Re: the Apache way to do things

Hi Angie,

> I have two "Apache way" questions:
> 
> 1.  It appears that within the community no one objects to Apache Blur.  
> Can I put out a [vote] thread on general@ to the effect of:

That is a common misunderstanding, and some projects are or
have been dreaded for their vote-happiness. This is how I
formulated my views when drafting bylaws for a project earlier
this year:

<quote>
Community decisions are consensus driven. The preferred way
to establish consensus is through discussion on the public
mailing lists. To gather additional input from community members,
polls can be run on the same or other mailing lists. Voting on
community decisions should be restricted to cases where it is
necessary or desirable to formally record the consensus
</quote>

The important thing is to find a _consensus_, not to pass
a vote. If there is a consensus, there are only few things
that need a vote. If there is no consensus, passing a vote
doesn't help much...
You pass a vote on a controversial project name now and enter
incubation. On graduation, somebody else will raise the
naming question again when the vote for the TLP proposal
is on. Even if you pass that vote, the TLP proposal is
sent to the board, where yet other people will raise the
question of the project name. And the board certainly won't
care about a vote that passed a year or two earlier. They
will look for a consensus at the time of graduation.

So no, don't even think about calling a vote about the
project name. Send a simple non-vote mail, asking how
people feel about the alternative name. Make sure to
mention that there is a company that has used that name,
and that the respective domain is still online. Personally,
I believe that is a knockout criteria.

(more name suggestions coming up :-)

cheers,
   Roland