The election rules have been in place for quite a long time. These are not something we pulled out of a hat recently.

The Karma process is designed to track participation, not just in the forums but in other arenas as well. In fact, giving Karma for participation in the forums was more of an afterthought, since the other services and tools existed before Maemo.org had a forum. (TMO was actually pulled into the existing structure, and before that had been it's own forum, with a separate name.)


This is not true at all. The time frame is 3 months, which considering there are elections every 6 months, is about half the term. The requirements of 10 Karma to vote are actually quite low. (The 100 Karma requirement is to run for office, not to vote.)

All of the requirements were designed to ensure that people running for positions, and those electing them, were valid and real people with at least a few months of knowledge and experience. Without this, anyone could simply create a bunch of fake accounts the day of the election and cast tons of ballots.

The wording, if you read it, was that we had hopped to have a stable version in place by the 17th, to allow those considering nomination a clear view of their expected role.

As for the number of people being elected, that can vary. For Council, the number is either 5, or in a special case as few as 3. For the Board, the same process is being used for this cycle. Future cycles will be determined as set forth in the bylaws.


On this we disagree. While I would note that taking both roles would consume a large amount of personal time, I see no reason to bar one person from holding two seats. In fact, there could be some advantage in having at least one member who is dual-seated. The roles of the two bodies are quite different though, so finding a person who is qualified in both fields will not be as common.

Agreed. But at the same time the pool of potential candidates is also shrinking. Which would you prefer to see? One person taking two roles, or one taking a single role and having the second role go to someone less qualified, or that only a few people voted for, or perhaps even left empty? The reason the rules for the number being elected are structured they way they are is in part to prevent a defacto election to Council of all those on the ballot if there are only 4 or 5.

These election rules have served the community well for some time. This, in part, is why the Board is using/cloning these rules as best it can. It's a known working and validated system.