[PDB-gov] Voting eligibility

[Chris Caputo]

Keeping in mind article 2 of:

  https://www.caputo.com/pdb/20151112_PeeringDB_DRAFT_Bylaws.pdf

The intention as written is that there is one class of members and that 
class consists of organizations, each with a single vote.

 - 2.2 Qualifications for Membership.
   - A corporation, limited liability company, partnership or other legal 
     business entity may be a Member of the Corporation. Membership is 
     determined by having both an active PeeringDB.com account and an 
     individual representative or role subscription to the PeeringDB 
     Governance mailing list:

     http://lists.peeringdb.com/cgi­bin/mailman/listinfo/pdb­gov

   - Members may have such other qualifications as the Board may prescribe 
     by amendment to these Bylaws.

So the first part of 2.2 says what "may" be a member, and then says that 
from that pool of possible members, that both an active PeeringDB.com 
account is needed, along with there being a representative (individual or 
role) subscription to this pdb-gov list.

Implicit by the first sentence is that "active PeeringDB.com account" in 
the second sentence refers to organizational, not individual, 
PeeringDB.com accounts.

I don't believe it would be wise to revise the draft documents during the 
present election, but once the election is over, the initial board (or 
subsequent board or member meeting) may want to clarify that second 
sentence by inserting the word "organizational" between "active" and 
"PeeringDB.com account", but first I'd be curious to know if that was the 
source of confusion.

Did you or Matt think that a person with an individual PeeringDB account, 
subscribed to this pdb-gov list, would be sufficient to qualify for 
membership, based on that second sentence of 2.2?

In addition to, or instead of, the clarification idea above, a future 
board or member meeting could certainly revise the definition of 
membership to be more inclusive, such as by creating a category of 
membership eligibility for active PeeringDB admins.

Chris

On Sun, 15 Nov 2015, Florian Hibler wrote:
> Good morning pdb-gov,
> after my attempt to register for voting on the PDB board yesterday, I
> figured out, that I am (according to the bylaws, as Chris told me),
> not eligible to vote, as I am not representing an org with a PeeringDB
> entry at the moment. Nethertheless I am actively involved into PDB and
> according to Matt Griswold I should be entitled to vote.
> 
> The paragraph which excludes me from voting is according to Chris the
> following in the bylaws
> (https://www.caputo.com/pdb/20151112_PeeringDB_DRAFT_Bylaws.pdf):
> 
> 2.2 Qualifications for Membership:
> "A corporation, limited liability company, partnership or other legal
> business entity may be a Member of the Corporation. Membership is
> determined by having both an active PeeringDB.com account and an
> individual representative or role subscription to the PeeringDB
> Governance mailing list:
> http://lists.peeringdb.com/cgi-­bin/mailman/listinfo/pdb­-gov
> Members may have such other qualifications as the Board may prescribe
> by amendment to these Bylaws."
> 
> Matt sees it a bit different, so we decided to bring the topic up here
> and see what other people think about it. Your input is highly
> appreciated and looking very much forward to hear from you on this
> topic!
> 
> Bests,
> Florian
> 
> -- 
> Florian Hibler <fhibler at peeringdb.com>
> PeeringDB Administrator