Hi Flow,
Thanks for following up. I want to make sure I understand the value you see
in making tallies accessible to members specifically, because I'm not
immediately seeing what it adds over publishing outcomes only.
The concern driving this proposal is that vote counts create an
uncomfortable experience for applicants, effectively ranking accepted
members by how many people voted against them. That concern applies equally
whether the audience is the general public or fellow XSF members: the
applicant still ends up with a visible score attached to their membership.
I can see a general argument for transparency to the membership
(accountability of the voting body, trust in the process) but I'm not sure
tallies specifically are what delivers that. Knowing that someone received
30 yes and 5 no votes doesn't tell us much without knowing who voted which
way and why.
So I'd genuinely like to understand: what would you be able to do, or
assess, with access to the tallies that you couldn't do with outcomes
alone? That would help me understand whether this is a meaningful
transparency concern or more of a general comfort with having the numbers
available.
Kind regards,
Guus
On Thu, Apr 2, 2026 at 10:51 PM Joachim Lindborg <joachim.lindborg(a)lsys.se>
wrote:
Maybe Memberbot can reply the latest tallies upon
request from members who
can vote
Den tors 2 apr. 2026 22:42Florian Schmaus <flo(a)geekplace.eu> skrev:
> On 03/03/2026 18.14, Matthew Wild wrote:
> > 2) Cease publishing vote tallies for membership applications
>
> Yes please, but as I mentioned in today's board meeting, I'd like the
> tallies to be accessible for members.
>
> I am usually very much in favor of transparency, but the rationale for
> casing the publication of the vote tallies is sound, the public doesn't
> need to know the tallies, just the outcome. However, it feels wrong if
> this would mean that the information is no longer accessible by XSF
> members as it would be the opposite of being transparent.
>
> If that means that we provide the information on a restricted wiki page,
> via XMPP to authorized entities, or upon request can be sorted out later.
>
> - Flow
>
>
>
>
>