A case for FOSS United's reform

rushabh · 13 November 2026 04:02

Shree Kumar (banned on this forum) has made a better case for re-thinking FOSS United for the future into a more efficient, community driven org.

Some of his language like scam may be off putting to some (maybe his attempt at humour), but I think the broad points are valid.

My personal view is that FOSS United is not a scam for sure, I strongly disagree with Shree’s assessment here, but it is definitely not the ideal structure to build a broad based community.

I would urge people to take sometime to read this.

what-AIDS/what-AIDS-FOSS-United.md

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# Introduction

This is a follow on document to my elementary yet fundamentals based tome, “What ails FOSS United”. "What ails” seeded a major controversy, but not due to its content. It annoyed the “powers-that-be" -- the self-appointed moderators of the FOSS United Community, which were Staff and even a Director of FU masquerading as “volunteers”.

FOSS communities have a good history of debate, but not a patch on the fundamentally Argumentative Indian! The initial arguments were good enough to shake many out of their slumbers.  And in the process, many members whose last posts were a year more ago - found a voice back in their home. That was a delight to see!

## "AIDS" or aids ?

The title of this tome is easy to miss. And hence this novelty is called out separately. "AIDS" of course stands for Acquired Immuno Deficieny Syndrome. In the case of current FOSS United, Deficiency acquired due to what ? Dependence on Money. Too much outsourcing. Too little volunteering. Less to no sense of ownership.

AIDS in lowercase is aids, meaning help/assistance, etc. What helps us? Focus on grassroots contribution, volunteering, distributed decision making, community led initiatives.

In nature, there is duality everywhere. The choice of title is a silent upvote of this fundamental reality.  This document covers both the disease and the cure, for FOSS United.

# Author

Shree Kumar aka "Corpo-Rate"

License: CC-BY-SA-4.0

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India needs a strong FOSS ecosystem, now more than ever and it will only happen if the community is more democratic than run by a few people.

Do read and ponder.

cc @realvinay @Vishnu_Sudhakaran

rahulporuri · 13 November 2026 09:11

@rushabh I’m not sure why you’d share a document with such blatant code of conduct violations. Also, Shree Kumar isn’t banned on this forum; he’s suspended for 6 months, as clearly seen from his profile

he calls FOSS United a scam, which you disagreed with, but is a serious allegation that he hasn’t supported or substantiated with any evidence
he says that i’m attracted to gold (salary) and that greed is fueling my decisions, which is a personal attack
he calls me, the CEO, king and emperor, and continues his sustained campaign targeting me individually
he continues his campaign of age-related harassment directed at young staff members, noting that his proposed role isn’t for “young turks”
he continues to attribute bad faith to the staff actions, saying that we are actively sabotaging the mission of the foundation
he goes further by painting any grantee as beholden to the Foundation/staff instead of the community, just because people pushed back on his campaign on the forum

All of these, and more, are clearly not acceptable under the code of conduct - Code of Conduct - that we all agree to when participating in this forum and other online/in-person spaces. We can’t play favorites when enforcing the CoC, not with an IndiaFOSS co-chair, Governing Board members, funders, or co-founders.

Finally, you point out his writing as a case for reform, but we’re both aware that FOSS United Foundation is registered as a Section 8 not-for-profit foundation, not as a member-driven cooperative.

India is large and needs a lot of people actively working on improving it, and given that your interests align in a “democratic community run by a few people”, why not fork FOSS United in the true FOSS spirit? With Frappe’s support, Shree’s vision and time, and the rupee fund, I’m sure you’ll be able to establish a successful multi-state co-operative community that is driven by the people and is funded by individuals instead of large donors.

rushabh · 13 November 2026 16:35

You can hide behind code of conduct and refuse to answer any of the pertinent questions about your performance. Not a single industry sponsor in 2 years, and you lost half of what you had.

As a founder and long time sponsor, I guess it is not unfair to ask questions. Maybe this community is already dead.

I have some ideas to kick start stuff. Will try them out.

Mz1 · 13 November 2026 23:10

Some of the points in the document, I must say, I’ve heard directly from FU Staff (months ago) as things they want to implement. So, it isn’t like there’s a total disconnect from what’s being proposed.

Unfair, when the document jumps to quantitative conclusions rather haphazardly, and uses divisive language to deliver on its points. The document also strikes me as self-serving (as it extensively references authors own opinion & ideas) to merit a wider discussion by the Staff & the Community. May be, it needs to be put to the GB first? May be, the GB needs a way for folks to put forth their RFCs in a specific (preferably, respectable & neutral) shape and manner?

I mean, there has to be a better way? Ranting, rage-baiting (or, euphemistically, we could call it, “humour”) works, but I don’t think it automatically warrants anyone else’s time.

I’m not as invested, but to the point about FOSDEM made in the document: When I personally spoke with Richard Hartmann at IndiaFOSS 2026 (@Vishnu was around, too), he specifically mentioned IndiaFOSS as one of the best run FOSS conferences he’s been too, and probably “closest to FOSDEM in spirit” (exact quote).

There’s a long way from here to a member run co-op, but to claim there’s one true way to scale this event is already swimming upstream of what has recently worked just as well. What works elsewhere, especially mountains of cultures away, is no guarantee. That said, I understand the need to experiment newer forms & borrowing from existing blueprints.

This document isn’t it (in its current form). Just a glance and unserious words such as “ideally” / “easily” / “prestigious” seem to be doing a lot of heavy lifting.

If we reach 5k IndiaFOSS participants, we can easily raise 25L or more of sponsorships - purely based on inbound interest (i.e. no outreach)

…

… we can give a thousand scholarships with a max cap of twenty thousand rupees … then IndiaFOSS 2027 will be the MOST prestigious conference in India

…

Ideally - FT1, PT1 and DIR are in the same location - Bangalore of course !

Well, it has been evolving. As someone who’s seen FU grow since the early Telegram-group days, the current structure appears radically different, but not necessarily one in want of any radical change (whether it even needs one is up for the Staff+GB to contemplate?).