Copyright (C) 1998 FIG
The creator offers you this gift and wants it to remain free. See http://www.2b1.de/FIG/freedom.html for more information. If you have any questions or comments about this work, you should first make sure you have the latest official version (which can be found at [iho: sorry, which one time could be found at] http://www.fig.org/fcp.texi), then send e-mail to fig-protocol@fig.org. This work is copylefted; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this work; if not, you can find it on the Internet at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html, or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA This work is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License, for more details.
The FIG Collaboration Protocol (FCP) is a form of government. It is a model for how individual FIGs (i.e. freedom-loving beings) can cooperate in order to form a new, collective FIG.
FCP is generic, and is useful for any kind of freedom-promoting organization, regardless of its size, composition, or specific goals. It is equally successful when applied to marriages, service organizations, and even affiliations between two or more organizations. This is because FCP is based in the same principles which produce organization at levels below human beings.
This Protocol forms a bridge between individual FIGs (such as yourself), and the unified FIG which the individuals maintain. The Protocol is addressed to you as an individual FIG, and tells you how to act in order to be of maximum benefit to the FIG which you serve.
To minimize confusion, the rest of this document will use the term FIG only when referring to the higher organization, otherwise it will address you directly, as a maintainer.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this document, feel free to e-mail us at fig-protocol@fig.org. The FIG.org web page (http://www.2b1.de/FIG/) contains links to the latest version of this protocol, so please check it before you e-mail us.
In order to preserve the identity of the FIG, there needs to be a clear distinction between contributors and maintainers. You are a maintainer if and only if you have accepted responsibility for a specific portion of the FIG. A contributor is somebody who makes a suggestion to you, but does not want to be held responsible for the consequences of that suggestion.
As a maintainer, you rely heavily on the contributions of outside individuals in order to promote freedom. Because every maintainer is a volunteer, every contributor is a potential maintainer. For that reason, you must be careful to show due respect and always thank members of the public for their contributions.
The public is your friend: everybody you meet is potentially a resource that can help you and the FIG. Whether or not they help depends a lot on how you treat them, so treat them well.
You must never blindly accept anybody's advice (including that of other maintainers). Even if somebody gives you bad advice, you will still be held accountable if you act on it, not them.
This model of responsibility guarantees that you don't hold any power over another's work. This freedom enables others to contribute their best work, without fear that you will arbitrarily force them to stop.
You and every other maintainer of the FIG must consistently refuse to hold power over other people or FIGs. This is so that maintainership positions will only be attractive to individuals who care about the FIG, not people who want to control others.
Everybody is encouraged to find ways that maintainers and the FIG itself are involved in oppressing others, and to point them out. It is your job to purge the FIG of these involvements. The FIG can only succeed if it holds no power over its competitors. Power struggles are a tremendous waste of energy, and if competitors are enslaved, the FIG loses a potential ally.
In general, be careful in all your dealings, keeping in mind that others may not share your goals, regardless of what they say.
Frequently, you will meet individuals who claim to support freedom, but actually do not (you will also meet individuals who say that they don't care about freedom, but actually support them). For that reason, you need to judge deeds, not words.
You must not make any attempt to exercise control over the use of the FIG's ideas. Central control weakens the effectiveness of the FIG at promoting freedom.
It is important to remember that the FIG is a dynamic entity, so you must constantly exercise your judgement to make sure that you are not compromising your personal freedom. It is entirely possible that your path and the path of the FIG may diverge over time. In that case you should resign as a maintainer, to protect both you and the FIG (see section Deactivation).
Every one of your actions as a maintainer is accountable to the public. If any member of the public (including another maintainer) wants to know the rationale behind one of your actions, you are obliged to provide it.
You must be willing to admit when you are wrong, or else people will see that you are inflexible, and not want to work with you. In the same way, the FIG relies on your willingness to discuss your feelings and judgements with other maintainers, so that it maintains unity and continues to mature.
Honesty works to establish trust, and to attract people to work with you. If you are not fully honest, then you will not benefit from the FIG, since accountability is the essential feature that makes the FIG work.
To be truly effective, this honesty must be active. Publishing transcripts of all FIG communication gives the public even more reason to trust your authenticity. Likewise, sharing your true feelings rather than privately dissenting helps everybody believe that you are sincere.
The FIG is a self-contained democracy. There is no leader which has a privileged position over any other maintainer. However, maintainers do not operate by voting on every issue before taking action.
Generally, maintainers do things on their own initiative. Every maintainer is free to act in the name of the FIG. However, do not underestimate the value of the other maintainers! If you feel that an issue is at all controversial, you should discuss it with them before you act.
Never choose to ignore the advice of your fellow maintainers and ask the public instead. Remember that non-maintainers have not made a commitment to the FIG, and so you should take their advice as secondary to the ideas of other maintainers. Many times, the FIG may need to act against the tide of public opinion.
Additionally, other maintainers have pledged to be honest, and so you can count on them to tell you when they think you have acted rashly or are talking too much. Don't be offended: they are just trying to let you know how you can operate more smoothly. Likewise, they rely on you to speak your mind, rather than silently resenting decisions that you do not agree with.
If you are not confident in your judgement, don't worry! Take your time and be patient... if you proceed slowly, then you give other maintainers opportunities to gently correct you, rather than telling you that they disagreed with a whole series of decisions you made.
You should take full advantage of all appropriate FIG forums when communicating with other maintainers. Web site collaboration areas, newsgroups, e-mail, Internet Relay Chat, telephone, and face-to-face-meetings all have their individual strengths. Learn how to use them wisely.
If somebody consistently contributes to your work as a maintainer, and they appear to be a good candidate for maintainership, then you should consider becoming their mentor. The Mentorship process is designed to help members of the public make the transition from being a free-and-loose contributor into becoming a responsible maintainer.
If you choose to become somebody's mentor, and they accept, then you have agreed to take partial responsibility for their actions. Apprentices are not given power over the FIG, except through you. You should help them choose important FIG tasks that they are interested in, so that they can gain confidence in their own skills.
In this way, you exert partial control over the candidate, and help them learn how to be a part of the FIG, without compromising the smooth functioning of the FIG.
If you are an apprentice, you should remember that you are not yet familiar with all the FIG's subtleties, nor are you acting on your own. Use this opportunity to learn! Ask questions, and your mentor will help you to understand. Think of yourself as a novice who is entering a heavy construction area: you need to proceed with caution until you thoroughly know your own abilities, and understand the FIG's climate.
As a mentor, you have the final decision on whether an apprentice is accepted into the FIG, and you are fully responsible for that decision. This is not to be taken lightly. If there are any doubts about whether or not an apprentice is suitable, then you should discuss the issues with both the apprentice and other FIG maintainers.
Your goal is to find out if apprentice possesses the careful balance between love of their own freedom, and love of the FIG's specific goals. If apprentices are not passionate about the FIG's vision, then they are unsuitable for maintainership. On the other hand, even if they are passionate, but they are not free, then they will only dilute the effectiveness of the FIG.
After you decide, you must also announce your decision to all other maintainers. If you have accepted the apprentice, provide a brief personal introduction, and add them to the list of maintainers along with the date on which they were accepted. If you have rejected them, explain the reasons for your decision. This is extremely important, so that other maintainers are not caught off-guard by the sudden appearance of new maintainers, or the loss of an apprentice that they were looking forward to working with.
Mentorship is a difficult process, and can be stressful to everybody involved if it is not conducted with care. You must be sensitive to your apprentice's feelings, as well as careful that they do not become dependent on you. If they become dependent on you, then they will inevitably demand time that would be better spent on your own FIG tasks.
There must be open communication between you and your apprentice: each must share feelings and concerns with one another (see section Honesty). If apprentices seem guarded and emotionally unavailable, then they are not suitable to become a maintainer. Maintainership requires conscious and consistent emotional honesty: you must encourage apprentices to speak their minds, even when they disagree with you.
Do not waste too much time trying to coax apprentices out of their shells... let them know that they need to communicate their feelings, but do not do it for them. If you want to become their personal counsellor and assistant, then you are free to do so, but taking on that role may impede your work as a maintainer.
FIG maintainership is not permanent; it may be deactivated (or revoked) if you don't live up to your responsibilities. This is in order to preserve an exciting, cooperative working atmosphere, as well as to protect the FIG from inflexibility.
The process of deactivation is carefully designed to protect each individual maintainer as well as the FIG as a whole. Any maintainer may submit a request for revocation or deactivation, whether it is for themselves or for another person. These requests are posted to a public forum (FIG.org uses the fig-org@fig.org mailing list), to give all maintainers an opportunity for discussion, including the one under consideration.
This discussion must be conducted carefully so as to discourage hostility. Ideally, all deactivations will be done peacefully, and without hard feelings, as a simple parting of ways rather than a religious war.
In the event that peaceful resolution or separation is impossible, then the majority rules, and accepts responsibility for their actions. All maintainers are allowed to vote or abstain, including the one whose maintainership is under consideration. Members of the minority must accept such a decision, or leave the FIG, so that there is no resentment. However, as with all controversial issues, we encourage positive discussion, even after the decision has been made.
In the unlikely event of a tie vote, the most senior active maintainer casts an additional deciding vote. If that maintainer abstains, then the deciding vote passes to the next most senior maintainer, and so on. This gives a slight bias towards preserving the history of the FIG.
If you ever feel that you are no longer able to contribute to the FIG, you should voluntarily deactivate yourself, so that other maintainers don't expect you to fulfill tasks that you committed to but cannot complete. In that case, your formal request for deactivation gives other members an opportunity to thank you for your contributions before you leave.
Deactivated maintainers will keep their place on the list of maintainers (but their record will be marked with the date on which they were deactivated), unless they request to be removed. In all cases, ex-maintainers may become new apprentices at any time, via the Mentorship process (see section Mentorship).
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