Technical Decision Forum/Draft Proposal Community Representation

The Technical Decision Forum is "a place to clarify stakeholders and problem statements" for folks working towards cross cutting changes in MediaWiki and other Wikimedia movement software projects. The Forum is both the location that proposals will be posted and a group of individuals representing the concerns of teams/projects that they represent in the subsequent discussion.

The Forum's members will include representatives from many technical teams within the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia Deutschland. These members will be appointed by their respective employers. The Forum also hopes to include the perspectives of other Wikimedia and MediaWiki developers from the larger FOSS volunteer community. This proposal outlines the process for applying for a "community seat" on the Technical Decision Forum and the rights and responsibilities that community seat holders will have in the Forum.

Number of community seats on Forum
There will be 2 community seats for the initial 2021 Forum.

The number of community seats may be adjusted at any time by the CTO of the Wikimedia Foundation or their designated representative(s). Removal of community seats must not take effect until the conclusion of the next regularly scheduled nomination and appointment process following the announcement of a reductive seat change. Addition of seats takes effect immediately and triggers a special nomination round to fill the additional seats.

Member rights and responsibilities

 * Members must respond to Forum requests for feedback within 7 days.
 * Members must participate in discussion in good faith under the terms of the code of conduct for Wikimedia technical spaces.

Term of service
Community seats will be filled every 6 months with an appointed member serving until the next nomination and appointment process is completed.

Requirements for consideration
To be eligible, candidates must be willing and able to fulfil the duties of Forum service, including expending the time and energy required to evaluate and respond to relevant issues before the Forum, to make informed decisions in good faith, and to monitor Forum communication channels regularly.


 * Not be blocked on more than one Wikimedia project.
 * Not be blocked on Wikimedia' Phabricator instance.
 * Not be under active sanctions for violations of the code of conduct for Wikimedia technical spaces.
 * Have a Developer account in good standing.
 * Have +2 rights on the mediawiki ACL on Wikimedia's Gerrit instance.
 * Have made at least 1 merged commit to a git repository hosted in Wikimedia's Gerrit instance within the previous 12 months.

Appointment process
Community seats are appointed, not elected via popular vote. Nominated candidates will be vetted to ensure that they meet the requirements of consideration before proceeding to consideration for appointment by the CTO of the Wikimedia Foundation or their appointed representative(s).


 * An open nomination process must begin 6 weeks prior to the next appointment cycle.
 * Nominations must be accepted for no less than 4 weeks prior to appointment of new Forum members.
 * Nominations are made in public on <>.
 * Nominations may be either self made ("I nominate me!") or made by a third party ("I nominate < >!").
 * Self made nominations are considered "accepted" automatically.
 * Third party nominations must be accepted publicly by the nominee before they proceed to the approval phase.
 * Within one week of acceptance of nomination, a candidate must be either approved for consideration by the CTO of the Wikimedia Foundation or their appointed representative(s) or disqualified for not meeting one or more requirements for consideration.
 * The Wikimedia community can provide feedback on approved candidates for a period of no less than 2 weeks prior to appointment.
 * Community feedback can be made publicly on <> or via private email to < >.
 * Appointments to the Forum are made by the CTO of the Wikimedia Foundation or their appointed representative(s) following the conclusion of the required feedback cycle for the nominee, but must not be made before the conclusion of the announced nomination period.

Resignation and removal
Forum members can resign at any time. In severe cases, a member not meeting their obligations can be removed through a majority vote by the regular members of the Forum. In the case of a vacancy, the CTO of the Wikimedia Foundation or their appointed representative(s) may call for a special nomination round to fill the vacancies. The Forum continues to fully function when there are vacancies.