Re: [PATCH] Documentation: propose community voting process

["Kristoffer Haugsbakk" <kristofferhaugsbakk@fastmail.com>]

On Fri, Oct 23, 2026, at 15:49, Phillip Wood wrote:
> Hi Junio
>
> On 23/10/2026 05:48, Junio C Hamano wrote:
>> Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com> writes:
>>[snip]
>>> I also think it would be sensible to restrict eligibility to the current
>>> set of active contributors, who will have to live with the consequences
>>> of the decision, by requiring eligible contributions to have been made
>>> in the previous two years. I have historic contributions in a couple of
>>> projects that I'm not active in anymore and I would not expect to be
>>> able to influence an decisions those projects make now.
>>
>> But do you care about these past projects enough to (1) notice that
>> they are having a policy discussion, (2) bother visiting them again
>> to learn their current voting procedures, and (3) actually cast a
>> vote to help improve them?  You may not have been active recently,
>> but if you care enough, and if your past knowledge of how the
>> project works still applies, wouldn't the project participants
>> appreciate your input?
>
> As I understand it the voting systems that are being proposed
> automatically send a voting link to those eligible to vote so I would be
> aware because I'd have received a voting link. Having a time limit also
> limits the amount of admin for the person running the vote, for example
> handling messages from someone claiming to be a past contributor whose
> email address has changed. The voting system is only going to be used
> when we cannot reach a consensus. Having seen how much time and energy
> people, with no real interest in contributing to git, put into posting
> to the list when we we first discussing changing the default branch
> name, I think we should be careful to limit the potential for bad actors
> to try and derail the vote.

And this is a very relevant example since everyone can have an opinion
on GenAI, just like main branch name bikeshedding. Contrast with some
technical topic that you would have to be involved in the project to
even care about.

Some people care whether software projects that they use but don’t
contribute to use GenAI.

>
>>[snip]