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

[Marton Balint <cus@passwd.hu>]

On Tue, 20 Feb 2024, Anton Khirnov wrote:

> 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:

We have no means to prove financial interest, because it is not public. 
For practical reasons, using patch authorship is better. Or maybe a more 
general solution against bias is somewhat increasing the number of people 
in the TC, and removing this rule alltogether.

Regards,
Marton


>
> --- 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
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