Bitcoin Foundation Election

[Spendulus]

So these guys in the Foundation need 3 new board members, and have set some kind of February date.

Some people are going to run on the importance of privacy, anonymous transactions and true Satoshi style blockchain operations.

Others are going to run on platforms of "Oh, you are here from the Gubbermint, I'm here to help."

hmmm....

[Ricken]

I suppose you could get a real candidate on their board and mix it up a bit.
I'll check my membership and see if I can vote.

[newIndia]

Is not Cody Wilson among one of the contenders ?

https://twitter.com/radomysisky/status/546342430036217856

[pawel7777]

Is not Cody Wilson among one of the contenders ?

https://twitter.com/radomysisky/status/546342430036217856

He's on the list for the 'individual board member' (whatever that means):

Below is a list of nominees for the next round of election. Bolded candidates have confirmed their nomination (confirmation will begin mid January). For the nominees posting that they are "accepting" their nominations: read above!
Colin Gallagher
Jim Harper
Bruce Fenton
Theo Chino
Michael Perklin
Cody Wilson
Dima Starodubcev
Scott Morgan
Bayan Towfiq

https://bitcoinfoundation.org/forum/index.php?/topic/1158-nominee-list-individual-election-2015/

[Spendulus]

Is not Cody Wilson among one of the contenders ?

https://twitter.com/radomysisky/status/546342430036217856

He's on the list for the 'individual board member' (whatever that means):

Below is a list of nominees for the next round of election. Bolded candidates have confirmed their nomination (confirmation will begin mid January). For the nominees posting that they are "accepting" their nominations: read above!
Colin Gallagher
Jim Harper
Bruce Fenton
Theo Chino
Michael Perklin
Cody Wilson
Dima Starodubcev
Scott Morgan
Bayan Towfiq

https://bitcoinfoundation.org/forum/index.php?/topic/1158-nominee-list-individual-election-2015/

Dumb question, does anyone know any of these guys?  Opinions about them for this "job"?

[pawel7777]

Dumb question, does anyone know any of these guys?  Opinions about them for this "job"?

Not really. I'm only somewhat familiar with Cody Wilson and Bruce Fenton (from Bitcoin Association), the latter didn't nominate himself and probably not confirmed as candidate.

Apparently any member can nominate himself, so it's open for unknown people to candidate.

[ABISprotocol]

So these guys in the Foundation need 3 new board members, and have set some kind of February date.

Some people are going to run on the importance of privacy, anonymous transactions and true Satoshi style blockchain operations.

Others are going to run on platforms of "Oh, you are here from the Gubbermint, I'm here to help."

hmmm....

Hello~

I have a couple things to toss your way~

well, four really

1) I am running for an Individual Director seat and the election is in Feb 2015.  The Board appears not to have yeat settled on the exact date, but I think we'll know soon (grumpy sound from this corner about dates)

2) My platform is:  user choice (anything that doesn't have that is non-starter), bitcoin development, privacy & anonymity development (the last part being technical development(s) that have been already the subject of much analyses and development for some time ~ zerocash (yet to be released), sidechains, and all manner of things, much of which is yet to arrive in 2015 ~ I think we need to do a better job of opening up the door to being open to letting technology clear a path rather than making flawed assertions that policy and "governance" will somehow limit what we can do.  I would rather not imagine a 'rule,' but if you must, imagine one like that described by Frank Herbert, author of Dune, as 'Amtal,' in which something is tested (often to destruction) to determine its limits or defects.  Envisioning free associations and the decentralization of common notions of identity is the beginning of precursors to a society which can adequately explore our potential..

3) I have been recently inviting all the candidates to a Reddit IaMA / AMA which would occur sometime in January or early February and have also suggested that if they'd not rather then they consider doing their own.  Peter Todd has agreed to be mod for this one, I think, here is a thread on that: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2q6npv/transaction_fees_dont_help_anyone_is_it_time_for/cn46u4o
(I am pcvcolin on reddit)

4) If you are into microgiving and so on check out my project at http://abis.io or alternately check out something I've been toying around with relating to it (prototype, code not mine except for the commits that say abisprotocol in them somehow) at
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2q6npv/transaction_fees_dont_help_anyone_is_it_time_for/cn3ddbn
It bears repeating given the times we live in:
always look at the sigs in OP, check / double-check all relevant code, and check diffs and communicate with all relevant people using up to date gpg etc....

Have a great rest of 2014, see you in the New Year.

[Lauda]

What are (almost) random people always in the list of nominees is my question?
I don't recognize anyone.

[PolarPoint]

Anyone with money can join the foundation and has a vote. This election is effectively voting with money.

[TechnoBibble]

Anyone with money can join the foundation and has a vote. This election is effectively voting with money.

thats exactly how I see it.

[Parazyd]

Only good thing the Bitcoin Foundation did was promote Bitcoin to end users and media.
However, they are a centralized organization that ultimately decides what happens with Bitcoin.

[QuestionAuthority]

The best that can happen now is a continuous stalemate where TBF sits inactive. What will probably happen is the industry directors will continue to control the direction of Bitcoin for their own ends because there will be a constant struggle between the individual directors.

ARTICLE V - BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Section 5.1 Powers: The Board of Directors shall have the power to:

(a) Select and remove all officers, agents, employees and contractors, and to fix reasonable compensation therefor;
(b) To authorize and empower officers or agents to enter into contracts and other commitments on behalf of the Corporation; and
(c) To appoint and delegate responsibilities and authority to committees, officers, and agents.

Section 5.3 Composition of Board of Directors Terms: All directors serving on the Board of Directors shall be selected in the manner set forth in this Section 5

(a) Founding Directors: GONE finally!

(b) Industry Directors: Industry Members, voting as a class, shall elect three (3) directors or such fewer number as equals the total number of Industry Members. All directors elected by Industry Members shall be known as "Industry Directors." Each Industry Member shall be entitled to nominate a single candidate in any election of Industry Directors. Industry Directors may be elected: (i) at a meeting of the Industry Members; (ii) by written ballot delivered to the Industry Members; or (iii) in some other manner authorized by law or these Bylaws.

(c) Individual Directors: Individual Members of the Corporation, voting as a class, shall elect three (3) directors known as "Individual Directors". Each Individual Member shall be entitled to nominate a single candidate in any election of an Individual Director and such directors shall be elected: (i) at a meeting of the members; (ii) by written ballot delivered to the members; or (iii) in some other manner authorized by law or these Bylaws.

[Lauda]

Someone should be elected from this forum onto the board if you ask me.

[SaltySpitoon]

Someone should be elected from this forum onto the board if you ask me.

I nominate myself! Just kidding, every time I think of the Bitcoin foundation, I imagine a bunch of kids playing in a tree house. I still can't wrap my head around what it is the Bitcoin foundation does. Sure it has some good people that do stuff, but wouldn't those people be doing the same things with or without the foundation? Just feels kind of wierd having people "represent" you, without knowing what it is they do or who they are.

[Gavin Andresen]

RE: can't wrap your head around what the Bitcoin Foundation does:

It is in big letters at the new https://bitcoinfoundation.org/ home page:

WHAT WE DO:
Fund development for Bitcoin
Core and common-good
bitcoin infrastructure

See the blog post from last month on the Foundation's "pivot" to focus on development and infrastructure:
  https://blog.bitcoinfoundation.org/everybody-pivots/

RE: "The Board appears to have not settled on an exact date":

Settled 11 days ago; see https://blog.bitcoinfoundation.org/elections-update/ for the exact dates for the two individual seats.

The election dates for the 'affiliate member seat' isn't yet set, the process for affiliate organizations to nominate and then cast their votes is still being worked out (and you don't need to care, unless you are part of the leadership of one of the Foundation's affiliate organizations and need to figure out how you and your members will come to consensus on how to vote).

[SaltySpitoon]

No disrespect to you Gavin, but I was under the impression that the business owners around the world were the ones doing all of that, with the exception of funding development for the Core team. I'm a huge opponent of the Bitcoin foundation, so take my response as a tongue in cheek stab at it if you want. I just don't like the idea of some "official" people representing Bitcoin. I think you do a great job, and if the Bitcoin foundation was just the core developers, I'd be perfectly content with that. Sadly, the "CEO of Bitcoin to go to jail for two years" articles tend to pop up around percieved central authorities in Bitcoin. Obviously, I can't say that all of the Bitcoin foundation is bad, I respect a few people involved, but sadly I see most of the structure as a liability.

[Parazyd]

No disrespect to you Gavin, but I was under the impression that the business owners around the world were the ones doing all of that, with the exception of funding development for the Core team. I'm a huge opponent of the Bitcoin foundation, so take my response as a tongue in cheek stab at it if you want. I just don't like the idea of some "official" people representing Bitcoin. I think you do a great job, and if the Bitcoin foundation was just the core developers, I'd be perfectly content with that. Sadly, the "CEO of Bitcoin to go to jail for two years" articles tend to pop up around percieved central authorities in Bitcoin. Obviously, I can't say that all of the Bitcoin foundation is bad, I respect a few people involved, but sadly I see most of the structure as a liability.

Couldn't agree more with this.
The core development team should've stayed as a quasi-organisation(?) independent of the Bitcoin Foundation. And I still don't realize why the Foundation as such, with all the - if I may say - random members, votes on the future of the Bitcoin protocol.
Someone said earlier: "It's voting with money". I think that it is, and could in extreme cases destroy Bitcoin (I may be exaggerating on this one).

[Lauda]

Couldn't agree more with this.
The core development team should've stayed as a quasi-organisation(?) independent of the Bitcoin Foundation. And I still don't realize why the Foundation as such, with all the - if I may say - random members, votes on the future of the Bitcoin protocol.
Someone said earlier: "It's voting with money". I think that it is, and could in extreme cases destroy Bitcoin (I may be exaggerating on this one).

Indeed that is exaggerating, but it could potentially damage Bitcoin.
I myself do not have the extra funds to join the foundation, thus I can't vote. Someone with a lot of money could pay a lot of people to get in it and vote for them -> manipulation, hence the 'voting with money'.
Is this not the case?

[Parazyd]

Couldn't agree more with this.
The core development team should've stayed as a quasi-organisation(?) independent of the Bitcoin Foundation. And I still don't realize why the Foundation as such, with all the - if I may say - random members, votes on the future of the Bitcoin protocol.
Someone said earlier: "It's voting with money". I think that it is, and could in extreme cases destroy Bitcoin (I may be exaggerating on this one).

Indeed that is exaggerating, but it could potentially damage Bitcoin.
I myself do not have the extra funds to join the foundation, thus I can't vote. Someone with a lot of money could pay a lot of people to get in it and vote for them -> manipulation, hence the 'voting with money'.
Is this not the case?

My point exactly. What's stopping an enemy to get like, 200 members inside the foundation and vote for something.

Though, the core devs know what they're doing...

[ABISprotocol]

RE: can't wrap your head around what the Bitcoin Foundation does:

It is in big letters at the new https://bitcoinfoundation.org/ home page:

WHAT WE DO:
Fund development for Bitcoin
Core and common-good
bitcoin infrastructure

See the blog post from last month on the Foundation's "pivot" to focus on development and infrastructure:
  https://blog.bitcoinfoundation.org/everybody-pivots/

RE: "The Board appears to have not settled on an exact date":

Settled 11 days ago; see https://blog.bitcoinfoundation.org/elections-update/ for the exact dates for the two individual seats.

The election dates for the 'affiliate member seat' isn't yet set, the process for affiliate organizations to nominate and then cast their votes is still being worked out (and you don't need to care, unless you are part of the leadership of one of the Foundation's affiliate organizations and need to figure out how you and your members will come to consensus on how to vote).

Gavin,

Thanks for throwing it down into this forum for x-posts - the bitcoin foundation forum has had probs as has the bitcoin foundation site lately due to reconfiguration and "other."  Without getting too much into it, the post you refer to was actually gone for a little while after it was first posted 11 days ago (this was due to the Bitcoin Foundation site reconfiguration and other issues possibly external to that reconfiguration, and isn't even visible to me at the moment unless I see that you have provided a link and then walk through captchas...  and that includes the post you have provided a link to which I think very few members have even read  and if they have managed to come across it, then they may not have bothered to read it due to readability issues (captchas, access, etc)

So what's certain is right now today it's visible again to you and I:

https://blog.bitcoinfoundation.org/elections-update/

Currently (as of today) shows up, states "February 13 – 19, 2015" is when the polls will be open, includes a reference to "deadline to register," of February 11, 2015  which indicates that "All members who wish to vote must register."

And regarding the "and you don't need to care" part, sure I do, or I wouldn't be a Candidate, would I?  I can focus my energies, and I do, but I choose to care enough about what I think matters, ok. 

I'm hoping to do one reddit IaMA / AMA with other Candidates before then and one IaMA / AMA on my own before the elections so we'll see how all that goes.

Cheers