The title of the group is The Socal Linux Users Group
The lug may be referred to as Socal Linux
The domain name of the group shall be socallinux.org
To promote the use of Free/Open Source Software in general and GNU/Linux in particular within Southern California
To provide support for GNU/Linux and Free/Open Source Software users and contributors in Southern California
To build a thriving, proactive and friendly community of GNU/Linux and Free/Open Source Software users.
To communicate and cooperate with other Free/Open Source groups and organization and be part of the international Free/Open source community.
Membership shall be open to all. There are no costs for membership.
The only requirement for membership is accepting this charter (which implies understanding and adhering to its policies). Anyone who has a subscription to the “linuxusers@socallinux.org” mailing list or has an account in the socallinux.org website is considered a member.
All members are bound by this charter.
Some members will be, at times, also participating as moderators or administrators of the socallinux.org online presence. Moderator duties are listed in Article 6. Administrator duties are listed in Article 7.
SocalLinux is a democratic community; all members have the right to voice their opinion and give input and feedback, and to contribute to the decision making process, all members are equal and have equal rights to be heard. All members must understand the group is larger than their self, and must not use the group resources as a personal sounding box or for personal communications. Communications from one group member must have measurable value for all group members.
SocalLinux is a transparent community; All members have the right to know each and every detail about SocalLinux and its activities, no secret decisions shall be made and no secret process shall be used to reach any decision. All SocalLinux rules and policies shall be public, well known in advance and reached to through an open democratic process, Members have the right to monitor all actions taken by moderators and administrators.
SocalLinux is a volunteer community and it lives by personal initiative. The members have the right to propose ideas and activities concerning Free/Open Source Software to the community and to develop these ideas and lead projects which the community finds useful, productive and interesting.
SocalLinux has no imposed leaders; the administrators and moderators exist only to provide organization for meetings and to technical support for keeping the mailing-list and website up and functioning smoothly. If leadership is required at any point it is to be temporary and with a strictly defined duration and purpose.
No rule, activity decision or moderation action shall violate, contradict or compromise this charter.
The moderator's primary responsibility is to ensure the content of the socallinux.org site does not violate the Acceptable Use Policy and to maintain and organize the site in order to ensure that socallinux.org remains accessible and useful to all its members.
Moderators shall also interfere in disputes arising between members to ensure the dispute never becomes hostile.
Moderators are expected to facilitate and encourage member contribution and to empower members to participate in all aspects of using the socallinux.org mailing-list and website.
The composition of the moderators team shall be determined through a transparent and democratic process.
Requirements for being a moderator are: to have been a member for at least 1 year, to have contributed to group activities and discussions in a manner which respects the AUP and CoC, and to have shown an interest in maintaining and protecting the interests of the group as listed in this Charter.
The administrator is a person who has the ultimate responsibility for the socallinux.org mailing list and website, administrators hold the keys and passwords to the website account and are responsible for implementing and maintaining the technical requirements of the community.
Administrators are also charged with ensuring the use of socallinux.org resources complies with the Acceptable Use Policy as well as ensure resources are held secure and are being used efficiently and properly.
The duties and responsibilities of administrators include the duties of moderators as described in Article 6 of this document.
Administrators shall not implement changes that affect the existing core functionality of the socallinux website without first seeking the approval of the community through an open and democratic process as described in Article 8 of this document.
The composition of the administrators team shall be determined through a transparent and democratic process as described in <some member policy tbd.> There will be at most 2 administrators for the group.
Voting is the fundamental process that ensures the democratic nature of SocalLinux. It is the moderator's mandate to manage the voting process for decisions that affect the group.
All members are eligible to vote on all decisions.
<More voting policy will be added to this section. Majority should be 51%, etc...>
The charter will come up for optional review once every year.
The procedure shall be as follows.
A discussion is started on the 1st of January where members can voice issues and problems with the charter along with proposed amendments.
The discussion is closed on the 20th of January and a poll is taken to determine whether any of the discussed issues warrant a charter review. The poll is taken for 10 days, ending January 30.
After the poll is over, the moderators are responsible for producing alternate versions of the amended charter in an open and inclusive process, they shall solicit feedback from the rest of the community.
When an amended charter is ready a poll is taken to ratify the charter.
If by the end of February no new charter has been proposed for ratification the old version is preserved for another year.