address is retained as confidential and not published to general members without authorization by the Member. The email address provides a means of contacting the members, but is only available to the system (for automated requested contacts such as a forum topic has been updated) and to members with specific roles such as a system administrator or moderator. A Guest can not become a member without a valid, verified, contact address. There are various other optional fields that the User can specify.

*A stricter process controls the transition from Member to Volunteer, and from Volunteer to normal Member. Volunteers may be appointed to trusted roles, so the UCV must have confidence in the provenance and credentials of the Member.
** A forum exists for discussing the Registration Process. Although only Volunteers can post to this forum, all Members can view the forum('''+''').
** All applications for promotion to or removal from Volunteer status are posted to this forum as a new topic. Any Member can make an application through a Volunteer (for example the ombudsman) which typically contains a brief identity (name, country, work experience, etc.) and a short personal statement of why the candidate wishes to become a Volunteer.
** Any Volunteer may comment on the application.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate approval.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate a protest.
** The application is open for [two] weeks.
** If at the end of this period at least two approvals and no protest have been made then Volunteer status change is granted.
** The change is declined if there are not at least two approvals.
** If there are least two approvals and at least one protest, a vote of the UCV membership is performed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
** Where the application is declined, reapplication can be made after [3] months.

('''+''') There are issues of disclosure that we need to think about here. See the
[[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles#proposed_change_to_Process_of_becoming_a_volunteer|Talk page]] for further discussion on this.

===OUCV Voting Process===

Members of the Volunteer site team may hold votes on topics within their areas of interest separate from those interests voiced by Registered or unregistered users of the site. Technical issues of interest to Volunteers may include any topic, including which issues will be decided by general Registered Member votes. Topics under consideration will be posted to a Forum category devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Registered members may comment on these issues or raise questions.

==== Voting Guidelines ====

General Voting on issues of importance to the members regarding the site or the management will take place quarterly on the first Tuesday of January, April, July, and October. A Forum category will be set up devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Only registered site members will be able to vote in these quarterly events. In most cases, a simple majority vote will suffice. This means in the case of a stand-off, a vote will be rescheduled for the next quarter.

''Please do not change the logical content of this page without first discussing this on the [[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles|Talk Page]] and acknowledgement from the [[U.s.oo.o/Planning/User_services_Contact_list|UCV Contact list]].''

[[Category:UCV]]

User:DrewJensen/OUCV Charter

2007-10-13T13:37:54Z

Pitonyak: /* Initial structure */

Charter of the OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers
== Scope of this charter and interpretation ==
This charter relates to the affairs of OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers, hereinafter called the group ( "''the group''" ) having charge of the website users.services.openoffice.org (or any successor to that site) ("''the site''") and its sub-domains.

The primary purpose of ''the site'' is to provide information and support relevant to the use of the software produced by the owner of www.openoffice.org (or any successor to that website).

''The group'' may adopt any other purpose, which in its judgment supports the primary purpose of the site or the performance of ''the group'''s functions.

Members of ''the group'' are referred to in this charter as ''volunteers''.

All times and periods shall be measured according to Greenwich Mean Time.

The charter shall be deemed to be enabling and not to impose liability.

Particular provisions are for the sake of clarification or extension and not intended to reduce the fullness of ''the group'''s power and authority.

Any notice relating to ''the site'' may be given to a person by email.

== Date ==
This charter was submitted to a vote of founding members of ''the site'' and ''the group'' in September 2007. [editing note: who votes this in?]

== Membership of the group ==

[[Andrew Pitonyak]] notes on October 13, 2007 that everything in this section can probably be removed because it is covered here:

http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles#Roles_available_to_Volunteers

There are two types of members within the OUCV, voting and non-voting, referred to as Observer and Contributor:
An individual automatically becomes an Observer within OUCV when they register for any of the services offered at "''the site''".

*Observer -
**This membership is automatically created when someone registers with the forum or the wiki.
***They can participate in OUCV discussions.
***They cannot vote in OUCV polls.
*Contributor -
**Contributors can vote.
**Contributors are then eligible to volunteer for such things as being a moderator.

Steps required to become a contributor?
#Requesting a change in membership type.
#Meeting some minimal involvement criteria : Say 5 postings on the forum, or five updates on the wiki.
#*The minimum criteria could either be waived for some, or perhaps expanded to include the OOoForum as a way to meet the posting requirement.

Upon receipt of request for contributor membership, and assuming the minimal involvement criteria has been met then:
*The request is posted to a general location at ''the site''.
*Any current OUCV contributor may mark the status of the request 'to accept'. Upon two such status markings, and no protest, the request is accepted and the users membership type changed.
*Any current OUCV contributor can protest the change. ( need to describe this a little )
*The status will automatically convert two weeks from the request assuming no protest from an OUCV contributor<e/m>.

== Functions of the group ==
The primary purpose of ''the group'' is to govern the site. ''The group'' may
* govern, regulate and supervise membership, content, management and administration of the site
* administer its own affairs as fully as those of the site
* appoint officers ( "officers" ) to perform any functions
* enlist any assistance it sees fit
* delegate any power or function
* conduct polls
* amend or replace this charter.

''Volunteers'' may hold discussions using any vehicle or vehicles they choose.

== Initial structure ==
The founding ''volunteers'' intend to appoint the following officers and adhere to the provisions outlined in this and subsequent clauses until deciding otherwise.

The group intends to appoint:
* Three executives who shall together comprise the board empowered to exercise the group's powers ("''the board''") [[Andrew Pitonyak]] asks if we can associate these with specific roles. Are these guys voted in? Perhaps these guys are NOT outlined in the user/roles section.
* An ombudsman.

Officers other than executives or ombudsman may be appointed by ''the board''.

Only ''volunteers'' may be appointed as officers of ''the site'' but temporary authority may be given to any person to perform a function deemed to be for the benefit of the site.

''Volunteers'' may hold more than one office except for ombudsman and executive. [[Andrew Pitonyak]] ?? So an executive can not also be an administrator then. Are you sure about this?

A vacancy in any office will not invalidate other appointments or any action.

Officers may hold office until resigning, removed or replaced.

The tenure of any officer or officers and of all officers may be reviewed at any time.

== The Board ==
''The board'' may exercise all and any powers of the group.

''The board'' may conduct its affairs as it sees fit.

''The board'' may elect one of its members as Governor and confer special authority on the Governor.

Any decision or action of ''the board'' or any executive (including the Governor) may be overridden by a decision of ''the group''.

No appointment or other decision by ''the board'' or an executive shall be valid until lodged in a record which is on the site and accessible by any ombudsman.

Decisions on access to records of decisions of ''the board'' by persons other than ombudsmen shall be made by the board. <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[User:TerryE]] see discussion on this point]

== Executives ==
An executive may exercise any power of ''the board'' but no exercise will be effective until notice has been given to an ombudsman and the other executives and then only for 4 days unless ratified by the board during that time.

''The board'' may overrule any such exercise.

These provisions relating to executives do not apply to the exercise by the Governor of any special authority conferred on him by ''the board''.

[I think the naming of duties will vastly uncomplicate things, even with the above provisions]

The Board shall consist of the following 3 Executives

#President of the Group
##Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues related to the porpose of the group,
##Shall publicly adhere to and abide by the statement of purpose of the organization.
#The Director of IT
##Shall be the manager of all IT initiatives and projects of the group,
##Shall publicly adhere to and abide by the statement of purpose of the organization.
#Director of Publicity.
##Shall coordinate and facilitate the publicity of all events and meetings of the organization,
##Shall abide by all local regulations when promoting the organization or its views,
##Shall publicly adhere to and abide by the statement of purpose of the organization.

Alternates: The first three are required for setting up the forum, which is the current burning goal. The next 2 are important for the future growth of the project.
<ol start="4">
<li>Director of Funding (since we are hoping to be able to provide more than just the forum).</li>
<li>Director of Content (since content is king, a named editor for content and "look & feel" might be very useful).</li></ol>

== Ombudsman ==
The elected ombudsman has authority to request additional volunteers for the Ombudsman's Office, with approval of ''the board''.

An ombudsman may investigate any matter pertaining to the governance of ''the site''.

An ombudsman may make a report about any matter or matters to ''the group'', to an executive, a ''volunteer'', one or more members of ''the site'', or any combination thereof.

An ombudsman may act as mediator in disputes between any members.

== Polls ==
Polls of volunteers may be called by

* ''the board''
* an executive
* an ombudsman
* anyone else given authority by ''the board'' or ''the group''
* any two ''volunteers'' acting jointly.

A vote may be cast by email from a ''volunteer'' to an address provided for that purpose.

The results of polls shall be determined by simple majority of the votes actually cast without any requirement for a quorum and shall be binding on ''the group'' until amended or revoked by a subsequent poll.

An ombudsman may suspend the effect of a poll once only for up to 14 days so that a further poll may be held.

The effect of a poll confirming a previous poll may not be suspended.

== Annual Review ==
Notwithstanding other polls which may be conducted, ''the group'' will hold a review each calendar year.

The site officers will use their best endeavours to conduct and complete the review after August and before November in each calendar year [editing note: this period has been chosen so as not to conflict with major holiday periods].

Any ''volunteer'' may place any matter on the agenda for the review at any time by email to an address provided for that purpose but consideration of any matter may be deferred until after the review if notice from the ''volunteer'' is received after August in that year.

Any officer authorised by ''the board'' may produce an agenda and send it to ''volunteers''.

If no agenda has been sent by midnight on August 15th any officer may produce and send the agenda and may be provided with email addresses and other information for that purpose.

Polls relating to matters on the agenda may be conducted at any time six weeks after the agenda has been sent to volunteers.

[ The first draft is at [http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddvrk47_43nthcns this page]. ]

User:DrewJensen/OUCV Charter

2007-10-13T13:25:03Z

Pitonyak: /* Membership of the group */

Charter of the OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers
== Scope of this charter and interpretation ==
This charter relates to the affairs of OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers, hereinafter called the group ( "''the group''" ) having charge of the website users.services.openoffice.org (or any successor to that site) ("''the site''") and its sub-domains.

The primary purpose of ''the site'' is to provide information and support relevant to the use of the software produced by the owner of www.openoffice.org (or any successor to that website).

''The group'' may adopt any other purpose, which in its judgment supports the primary purpose of the site or the performance of ''the group'''s functions.

Members of ''the group'' are referred to in this charter as ''volunteers''.

All times and periods shall be measured according to Greenwich Mean Time.

The charter shall be deemed to be enabling and not to impose liability.

Particular provisions are for the sake of clarification or extension and not intended to reduce the fullness of ''the group'''s power and authority.

Any notice relating to ''the site'' may be given to a person by email.

== Date ==
This charter was submitted to a vote of founding members of ''the site'' and ''the group'' in September 2007. [editing note: who votes this in?]

== Membership of the group ==

[[Andrew Pitonyak]] notes on October 13, 2007 that everything in this section can probably be removed because it is covered here:

http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles#Roles_available_to_Volunteers

There are two types of members within the OUCV, voting and non-voting, referred to as Observer and Contributor:
An individual automatically becomes an Observer within OUCV when they register for any of the services offered at "''the site''".

*Observer -
**This membership is automatically created when someone registers with the forum or the wiki.
***They can participate in OUCV discussions.
***They cannot vote in OUCV polls.
*Contributor -
**Contributors can vote.
**Contributors are then eligible to volunteer for such things as being a moderator.

Steps required to become a contributor?
#Requesting a change in membership type.
#Meeting some minimal involvement criteria : Say 5 postings on the forum, or five updates on the wiki.
#*The minimum criteria could either be waived for some, or perhaps expanded to include the OOoForum as a way to meet the posting requirement.

Upon receipt of request for contributor membership, and assuming the minimal involvement criteria has been met then:
*The request is posted to a general location at ''the site''.
*Any current OUCV contributor may mark the status of the request 'to accept'. Upon two such status markings, and no protest, the request is accepted and the users membership type changed.
*Any current OUCV contributor can protest the change. ( need to describe this a little )
*The status will automatically convert two weeks from the request assuming no protest from an OUCV contributor<e/m>.

== Functions of the group ==
The primary purpose of ''the group'' is to govern the site. ''The group'' may
* govern, regulate and supervise membership, content, management and administration of the site
* administer its own affairs as fully as those of the site
* appoint officers ( "officers" ) to perform any functions
* enlist any assistance it sees fit
* delegate any power or function
* conduct polls
* amend or replace this charter.

''Volunteers'' may hold discussions using any vehicle or vehicles they choose.

== Initial structure ==
The founding ''volunteers'' intend to appoint the following officers and adhere to the provisions outlined in this and subsequent clauses until deciding otherwise.

The group intends to appoint:
* Three executives who shall together comprise the board empowered to exercise the group's powers ("''the board''")
* An ombudsman.

Officers other than executives or ombudsman may be appointed by ''the board''.

Only ''volunteers'' may be appointed as officers of ''the site'' but temporary authority may be given to any person to perform a function deemed to be for the benefit of the site.

''Volunteers'' may hold more than one office except that any person may not hold at the same time office of ombudsman and that of an executive.

A vacancy in any office will not invalidate other appointments or any action.

Officers may hold office until resigning, removed or replaced.

The tenure of any officer or officers and of all officers may be reviewed at any time.

== The Board ==
''The board'' may exercise all and any powers of the group.

''The board'' may conduct its affairs as it sees fit.

''The board'' may elect one of its members as Governor and confer special authority on the Governor.

Any decision or action of ''the board'' or any executive (including the Governor) may be overridden by a decision of ''the group''.

No appointment or other decision by ''the board'' or an executive shall be valid until lodged in a record which is on the site and accessible by any ombudsman.

Decisions on access to records of decisions of ''the board'' by persons other than ombudsmen shall be made by the board. <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[User:TerryE]] see discussion on this point]

== Executives ==
An executive may exercise any power of ''the board'' but no exercise will be effective until notice has been given to an ombudsman and the other executives and then only for 4 days unless ratified by the board during that time.

''The board'' may overrule any such exercise.

These provisions relating to executives do not apply to the exercise by the Governor of any special authority conferred on him by ''the board''.

[I think the naming of duties will vastly uncomplicate things, even with the above provisions]

The Board shall consist of the following 3 Executives

#President of the Group
##Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues related to the porpose of the group,
##Shall publicly adhere to and abide by the statement of purpose of the organization.
#The Director of IT
##Shall be the manager of all IT initiatives and projects of the group,
##Shall publicly adhere to and abide by the statement of purpose of the organization.
#Director of Publicity.
##Shall coordinate and facilitate the publicity of all events and meetings of the organization,
##Shall abide by all local regulations when promoting the organization or its views,
##Shall publicly adhere to and abide by the statement of purpose of the organization.

Alternates: The first three are required for setting up the forum, which is the current burning goal. The next 2 are important for the future growth of the project.
<ol start="4">
<li>Director of Funding (since we are hoping to be able to provide more than just the forum).</li>
<li>Director of Content (since content is king, a named editor for content and "look & feel" might be very useful).</li></ol>

== Ombudsman ==
The elected ombudsman has authority to request additional volunteers for the Ombudsman's Office, with approval of ''the board''.

An ombudsman may investigate any matter pertaining to the governance of ''the site''.

An ombudsman may make a report about any matter or matters to ''the group'', to an executive, a ''volunteer'', one or more members of ''the site'', or any combination thereof.

An ombudsman may act as mediator in disputes between any members.

== Polls ==
Polls of volunteers may be called by

* ''the board''
* an executive
* an ombudsman
* anyone else given authority by ''the board'' or ''the group''
* any two ''volunteers'' acting jointly.

A vote may be cast by email from a ''volunteer'' to an address provided for that purpose.

The results of polls shall be determined by simple majority of the votes actually cast without any requirement for a quorum and shall be binding on ''the group'' until amended or revoked by a subsequent poll.

An ombudsman may suspend the effect of a poll once only for up to 14 days so that a further poll may be held.

The effect of a poll confirming a previous poll may not be suspended.

== Annual Review ==
Notwithstanding other polls which may be conducted, ''the group'' will hold a review each calendar year.

The site officers will use their best endeavours to conduct and complete the review after August and before November in each calendar year [editing note: this period has been chosen so as not to conflict with major holiday periods].

Any ''volunteer'' may place any matter on the agenda for the review at any time by email to an address provided for that purpose but consideration of any matter may be deferred until after the review if notice from the ''volunteer'' is received after August in that year.

Any officer authorised by ''the board'' may produce an agenda and send it to ''volunteers''.

If no agenda has been sent by midnight on August 15th any officer may produce and send the agenda and may be provided with email addresses and other information for that purpose.

Polls relating to matters on the agenda may be conducted at any time six weeks after the agenda has been sent to volunteers.

[ The first draft is at [http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddvrk47_43nthcns this page]. ]

User:DrewJensen/OUCV Charter

2007-10-13T13:23:22Z

Pitonyak: /* Membership of the group */

Charter of the OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers
== Scope of this charter and interpretation ==
This charter relates to the affairs of OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers, hereinafter called the group ( "''the group''" ) having charge of the website users.services.openoffice.org (or any successor to that site) ("''the site''") and its sub-domains.

The primary purpose of ''the site'' is to provide information and support relevant to the use of the software produced by the owner of www.openoffice.org (or any successor to that website).

''The group'' may adopt any other purpose, which in its judgment supports the primary purpose of the site or the performance of ''the group'''s functions.

Members of ''the group'' are referred to in this charter as ''volunteers''.

All times and periods shall be measured according to Greenwich Mean Time.

The charter shall be deemed to be enabling and not to impose liability.

Particular provisions are for the sake of clarification or extension and not intended to reduce the fullness of ''the group'''s power and authority.

Any notice relating to ''the site'' may be given to a person by email.

== Date ==
This charter was submitted to a vote of founding members of ''the site'' and ''the group'' in September 2007. [editing note: who votes this in?]

== Membership of the group ==
There are two types of members within the OUCV, voting and non-voting, referred to as Observer and Contributor:
An individual automatically becomes an Observer within OUCV when they register for any of the services offered at "''the site''".

*Observer -
**This membership is automatically created when someone registers with the forum or the wiki.
***They can participate in OUCV discussions.
***They cannot vote in OUCV polls.
*Contributor -
**Contributors can vote.
**Contributors are then eligible to volunteer for such things as being a moderator.

Steps required to become a contributor?
#Requesting a change in membership type.
#Meeting some minimal involvement criteria : Say 5 postings on the forum, or five updates on the wiki.
#*The minimum criteria could either be waived for some, or perhaps expanded to include the OOoForum as a way to meet the posting requirement.

Upon receipt of request for contributor membership, and assuming the minimal involvement criteria has been met then:
*The request is posted to a general location at ''the site''.
*Any current OUCV contributor may mark the status of the request 'to accept'. Upon two such status markings, and no protest, the request is accepted and the users membership type changed.
*Any current OUCV contributor can protest the change. ( need to describe this a little )
*The status will automatically convert two weeks from the request assuming no protest from an OUCV contributor<e/m>.

== Functions of the group ==
The primary purpose of ''the group'' is to govern the site. ''The group'' may
* govern, regulate and supervise membership, content, management and administration of the site
* administer its own affairs as fully as those of the site
* appoint officers ( "officers" ) to perform any functions
* enlist any assistance it sees fit
* delegate any power or function
* conduct polls
* amend or replace this charter.

''Volunteers'' may hold discussions using any vehicle or vehicles they choose.

== Initial structure ==
The founding ''volunteers'' intend to appoint the following officers and adhere to the provisions outlined in this and subsequent clauses until deciding otherwise.

The group intends to appoint:
* Three executives who shall together comprise the board empowered to exercise the group's powers ("''the board''")
* An ombudsman.

Officers other than executives or ombudsman may be appointed by ''the board''.

Only ''volunteers'' may be appointed as officers of ''the site'' but temporary authority may be given to any person to perform a function deemed to be for the benefit of the site.

''Volunteers'' may hold more than one office except that any person may not hold at the same time office of ombudsman and that of an executive.

A vacancy in any office will not invalidate other appointments or any action.

Officers may hold office until resigning, removed or replaced.

The tenure of any officer or officers and of all officers may be reviewed at any time.

== The Board ==
''The board'' may exercise all and any powers of the group.

''The board'' may conduct its affairs as it sees fit.

''The board'' may elect one of its members as Governor and confer special authority on the Governor.

Any decision or action of ''the board'' or any executive (including the Governor) may be overridden by a decision of ''the group''.

No appointment or other decision by ''the board'' or an executive shall be valid until lodged in a record which is on the site and accessible by any ombudsman.

Decisions on access to records of decisions of ''the board'' by persons other than ombudsmen shall be made by the board. <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[User:TerryE]] see discussion on this point]

== Executives ==
An executive may exercise any power of ''the board'' but no exercise will be effective until notice has been given to an ombudsman and the other executives and then only for 4 days unless ratified by the board during that time.

''The board'' may overrule any such exercise.

These provisions relating to executives do not apply to the exercise by the Governor of any special authority conferred on him by ''the board''.

[I think the naming of duties will vastly uncomplicate things, even with the above provisions]

The Board shall consist of the following 3 Executives

#President of the Group
##Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues related to the porpose of the group,
##Shall publicly adhere to and abide by the statement of purpose of the organization.
#The Director of IT
##Shall be the manager of all IT initiatives and projects of the group,
##Shall publicly adhere to and abide by the statement of purpose of the organization.
#Director of Publicity.
##Shall coordinate and facilitate the publicity of all events and meetings of the organization,
##Shall abide by all local regulations when promoting the organization or its views,
##Shall publicly adhere to and abide by the statement of purpose of the organization.

Alternates: The first three are required for setting up the forum, which is the current burning goal. The next 2 are important for the future growth of the project.
<ol start="4">
<li>Director of Funding (since we are hoping to be able to provide more than just the forum).</li>
<li>Director of Content (since content is king, a named editor for content and "look & feel" might be very useful).</li></ol>

== Ombudsman ==
The elected ombudsman has authority to request additional volunteers for the Ombudsman's Office, with approval of ''the board''.

An ombudsman may investigate any matter pertaining to the governance of ''the site''.

An ombudsman may make a report about any matter or matters to ''the group'', to an executive, a ''volunteer'', one or more members of ''the site'', or any combination thereof.

An ombudsman may act as mediator in disputes between any members.

== Polls ==
Polls of volunteers may be called by

* ''the board''
* an executive
* an ombudsman
* anyone else given authority by ''the board'' or ''the group''
* any two ''volunteers'' acting jointly.

A vote may be cast by email from a ''volunteer'' to an address provided for that purpose.

The results of polls shall be determined by simple majority of the votes actually cast without any requirement for a quorum and shall be binding on ''the group'' until amended or revoked by a subsequent poll.

An ombudsman may suspend the effect of a poll once only for up to 14 days so that a further poll may be held.

The effect of a poll confirming a previous poll may not be suspended.

== Annual Review ==
Notwithstanding other polls which may be conducted, ''the group'' will hold a review each calendar year.

The site officers will use their best endeavours to conduct and complete the review after August and before November in each calendar year [editing note: this period has been chosen so as not to conflict with major holiday periods].

Any ''volunteer'' may place any matter on the agenda for the review at any time by email to an address provided for that purpose but consideration of any matter may be deferred until after the review if notice from the ''volunteer'' is received after August in that year.

Any officer authorised by ''the board'' may produce an agenda and send it to ''volunteers''.

If no agenda has been sent by midnight on August 15th any officer may produce and send the agenda and may be provided with email addresses and other information for that purpose.

Polls relating to matters on the agenda may be conducted at any time six weeks after the agenda has been sent to volunteers.

[ The first draft is at [http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddvrk47_43nthcns this page]. ]

User:DrewJensen/OUCV Charter

2007-10-13T13:20:07Z

Pitonyak: /* Scope of this charter and interpretation */

Charter of the OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers
== Scope of this charter and interpretation ==
This charter relates to the affairs of OpenOffice.org User Community Volunteers, hereinafter called the group ( "''the group''" ) having charge of the website users.services.openoffice.org (or any successor to that site) ("''the site''") and its sub-domains.

The primary purpose of ''the site'' is to provide information and support relevant to the use of the software produced by the owner of www.openoffice.org (or any successor to that website).

''The group'' may adopt any other purpose, which in its judgment supports the primary purpose of the site or the performance of ''the group'''s functions.

Members of ''the group'' are referred to in this charter as ''volunteers''.

All times and periods shall be measured according to Greenwich Mean Time.

The charter shall be deemed to be enabling and not to impose liability.

Particular provisions are for the sake of clarification or extension and not intended to reduce the fullness of ''the group'''s power and authority.

Any notice relating to ''the site'' may be given to a person by email.

== Date ==
This charter was submitted to a vote of founding members of ''the site'' and ''the group'' in September 2007. [editing note: who votes this in?]

== Membership of the group ==
There are two types of members within the OUCV, voting and non-voting, referred to as Observer and Contributor:
An individual automatically becomes an Observer within OUCV when they register for any of the services offered at "''the site''".

*Observer -
**This membership is automatically created when someone registers with the forum or the wiki. They can see all our public information, as can anyone I suppose.
***They can participate in OUCV discussions.
***They cannot vote in OUCV polls.
*Contributor -
**Contributors can vote.
**Contributors are then eligible to volunteer for such things as being a moderator.

Steps required to become a contributor?
#Requesting a change in membership type.
#Meeting some minimal involvement criteria : Say 5 postings on the forum, or five updates on the wiki.
#*The minimum criteria could either be waived for some, or perhaps expanded to include the OOoForum as a way to meet the posting requirement.

Upon receipt of request for contrubtor membership, and assuming the minimal involvement criteria has been met then:
*The request is posted to a general location at ''the site''.
*Any current OUCV contributor may mark the status of the request 'to accept'. Upon two such status markings, and no protest, the request is accepted and the users membership type changed.
*Any current OUCV contributor can protest the change. ( need to describe this a little )
*The status will automatically convert two weeks from the request assuming no protest from an OUCV contributor<e/m>.

== Functions of the group ==
The primary purpose of ''the group'' is to govern the site. ''The group'' may
* govern, regulate and supervise membership, content, management and administration of the site
* administer its own affairs as fully as those of the site
* appoint officers ( "officers" ) to perform any functions
* enlist any assistance it sees fit
* delegate any power or function
* conduct polls
* amend or replace this charter.

''Volunteers'' may hold discussions using any vehicle or vehicles they choose.

== Initial structure ==
The founding ''volunteers'' intend to appoint the following officers and adhere to the provisions outlined in this and subsequent clauses until deciding otherwise.

The group intends to appoint:
* Three executives who shall together comprise the board empowered to exercise the group's powers ("''the board''")
* An ombudsman.

Officers other than executives or ombudsman may be appointed by ''the board''.

Only ''volunteers'' may be appointed as officers of ''the site'' but temporary authority may be given to any person to perform a function deemed to be for the benefit of the site.

''Volunteers'' may hold more than one office except that any person may not hold at the same time office of ombudsman and that of an executive.

A vacancy in any office will not invalidate other appointments or any action.

Officers may hold office until resigning, removed or replaced.

The tenure of any officer or officers and of all officers may be reviewed at any time.

== The Board ==
''The board'' may exercise all and any powers of the group.

''The board'' may conduct its affairs as it sees fit.

''The board'' may elect one of its members as Governor and confer special authority on the Governor.

Any decision or action of ''the board'' or any executive (including the Governor) may be overridden by a decision of ''the group''.

No appointment or other decision by ''the board'' or an executive shall be valid until lodged in a record which is on the site and accessible by any ombudsman.

Decisions on access to records of decisions of ''the board'' by persons other than ombudsmen shall be made by the board. <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[User:TerryE]] see discussion on this point]

== Executives ==
An executive may exercise any power of ''the board'' but no exercise will be effective until notice has been given to an ombudsman and the other executives and then only for 4 days unless ratified by the board during that time.

''The board'' may overrule any such exercise.

These provisions relating to executives do not apply to the exercise by the Governor of any special authority conferred on him by ''the board''.

[I think the naming of duties will vastly uncomplicate things, even with the above provisions]

The Board shall consist of the following 3 Executives

#President of the Group
##Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues related to the porpose of the group,
##Shall publicly adhere to and abide by the statement of purpose of the organization.
#The Director of IT
##Shall be the manager of all IT initiatives and projects of the group,
##Shall publicly adhere to and abide by the statement of purpose of the organization.
#Director of Publicity.
##Shall coordinate and facilitate the publicity of all events and meetings of the organization,
##Shall abide by all local regulations when promoting the organization or its views,
##Shall publicly adhere to and abide by the statement of purpose of the organization.

Alternates: The first three are required for setting up the forum, which is the current burning goal. The next 2 are important for the future growth of the project.
<ol start="4">
<li>Director of Funding (since we are hoping to be able to provide more than just the forum).</li>
<li>Director of Content (since content is king, a named editor for content and "look & feel" might be very useful).</li></ol>

== Ombudsman ==
The elected ombudsman has authority to request additional volunteers for the Ombudsman's Office, with approval of ''the board''.

An ombudsman may investigate any matter pertaining to the governance of ''the site''.

An ombudsman may make a report about any matter or matters to ''the group'', to an executive, a ''volunteer'', one or more members of ''the site'', or any combination thereof.

An ombudsman may act as mediator in disputes between any members.

== Polls ==
Polls of volunteers may be called by

* ''the board''
* an executive
* an ombudsman
* anyone else given authority by ''the board'' or ''the group''
* any two ''volunteers'' acting jointly.

A vote may be cast by email from a ''volunteer'' to an address provided for that purpose.

The results of polls shall be determined by simple majority of the votes actually cast without any requirement for a quorum and shall be binding on ''the group'' until amended or revoked by a subsequent poll.

An ombudsman may suspend the effect of a poll once only for up to 14 days so that a further poll may be held.

The effect of a poll confirming a previous poll may not be suspended.

== Annual Review ==
Notwithstanding other polls which may be conducted, ''the group'' will hold a review each calendar year.

The site officers will use their best endeavours to conduct and complete the review after August and before November in each calendar year [editing note: this period has been chosen so as not to conflict with major holiday periods].

Any ''volunteer'' may place any matter on the agenda for the review at any time by email to an address provided for that purpose but consideration of any matter may be deferred until after the review if notice from the ''volunteer'' is received after August in that year.

Any officer authorised by ''the board'' may produce an agenda and send it to ''volunteers''.

If no agenda has been sent by midnight on August 15th any officer may produce and send the agenda and may be provided with email addresses and other information for that purpose.

Polls relating to matters on the agenda may be conducted at any time six weeks after the agenda has been sent to volunteers.

[ The first draft is at [http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddvrk47_43nthcns this page]. ]

U.s.oo.o/User Community Roles

2007-10-13T04:58:40Z

Pitonyak: /* Roles available to Volunteers */

This page is a spin-off of the Constitution page and specifically aims to provide a collaboration vehicle to agree the OOo User Community Roles for the users of the site (''Users'').

== User ==
a ''User'' is any person who enters or uses the web site in any way, even if that person only visited the home page of the web site.

== Guest ==

A ''Guest'' is a User who can search and access the information provided by the site, but cannot post or modify its content. No registration or validation is required to be a Guest. The site is open to all. ([[#Limitations_on_Site_Access|1]]).

== Member ==

A ''Member'' is a User who has successfully completed the site registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]). A Member can also post or modify the information content of the site, within the content rules of the site.

== Volunteer ==

A ''Volunteer'' is a Member who takes an active part in the life of the site and commits to defined responsibilities for a site role. A Member can request to become a ''Volunteer''. Volunteers are collectively referred to as the User Community Volunteers ('''''UCV'''''). There is no cap on the size of the UCV.

The Member must apply to become a Volunteer though the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and, if successful, will be elected to Volunteer status within the UCV. For a Member to be successful, some evidence of sustained commitment will normally be required; for example, numerous postings and wiki contributions, or a number of material articles over a six month period. An equivalent track record in an associated community will normally be acceptable, for example, one of the other active OpenOffice.org or Linux related forums.

The UCV is intended to comprise the community of the active Members within the site, Volunteers may, therefore, revert back to a normal Member.
* A Volunteer may resign from Volunteer status.
* A six month period with no activity will automatically propose removal of Volunteer status.
* Any Volunteer may propose the removal of Volunteer status for any other Volunteer. Justification must be included with the request. For example, repeated abuse or disregard of the site, the membership, or standing instructions endorsed by the UCV.
The removal of Volunteer status is also controlled through the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and where this occurs the individual will revert to normal Member status. A Member can always reapply for Volunteer status.

Volunteers are regarded as trusted members of the site and therefore have available elevated privileges associated with such trust:
* Full voting privileges within the UCV.
* Ability to upload images and attachments to the site.
* Ability to use HTML in posts; most forum packages allow HTML as an option, and the layout is easier than in BBcode-style mark-up languages.
* Ability to blog.
* Eligibility for site roles.

== Roles available to Volunteers ==

The following User Community Roles are available to Volunteers. Notwithstanding this, the list of site roles and responsibilities may evolve over time under change control and endorsement through the UCV voting process.

===Site Administrator===
Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to perform a due diligence in the following areas:

*Help maintain the security of the host system by:
**Maintaining a good working relationship with designated network administration staff at Sun Microsystems, Hamburg Germany.
**Maintain contact with the vendor's / supplier's information service for any applications run on the server.
**Take agreed upon steps when a security announcement is made by the vendors / suppliers.
**Follow agreed upon steps if a security breach of any application on the server is suspected. For example: notified by a board user that they suspect a problem.
**Perform steps necessary to carry out agreed upon configuration control procedures on application level services running on the server. During modifications of the applications, application of patches, reconfigurations.
**Follow agreed upon steps / actions to implement and maintain a disaster recovery plan ( e.g. off-site storage of backups, off-site storage of application modifications, included files and configuration settings).
*Support the Service Administrators and Content managers by performing the following tasks:
**Create or apply modifications to the applications source or configuration files as needed.
**Configure client communication settings for the service application.
**Configure server settings for the service application.
***Database indexing.
***Database backups ( working with network admins ).
***Install / configure support packages ( php libs, caching systems, etc ).

These individuals must also comply with all Standard Operating and Security Procedures defined by the hosting provider ( SUN Microsystems ), and to take whatever reasonable actions that the hosting provider requires of them in order to receive necessary host computer access privileges.

===Service Administrator===

Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to maintain an application level service. For example the Forum service Administrator would perform the following, and other, functions:
*May add, edit, delete, and reorder the forums, categories, and links.
*Manage User Accounts
*Manage Group Accounts
*Manage Board Level Settings ( Email, Template, etc )
*Support the Service Moderator's

These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The service administrator role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Service Moderator===

Moderator is a supporting administration role supported by some application services. For example in the case of forums, moderators have an elevated level of privilege which enables them to modify or delete user posts that violate site policy (e.g. SPAM or obscenity). Service Moderators are selected by the UCV Voting Process. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Content Manager===
These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The Content Manager role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. Where required Content Manager's may be granted User Account Interactive Access and MySQL datadase access.

===Ombudsman===

The Ombudsman's role and responsibilities include:
* Administration and oversight of all polls
** The ombudsman can mandate that any specific vote be opened to the general membership, where he or she feels that there is a reasonable case for doing so.
* NON-Voting member of all change control boards to represent the general membership. (do we have a process for this?)
* Management and arbitration of Membership complaints.
To avoid conflict of interest the Ombudsman cannot hold any other User Community Role.

=== Chronicler — Tie-breaker, spokesperson ===

* Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues related to the interests and purpose.
* This person is not to vote unless there is a tie that freezes the issue at hand.

=== The Projects Manager ===
* Shall assist in infrastructural development so that documentation of projects is done to some extent.
* Maintains the projects' wiki pages.
* Shall take charge of post-mortems of projects so useful information can be amassed as to what structures worked and what didn't.

=== Group Publicity Person — OO.o Evangelist ===
* Shall come up with fun and useful "virtual events" that promote the use of OO.o and the support forums.
* Shall abide by all local regulations and group agreements when promoting the organization or its views,

== Footnotes ==

===Limitations on Site Access===
Some transactional rate limiting mechanisms may apply to prevent robot users from degrading the performance of the site for normal interactive users. We also need to consider whether we bar certain users and / or IP address/domains (based on bots, spam, abuse, etc).

===Site Registration Process===
The Site Registration Process has two variants:

*The standard process is for a Guest who wants to become a Member; a Member can post, a Guest can not. The main purpose for registration, is is to associate changes made by a user with an identity. For example, a common forum feature is to list posts by author. The registration process will minimize SPAM bots through use of tools such as a "Captcha" or equivalent. A valid contact email address is required along with a response to an email sent to the submitted address. The email address is retained as confidential and not published to general members without authorization by the Member. The email address provides a means of contacting the members, but is only available to the system (for automated requested contacts such as a forum topic has been updated) and to members with specific roles such as a system administrator or moderator. A Guest can not become a member without a valid, verified, contact address. There are various other optional fields that the User can specify.

*A stricter process controls the transition from Member to Volunteer, and from Volunteer to normal Member. Volunteers may be appointed to trusted roles, so the UCV must have confidence in the provenance and credentials of the Member.
** A forum exists for discussing the Registration Process. Although only Volunteers can post to this forum, all Members can view the forum('''+''').
** All applications for promotion to or removal from Volunteer status are posted to this forum as a new topic. Any Member can make an application through a Volunteer (for example the ombudsman) which typically contains a brief identity (name, country, work experience, etc.) and a short personal statement of why the candidate wishes to become a Volunteer.
** Any Volunteer may comment on the application.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate approval.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate a protest.
** The application is open for [two] weeks.
** If at the end of this period at least two approvals and no protest have been made then Volunteer status change is granted.
** The change is declined if there are not at least two approvals.
** If there are least two approvals and at least one protest, a vote of the UCV membership is performed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
** Where the application is declined, reapplication can be made after [3] months.

('''+''') There are issues of disclosure that we need to think about here. See the
[[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles#proposed_change_to_Process_of_becoming_a_volunteer|Talk page]] for further discussion on this.

===UCV Voting Process===

Members of the Volunteer site team may hold votes on topics within their areas of interest separate from those interests voiced by Registered or unregistered users of the site. Technical issues of interest to Volunteers may include any topic, including which issues will be decided by general Registered Member votes. Topics under consideration will be posted to a Forum category devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Registered members may comment on these issues or raise questions.

==== Voting Guidelines ====
General Voting on issues of importance to the members regarding the site or the management will take place quarterly on the first Tuesday of January, April, July, and October. A Forum category will be set up devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Only registered site members will be able to vote in these quarterly events. In most cases, a simple majority vote will suffice. This means in the case of a stand-off, a vote will be rescheduled for the next quarter.

''Please do not change the logical content of this page without first discussing this on the [[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles|Talk Page]] and acknowledgement from the [[U.s.oo.o/Planning/User_services_Contact_list|UCV Contact list]].''

[[Category:UCV]]

Talk:U.s.oo.o/User Community Roles

2007-10-13T04:50:54Z

Pitonyak: /* proposed change to Process of becoming a volunteer */

== Guest ==
[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 05:48, 12 October 2007 (CEST) Proposed changes

A Guest is a User accessing the site without being logged onto the site. No registration or validation is required to be a Guest for purposes of searching or browsing the forums. A Guest may post only to designated forums, requiring the use of a captcha mechanism and the post must be approved by a moderator before being placed into the main forum subject threads. Since the guest will not be required to provide any means for the forum to contact them, the forum software must clearly inform them they will not and can not be notified of any replies to their post, and should offer them the option to register with the site if they would like an email notification of such a response. A guest may not modify any existing content. The site is open to all. (1).

== Volunteer membership ==

The Member's request must be supported by two or more Volunteers, who have validated the Members application and are willing to endorse this membership.

Why?

The application must be endorsed by a UCV Vote(3). The quorum for the vote is one third of the UCV, and a two-thirds majority must be obtained of votes cast.

For what purpose?

Who are we trying to keep out? -- 12:59, 9 September 2007 [[User:DrewJensen]]

:Drew I've moved my answer to the 8daw topic since most of the participants in this debate don't seem to want to use the Wiki for this. However, my reasoning in short is that we are expecting the volunteers to agree to certain responsibilities and such an expectation is worthless in my opinion unless we have some confidence in their provenance and commitment / staying power. We want Volunteers to be active. As I suggested on the topic, maybe the easiest way to do this is to have a forum called requests for Volunteer status where the applicant just posts his/her application which will include a yes/no poll, and that anyone is free to comment as well as vote. That would do the same thing, but it could also then become a publicly humiliating trial.
:In terms of the quorum: what do we do if someone applies for Volunteer status and we have 2 yes votes and 1 no vote? I am not sure how to specify this, but I do feel we need a minimum threshold of votes. I am not wedded to 2/3 majority, but I do tend to precautionary principle. Not quite to the gentleman's club level of one black-ball and you're out, but would you feel confident in a appointing a member as a volunteer, if the vote was 52 for and 49 against? Clearly where we have a simple case of three applicants applying for a forum administrator role for example then a simple majority is sufficient.
:Also in the case of "trusted" rolls such as administrator, I would very much like to limit the vote to Volunteers. -- [[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 05:09, 10 September 2007 (CEST)

[[User:Pitonyak]] October 8, 2007.

I am adding content here because it says that I should post here first (see http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User:TerryE/User_Community_Rolls#Limitations_on_Site_Access).
While searching for Moderators on a forum, some people were recommended based on participation. Then, everyone chimed in with their opinions on the people. This was not a vote of "choose three of the ten people", but rather, we can use all the people that we can get. In this type of decision making, if even a small percentage of the people were against a specific person having a role such as moderator, that is a big red flag that maybe something is wrong.

== proposed change to Process of becoming a volunteer ==

User requests membership change to Volunteer:

User request is posted to a board maintained for this purpose.
*Any UCV member may designate approval.
*Any UCV member may designate protest.
#Upon two approvals, and no protest the membership is granted.
#After 2 weeks,if no member has approved and no member has protested, the membership is automatically approved.

If a member makes a protest. Then a vote of the UCV membership would be needed. But only in this single case. 1/3 quorum as proposed.

:I could live with this idea of a minimum. Good idea, but suggest some tweaks -- I don't like the timeout = "pass".

:After 2 weeks:
:# if a minimum of two approvals have been made, and no protest then Volunteer status is granted.
:# if less than two approvals have been made then the Volunteer status is declined.
:# if a minimum of two approvals have been made, and any protest registered then a vote of the UCV membership is needed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
:Where the candidate is declined, reapplication can be made after <3> months.

:[[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 05:11, 10 September 2007 (CEST)

::This wording was floated on the forum with now major objection so I have now updated the wording in the main article to reflect this. However one issue that we need to think about is the issues of disclosure. Applicants might be willing to share personal details such as email with a closed community such as the UCV, but be a little vary about posting to the open internet because of mail SPAMing and identity theft issues. -- [[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 08:21, 11 September 2007 (CEST)

--[[User:Maxqnz|maxqnz]] 22:36, 8 October 2007 (CEST)

Just a question about the "vote if one protest" suggestion. I agree in principle, but wonder if it might be possible to require the protest to be "for cause" rather than "peremptory", to use jury selection language. If it was known that any protest had to provide reasons, it might help reduce the number of frivolous or personality-based challenges to the process.

--[[User:Pitonyak|Andrew Pitonyak]] 12:48 13 October 2007 (EST)
Even if there is a protest over personality without cause given, the worst case is that it goes to a vote so there is a small delay.

I am curious about the three month provision for reapplication. Do we want any specific provisions to allow a reapplication to be faster than three months. For example, "well, perhaps he could become a moderator because he has a track record over there, but I would like to see at least a two month track record here before I vote yes. Just a thought and it is not likely that important.

== Content Manager ==

[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 22:54, 9 September 2007 (CEST)When I first read content manager what came to my mind was the situation with the person looking at publishing an OO.o magazine. I suppose he would be a content manager. Site Administrators would support him, similar to support for the service administrators. He would in turn follow some procedure for placing his content on the site. That may be emailing it to a site admin. on the first go round, or maybe placing in the CM system, at some point some automation, using a existing tool or perhaps a customized mag_admin screen just for this purpose.

I could also see this person being the moderator of a dedicated forum. Looking at the templates based mods available, for instance the one used to generate the home page at OOoForum. It is easy to see a way to support a magazine, having the lower 'blog' like list of recent posts limited to the dedicated forum.

== Ombudsman ==

[[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 03:39, 10 September 2007 (CEST)This is the one role that we should consider being elected by the Members rather than the Volunteers as this is a dual role which both polices the UCV and guards interests of the general membership. 
:[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 17:22, 10 September 2007 (CEST) I much like the idea that the ombudsman position is voted on by the site membership as a whole. I would not limit this in any way, what I would propose is that one week prior to the vote for this position a PM be generated to every member account with any posting activity in the last 12 months. An announcement be presented on the Site and forum main pages for the week leading up to the vote, and announcing its beginning and end. Further that the PM sent 1 week prior to the commencement of the vote, solicit any volunteers that want to stand for the office. The final decision being
:* one person 75% or greater of cast votes - member become the sole ombudsman
:* two persons combined have 75% or greater of the cast votes - they both become ombudsman
:* any other vote split requires a new vote
--[[User:Maxqnz|maxqnz]] 22:35, 8 October 2007 (CEST)

I do have a query about Drew's suggestion that the notification be sent to every member account with ANY posting activity in the last 12 months. Given the large number of hit-and-run posters in any forum, would not a threshold a little higher than 1 post be helpful in ensuring that those participating in the slection were at least somewhat active? I'm thinking of a very low threshold, say 5 posts in 12 months, or maybe 2 in 6 months. Still basically inclusive, but filtering out potentially hundreds of registered usernames that are effectively inactive. A look through the memberlist at the other forum suggests that using a post threshold a little higher than 1 in 12 months might help to both ensure the participation of those likely to be interested in the process, and reduce the potential number of votes to something more manageable for whoever it is that ends up counting them.

[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 05:32, 12 October 2007 (CEST)
Well, I understand the rational that you just want people that have been active, but if someone comes by once a week, with a question in mind, searches the forum gets their answer and leaves are they active? Does active then mean on a contributor?

I'm not 100% sure, I will try to check, but I believe that the forum logs will track your last logon. So if someone simply logged onto the forum say 6 times is that active? Going back to an example I used at the private forum, it is like a member at a lodge. The member comes to the lodge periodically, never volunteers for any job. When the time comes to vote on sustaining the lodge leaders is he not allowed to vote then? I have never seen a, or heard of, a service organization where that is the case. I believe they way it is viewed, and to my way of thinking accurately, is that simply being willing to vote is a form of activity.

--[[User:Maxqnz|maxqnz]] 10:21, 12 October 2007 (CEST)Your point about regular forum browsers is well made. If the ability exists to monitor logons then that could be used to address the concerns I raised more equitably than a voting threshold. A minimum number of logins in a given timeframe would worth considering, and again, that bar could and should be set low.

[[User:Pitonyak|Andrew Pitonyak]] 22:00, 12 October 2007 (CEST)
If you look at the current listing for a volunteer. The original wording was 100 postings. I changed this to "numerous postings" to provide latitude. This could be changed to numerous postings and recent involvement, or something like that. The idea is to allow flexibility. Flexibility can be a problem because it allows more possibilities for abuse, but being strict can cause other problems as well; choose your poison. Until it is a problem, I prefer some latitude unless I hear otherwise.

== Change Control Board ==

* [[U.s.oo.o/Planning/Site/Change Control Board|Change Control Board proposal]]

U.s.oo.o/User Community Roles

2007-10-13T04:46:14Z

Pitonyak: /* Site Registration Process */

This page is a spin-off of the Constitution page and specifically aims to provide a collaboration vehicle to agree the OOo User Community Roles for the users of the site (''Users'').

== User ==
a ''User'' is any person who enters or uses the web site in any way, even if that person only visited the home page of the web site.

== Guest ==

A ''Guest'' is a User who can search and access the information provided by the site, but cannot post or modify its content. No registration or validation is required to be a Guest. The site is open to all. ([[#Limitations_on_Site_Access|1]]).

== Member ==

A ''Member'' is a User who has successfully completed the site registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]). A Member can also post or modify the information content of the site, within the content rules of the site.

== Volunteer ==

A ''Volunteer'' is a Member who takes an active part in the life of the site and commits to defined responsibilities for a site role. A Member can request to become a ''Volunteer''. Volunteers are collectively referred to as the User Community Volunteers ('''''UCV'''''). There is no cap on the size of the UCV.

The Member must apply to become a Volunteer though the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and, if successful, will be elected to Volunteer status within the UCV. For a Member to be successful, some evidence of sustained commitment will normally be required; for example, numerous postings and wiki contributions, or a number of material articles over a six month period. An equivalent track record in an associated community will normally be acceptable, for example, one of the other active OpenOffice.org or Linux related forums.

The UCV is intended to comprise the community of the active Members within the site, Volunteers may, therefore, revert back to a normal Member.
* A Volunteer may resign from Volunteer status.
* A six month period with no activity will automatically propose removal of Volunteer status.
* Any Volunteer may propose the removal of Volunteer status for any other Volunteer. Justification must be included with the request. For example, repeated abuse or disregard of the site, the membership, or standing instructions endorsed by the UCV.
The removal of Volunteer status is also controlled through the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and where this occurs the individual will revert to normal Member status. A Member can always reapply for Volunteer status.

Volunteers are regarded as trusted members of the site and therefore have available elevated privileges associated with such trust:
* Full voting privileges within the UCV.
* Ability to upload images and attachments to the site.
* Ability to use HTML in posts; most forum packages allow HTML as an option, and the layout is easier than in BBcode-style mark-up languages.
* Ability to blog.
* Eligibility for site roles.

== Roles available to Volunteers ==

The following User Community Roles available to Volunteers. Notwithstanding this, the list of site roles and responsibilities may evolve overtime under change control and endorsement through the UCV voting process.

===Site Administrator===
Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to perform a due diligence in the following areas:

*Help maintain the security of the host system by:
**Maintaining a good working relationship with designated network administration staff at Sun Microsystems, Hamburg Germany.
**Maintain contact with the vendor's / supplier's information service for any applications run on the server.
**Take agreed upon steps when a security announcement is made by the vendors / suppliers.
**Follow agreed upon steps if a security breach of any application on the server is suspected. For example: notified by a board user that they suspect a problem.
**Perform steps necessary to carry out agreed upon configuration control procedures on application level services running on the server. During modifications of the applications, application of patches, reconfigurations.
**Follow agreed upon steps / actions to implement and maintain a disaster recovery plan ( e.g. off-site storage of backups, off-site storage of application modifications, included files and configuration settings).
*Support the Service Administrators and Content managers by performing the following tasks:
**Create or apply modifications to the applications source or configuration files as needed.
**Configure client communication settings for the service application.
**Configure server settings for the service application.
***Database indexing.
***Database backups ( working with network admins ).
***Install / configure support packages ( php libs, caching systems, etc ).

These individuals must also comply with all Standard Operating and Security Procedures defined by the hosting provider ( SUN Microsystems ), and to take whatever reasonable actions that the hosting provider requires of them in order to receive necessary host computer access privileges.

===Service Administrator===

Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to maintain an application level service. For example the Forum service Administrator would perform the following, and other, functions:
*May add, edit, delete, and reorder the forums, categories, and links.
*Manage User Accounts
*Manage Group Accounts
*Manage Board Level Settings ( Email, Template, etc )
*Support the Service Moderator's

These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The service administrator role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Service Moderator===

Moderator is a supporting administration role supported by some application services. For example in the case of forums, moderators have an elevate level of privilege which enables them to modify or delete user posts that contravene site policy (e.g. SPAM or obscenity). Service Moderators are selected by the UCV Voting Process. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Content Manager===
These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The Content Manager role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. Where required Content Manager's may be granted User Account Interactive Access and MySQL datadase access.

===Ombudsman===

The Ombudsman's role and responsibilities include:
* Administration and oversight of all polls
** The ombudsman can mandate that any specific vote be opened to the general membership, where he or she feels that there is reasonable case for doing so.
* NON-Voting member of any change control boards to represent the general membership. (do we have a process for this?)
* Managing and arbitrating on any Membership complaints
To avoid conflict of interest the Ombudsman cannot hold any other User Community Role.

=== Chronicler — Tie-breaker, spokesperson ===

* Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues related to the interests and purpose.
* This person is not to vote unless there is a tie that freezes the issue at hand.

=== The Projects Manager ===
* Shall assist in infrastructural development so that documentation of projects is done to some extent.
* Maintains the projects' wiki pages.
* Shall take charge of post-mortems of projects so useful information can be amassed as to what structures worked and what didn't.

=== Group Publicity Person — OO.o Evangelist ===
* Shall come up with fun and useful "virtual events" that promote the use of OO.o and the support forums.
* Shall abide by all local regulations and group agreements when promoting the organization or its views,

== Footnotes ==

===Limitations on Site Access===
Some transactional rate limiting mechanisms may apply to prevent robot users from degrading the performance of the site for normal interactive users. We also need to consider whether we bar certain users and / or IP address/domains (based on bots, spam, abuse, etc).

===Site Registration Process===
The Site Registration Process has two variants:

*The standard process is for a Guest who wants to become a Member; a Member can post, a Guest can not. The main purpose for registration, is is to associate changes made by a user with an identity. For example, a common forum feature is to list posts by author. The registration process will minimize SPAM bots through use of tools such as a "Captcha" or equivalent. A valid contact email address is required along with a response to an email sent to the submitted address. The email address is retained as confidential and not published to general members without authorization by the Member. The email address provides a means of contacting the members, but is only available to the system (for automated requested contacts such as a forum topic has been updated) and to members with specific roles such as a system administrator or moderator. A Guest can not become a member without a valid, verified, contact address. There are various other optional fields that the User can specify.

*A stricter process controls the transition from Member to Volunteer, and from Volunteer to normal Member. Volunteers may be appointed to trusted roles, so the UCV must have confidence in the provenance and credentials of the Member.
** A forum exists for discussing the Registration Process. Although only Volunteers can post to this forum, all Members can view the forum('''+''').
** All applications for promotion to or removal from Volunteer status are posted to this forum as a new topic. Any Member can make an application through a Volunteer (for example the ombudsman) which typically contains a brief identity (name, country, work experience, etc.) and a short personal statement of why the candidate wishes to become a Volunteer.
** Any Volunteer may comment on the application.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate approval.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate a protest.
** The application is open for [two] weeks.
** If at the end of this period at least two approvals and no protest have been made then Volunteer status change is granted.
** The change is declined if there are not at least two approvals.
** If there are least two approvals and at least one protest, a vote of the UCV membership is performed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
** Where the application is declined, reapplication can be made after [3] months.

('''+''') There are issues of disclosure that we need to think about here. See the
[[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles#proposed_change_to_Process_of_becoming_a_volunteer|Talk page]] for further discussion on this.

===UCV Voting Process===

Members of the Volunteer site team may hold votes on topics within their areas of interest separate from those interests voiced by Registered or unregistered users of the site. Technical issues of interest to Volunteers may include any topic, including which issues will be decided by general Registered Member votes. Topics under consideration will be posted to a Forum category devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Registered members may comment on these issues or raise questions.

==== Voting Guidelines ====
General Voting on issues of importance to the members regarding the site or the management will take place quarterly on the first Tuesday of January, April, July, and October. A Forum category will be set up devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Only registered site members will be able to vote in these quarterly events. In most cases, a simple majority vote will suffice. This means in the case of a stand-off, a vote will be rescheduled for the next quarter.

''Please do not change the logical content of this page without first discussing this on the [[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles|Talk Page]] and acknowledgement from the [[U.s.oo.o/Planning/User_services_Contact_list|UCV Contact list]].''

[[Category:UCV]]

U.s.oo.o/User Community Roles

2007-10-13T04:18:01Z

Pitonyak: /* Limitations on Site Access */

This page is a spin-off of the Constitution page and specifically aims to provide a collaboration vehicle to agree the OOo User Community Roles for the users of the site (''Users'').

== User ==
a ''User'' is any person who enters or uses the web site in any way, even if that person only visited the home page of the web site.

== Guest ==

A ''Guest'' is a User who can search and access the information provided by the site, but cannot post or modify its content. No registration or validation is required to be a Guest. The site is open to all. ([[#Limitations_on_Site_Access|1]]).

== Member ==

A ''Member'' is a User who has successfully completed the site registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]). A Member can also post or modify the information content of the site, within the content rules of the site.

== Volunteer ==

A ''Volunteer'' is a Member who takes an active part in the life of the site and commits to defined responsibilities for a site role. A Member can request to become a ''Volunteer''. Volunteers are collectively referred to as the User Community Volunteers ('''''UCV'''''). There is no cap on the size of the UCV.

The Member must apply to become a Volunteer though the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and, if successful, will be elected to Volunteer status within the UCV. For a Member to be successful, some evidence of sustained commitment will normally be required; for example, numerous postings and wiki contributions, or a number of material articles over a six month period. An equivalent track record in an associated community will normally be acceptable, for example, one of the other active OpenOffice.org or Linux related forums.

The UCV is intended to comprise the community of the active Members within the site, Volunteers may, therefore, revert back to a normal Member.
* A Volunteer may resign from Volunteer status.
* A six month period with no activity will automatically propose removal of Volunteer status.
* Any Volunteer may propose the removal of Volunteer status for any other Volunteer. Justification must be included with the request. For example, repeated abuse or disregard of the site, the membership, or standing instructions endorsed by the UCV.
The removal of Volunteer status is also controlled through the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and where this occurs the individual will revert to normal Member status. A Member can always reapply for Volunteer status.

Volunteers are regarded as trusted members of the site and therefore have available elevated privileges associated with such trust:
* Full voting privileges within the UCV.
* Ability to upload images and attachments to the site.
* Ability to use HTML in posts; most forum packages allow HTML as an option, and the layout is easier than in BBcode-style mark-up languages.
* Ability to blog.
* Eligibility for site roles.

== Roles available to Volunteers ==

The following User Community Roles available to Volunteers. Notwithstanding this, the list of site roles and responsibilities may evolve overtime under change control and endorsement through the UCV voting process.

===Site Administrator===
Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to perform a due diligence in the following areas:

*Help maintain the security of the host system by:
**Maintaining a good working relationship with designated network administration staff at Sun Microsystems, Hamburg Germany.
**Maintain contact with the vendor's / supplier's information service for any applications run on the server.
**Take agreed upon steps when a security announcement is made by the vendors / suppliers.
**Follow agreed upon steps if a security breach of any application on the server is suspected. For example: notified by a board user that they suspect a problem.
**Perform steps necessary to carry out agreed upon configuration control procedures on application level services running on the server. During modifications of the applications, application of patches, reconfigurations.
**Follow agreed upon steps / actions to implement and maintain a disaster recovery plan ( e.g. off-site storage of backups, off-site storage of application modifications, included files and configuration settings).
*Support the Service Administrators and Content managers by performing the following tasks:
**Create or apply modifications to the applications source or configuration files as needed.
**Configure client communication settings for the service application.
**Configure server settings for the service application.
***Database indexing.
***Database backups ( working with network admins ).
***Install / configure support packages ( php libs, caching systems, etc ).

These individuals must also comply with all Standard Operating and Security Procedures defined by the hosting provider ( SUN Microsystems ), and to take whatever reasonable actions that the hosting provider requires of them in order to receive necessary host computer access privileges.

===Service Administrator===

Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to maintain an application level service. For example the Forum service Administrator would perform the following, and other, functions:
*May add, edit, delete, and reorder the forums, categories, and links.
*Manage User Accounts
*Manage Group Accounts
*Manage Board Level Settings ( Email, Template, etc )
*Support the Service Moderator's

These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The service administrator role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Service Moderator===

Moderator is a supporting administration role supported by some application services. For example in the case of forums, moderators have an elevate level of privilege which enables them to modify or delete user posts that contravene site policy (e.g. SPAM or obscenity). Service Moderators are selected by the UCV Voting Process. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Content Manager===
These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The Content Manager role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. Where required Content Manager's may be granted User Account Interactive Access and MySQL datadase access.

===Ombudsman===

The Ombudsman's role and responsibilities include:
* Administration and oversight of all polls
** The ombudsman can mandate that any specific vote be opened to the general membership, where he or she feels that there is reasonable case for doing so.
* NON-Voting member of any change control boards to represent the general membership. (do we have a process for this?)
* Managing and arbitrating on any Membership complaints
To avoid conflict of interest the Ombudsman cannot hold any other User Community Role.

=== Chronicler — Tie-breaker, spokesperson ===

* Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues related to the interests and purpose.
* This person is not to vote unless there is a tie that freezes the issue at hand.

=== The Projects Manager ===
* Shall assist in infrastructural development so that documentation of projects is done to some extent.
* Maintains the projects' wiki pages.
* Shall take charge of post-mortems of projects so useful information can be amassed as to what structures worked and what didn't.

=== Group Publicity Person — OO.o Evangelist ===
* Shall come up with fun and useful "virtual events" that promote the use of OO.o and the support forums.
* Shall abide by all local regulations and group agreements when promoting the organization or its views,

== Footnotes ==

===Limitations on Site Access===
Some transactional rate limiting mechanisms may apply to prevent robot users from degrading the performance of the site for normal interactive users. We also need to consider whether we bar certain users and / or IP address/domains (based on bots, spam, abuse, etc).

===Site Registration Process===
The Site Registration Process has two variants:

*The standard process is for Users who want to become a Member of the site. The main reason form this process is to assign an identity for purposes of tracking changes that the user wishes to make. The minimum content is correct response to a "Captcha" dialogue or equivalent to eliminate SPAMing bots, and the submission a valid contact email address and response to an email sent to that address. The email address is retained as confidential information and not published on the site without written authorization by said Member. It is there simply to ensure that the site has a means of contacting the member: the site will not permit contributions from users without a valid supporting contact address. There are various other optional fields that the User can specify.

*The stricter process controls the promotion of Members to Volunteer status, and the reversion of Volunteer to normal Member. Since such Volunteers can be appointed to trusted roles within the site, the UCV needs to have some confidence in the provenance and credentials of the applicant.
** A forum maintained for the purpose controlling the Site Registration Process. Only Volunteers can post to this forum, though it is viewable by all members('''+''').
** All applications for promotion to or removal from Volunteer status are posted to this forum as a new topic. Any Member can make an application through a Volunteer (for example the ombudsman) which might typically contain a brief identity (name, country, work experience, etc.) and a short personal statement of why the candidate wishes to become a volunteer.
** Any Volunteer may comment on the application.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate approval.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate a protest.
** The application is open for [two] weeks.
** If at the end of this period at least two approvals and no protest have been made then Volunteer status change is granted.
** If less than two approvals have then the Volunteer status change is declined.
** If a minimum of two approvals have been made and any protests registered then a vote of the UCV membership is needed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
** Where the application is declined, reapplication can be made after [3] months.

('''+''') There are issues of disclosure that we need to think about here. See the
[[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles#proposed_change_to_Process_of_becoming_a_volunteer|Talk page]] for further discussion on this.

===UCV Voting Process===

Members of the Volunteer site team may hold votes on topics within their areas of interest separate from those interests voiced by Registered or unregistered users of the site. Technical issues of interest to Volunteers may include any topic, including which issues will be decided by general Registered Member votes. Topics under consideration will be posted to a Forum category devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Registered members may comment on these issues or raise questions.

==== Voting Guidelines ====
General Voting on issues of importance to the members regarding the site or the management will take place quarterly on the first Tuesday of January, April, July, and October. A Forum category will be set up devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Only registered site members will be able to vote in these quarterly events. In most cases, a simple majority vote will suffice. This means in the case of a stand-off, a vote will be rescheduled for the next quarter.

''Please do not change the logical content of this page without first discussing this on the [[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles|Talk Page]] and acknowledgement from the [[U.s.oo.o/Planning/User_services_Contact_list|UCV Contact list]].''

[[Category:UCV]]

U.s.oo.o/User Community Roles

2007-10-13T04:16:20Z

Pitonyak: /* UCV Voting Process */

This page is a spin-off of the Constitution page and specifically aims to provide a collaboration vehicle to agree the OOo User Community Roles for the users of the site (''Users'').

== User ==
a ''User'' is any person who enters or uses the web site in any way, even if that person only visited the home page of the web site.

== Guest ==

A ''Guest'' is a User who can search and access the information provided by the site, but cannot post or modify its content. No registration or validation is required to be a Guest. The site is open to all. ([[#Limitations_on_Site_Access|1]]).

== Member ==

A ''Member'' is a User who has successfully completed the site registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]). A Member can also post or modify the information content of the site, within the content rules of the site.

== Volunteer ==

A ''Volunteer'' is a Member who takes an active part in the life of the site and commits to defined responsibilities for a site role. A Member can request to become a ''Volunteer''. Volunteers are collectively referred to as the User Community Volunteers ('''''UCV'''''). There is no cap on the size of the UCV.

The Member must apply to become a Volunteer though the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and, if successful, will be elected to Volunteer status within the UCV. For a Member to be successful, some evidence of sustained commitment will normally be required; for example, numerous postings and wiki contributions, or a number of material articles over a six month period. An equivalent track record in an associated community will normally be acceptable, for example, one of the other active OpenOffice.org or Linux related forums.

The UCV is intended to comprise the community of the active Members within the site, Volunteers may, therefore, revert back to a normal Member.
* A Volunteer may resign from Volunteer status.
* A six month period with no activity will automatically propose removal of Volunteer status.
* Any Volunteer may propose the removal of Volunteer status for any other Volunteer. Justification must be included with the request. For example, repeated abuse or disregard of the site, the membership, or standing instructions endorsed by the UCV.
The removal of Volunteer status is also controlled through the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and where this occurs the individual will revert to normal Member status. A Member can always reapply for Volunteer status.

Volunteers are regarded as trusted members of the site and therefore have available elevated privileges associated with such trust:
* Full voting privileges within the UCV.
* Ability to upload images and attachments to the site.
* Ability to use HTML in posts; most forum packages allow HTML as an option, and the layout is easier than in BBcode-style mark-up languages.
* Ability to blog.
* Eligibility for site roles.

== Roles available to Volunteers ==

The following User Community Roles available to Volunteers. Notwithstanding this, the list of site roles and responsibilities may evolve overtime under change control and endorsement through the UCV voting process.

===Site Administrator===
Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to perform a due diligence in the following areas:

*Help maintain the security of the host system by:
**Maintaining a good working relationship with designated network administration staff at Sun Microsystems, Hamburg Germany.
**Maintain contact with the vendor's / supplier's information service for any applications run on the server.
**Take agreed upon steps when a security announcement is made by the vendors / suppliers.
**Follow agreed upon steps if a security breach of any application on the server is suspected. For example: notified by a board user that they suspect a problem.
**Perform steps necessary to carry out agreed upon configuration control procedures on application level services running on the server. During modifications of the applications, application of patches, reconfigurations.
**Follow agreed upon steps / actions to implement and maintain a disaster recovery plan ( e.g. off-site storage of backups, off-site storage of application modifications, included files and configuration settings).
*Support the Service Administrators and Content managers by performing the following tasks:
**Create or apply modifications to the applications source or configuration files as needed.
**Configure client communication settings for the service application.
**Configure server settings for the service application.
***Database indexing.
***Database backups ( working with network admins ).
***Install / configure support packages ( php libs, caching systems, etc ).

These individuals must also comply with all Standard Operating and Security Procedures defined by the hosting provider ( SUN Microsystems ), and to take whatever reasonable actions that the hosting provider requires of them in order to receive necessary host computer access privileges.

===Service Administrator===

Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to maintain an application level service. For example the Forum service Administrator would perform the following, and other, functions:
*May add, edit, delete, and reorder the forums, categories, and links.
*Manage User Accounts
*Manage Group Accounts
*Manage Board Level Settings ( Email, Template, etc )
*Support the Service Moderator's

These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The service administrator role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Service Moderator===

Moderator is a supporting administration role supported by some application services. For example in the case of forums, moderators have an elevate level of privilege which enables them to modify or delete user posts that contravene site policy (e.g. SPAM or obscenity). Service Moderators are selected by the UCV Voting Process. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Content Manager===
These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The Content Manager role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. Where required Content Manager's may be granted User Account Interactive Access and MySQL datadase access.

===Ombudsman===

The Ombudsman's role and responsibilities include:
* Administration and oversight of all polls
** The ombudsman can mandate that any specific vote be opened to the general membership, where he or she feels that there is reasonable case for doing so.
* NON-Voting member of any change control boards to represent the general membership. (do we have a process for this?)
* Managing and arbitrating on any Membership complaints
To avoid conflict of interest the Ombudsman cannot hold any other User Community Role.

=== Chronicler — Tie-breaker, spokesperson ===

* Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues related to the interests and purpose.
* This person is not to vote unless there is a tie that freezes the issue at hand.

=== The Projects Manager ===
* Shall assist in infrastructural development so that documentation of projects is done to some extent.
* Maintains the projects' wiki pages.
* Shall take charge of post-mortems of projects so useful information can be amassed as to what structures worked and what didn't.

=== Group Publicity Person — OO.o Evangelist ===
* Shall come up with fun and useful "virtual events" that promote the use of OO.o and the support forums.
* Shall abide by all local regulations and group agreements when promoting the organization or its views,

== Footnotes ==

===Limitations on Site Access===
Some transactional rate limiting mechanisms may apply to prevent robot users degrading the performance of the site for normal interactive users. We also need to consider whether we bar certain users and / or IP address/domains.

===Site Registration Process===
The Site Registration Process has two variants:

*The standard process is for Users who want to become a Member of the site. The main reason form this process is to assign an identity for purposes of tracking changes that the user wishes to make. The minimum content is correct response to a "Captcha" dialogue or equivalent to eliminate SPAMing bots, and the submission a valid contact email address and response to an email sent to that address. The email address is retained as confidential information and not published on the site without written authorization by said Member. It is there simply to ensure that the site has a means of contacting the member: the site will not permit contributions from users without a valid supporting contact address. There are various other optional fields that the User can specify.

*The stricter process controls the promotion of Members to Volunteer status, and the reversion of Volunteer to normal Member. Since such Volunteers can be appointed to trusted roles within the site, the UCV needs to have some confidence in the provenance and credentials of the applicant.
** A forum maintained for the purpose controlling the Site Registration Process. Only Volunteers can post to this forum, though it is viewable by all members('''+''').
** All applications for promotion to or removal from Volunteer status are posted to this forum as a new topic. Any Member can make an application through a Volunteer (for example the ombudsman) which might typically contain a brief identity (name, country, work experience, etc.) and a short personal statement of why the candidate wishes to become a volunteer.
** Any Volunteer may comment on the application.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate approval.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate a protest.
** The application is open for [two] weeks.
** If at the end of this period at least two approvals and no protest have been made then Volunteer status change is granted.
** If less than two approvals have then the Volunteer status change is declined.
** If a minimum of two approvals have been made and any protests registered then a vote of the UCV membership is needed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
** Where the application is declined, reapplication can be made after [3] months.

('''+''') There are issues of disclosure that we need to think about here. See the
[[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles#proposed_change_to_Process_of_becoming_a_volunteer|Talk page]] for further discussion on this.

===UCV Voting Process===

Members of the Volunteer site team may hold votes on topics within their areas of interest separate from those interests voiced by Registered or unregistered users of the site. Technical issues of interest to Volunteers may include any topic, including which issues will be decided by general Registered Member votes. Topics under consideration will be posted to a Forum category devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Registered members may comment on these issues or raise questions.

==== Voting Guidelines ====
General Voting on issues of importance to the members regarding the site or the management will take place quarterly on the first Tuesday of January, April, July, and October. A Forum category will be set up devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Only registered site members will be able to vote in these quarterly events. In most cases, a simple majority vote will suffice. This means in the case of a stand-off, a vote will be rescheduled for the next quarter.

''Please do not change the logical content of this page without first discussing this on the [[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles|Talk Page]] and acknowledgement from the [[U.s.oo.o/Planning/User_services_Contact_list|UCV Contact list]].''

[[Category:UCV]]

U.s.oo.o/User Community Roles

2007-10-13T02:00:23Z

Pitonyak: /* Voting Guidelines */

This page is a spin-off of the Constitution page and specifically aims to provide a collaboration vehicle to agree the OOo User Community Roles for the users of the site (''Users'').

== User ==
a ''User'' is any person who enters or uses the web site in any way, even if that person only visited the home page of the web site.

== Guest ==

A ''Guest'' is a User who can search and access the information provided by the site, but cannot post or modify its content. No registration or validation is required to be a Guest. The site is open to all. ([[#Limitations_on_Site_Access|1]]).

== Member ==

A ''Member'' is a User who has successfully completed the site registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]). A Member can also post or modify the information content of the site, within the content rules of the site.

== Volunteer ==

A ''Volunteer'' is a Member who takes an active part in the life of the site and commits to defined responsibilities for a site role. A Member can request to become a ''Volunteer''. Volunteers are collectively referred to as the User Community Volunteers ('''''UCV'''''). There is no cap on the size of the UCV.

The Member must apply to become a Volunteer though the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and, if successful, will be elected to Volunteer status within the UCV. For a Member to be successful, some evidence of sustained commitment will normally be required; for example, numerous postings and wiki contributions, or a number of material articles over a six month period. An equivalent track record in an associated community will normally be acceptable, for example, one of the other active OpenOffice.org or Linux related forums.

The UCV is intended to comprise the community of the active Members within the site, Volunteers may, therefore, revert back to a normal Member.
* A Volunteer may resign from Volunteer status.
* A six month period with no activity will automatically propose removal of Volunteer status.
* Any Volunteer may propose the removal of Volunteer status for any other Volunteer. Justification must be included with the request. For example, repeated abuse or disregard of the site, the membership, or standing instructions endorsed by the UCV.
The removal of Volunteer status is also controlled through the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and where this occurs the individual will revert to normal Member status. A Member can always reapply for Volunteer status.

Volunteers are regarded as trusted members of the site and therefore have available elevated privileges associated with such trust:
* Full voting privileges within the UCV.
* Ability to upload images and attachments to the site.
* Ability to use HTML in posts; most forum packages allow HTML as an option, and the layout is easier than in BBcode-style mark-up languages.
* Ability to blog.
* Eligibility for site roles.

== Roles available to Volunteers ==

The following User Community Roles available to Volunteers. Notwithstanding this, the list of site roles and responsibilities may evolve overtime under change control and endorsement through the UCV voting process.

===Site Administrator===
Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to perform a due diligence in the following areas:

*Help maintain the security of the host system by:
**Maintaining a good working relationship with designated network administration staff at Sun Microsystems, Hamburg Germany.
**Maintain contact with the vendor's / supplier's information service for any applications run on the server.
**Take agreed upon steps when a security announcement is made by the vendors / suppliers.
**Follow agreed upon steps if a security breach of any application on the server is suspected. For example: notified by a board user that they suspect a problem.
**Perform steps necessary to carry out agreed upon configuration control procedures on application level services running on the server. During modifications of the applications, application of patches, reconfigurations.
**Follow agreed upon steps / actions to implement and maintain a disaster recovery plan ( e.g. off-site storage of backups, off-site storage of application modifications, included files and configuration settings).
*Support the Service Administrators and Content managers by performing the following tasks:
**Create or apply modifications to the applications source or configuration files as needed.
**Configure client communication settings for the service application.
**Configure server settings for the service application.
***Database indexing.
***Database backups ( working with network admins ).
***Install / configure support packages ( php libs, caching systems, etc ).

These individuals must also comply with all Standard Operating and Security Procedures defined by the hosting provider ( SUN Microsystems ), and to take whatever reasonable actions that the hosting provider requires of them in order to receive necessary host computer access privileges.

===Service Administrator===

Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to maintain an application level service. For example the Forum service Administrator would perform the following, and other, functions:
*May add, edit, delete, and reorder the forums, categories, and links.
*Manage User Accounts
*Manage Group Accounts
*Manage Board Level Settings ( Email, Template, etc )
*Support the Service Moderator's

These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The service administrator role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Service Moderator===

Moderator is a supporting administration role supported by some application services. For example in the case of forums, moderators have an elevate level of privilege which enables them to modify or delete user posts that contravene site policy (e.g. SPAM or obscenity). Service Moderators are selected by the UCV Voting Process. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Content Manager===
These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The Content Manager role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. Where required Content Manager's may be granted User Account Interactive Access and MySQL datadase access.

===Ombudsman===

The Ombudsman's role and responsibilities include:
* Administration and oversight of all polls
** The ombudsman can mandate that any specific vote be opened to the general membership, where he or she feels that there is reasonable case for doing so.
* NON-Voting member of any change control boards to represent the general membership. (do we have a process for this?)
* Managing and arbitrating on any Membership complaints
To avoid conflict of interest the Ombudsman cannot hold any other User Community Role.

=== Chronicler — Tie-breaker, spokesperson ===

* Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues related to the interests and purpose.
* This person is not to vote unless there is a tie that freezes the issue at hand.

=== The Projects Manager ===
* Shall assist in infrastructural development so that documentation of projects is done to some extent.
* Maintains the projects' wiki pages.
* Shall take charge of post-mortems of projects so useful information can be amassed as to what structures worked and what didn't.

=== Group Publicity Person — OO.o Evangelist ===
* Shall come up with fun and useful "virtual events" that promote the use of OO.o and the support forums.
* Shall abide by all local regulations and group agreements when promoting the organization or its views,

== Footnotes ==

===Limitations on Site Access===
Some transactional rate limiting mechanisms may apply to prevent robot users degrading the performance of the site for normal interactive users. We also need to consider whether we bar certain users and / or IP address/domains.

===Site Registration Process===
The Site Registration Process has two variants:

*The standard process is for Users who want to become a Member of the site. The main reason form this process is to assign an identity for purposes of tracking changes that the user wishes to make. The minimum content is correct response to a "Captcha" dialogue or equivalent to eliminate SPAMing bots, and the submission a valid contact email address and response to an email sent to that address. The email address is retained as confidential information and not published on the site without written authorization by said Member. It is there simply to ensure that the site has a means of contacting the member: the site will not permit contributions from users without a valid supporting contact address. There are various other optional fields that the User can specify.

*The stricter process controls the promotion of Members to Volunteer status, and the reversion of Volunteer to normal Member. Since such Volunteers can be appointed to trusted roles within the site, the UCV needs to have some confidence in the provenance and credentials of the applicant.
** A forum maintained for the purpose controlling the Site Registration Process. Only Volunteers can post to this forum, though it is viewable by all members('''+''').
** All applications for promotion to or removal from Volunteer status are posted to this forum as a new topic. Any Member can make an application through a Volunteer (for example the ombudsman) which might typically contain a brief identity (name, country, work experience, etc.) and a short personal statement of why the candidate wishes to become a volunteer.
** Any Volunteer may comment on the application.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate approval.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate a protest.
** The application is open for [two] weeks.
** If at the end of this period at least two approvals and no protest have been made then Volunteer status change is granted.
** If less than two approvals have then the Volunteer status change is declined.
** If a minimum of two approvals have been made and any protests registered then a vote of the UCV membership is needed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
** Where the application is declined, reapplication can be made after [3] months.

('''+''') There are issues of disclosure that we need to think about here. See the
[[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles#proposed_change_to_Process_of_becoming_a_volunteer|Talk page]] for further discussion on this.

===UCV Voting Process===

Members of the Volunteer site team may hold votes on topics within their areas of interest separate from those interests voiced by Registered or unregistered users of the site. Technical issues of interest to Volunteers may include any topic at all, including which issues will be decided by general Registered Member votes. Topics under consideration will be posted to a Forum category will be set up devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Registered members may comment on these issues or raise questions.

==== Voting Guidelines ====
General Voting on issues of importance to the members regarding the site or the management will take place quarterly on the first Tuesday of January, April, July, and October. A Forum category will be set up devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Only registered site members will be able to vote in these quarterly events. In most cases, a simple majority vote will suffice. This means in the case of a stand-off, a vote will be rescheduled for the next quarter.

''Please do not change the logical content of this page without first discussing this on the [[Talk:U.s.oo.o/User_Community_Roles|Talk Page]] and acknowledgement from the [[U.s.oo.o/Planning/User_services_Contact_list|UCV Contact list]].''

[[Category:UCV]]

Talk:U.s.oo.o/User Community Roles

2007-10-13T01:59:29Z

Pitonyak: /* Ombudsman */

== Guest ==
[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 05:48, 12 October 2007 (CEST) Proposed changes

A Guest is a User accessing the site without being logged onto the site. No registration or validation is required to be a Guest for purposes of searching or browsing the forums. A Guest may post only to designated forums, requiring the use of a captcha mechanism and the post must be approved by a moderator before being placed into the main forum subject threads. Since the guest will not be required to provide any means for the forum to contact them, the forum software must clearly inform them they will not and can not be notified of any replies to their post, and should offer them the option to register with the site if they would like an email notification of such a response. A guest may not modify any existing content. The site is open to all. (1).

== Volunteer membership ==

The Member's request must be supported by two or more Volunteers, who have validated the Members application and are willing to endorse this membership.

Why?

The application must be endorsed by a UCV Vote(3). The quorum for the vote is one third of the UCV, and a two-thirds majority must be obtained of votes cast.

For what purpose?

Who are we trying to keep out? -- 12:59, 9 September 2007 [[User:DrewJensen]]

:Drew I've moved my answer to the 8daw topic since most of the participants in this debate don't seem to want to use the Wiki for this. However, my reasoning in short is that we are expecting the volunteers to agree to certain responsibilities and such an expectation is worthless in my opinion unless we have some confidence in their provenance and commitment / staying power. We want Volunteers to be active. As I suggested on the topic, maybe the easiest way to do this is to have a forum called requests for Volunteer status where the applicant just posts his/her application which will include a yes/no poll, and that anyone is free to comment as well as vote. That would do the same thing, but it could also then become a publicly humiliating trial.
:In terms of the quorum: what do we do if someone applies for Volunteer status and we have 2 yes votes and 1 no vote? I am not sure how to specify this, but I do feel we need a minimum threshold of votes. I am not wedded to 2/3 majority, but I do tend to precautionary principle. Not quite to the gentleman's club level of one black-ball and you're out, but would you feel confident in a appointing a member as a volunteer, if the vote was 52 for and 49 against? Clearly where we have a simple case of three applicants applying for a forum administrator role for example then a simple majority is sufficient.
:Also in the case of "trusted" rolls such as administrator, I would very much like to limit the vote to Volunteers. -- [[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 05:09, 10 September 2007 (CEST)

[[User:Pitonyak]] October 8, 2007.

I am adding content here because it says that I should post here first (see http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User:TerryE/User_Community_Rolls#Limitations_on_Site_Access).
While searching for Moderators on a forum, some people were recommended based on participation. Then, everyone chimed in with their opinions on the people. This was not a vote of "choose three of the ten people", but rather, we can use all the people that we can get. In this type of decision making, if even a small percentage of the people were against a specific person having a role such as moderator, that is a big red flag that maybe something is wrong.

== proposed change to Process of becoming a volunteer ==

User requests membership change to Volunteer:

User request is posted to a board maintained for this purpose.
*Any UCV member may designate approval.
*Any UCV member may designate protest.
#Upon two approvals, and no protest the membership is granted.
#After 2 weeks,if no member has approved and no member has protested, the membership is automatically approved.

If a member makes a protest. Then a vote of the UCV membership would be needed. But only in this single case. 1/3 quorum as proposed.

:I could live with this idea of a minimum. Good idea, but suggest some tweaks -- I don't like the timeout = "pass".

:After 2 weeks:
:# if a minimum of two approvals have been made, and no protest then Volunteer status is granted.
:# if less than two approvals have been made then the Volunteer status is declined.
:# if a minimum of two approvals have been made, and any protest registered then a vote of the UCV membership is needed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
:Where the candidate is declined, reapplication can be made after <3> months.

:[[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 05:11, 10 September 2007 (CEST)

::This wording was floated on the forum with now major objection so I have now updated the wording in the main article to reflect this. However one issue that we need to think about is the issues of disclosure. Applicants might be willing to share personal details such as email with a closed community such as the UCV, but be a little vary about posting to the open internet because of mail SPAMing and identity theft issues. -- [[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 08:21, 11 September 2007 (CEST)

--[[User:Maxqnz|maxqnz]] 22:36, 8 October 2007 (CEST)

Just a question about the "vote if one protest" suggestion. I agree in principle, but wonder if it might be possible to require the protest to be "for cause" rather than "peremptory", to use jury selection language. If it was known that any protest had to provide reasons, it might help reduce the number of frivolous or personality-based challenges to the process.

== Content Manager ==

[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 22:54, 9 September 2007 (CEST)When I first read content manager what came to my mind was the situation with the person looking at publishing an OO.o magazine. I suppose he would be a content manager. Site Administrators would support him, similar to support for the service administrators. He would in turn follow some procedure for placing his content on the site. That may be emailing it to a site admin. on the first go round, or maybe placing in the CM system, at some point some automation, using a existing tool or perhaps a customized mag_admin screen just for this purpose.

I could also see this person being the moderator of a dedicated forum. Looking at the templates based mods available, for instance the one used to generate the home page at OOoForum. It is easy to see a way to support a magazine, having the lower 'blog' like list of recent posts limited to the dedicated forum.

== Ombudsman ==

[[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 03:39, 10 September 2007 (CEST)This is the one role that we should consider being elected by the Members rather than the Volunteers as this is a dual role which both polices the UCV and guards interests of the general membership. 
:[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 17:22, 10 September 2007 (CEST) I much like the idea that the ombudsman position is voted on by the site membership as a whole. I would not limit this in any way, what I would propose is that one week prior to the vote for this position a PM be generated to every member account with any posting activity in the last 12 months. An announcement be presented on the Site and forum main pages for the week leading up to the vote, and announcing its beginning and end. Further that the PM sent 1 week prior to the commencement of the vote, solicit any volunteers that want to stand for the office. The final decision being
:* one person 75% or greater of cast votes - member become the sole ombudsman
:* two persons combined have 75% or greater of the cast votes - they both become ombudsman
:* any other vote split requires a new vote
--[[User:Maxqnz|maxqnz]] 22:35, 8 October 2007 (CEST)

I do have a query about Drew's suggestion that the notification be sent to every member account with ANY posting activity in the last 12 months. Given the large number of hit-and-run posters in any forum, would not a threshold a little higher than 1 post be helpful in ensuring that those participating in the slection were at least somewhat active? I'm thinking of a very low threshold, say 5 posts in 12 months, or maybe 2 in 6 months. Still basically inclusive, but filtering out potentially hundreds of registered usernames that are effectively inactive. A look through the memberlist at the other forum suggests that using a post threshold a little higher than 1 in 12 months might help to both ensure the participation of those likely to be interested in the process, and reduce the potential number of votes to something more manageable for whoever it is that ends up counting them.

[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 05:32, 12 October 2007 (CEST)
Well, I understand the rational that you just want people that have been active, but if someone comes by once a week, with a question in mind, searches the forum gets their answer and leaves are they active? Does active then mean on a contributor?

I'm not 100% sure, I will try to check, but I believe that the forum logs will track your last logon. So if someone simply logged onto the forum say 6 times is that active? Going back to an example I used at the private forum, it is like a member at a lodge. The member comes to the lodge periodically, never volunteers for any job. When the time comes to vote on sustaining the lodge leaders is he not allowed to vote then? I have never seen a, or heard of, a service organization where that is the case. I believe they way it is viewed, and to my way of thinking accurately, is that simply being willing to vote is a form of activity.

--[[User:Maxqnz|maxqnz]] 10:21, 12 October 2007 (CEST)Your point about regular forum browsers is well made. If the ability exists to monitor logons then that could be used to address the concerns I raised more equitably than a voting threshold. A minimum number of logins in a given timeframe would worth considering, and again, that bar could and should be set low.

[[User:Pitonyak|Andrew Pitonyak]] 22:00, 12 October 2007 (CEST)
If you look at the current listing for a volunteer. The original wording was 100 postings. I changed this to "numerous postings" to provide latitude. This could be changed to numerous postings and recent involvement, or something like that. The idea is to allow flexibility. Flexibility can be a problem because it allows more possibilities for abuse, but being strict can cause other problems as well; choose your poison. Until it is a problem, I prefer some latitude unless I hear otherwise.

== Change Control Board ==

* [[U.s.oo.o/Planning/Site/Change Control Board|Change Control Board proposal]]

Talk:U.s.oo.o/User Community Roles

2007-10-13T01:59:02Z

Pitonyak: /* Ombudsman */

== Guest ==
[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 05:48, 12 October 2007 (CEST) Proposed changes

A Guest is a User accessing the site without being logged onto the site. No registration or validation is required to be a Guest for purposes of searching or browsing the forums. A Guest may post only to designated forums, requiring the use of a captcha mechanism and the post must be approved by a moderator before being placed into the main forum subject threads. Since the guest will not be required to provide any means for the forum to contact them, the forum software must clearly inform them they will not and can not be notified of any replies to their post, and should offer them the option to register with the site if they would like an email notification of such a response. A guest may not modify any existing content. The site is open to all. (1).

== Volunteer membership ==

The Member's request must be supported by two or more Volunteers, who have validated the Members application and are willing to endorse this membership.

Why?

The application must be endorsed by a UCV Vote(3). The quorum for the vote is one third of the UCV, and a two-thirds majority must be obtained of votes cast.

For what purpose?

Who are we trying to keep out? -- 12:59, 9 September 2007 [[User:DrewJensen]]

:Drew I've moved my answer to the 8daw topic since most of the participants in this debate don't seem to want to use the Wiki for this. However, my reasoning in short is that we are expecting the volunteers to agree to certain responsibilities and such an expectation is worthless in my opinion unless we have some confidence in their provenance and commitment / staying power. We want Volunteers to be active. As I suggested on the topic, maybe the easiest way to do this is to have a forum called requests for Volunteer status where the applicant just posts his/her application which will include a yes/no poll, and that anyone is free to comment as well as vote. That would do the same thing, but it could also then become a publicly humiliating trial.
:In terms of the quorum: what do we do if someone applies for Volunteer status and we have 2 yes votes and 1 no vote? I am not sure how to specify this, but I do feel we need a minimum threshold of votes. I am not wedded to 2/3 majority, but I do tend to precautionary principle. Not quite to the gentleman's club level of one black-ball and you're out, but would you feel confident in a appointing a member as a volunteer, if the vote was 52 for and 49 against? Clearly where we have a simple case of three applicants applying for a forum administrator role for example then a simple majority is sufficient.
:Also in the case of "trusted" rolls such as administrator, I would very much like to limit the vote to Volunteers. -- [[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 05:09, 10 September 2007 (CEST)

[[User:Pitonyak]] October 8, 2007.

I am adding content here because it says that I should post here first (see http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User:TerryE/User_Community_Rolls#Limitations_on_Site_Access).
While searching for Moderators on a forum, some people were recommended based on participation. Then, everyone chimed in with their opinions on the people. This was not a vote of "choose three of the ten people", but rather, we can use all the people that we can get. In this type of decision making, if even a small percentage of the people were against a specific person having a role such as moderator, that is a big red flag that maybe something is wrong.

== proposed change to Process of becoming a volunteer ==

User requests membership change to Volunteer:

User request is posted to a board maintained for this purpose.
*Any UCV member may designate approval.
*Any UCV member may designate protest.
#Upon two approvals, and no protest the membership is granted.
#After 2 weeks,if no member has approved and no member has protested, the membership is automatically approved.

If a member makes a protest. Then a vote of the UCV membership would be needed. But only in this single case. 1/3 quorum as proposed.

:I could live with this idea of a minimum. Good idea, but suggest some tweaks -- I don't like the timeout = "pass".

:After 2 weeks:
:# if a minimum of two approvals have been made, and no protest then Volunteer status is granted.
:# if less than two approvals have been made then the Volunteer status is declined.
:# if a minimum of two approvals have been made, and any protest registered then a vote of the UCV membership is needed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
:Where the candidate is declined, reapplication can be made after <3> months.

:[[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 05:11, 10 September 2007 (CEST)

::This wording was floated on the forum with now major objection so I have now updated the wording in the main article to reflect this. However one issue that we need to think about is the issues of disclosure. Applicants might be willing to share personal details such as email with a closed community such as the UCV, but be a little vary about posting to the open internet because of mail SPAMing and identity theft issues. -- [[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 08:21, 11 September 2007 (CEST)

--[[User:Maxqnz|maxqnz]] 22:36, 8 October 2007 (CEST)

Just a question about the "vote if one protest" suggestion. I agree in principle, but wonder if it might be possible to require the protest to be "for cause" rather than "peremptory", to use jury selection language. If it was known that any protest had to provide reasons, it might help reduce the number of frivolous or personality-based challenges to the process.

== Content Manager ==

[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 22:54, 9 September 2007 (CEST)When I first read content manager what came to my mind was the situation with the person looking at publishing an OO.o magazine. I suppose he would be a content manager. Site Administrators would support him, similar to support for the service administrators. He would in turn follow some procedure for placing his content on the site. That may be emailing it to a site admin. on the first go round, or maybe placing in the CM system, at some point some automation, using a existing tool or perhaps a customized mag_admin screen just for this purpose.

I could also see this person being the moderator of a dedicated forum. Looking at the templates based mods available, for instance the one used to generate the home page at OOoForum. It is easy to see a way to support a magazine, having the lower 'blog' like list of recent posts limited to the dedicated forum.

== Ombudsman ==

[[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 03:39, 10 September 2007 (CEST)This is the one role that we should consider being elected by the Members rather than the Volunteers as this is a dual role which both polices the UCV and guards interests of the general membership. 
:[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 17:22, 10 September 2007 (CEST) I much like the idea that the ombudsman position is voted on by the site membership as a whole. I would not limit this in any way, what I would propose is that one week prior to the vote for this position a PM be generated to every member account with any posting activity in the last 12 months. An announcement be presented on the Site and forum main pages for the week leading up to the vote, and announcing its beginning and end. Further that the PM sent 1 week prior to the commencement of the vote, solicit any volunteers that want to stand for the office. The final decision being
:* one person 75% or greater of cast votes - member become the sole ombudsman
:* two persons combined have 75% or greater of the cast votes - they both become ombudsman
:* any other vote split requires a new vote
--[[User:Maxqnz|maxqnz]] 22:35, 8 October 2007 (CEST)

I do have a query about Drew's suggestion that the notification be sent to every member account with ANY posting activity in the last 12 months. Given the large number of hit-and-run posters in any forum, would not a threshold a little higher than 1 post be helpful in ensuring that those participating in the slection were at least somewhat active? I'm thinking of a very low threshold, say 5 posts in 12 months, or maybe 2 in 6 months. Still basically inclusive, but filtering out potentially hundreds of registered usernames that are effectively inactive. A look through the memberlist at the other forum suggests that using a post threshold a little higher than 1 in 12 months might help to both ensure the participation of those likely to be interested in the process, and reduce the potential number of votes to something more manageable for whoever it is that ends up counting them.

[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 05:32, 12 October 2007 (CEST)
Well, I understand the rational that you just want people that have been active, but if someone comes by once a week, with a question in mind, searches the forum gets their answer and leaves are they active? Does active then mean on a contributor?

I'm not 100% sure, I will try to check, but I believe that the forum logs will track your last logon. So if someone simply logged onto the forum say 6 times is that active? Going back to an example I used at the private forum, it is like a member at a lodge. The member comes to the lodge periodically, never volunteers for any job. When the time comes to vote on sustaining the lodge leaders is he not allowed to vote then? I have never seen a, or heard of, a service organization where that is the case. I believe they way it is viewed, and to my way of thinking accurately, is that simply being willing to vote is a form of activity.

--[[User:Maxqnz|maxqnz]] 10:21, 12 October 2007 (CEST)Your point about regular forum browsers is well made. If the ability exists to monitor logons then that could be used to address the concerns I raised more equitably than a voting threshold. A minimum number of logins in a given timeframe would worth considering, and again, that bar could and should be set low.

[[User:Pitonyak|Andrew]] 22:00, 12 October 2007 (CEST)
If you look at the current listing for a volunteer. The original wording was 100 postings. I changed this to "numerous postings" to provide latitude. This could be changed to numerous postings and recent involvement, or something like that. The idea is to allow flexibility. Flexibility can be a problem because it allows more possibilities for abuse, but being strict can cause other problems as well; choose your poison. Until it is a problem, I prefer some latitude unless I hear otherwise.

== Change Control Board ==

* [[U.s.oo.o/Planning/Site/Change Control Board|Change Control Board proposal]]

U.s.oo.o/User Community Roles

2007-10-09T01:52:03Z

Pitonyak: /* Roles available to Volunteers */

This page is a spin-off of the Constitution page and specifically aims to provide a collaboration vehicle to agree the OOo User Community Roles for the users of the site (''Users'').

== User ==
a ''User'' is any person who enters or uses the web site in any way, even if that person only visited the home page of the web site.

== Guest ==

A ''Guest'' is a User who can search and access the information provided by the site, but cannot post or modify its content. No registration or validation is required to be a Guest. The site is open to all. ([[#Limitations_on_Site_Access|1]]).

== Member ==

A ''Member'' is a User who has successfully completed the site registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]). A Member can also post or modify the information content of the site, within the content rules of the site.

== Volunteer ==

A ''Volunteer'' is a Member who takes an active part in the life of the site and commits to defined responsibilities for a site role. A Member can request to become a ''Volunteer''. Volunteers are collectively referred to as the User Community Volunteers ('''''UCV'''''). There is no cap on the size of the UCV.

The Member must apply to become a Volunteer though the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and, if successful, will be elected to Volunteer status within the UCV. For a Member to be successful, some evidence of sustained commitment will normally be required; for example, numerous postings and wiki contributions, or a number of material articles over a six month period. An equivalent track record in an associated community will normally be acceptable, for example, one of the other active OpenOffice.org or Linux related forums.

The UCV is intended to comprise the community of the active Members within the site, Volunteers may, therefore, revert back to a normal Member.
* A Volunteer may resign from Volunteer status.
* A six month period with no activity will automatically propose removal of Volunteer status.
* Any Volunteer may propose the removal of Volunteer status for any other Volunteer. Justification must be included with the request. For example, repeated abuse or disregard of the site, the membership, or standing instructions endorsed by the UCV.
The removal of Volunteer status is also controlled through the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and where this occurs the individual will revert to normal Member status. A Member can always reapply for Volunteer status.

Volunteers are regarded as trusted members of the site and therefore have available elevated privileges associated with such trust:
* Full voting privileges within the UCV.
* Ability to upload images and attachments to the site.
* Aability to use HTML in posts; most forum packages allow HTML as an option, and the layout is easier than in BBcode-style mark-up languages.
* Ability to blog.
* Eligibility for site roles.

== Roles available to Volunteers ==

The following User Community Roles available to Volunteers. Notwithstanding this, the list of site roles and responsibilities may evolve overtime under change control and endorsement through the UCV voting process.

===Site Administrator===
Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to perform a due diligence in the following areas:

*Help maintain the security of the host system by:
**Maintaining a good working relationship with designated network administration staff at Sun Microsystems, Hamburg Germany.
**Maintain contact with the vendor's / supplier's information service for any applications run on the server.
**Take agreed upon steps when a security announcement is made by the vendors / suppliers.
**Follow agreed upon steps if a security breach of any application on the server is suspected. For example: notified by a board user that they suspect a problem.
**Perform steps necessary to carry out agreed upon configuration control procedures on application level services running on the server. During modifications of the applications, application of patches, reconfigurations.
**Follow agreed upon steps / actions to implement and maintain a disaster recovery plan ( e.g. off-site storage of backups, off-site storage of application modifications, included files and configuration settings).
*Support the Service Administrators and Content managers by performing the following tasks:
**Create or apply modifications to the applications source or configuration files as needed.
**Configure client communication settings for the service application.
**Configure server settings for the service application.
***Database indexing.
***Database backups ( working with network admins ).
***Install / configure support packages ( php libs, caching systems, etc ).

These individuals must also comply with all Standard Operating and Security Procedures defined by the hosting provider ( SUN Microsystems ), and to take whatever reasonable actions that the hosting provider requires of them in order to receive necessary host computer access privileges.

===Service Administrator===

Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to maintain an application level service. For example the Forum service Administrator would perform the following, and other, functions:
*May add, edit, delete, and reorder the forums, categories, and links.
*Manage User Accounts
*Manage Group Accounts
*Manage Board Level Settings ( Email, Template, etc )
*Support the Service Moderator's

These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The service administrator role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Service Moderator===

Moderator is a supporting administration role supported by some application services. For example in the case of forums, moderators have an elevate level of privilege which enables them to modify or delete user posts that contravene site policy (e.g. SPAM or obscenity). Service Moderators are selected by the UCV Voting Process. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Content Manager===
These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The Content Manager role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. Where required Content Manager's may be granted User Account Interactive Access and MySQL datadase access.

===Ombudsman===

The Ombudsman's role and responsibilities include:
* Administration and oversight of all polls
** The ombudsman can mandate that any specific vote be opened to the general membership, where he or she feels that there is reasonable case for doing so.
* NON-Voting member of any change control boards to represent the general membership. (do we have a process for this?)
* Managing and arbitrating on any Membership complaints
To avoid conflict of interest the Ombudsman cannot hold any other User Community Role.

=== Chronicler -- Tie-breaker, spokesperson ===

* Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues
related to the interests and purpose.
* This person is not to vote unless there is a tie that freezes the issue at hand.

=== The Projects Manager ===
* Shall assist in infrastructural development so that documentation of projects is done to some extent.
* Maintains the projects' wiki pages.
* Shall take charge of post-mortems of projects so useful information can be amassed as to what structures worked and what didn't. (I see this role as lateral or subordinate to the PMs of any given project) [[User:Saphil|Saphil]] 20:15, 11 September 2007 (CEST)

=== Group Publicity Person. OO.o Evangelist ===
* Shall come up with fun and useful "virtual events" that promote the use of OO.o and the support forums.
* Shall abide by all local regulations and group agreements when promoting the organization or its views,

== Footnotes ==

===Limitations on Site Access===
Some transactional rate limiting mechanisms may apply to prevent robot users degrading the performance of the site for normal interactive users. We also need to consider whether we bar certain users and / or IP address/domains.

===Site Registration Process===
The Site Registration Process has two variants:

*The standard process is for Users who want to become a Member of the site. The main reason form this process is to assign an identity for purposes of tracking changes that the user wishes to make. The minimum content is correct response to a "Captcha" dialogue or equivalent to eliminate SPAMing bots, and the submission a valid contact email address and response to an email sent to that address. The email address is retained as confidential information and not published on the site without written authorisation by said Member. It is there is to ensure that the site has a means of contacting the member: the site will not permit contributions from users without a valid supporting contact address. There are various other optional fields that the User can specify.

*The stricter process controls the promotion of Members to Volunteer status, and the reversion of Volunteer to normal Member. Since such Volunteers can be appointed to trusted roles within the site, the UCV needs to have some confidence in the provenance and credentials of the applicant.
** A forum maintained for the purpose controlling the Site Registration Process. Only Volunteers can post to this forum, though it is viewable by all members('''+''').
** All applications for promotion to or removal from Volunteer status are posted to this forum as a new topic. Any Member can make an application through a Volunteer (for example the ombudsman) which might typically contain a brief identity (name, country, work experience, etc.) and a short personal statement of why the candidate wishes to become a volunteer.
** Any Volunteer may comment on the application.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate approval.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate a protest.
** The application is open for [two] weeks.
** If at the end of this period at least two approvals and no protest have been made then Volunteer status change is granted.
** If less than two approvals have then the Volunteer status change is declined.
** If a minimum of two approvals have been made and any protests registered then a vote of the UCV membership is needed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
** Where the application is declined, reapplication can be made after [3] months.

('''+''') There are issues of disclosure that we need to think about here. See the [[User_talk:TerryE/User_Community_Rolls#proposed_change_to_Process_of_becoming_a_volunteer|Talk page]] for further discussion on this.

===UCV Voting Process===

Members of the Volunteer site team may hold votes on topics within their areas of interest separate from those interests voiced by Registered or unregistered users of the site. Technical issues of interest to Volunteers may include any topic at all, including which issues will be decided by general Registered Member votes. Topics under consideration will be posted to a Forum category will be set up devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Registered members may comment on these issues or raise questions.

==== Voting Guidelines ====
General Voting on issues of importance to the members regarding the site or the management will take place quarterly on the first Tuesday of January, April, July and October. A Forum category will be set up devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Only registered site members will be able to vote in these quarterly events. In most cases, a simple majority vote will suffice. This means in the case of a stand-off, a vote will be rescheduled for the next quarter.

''Author: TerryE ([[User:TerryE|Terry Ellison]])'' 
''Please do not change the logical content of this page without first discussing this on the [[User_talk:TerryE/User_Community_Rolls|Talk Page]] and acknowledgement from the [http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User:DrewJensen/User_services_Contact_list UCV Contact list].''

[[Category:UCV]]

U.s.oo.o/User Community Roles

2007-10-09T01:42:31Z

Pitonyak:

This page is a spin-off of the Constitution page and specifically aims to provide a collaboration vehicle to agree the OOo User Community Roles for the users of the site (''Users'').

== User ==
a ''User'' is any person who enters or uses the web site in any way, even if that person only visited the home page of the web site.

== Guest ==

A ''Guest'' is a User who can search and access the information provided by the site, but cannot post or modify its content. No registration or validation is required to be a Guest. The site is open to all. ([[#Limitations_on_Site_Access|1]]).

== Member ==

A ''Member'' is a User who has successfully completed the site registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]). A Member can also post or modify the information content of the site, within the content rules of the site.

== Volunteer ==

A ''Volunteer'' is a Member who takes an active part in the life of the site and commits to defined responsibilities for a site role. A Member can request to become a ''Volunteer''. Volunteers are collectively referred to as the User Community Volunteers ('''''UCV'''''). There is no cap on the size of the UCV.

The Member must apply to become a Volunteer though the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and, if successful, will be elected to Volunteer status within the UCV. For a Member to be successful, some evidence of sustained commitment will normally be required; for example, numerous postings and wiki contributions, or a number of material articles over a six month period. An equivalent track record in an associated community will normally be acceptable, for example, one of the other active OpenOffice.org or Linux related forums.

The UCV is intended to comprise the community of the active Members within the site, Volunteers may, therefore, revert back to a normal Member.
* A Volunteer may resign from Volunteer status.
* A six month period with no activity will automatically propose removal of Volunteer status.
* Any Volunteer may propose the removal of Volunteer status for any other Volunteer. Justification must be included with the request. For example, repeated abuse or disregard of the site, the membership, or standing instructions endorsed by the UCV.
The removal of Volunteer status is also controlled through the registration process([[#Site_Registration_Process|2]]), and where this occurs the individual will revert to normal Member status. A Member can always reapply for Volunteer status.

Volunteers are regarded as trusted members of the site and therefore have available elevated privileges associated with such trust:
* Full voting privileges within the UCV.
* Ability to upload images and attachments to the site.
* Aability to use HTML in posts; most forum packages allow HTML as an option, and the layout is easier than in BBcode-style mark-up languages.
* Ability to blog.
* Eligibility for site roles.

== Roles available to Volunteers ==

The following User Community Roles available to Volunteers. Notwithstanding this, the list of site roles and responsibilities of the such roles may evolve overtime under change control and endorsement through the UCV voting process.

===Site Administrator===
Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to perform a due diligence in the following areas:

*Help maintain the security of the host system by:
**Maintaining good working relationship with designated network administration staff at Sun Microsystems, Hamburg Germany.
**Maintain contact with the vendor's / supplier's information service for any applications run on the server.
**Take agreed upon steps when any security announcement is made by the vendors / suppliers.
**Follow agreed upon steps should a security breach of any application on the server become suspected. For example: notified by a board user that they suspect a problem.
**Perform steps necessary to carry out agreed upon configuration control procedures on application level services running on the server. During modifications of the applications, application of patches, reconfigurations.
**Follow agreed upon steps / actions to implement and maintain a disaster recovery plan ( e.g. off-site storage of backups, off-site storage of application modifications, included files and configuration settings).
*Support the Service Administrators and Content managers by performing the following tasks
**Create or apply modifications to the applications source, configuration files as needed.
**Configure client communication settings for the service application
**Configure server settings for the service application
***Database indexing
***Database backups ( working with network admins )
***Install / configure support packages ( php libs, caching systems, etc ).

These individuals must also be willing comply with any Standard Operating and Security Procedures defined by the hosting provider ( SUN Microsystems ), and to take whatever reasonable actions that the hosting provider requires of them in order to receive necessary host computer access privileges.

===Service Administrator===

Individuals that are willing to take on the responsibilities necessary to maintain an application level service. For example the Forum service Administrator would perform the following, and other, functions:
*May add, edit, delete, and reorder the forums, categories, and links.
*Manage User Accounts
*Manage Group Accounts
*Manage Board Level Settings ( Email, Template, etc )
*Support the Service Moderator's

These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The service administrator role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Service Moderator===

Moderator is a supporting administration role supported by some application services. For example in the case of forums, moderators have an elevate level of privilege which enables them to modify or delete user posts that contravene site policy (e.g. SPAM or obscenity). Service Moderators are selected by the UCV Voting Process. No action is required by the hosting provider to grant these privileges.

===Content Manager===
These individuals are selected by the UCV alone. The Content Manager role is enabled through and provided by the relevant service application. Where required Content Manager's may be granted User Account Interactive Access and MySQL datadase access.

===Ombudsman===

The Ombudsman's role and responsibilities include:
* Administration and oversight of all polls
** The ombudsman can mandate that any specific vote be opened to the general membership, where he or she feels that there is reasonable case for doing so.
* NON-Voting member of any change control boards to represent the general membership. (do we have a process for this?)
* Managing and arbitrating on any Membership complaints
To avoid conflict of interest the Ombudsman cannot hold any other User Community Role.

=== Chronicler -- Tie-breaker, spokesperson ===

* Shall be the official spokesperson for the organization on issues
related to the interests and purpose.
* This person is not to vote unless there is a tie that freezes the issue at hand.

=== The Projects Manager ===
* Shall assist in infrastructural development so that documentation of projects is done to some extent.
* Maintains the projects' wiki pages.
* Shall take charge of post-mortems of projects so useful information can be amassed as to what structures worked and what didn't. (I see this role as lateral or subordinate to the PMs of any given project) [[User:Saphil|Saphil]] 20:15, 11 September 2007 (CEST)

=== Group Publicity Person. OO.o Evangelist ===
* Shall come up with fun and useful "virtual events" that promote the use of OO.o and the support forums.
* Shall abide by all local regulations and group agreements when promoting the organization or its views,

== Footnotes ==

===Limitations on Site Access===
Some transactional rate limiting mechanisms may apply to prevent robot users degrading the performance of the site for normal interactive users. We also need to consider whether we bar certain users and / or IP address/domains.

===Site Registration Process===
The Site Registration Process has two variants:

*The standard process is for Users who want to become a Member of the site. The main reason form this process is to assign an identity for purposes of tracking changes that the user wishes to make. The minimum content is correct response to a "Captcha" dialogue or equivalent to eliminate SPAMing bots, and the submission a valid contact email address and response to an email sent to that address. The email address is retained as confidential information and not published on the site without written authorisation by said Member. It is there is to ensure that the site has a means of contacting the member: the site will not permit contributions from users without a valid supporting contact address. There are various other optional fields that the User can specify.

*The stricter process controls the promotion of Members to Volunteer status, and the reversion of Volunteer to normal Member. Since such Volunteers can be appointed to trusted roles within the site, the UCV needs to have some confidence in the provenance and credentials of the applicant.
** A forum maintained for the purpose controlling the Site Registration Process. Only Volunteers can post to this forum, though it is viewable by all members('''+''').
** All applications for promotion to or removal from Volunteer status are posted to this forum as a new topic. Any Member can make an application through a Volunteer (for example the ombudsman) which might typically contain a brief identity (name, country, work experience, etc.) and a short personal statement of why the candidate wishes to become a volunteer.
** Any Volunteer may comment on the application.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate approval.
** Any Volunteer may explicitly designate a protest.
** The application is open for [two] weeks.
** If at the end of this period at least two approvals and no protest have been made then Volunteer status change is granted.
** If less than two approvals have then the Volunteer status change is declined.
** If a minimum of two approvals have been made and any protests registered then a vote of the UCV membership is needed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
** Where the application is declined, reapplication can be made after [3] months.

('''+''') There are issues of disclosure that we need to think about here. See the [[User_talk:TerryE/User_Community_Rolls#proposed_change_to_Process_of_becoming_a_volunteer|Talk page]] for further discussion on this.

===UCV Voting Process===

Members of the Volunteer site team may hold votes on topics within their areas of interest separate from those interests voiced by Registered or unregistered users of the site. Technical issues of interest to Volunteers may include any topic at all, including which issues will be decided by general Registered Member votes. Topics under consideration will be posted to a Forum category will be set up devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Registered members may comment on these issues or raise questions.

==== Voting Guidelines ====
General Voting on issues of importance to the members regarding the site or the management will take place quarterly on the first Tuesday of January, April, July and October. A Forum category will be set up devoted to these issues and the results will be posted there as well. Only registered site members will be able to vote in these quarterly events. In most cases, a simple majority vote will suffice. This means in the case of a stand-off, a vote will be rescheduled for the next quarter.

''Author: TerryE ([[User:TerryE|Terry Ellison]])'' 
''Please do not change the logical content of this page without first discussing this on the [[User_talk:TerryE/User_Community_Rolls|Talk Page]] and acknowledgement from the [http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User:DrewJensen/User_services_Contact_list UCV Contact list].''

[[Category:UCV]]

Talk:U.s.oo.o/User Community Roles

2007-10-09T01:13:54Z

Pitonyak: /* Volunteer membership */

== Volunteer membership ==

The Member's request must be supported by two or more Volunteers, who have validated the Members application and are willing to endorse this membership.

Why?

The application must be endorsed by a UCV Vote(3). The quorum for the vote is one third of the UCV, and a two-thirds majority must be obtained of votes cast.

For what purpose?

Who are we trying to keep out? -- 12:59, 9 September 2007 [[User:DrewJensen]]

:Drew I've moved my answer to the 8daw topic since most of the participants in this debate don't seem to want to use the Wiki for this. However, my reasoning in short is that we are expecting the volunteers to agree to certain responsibilities and such an expectation is worthless in my opinion unless we have some confidence in their provenance and commitment / staying power. We want Volunteers to be active. As I suggested on the topic, maybe the easiest way to do this is to have a forum called requests for Volunteer status where the applicant just posts his/her application which will include a yes/no poll, and that anyone is free to comment as well as vote. That would do the same thing, but it could also then become a publicly humiliating trial.
:In terms of the quorum: what do we do if someone applies for Volunteer status and we have 2 yes votes and 1 no vote? I am not sure how to specify this, but I do feel we need a minimum threshold of votes. I am not wedded to 2/3 majority, but I do tend to precautionary principle. Not quite to the gentleman's club level of one black-ball and you're out, but would you feel confident in a appointing a member as a volunteer, if the vote was 52 for and 49 against? Clearly where we have a simple case of three applicants applying for a forum administrator role for example then a simple majority is sufficient.
:Also in the case of "trusted" rolls such as administrator, I would very much like to limit the vote to Volunteers. -- [[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 05:09, 10 September 2007 (CEST)

[[User:Pitonyak]] October 8, 2007.

I am adding content here because it says that I should post here first (see http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User:TerryE/User_Community_Rolls#Limitations_on_Site_Access).
While searching for Moderators on a forum, some people were recommended based on participation. Then, everyone chimed in with their opinions on the people. This was not a vote of "choose three of the ten people", but rather, we can use all the people that we can get. In this type of decision making, if even a small percentage of the people were against a specific person having a role such as moderator, that is a big red flag that maybe something is wrong.

== proposed change to Process of becoming a volunteer ==

User requests membership change to Volunteer:

User request is posted to a board maintained for this purpose.
*Any UCV member may designate approval.
*Any UCV member may designate protest.
#Upon two approvals, and no protest the membership is granted.
#After 2 weeks,if no member has approved and no member has protested, the membership is automatically approved.

If a member makes a protest. Then a vote of the UCV membership would be needed. But only in this single case. 1/3 quorum as proposed.

:I could live with this idea of a minimum. Good idea, but suggest some tweaks -- I don't like the timeout = "pass".

:After 2 weeks:
:# if a minimum of two approvals have been made, and no protest then Volunteer status is granted.
:# if less than two approvals have been made then the Volunteer status is declined.
:# if a minimum of two approvals have been made, and any protest registered then a vote of the UCV membership is needed under the standard UCV voting procedure.
:Where the candidate is declined, reapplication can be made after <3> months.

:[[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 05:11, 10 September 2007 (CEST)

::This wording was floated on the forum with now major objection so I have now updated the wording in the main article to reflect this. However one issue that we need to think about is the issues of disclosure. Applicants might be willing to share personal details such as email with a closed community such as the UCV, but be a little vary about posting to the open internet because of mail SPAMing and identity theft issues. -- [[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 08:21, 11 September 2007 (CEST)

--[[User:Maxqnz|maxqnz]] 22:36, 8 October 2007 (CEST)

Just a question about the "vote if one protest" suggestion. I agree in principle, but wonder if it might be possible to require the protest to be "for cause" rather than "peremptory", to use jury selection language. If it was known that any protest had to provide reasons, it might help reduce the number of frivolous or personality-based challenges to the process.

== Content Manager ==

[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 22:54, 9 September 2007 (CEST)When I first read content manager what came to my mind was the situation with the person looking at publishing an OO.o magazine. I suppose he would be a content manager. Site Administrators would support him, similar to support for the service administrators. He would in turn follow some procedure for placing his content on the site. That may be emailing it to a site admin. on the first go round, or maybe placing in the CM system, at some point some automation, using a existing tool or perhaps a customized mag_admin screen just for this purpose.

I could also see this person being the moderator of a dedicated forum. Looking at the templates based mods available, for instance the one used to generate the home page at OOoForum. It is easy to see a way to support a magazine, having the lower 'blog' like list of recent posts limited to the dedicated forum.

== Ombudsman ==

[[User:TerryE|TerryE]] 03:39, 10 September 2007 (CEST)This is the one role that we should consider being elected by the Members rather than the Volunteers as this is a dual role which both polices the UCV and guards interests of the general membership. 
:[[User:DrewJensen|Drew]] 17:22, 10 September 2007 (CEST) I much like the idea that the ombudsman position is voted on by the site membership as a whole. I would not limit this in any way, what I would propose is that one week prior to the vote for this position a PM be generated to every member account with any posting activity in the last 12 months. An announcement be presented on the Site and forum main pages for the week leading up to the vote, and announcing its beginning and end. Further that the PM sent 1 week prior to the commencement of the vote, solicit any volunteers that want to stand for the office. The final decision being
:* one person 75% or greater of cast votes - member become the sole ombudsman
:* two persons combined have 75% or greater of the cast votes - they both become ombudsman
:* any other vote split requires a new vote
--[[User:Maxqnz|maxqnz]] 22:35, 8 October 2007 (CEST)

I do have a query about Drew's suggestion that the notification be sent to every member account with ANY posting activity in the last 12 months. Given the large number of hit-and-run posters in any forum, would not a threshold a little higher than 1 post be helpful in ensuring that those participating in the slection were at least somewhat active? I'm thinking of a very low threshold, say 5 posts in 12 months, or maybe 2 in 6 months. Still basically inclusive, but filtering out potentially hundreds of registered usernames that are effectively inactive. A look through the memberlist at the other forum suggests that using a post threshold a little higher than 1 in 12 months might help to both ensure the participation of those likely to be interested in the process, and reduce the potential number of votes to something more manageable for whoever it is that ends up counting them.

== Change Control Board ==

[[User:DrewJensen/Change Control Board|Change Control Board proposal]]

User:DrewJensen/Preamble to UCV Charter

2007-10-09T01:00:03Z

Pitonyak: /* '''Governance principles are more important than ownership''' */

== '''Agreement-seeking culture''' ==

:We desire to create an agreement-seeking culture. That is, we endeavor to make plans and reach decisions based on achieving wide-spread agreement. Agreement-seeking is not the same as consensus, as consensus tries for universal agreement, elusive if not impossible to achieve.

:Agreement-seeking as a central principle is also different than majority rule. While voting can play a constructive role as an advisory means of expression of preference, binding procedures of any kind can under emphasize and even undermine the critical role of discussion and deliberation in the shaping of plans. Voting on polls is considered assertively consultative, not binding. '''Elections of individuals to fill roles within the organization on the other hand are binding.'''

:For agreements to be meaningful it is important that those with a stake in the outcome be participants in determining the course of action. So, for instance, it's a matter of common sense that those with technical expertise should be intimately involved in technical decision-making.

:Further, given that UCV is focusing on developing services for non-technical users, it is also important that end-user interests be represented in the process of creating services.

== '''Filling a role is a matter of taking responsibility, not imposing one's will.''' ==
:We believe in making progress through giving clear responsibilities to individuals. Taking responsibility for something is not the same as ownership, rather stewardship for an area, activity or issue. Taking responsibility can also require, at times, acting as a driver. It should not be assumed that stewards and drivers typically operate by imposing their own decisions. Driving is primarily a matter of attending to a project with a goal, and taking steps to ensure the goal is reached (or, occasionally, redefining or setting aside the effort). Stewards typically solicit input and proposals, enable active participation, and facilitate discussion. In some but not all cases the steward will also be an active content contributor to the matter at hand.

:The steward has a responsibility to take multiple points of view into account and to try to reach widespread agreement. If there is disagreement, she or he should use methods to shed more light on the issue, e.g., by taking it to a wider group such as a mailing list or forum.

:However, it is also the stewards's responsibility to see that a decision is made, and he or she has the right in the end to make that call if in his or her judgment that's the right course of action.

== '''Legitimate decisions are made with reference to the the vision, mission, and values of the organization.''' ==
:All decisions, but particularly ones about which there is disagreement, should not be made arbitrarily but should be in keeping with the vision, mission, and values of the organization. Decisions gain legitimacy when they can be linked to an underlying set of core beliefs widely shared by the participants.

:Some of our core values are:

::* personal integrity and accountability
::* individual initiative
::* respect
::* responsible risk taking
::* openness and transparency
::* teamwork
::* sustainability

:Applying these to forum behavior we might say, "Rude and personal comments on forums are disrespectful and not acceptable. Constructive criticism on the other hand is warmly encouraged."

== '''Project proposals need to win community buy-in before implementation''' ==

:A good proposal or project plan not only sets out what is to be done and why, but also how, i.e., it addresses execution issues and seeks buy-in from those who will be implementing it. This is always important, but especially so when the proposer's plan requires significant resources not under his or her direct control, which will typically be the case.

== '''Governance principles are more important than ownership''' ==

:In working through situations of disagreement, it is better to focus on applying governance principles rather than determining who has ultimate authority, as over-reliance on the latter can short-circuit opportunities to rely on and expand the use of healthy, open processes.

Talk:Documentation/OOoAuthors User Manual/Base Guide/Planning

2007-07-01T03:52:02Z

Pitonyak: Content from AndrewBase.odt, and other thoughts.

I wrote a document called AndrewBase.odt (available online). This is a basic outline used there:

Information Page 2
Copyright 2
Authors 2
Feedback 2
Acknowledgments 2
Publication date and software version 2
1. Introduction 1
1.1. Introductory comments 1
1.2. Document organization and introduction 1
2. Storing images (binary data) in Base 3
2.1. Create the initial Base document 3
2.1.1. Using the GUI 3
2.1.2. Using a macro 3
2.1.3. Using a macro to open the wizard 4
2.2. Create the table 4
2.2.1. Using the GUI 4
2.2.2. Using a macro 5
2.2.3. Using SQL statements to modify tables 7
2.2.4. Refresh the tables 7
2.2.5. Creating and deleting tables using SQL 8
2.2.6. Increase a field's length 9
2.3. Create a form 10
2.3.1. Using the GUI 10
2.3.2. Using a macro 12
2.4. Open a form using a macro 15
2.5. Accessing the binary data 18
2.5.1. Adding binary data 18
2.5.2. Extracting binary data 19
3. One-To-Many relationships 22
3.1. Create the tables 22
3.1.1. Create the DEALER table 22
3.1.2. Create the ITEM table 23
3.2. Define the data relationships 25
3.3. Add data to the DEALER and ITEM tables 26
4. Forms 29
4.1. The internal object model 29
4.1.1. A control's shape is in the draw page 29
4.1.2. A draw page contains forms 30
4.1.3. A control's data model is in a form 31
4.1.4. A control's view model is in the controller 32
4.1.5. Enabling and setting controls visible – an example 32
4.1.6. Finding a control from an event – an example 33
4.1.7. Control model summary 34
4.2. Database Forms act like a result set 34
4.2.1. Duplicate record macro 35
4.3. Show one item and the corresponding dealer 38
4.4. Use a combo box with the dealer id 40
4.5. Use a list box with the dealer name 41
4.6. Relations in a single table 42
4.6.1. Solution 43
4.6.2. Solution characteristics 44
4.7. Use a “help and fill” button 45
5. Many-to-many relationships 46
6. Database fields 47
6.1. Storing numbers 50
6.1.1. Integer numbers 50
6.1.2. Floating point numbers 51
6.1.3. NUMERIC and DECIMAL types 52
6.2. Bit and Boolean Types 52
6.3. Date and time 53
6.4. Text data 53
6.5. Binary data 54
6.6. Other data type 54
6.7. Database sequences and auto-value fields 54
7. A few easy database definitions 56
7.1. Schema 57
8. Database connections 58
8.1. Obtain a database context 58
8.1.1. Registered data sources 59
8.1.2. Unregistering a data source 59
8.1.3. Registering a data source 59
8.2. Connect to a database 60
8.3. Connect using an interaction handler 61
8.4. Connections 61
8.4.1. Extended SDB connections 63
8.4.2. Meta-data 63
8.4.3. Inspecting the meta-data 70
8.4.4. GetBestRowIdentifier 76
8.4.5. GetColumnPrivileges 77
8.4.6. GetColumns 78
8.4.7. GetExportedKeys 79
8.4.8. GetIndexInfo 81
8.4.9. GetPrimaryKeys 82
8.4.10. GetTablePrivileges 82
8.4.11. GetTables 83
8.4.12. GetTypeInfo() 83
8.4.13. GetUDTS 85
8.4.14. GetVersionColumns 85
8.5. Connections 86
8.6. Connections without a data source 87
8.6.1. Delimited text files 91
8.6.2. Fixed width text files 93
8.6.3. Help, I still can not import my CSV file 98
8.6.4. Address books 99
8.6.5. MySQL using JDBC 100
8.6.6. Paradox using ODBC 100
8.6.7. Conclusion 102
9. Connecting to MySQL using JDBC 103
10. Mailmerge 105
11. Copying an entire database 106
12. General utility macros 107
12.1. Choose a directory 108
12.2. Get a document's directory 109
12.3. Choose a file 109
12.4. Finding a (loaded) OOo document 111
12.5. Append to an array 112
12.6. Compare data in an array 113
12.7. Create a property 113
12.8. Create a Point and a Size 114
12.9. Append a data array to a Calc document 114
12.10. Dynamically call object methods 115
12.11. Display numeric constants as meaningful text 119
12.12. Select from a list in a list box 120
13. Database utility macros 122
13.1. Quoting table and field names 122
13.2. Convert between an UNO Date and a Basic Date 122
13.3. Convert a result set to an array of data 124
13.4. Create and populate a dialog from a result set 127
14. Tips and tricks 128
14.1. Limit the number of returned records 128
15. Connect to a Base document using JDBC 130

The content started as a book that I intended to write, but then it was dropped, so I created this instead. It is likely too concentrated on macros for the average person. That said, any content can be removed and used. Something of interest with AndrewBase.odt, is that all included macros are included in the document itself and my be run by clicking on buttons in the document.

Note that Drew Jensen probably has much of interest that he could add.

Areas of interest that should likely be covered, in my opinion, include:

What is a database "key"?

Database design deals with what is known as "normal" forms. This is perhaps very advanced, but I have been sent database documents created by users that had no idea how to deal with redundant data. For example, if I have a doll that can have a "body type". The usual method is to create a table that enumerates body types. Each body type has a primary key acting as a unique identifier. I do not repeat all information related to the body type for each doll. Instead, I use the primary key and reference the body type table.

Dealing with one-to-many and many-to-many relationships. Areas of interest include table design, form design, and reports.

There is an entirely new Report writing system in the works, it is very exciting. This should be covered, perhaps as its own chapter.

Using an internal database. Using an external database such as MySQL. Converting from MS Access.

I am tired, and these are without much thought.