UBports Foundation Membership: Why haven't you applied?

arubislander

Since some years now the UBports Foundation has been the steward of all the projects that together constitute Ubuntu Touch.

A quick summary of the different bodies that comprise the Foundation can be found here. But the body I wanted to focus on is the Board of Trustees (BoT).

The formal role of the BoT is described in the Statutes of the Foundation. Since this is a formal document, it is written in Legalese, but what it comes down to, very roughly, is that the BoT consists of contributing members of the community who have applied to become a member, and whose application has been approved by another Body of the Foundation, the Membership Committee (MC). Members get to vote at elections for the Board of Directors (BoD, not to be confused with the BSOD ) and the MC. But crucially, BoT members can nominate themselves to stand up for being elected to any of these two bodies. BoT members also get to vote on issues set before them by the BoD.

The requirement for admittance to the BoT are summerized in this old blogpost:

Anyone, anywhere in the world is eligible to join the Board of Trustees provided they meet some minimum requirements. First, they must legally be able to be a member of such a body. Second, they must be able to show that they have verifiably, not trivially, and not immaterially contributed time and intellectual work towards the Foundation’s objectives over a period of at least three months; and that at the time of their application they have the intention to continue to do so for at least another six months.

Verifiable, non-trivial, non-immaterial contributions of time and intellectual work would include without being limited to:

time spent on this very forum or in the Telegram channels, helping out user with their issues,
contributions to documentation
contributions to code
app contribution or maintenance
giving talks on Ubuntu Touch or the UBports community and manning stands at conferences and other venues.
...

I am sure many more of the people frequenting these forums are eligible for membership than have applied so far. So my question to you is: Is there anything stopping you from applying? If so, what is it? I am eager to hear your views.

MrT10001

Hear, Hear. We need members to keep the UBPorts foundation going.

Equareo

Personally I'm a big fan of the project, but my contribution is through donations, occasional qa and lurking on telegram. I don't know programming, and don't regard myself as qualified.

I do see qualified people on telegram, but maybe they are a bit overwhelmed by the formality and don't understand that they are eligible or what it means. My suggestion would be to reach out to those individuals, tell them that they are eligible, and ask if that's something they would be interested to know more about, without any pressure ofc.

AppLee

Hi @Equareo

I just read your answer to a newcomer asking about Signal on Ubuntu Touch.
This kind of contribution is really appreciated and shows qualification.

If this kind of contribution is registered in time then it counts as a significant contribution.

Also acting on your suggestion would also be a valid contribution.
One of the goals of the foundation is to help organize the development of Ubuntu Touch.

Spreading the word, trying to gather people and motivate them to help is also a valid contribution.

I'm not trying to push you @Equareo, my message is for everyone that feels that only technical skills are valid.
What @arubislander is trying to do and what I try to also highlight is that a lot of you people on this forum are too shy or maybe intimidated or even unaware of how the foundation works.

I was in this situation few months ago.
But decided that I could also give back the community by also helping the foundation.
Donations are important, but volunteers are mandatory.