I propose to start a public register which provides the first and second contact for important community assets, such as the Vault, CEP, Project Q, Lexicon, Community Patch...
The reason is two-fold; to prevent the significant hiatus that occurs when a group goes dormant (witness, in the past, CEP, Lexicon...), and to maintain continuity even if the primary contact is unavailable for several days or weeks (which, understandably, happens all the time). It's obviously important that we know who has source update access, and that we can contact them reasonably quickly.
- I'd welcome advice on where best to store this information (preferably a site which asset owners can update themselves, such as a wiki)
- Asset owners : please respond with two contacts!
Obviously, this won't work for long unless we have a common understanding of best practice, so, with input from the community, I'd also like to draft some guidelines.
I clearly don't want to interfere with who owns what, or how they operate; that's a matter for each owner (individual or group) to decide for themselves. However, it must be in all our interests to promote a sense of stewardship, so that owners feel responsible for ensuring continuity of personnel and update access, by deputising, handover or appointing an escrow trustee (where this is not already in place). Perfection will be elusive, of course, but we can certainly improve.
Needless to say, stewardship of the register itself implies being open to all groups, regardless of personal opinions.
Some old hands may feel that these issues have been resolved in the past by networking, which, eventually, they have, but I believe the register will save time and empower less well-connected community members.
