3 Mar
2026
3 Mar
'26
6:14 p.m.
Hi folks,
These have come up before, but I don't think the board has ever
actually voted on them as an agenda item (forgive me if I'm wrong, but
I found no record of it).
Therefore, I would like these two membership-related proposals to be
picked up for discussion and voting by the board:
1) Make the publication of members' real names optional
This has come up a number of times, and there is broad consensus that
we don't need to publish real names of our members, even if we may
need to have them privately on file.
This proposal would be to explicitly permit members to reveal their
names only to the XSF Secretary, and allow pseudonyms to be used
elsewhere.
I believe that adoption of this proposal would help encourage more
people to join the XSF as members, who may be unwilling to publish
their real name on the internet, or connect their identity with the
XSF (for which I can think of countless possible reasons).
2) Cease publishing vote tallies for membership applications
It has been raised before, by someone who said it contributed to not
renewing their membership, that the presence of "no" votes on the
membership page was not a good experience.
Realistically, it is very rare for members to be accepted unanimously
(most people have some "no" votes, and this will only increase as our
membership increases). However, I fear that publishing the vote counts
turns it into something of an unnecessary popularity contest, even if
it isn't aiming to be one. It's not necessary for them to be public,
as long as we keep the results on file.
For people who are part of minorities in our community, it can be
disconcerting to be told that some people voted against them, and to
have a publicly visible record and ranking.
Therefore I am proposing reduction of our membership results to a list
of accepted members instead of publishing tallies publicly.
I am not proposing changes to our council or board elections, as I
think those would need additional consideration and may warrant
greater transparency.
Regards,
Matthew
3 Mar
3 Mar
6:24 p.m.
On 3 Mar 2026, at 17:14, Matthew Wild <mwild1(a)gmail.com> wrote:
1) Make the publication of members' real names
optional
I can see the motivation here and probably the reasons you give outweigh the risks. One
risk that comes to mind is having bad actors avoid people realising who they are when they
join.
2) Cease publishing vote tallies for membership
applications
I can’t really think of downsides for this.
/K
6:33 p.m.
* Kevin Smith via Members <members(a)xmpp.org> [2026-03-03 18:25]:
On 3 Mar 2026, at 17:14, Matthew Wild
<mwild1(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> 1) Make the publication of members' real names optional
+1
I can see the motivation here and probably the reasons
you give outweigh the risks. One risk that comes to mind is having bad actors avoid people
realising who they are when they join.
Given that most people use nicknames in the MUCs and there is no
requirement to use real names on the lists, I don't see a fundamental
change if we lift this restriction.
> 2) Cease publishing vote tallies for membership
applications
+1
Georg
6:47 p.m.
Hi,
On Dienstag, 3. März 2026 18:14:46 Mitteleuropäische Normalzeit Matthew Wild
wrote:
1) Make the publication of members' real names
optional
This has come up a number of times, and there is broad consensus that
we don't need to publish real names of our members, even if we may
need to have them privately on file.
This proposal would be to explicitly permit members to reveal their
names only to the XSF Secretary, and allow pseudonyms to be used
elsewhere.
I believe that adoption of this proposal would help encourage more
people to join the XSF as members, who may be unwilling to publish
their real name on the internet, or connect their identity with the
XSF (for which I can think of countless possible reasons).
SGTM. Do we have to adapt the bylaws for this?
2) Cease publishing vote tallies for membership
applications
It has been raised before, by someone who said it contributed to not
renewing their membership, that the presence of "no" votes on the
membership page was not a good experience.
Realistically, it is very rare for members to be accepted unanimously
(most people have some "no" votes, and this will only increase as our
membership increases). However, I fear that publishing the vote counts
turns it into something of an unnecessary popularity contest, even if
it isn't aiming to be one. It's not necessary for them to be public,
as long as we keep the results on file.
For people who are part of minorities in our community, it can be
disconcerting to be told that some people voted against them, and to
have a publicly visible record and ranking.
Therefore I am proposing reduction of our membership results to a list
of accepted members instead of publishing tallies publicly.
SGTM.
I am not proposing changes to our council or board
elections, as I
think those would need additional consideration and may warrant
greater transparency.
kind regards,
Jonas
7:17 p.m.
Hi Matthew, hi all,
Thanks for writing this up so clearly.
On real names:
I think a good way forward could be to explicitly define a process that
*defaults* to using real names, while clearly allowing for non-disclosure.
For example, the call for information could explain why the XMPP Standards
Foundation generally uses real names, but also make it explicit that this
is not a hard requirement, and document the process for opting out (e.g.
name known only to the Secretary).
Why I think real names matter (as a default): visible people help with
transparency and trust, make attribution of work clearer, and give some
continuity and accountability to what we publish as an organization. For an
open standards body, that public-facing human aspect does have value. That
said, I don't think those benefits outweigh legitimate privacy or safety
concerns, which is why having a clear, accepted opt-out path feels
important to me.
On vote tallies:
I don't personally see the "popularity contest" angle as the main issue.
What I do recognize is that vote counts can create tension, especially for
first-time applicants. I haven't yet formed a strong opinion on switching
from publishing counts to publishing only outcomes. One concern I have is
that if tallies are no longer public, a later negative decision (e.g.
someone not being renewed) could feel more dramatic or suspicious if there
wasn't a visible downward trend beforehand. So this is still an open
question for me, and I'm curious to learn of other views.
Finally, it's possible that these changes would require adjustments to the
bylaws. I'm not sure we've done that before, but I don't see it as a
blocker: just something to be clear about and handle properly if we go down
this path.
Kind regards,
Guus
On Tue, Mar 3, 2026 at 6:47 PM Jonas Schäfer <jonas(a)wielicki.name> wrote:
Hi,
On Dienstag, 3. März 2026 18:14:46 Mitteleuropäische Normalzeit Matthew
Wild
wrote:
1) Make the publication of members' real
names optional
This has come up a number of times, and there is broad consensus that
we don't need to publish real names of our members, even if we may
need to have them privately on file.
This proposal would be to explicitly permit members to reveal their
names only to the XSF Secretary, and allow pseudonyms to be used
elsewhere.
I believe that adoption of this proposal would help encourage more
people to join the XSF as members, who may be unwilling to publish
their real name on the internet, or connect their identity with the
XSF (for which I can think of countless possible reasons).
SGTM. Do we have to adapt the bylaws for this?
2) Cease publishing vote tallies for membership
applications
It has been raised before, by someone who said it contributed to not
renewing their membership, that the presence of "no" votes on the
membership page was not a good experience.
Realistically, it is very rare for members to be accepted unanimously
(most people have some "no" votes, and this will only increase as our
membership increases). However, I fear that publishing the vote counts
turns it into something of an unnecessary popularity contest, even if
it isn't aiming to be one. It's not necessary for them to be public,
as long as we keep the results on file.
For people who are part of minorities in our community, it can be
disconcerting to be told that some people voted against them, and to
have a publicly visible record and ranking.
Therefore I am proposing reduction of our membership results to a list
of accepted members instead of publishing tallies publicly.
SGTM.
I am not proposing changes to our council or
board elections, as I
think those would need additional consideration and may warrant
greater transparency.
kind regards,
Jonas
7:48 p.m.
On Tue, 3 Mar 2026, 18:18 Guus der Kinderen, <guus.der.kinderen(a)gmail.com wrote:
> Finally, it's possible that these changes would require adjustments to the
> bylaws. I'm not sure we've done that before, but I don't see it as a
> blocker: just something to be clear about and handle properly if we go down
> this path.
We've updated them before, such as when we switched to the
quarterly/rolling membership application process.
That said, I don't think anything needs to change for the proposals in this
thread. The bylaws only require the secretary to keep the records. They are
not required to be public, we just always did it that way (as far as I am
aware).
Regards,
Matthew
Hi Matthew, hi all,
Thanks for writing this up so clearly.
On real names:
I think a good way forward could be to explicitly define a process that
*defaults* to using real names, while clearly allowing for
non-disclosure. For example, the call for information could explain why the
XMPP Standards Foundation generally uses real names, but also make it
explicit that this is not a hard requirement, and document the process for
opting out (e.g. name known only to the Secretary).
Why I think real names matter (as a default): visible people help with
transparency and trust, make attribution of work clearer, and give some
continuity and accountability to what we publish as an organization. For an
open standards body, that public-facing human aspect does have value. That
said, I don't think those benefits outweigh legitimate privacy or safety
concerns, which is why having a clear, accepted opt-out path feels
important to me.
That sounds fine.
8:08 p.m.
El Tue, 3 Mar 2026 17:14:46 +0000
Matthew Wild <mwild1(a)gmail.com> escribió:
Hi folks,
These have come up before, but I don't think the board has ever
actually voted on them as an agenda item (forgive me if I'm wrong, but
I found no record of it).
Therefore, I would like these two membership-related proposals to be
picked up for discussion and voting by the board:
1) Make the publication of members' real names optional
This has come up a number of times, and there is broad consensus that
we don't need to publish real names of our members, even if we may
need to have them privately on file.
This proposal would be to explicitly permit members to reveal their
names only to the XSF Secretary, and allow pseudonyms to be used
elsewhere.
I believe that adoption of this proposal would help encourage more
people to join the XSF as members, who may be unwilling to publish
their real name on the internet, or connect their identity with the
XSF (for which I can think of countless possible reasons).
+1 with the "default" and "opt-out" path for the same reasons exposed
by Guus in
his reply
2) Cease publishing vote tallies for membership
applications
It has been raised before, by someone who said it contributed to not
renewing their membership, that the presence of "no" votes on the
membership page was not a good experience.
Realistically, it is very rare for members to be accepted unanimously
(most people have some "no" votes, and this will only increase as our
membership increases). However, I fear that publishing the vote counts
turns it into something of an unnecessary popularity contest, even if
it isn't aiming to be one. It's not necessary for them to be public,
as long as we keep the results on file.
For people who are part of minorities in our community, it can be
disconcerting to be told that some people voted against them, and to
have a publicly visible record and ranking.
Therefore I am proposing reduction of our membership results to a list
of accepted members instead of publishing tallies publicly.
+1
I am not proposing changes to our council or board
elections, as I
think those would need additional consideration and may warrant
greater transparency.
Regards,
Matthew
Thank you for keeping it concise and to the point.
Excellent proposals Matthew.
Regards,
Gonzalo Raúl Nemmi
9:52 p.m.
On Tue, Mar 03, 2026 at 05:14:46PM +0000, Matthew Wild wrote:
1) Make the publication of members' real names
optional
:+1:
This is basically standard practice in every other association I've been
involved in, tho none of those were standards organizations.
2) Cease publishing vote tallies for membership
applications
:+1:
No other association I've been involved with has this kind of membership
admission. Instead there is usually a membership fee (can be zero).
--
Zash
11:23 a.m.
Thanks for the well written proposal Matt.
+1 on both from me.
I usually prefer real names, but I fully understand that some members or
applicants don't want to disclose them.
Even we have real names on the website and Wiki today, we do not verify
those. The whole process is build on trust anyway.
Alex
5 Mar
5 Mar
7:11 p.m.
On Tue, 3 Mar 2026 at 17:15, Matthew Wild <mwild1(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi folks,
These have come up before, but I don't think the board has ever
actually voted on them as an agenda item (forgive me if I'm wrong, but
I found no record of it).
Therefore, I would like these two membership-related proposals to be
picked up for discussion and voting by the board:
1) Make the publication of members' real names optional
This has come up a number of times, and there is broad consensus that
we don't need to publish real names of our members, even if we may
need to have them privately on file.
This proposal would be to explicitly permit members to reveal their
names only to the XSF Secretary, and allow pseudonyms to be used
elsewhere.
I believe that adoption of this proposal would help encourage more
people to join the XSF as members, who may be unwilling to publish
their real name on the internet, or connect their identity with the
XSF (for which I can think of countless possible reasons).
I'm not absolutely against this, and could be persuaded, but my concern is
that members have voting rights, and ultimately control the Foundation.
We are, and should remain, an open and entirely transparent organisation.
I don't know of another standards organisation that allows for voting
rights under pseudonyms.
IETF publishes full names for IESG, IAB, Nomcom, etc, for example.
I can be persuaded to change my mind, of course, and I do understand (and
worry) that some people may have legitimate reasons why they do not want
their name publicly listed.
2) Cease publishing vote tallies for membership
applications
It has been raised before, by someone who said it contributed to not
renewing their membership, that the presence of "no" votes on the
membership page was not a good experience.
Realistically, it is very rare for members to be accepted unanimously
(most people have some "no" votes, and this will only increase as our
membership increases). However, I fear that publishing the vote counts
turns it into something of an unnecessary popularity contest, even if
it isn't aiming to be one. It's not necessary for them to be public,
as long as we keep the results on file.
For people who are part of minorities in our community, it can be
disconcerting to be told that some people voted against them, and to
have a publicly visible record and ranking.
Therefore I am proposing reduction of our membership results to a list
of accepted members instead of publishing tallies publicly.
I am not proposing changes to our council or board elections, as I
think those would need additional consideration and may warrant
greater transparency.
I'm fine with the voting tallies not being public, I think that's fine to
change. I'll be disappointed in not being able to see how many people I can
get to vote against me, but I do understand that it's not necessary to be
public and could very easily upset people.
I also agree with the implied suggestion that we only list people who get
voted in, and not those that failed to get the votes.
Dave.
6 Mar
6 Mar
7:30 p.m.
Dear Matthew and all,
First, for me, It is crucial, important, to have the real name.
Without it, we will have bad people, double agents, fake people, robots.
And for the future entity, real names are important.
No other official declared organization uses username.
Secondly, about the number of "no" votes.
It's not necessarily the one who does the most for the community who gets the most
votes.
If it is not showed, how to know the results?
Regards,
BOCQUET Ludovic
________________________________________
From: Matthew Wild <mwild1(a)gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 3, 2026 5:14 PM
To: XSF Members
Subject: [Members] Proposal for membership process changes
Hi folks,
These have come up before, but I don't think the board has ever
actually voted on them as an agenda item (forgive me if I'm wrong, but
I found no record of it).
Therefore, I would like these two membership-related proposals to be
picked up for discussion and voting by the board:
1) Make the publication of members' real names optional
This has come up a number of times, and there is broad consensus that
we don't need to publish real names of our members, even if we may
need to have them privately on file.
This proposal would be to explicitly permit members to reveal their
names only to the XSF Secretary, and allow pseudonyms to be used
elsewhere.
I believe that adoption of this proposal would help encourage more
people to join the XSF as members, who may be unwilling to publish
their real name on the internet, or connect their identity with the
XSF (for which I can think of countless possible reasons).
2) Cease publishing vote tallies for membership applications
It has been raised before, by someone who said it contributed to not
renewing their membership, that the presence of "no" votes on the
membership page was not a good experience.
Realistically, it is very rare for members to be accepted unanimously
(most people have some "no" votes, and this will only increase as our
membership increases). However, I fear that publishing the vote counts
turns it into something of an unnecessary popularity contest, even if
it isn't aiming to be one. It's not necessary for them to be public,
as long as we keep the results on file.
For people who are part of minorities in our community, it can be
disconcerting to be told that some people voted against them, and to
have a publicly visible record and ranking.
Therefore I am proposing reduction of our membership results to a list
of accepted members instead of publishing tallies publicly.
I am not proposing changes to our council or board elections, as I
think those would need additional consideration and may warrant
greater transparency.
Regards,
Matthew
7 Mar
7 Mar
5:56 a.m.
Hi all,
1) Make the publication of members' real names
optional
This has come up a number of times, and there is broad consensus that
we don't need to publish real names of our members, even if we may
need to have them privately on file.
This proposal would be to explicitly permit members to reveal their
names only to the XSF Secretary, and allow pseudonyms to be used
elsewhere.
I believe that adoption of this proposal would help encourage more
people to join the XSF as members, who may be unwilling to publish
their real name on the internet, or connect their identity with the
XSF (for which I can think of countless possible reasons).
+1 from me. I am not personally affected, but I don't want to exclude
people who want or need a greater level of privacy. We should remove as
many barriers to XSF membership as possible.
Some people have raised concerns about not being able to discern
duplicate entries, bots, etc. I don't think removing the real name
requirement is going to have much effect in that regard given that:
a. we don't check the real names anyway. People can technically put in
duplicate entries and get away with it even under the current system
(and we trust that they don't; the system runs on trust which I think is
a good thing)
b. the XSF Secretary still gets access to real names under this
proposal, so it's not like they are completely anonymous. I imagine
other people such as the Board and anyone relevant could also get access
to real names, where appropriate, if there is some controversy
c. the default process is still to state ones real name, so it's not
like all XSF members are immediately going to turn pseudonymous
tomorrow. Given that it's a special case and not a general one, we could
also have the XSF Secretary (or some delegated volunteers) perform a bit
more due diligence to anonymous members if needed (I personally don't
see a need for this, but others may find it reassuring)
Finally, if many members have strong concerns about even this, nothing
stops us from allowing /XSF members/ to know peoples' real names without
making them publicly available for the whole world to see (eg. sent out
on a private mailing list or have it announced by memberbot). This is a
compromise position that complicates things a bit but I think it should
address most concerns regarding pseudonymous members.
Personally I know most XMPP folks by their pseudonyms anyway and I don't
really know or care what their real names are. If I meet someone in real
life and want to confirm they're the same person, I'd do it by asking
them to prove a connection to their JID, not to their real name.
2) Cease publishing vote tallies for membership
applications
It has been raised before, by someone who said it contributed to not
renewing their membership, that the presence of "no" votes on the
membership page was not a good experience.
Realistically, it is very rare for members to be accepted unanimously
(most people have some "no" votes, and this will only increase as our
membership increases). However, I fear that publishing the vote counts
turns it into something of an unnecessary popularity contest, even if
it isn't aiming to be one. It's not necessary for them to be public,
as long as we keep the results on file.
For people who are part of minorities in our community, it can be
disconcerting to be told that some people voted against them, and to
have a publicly visible record and ranking.
Therefore I am proposing reduction of our membership results to a list
of accepted members instead of publishing tallies publicly.
I am not proposing changes to our council or board elections, as I
think those would need additional consideration and may warrant
greater transparency.
+1 especially given that it's not common for organisations to announce
vote tallies for membership. Also agreed about leaving council and board
elections unchanged (i.e. leaving the vote tallies public for those).
~Badri
11:42 a.m.
I agree on this argument. I know about problems with life danger
revealing your real name on the internet - not by revealing them to the
XSF. These are two seperate "shoes" as you would say in German
On 3/7/26 6:56 AM, Badri Sunderarajan via Members wrote:
Finally, if many members have strong concerns about
even this, nothing
stops us from allowing /XSF members/ to know peoples' real names without
making them publicly available for the whole world to see (eg. sent out
on a private mailing list or have it announced by memberbot). This is a
compromise position that complicates things a bit but I think it should
address most concerns regarding pseudonymous members.
7
days inactive
11
days old
13 comments
13 participants
participants (13)
-
Alexander Gnauck -
Badri Sunderarajan -
Dave Cridland -
eevvoor -
Georg Lukas -
Gonzalo Raul Nemmi -
Guus der Kinderen -
Jonas Schäfer -
Kevin Smith -
Kim Alvefur -
Ludovic BOCQUET -
Matthew Wild -
Travis Burtrum