[FFmpeg-devel] [RFC] clarifying the TC conflict of interest rule

[Anton Khirnov]

My personal opinion is that broad interpretations of the rule in
question are highly undesirable, as they punish TC members for active
participation in the project. And since TC members tend to be among the
most active contributors, this can substantially reduce our already low
review rate, and lead to other perverse incentives - e.g. TC members
hiding their opinions for fear of losing their vote.

Moreover, I believe that arguments like "people should not sit in
judgement of their own patches" that sound common-sense reasonable on
the surface, are actually based on a misunderstanding of the notion of
conflict of interest and have no real basis.

The mandate of TC members is to use their technical expertise and
opinions to judge what is best for the project. Why should that be in
conflict with a TC member writing a patch - again according to their
judgement of what is best for the project? I believe there is no
conflict here, and thus no reason TC members could not vote on their own
patches, as long as they wrote those patches in accordance with their
mandate.

> The word 'involves' in it can be intepreted a variety of very different
> ways, to apply to TC members who e.g.:
> 1) authored the changes that are being objected to
> 2) are objecting to the changes
> 3) have any opinion on the changes, either positive or negative
> 4) have previously voiced an opinion that would apply to the changes
> 5) authored the code that is being modified
> 6) have a financial or other similar interest in a specific outcome of
>    the disagreement

So IMO the only case that needs to be excluded is 6) - an actual
conflict of interest. I therefore propose the following wording changes:

--- a/doc/community.texi
+++ b/doc/community.texi
-If the disagreement involves a member of the TC, that member should recuse themselves from the decision.

+ Each TC member must vote on such decision according to what is, in their
+ view, best for the project. If a TC member is affected by a conflict of
+ interest with regards to the case, they must announce it and recuse
+ themselves from the TC discussion and vote. A conflict of interest is
+ presumed to occur when a TC member has a personal interest (e.g.
+ financial) in a specific outcome of the case.

-- 
Anton Khirnov