I think this is a good start. A couple of thoughts off the top of my head.

1) Can we move this to something that is more active? Right now it sounds like our vision is to clear any hurdles that anyone may have. I think that's certainly reasonable, but it's a bit reactive.

2) Drop the Red Hat. I think it's implied by the nature of the project, but we're creating a vision statement for CentOS Stream and seeing it listed there seems like we're trying to make a vision statement that captures both.

3) The subjectivity of "better" is good from an openness and idea solicitation perspective, but it may cause some hiccups. One could imagine saying ".debs are better than .rpms" and expecting us to facilitate that, for example. I don't know how or if to bound that.

I'd love if you could take a stab at a few of those!

I do not think that (2) is implied. Unless the implication is that CentOS Stream is supposed to grow beyond that, we probably should express this explicitly because otherwise people will expect more than what CentOS Stream is allowed to be.

CentOS Vision Statement rewording draft:

CentOS aims to make Enterprise Linux better - though bug fixes, feature enhancements, or special interest extensions - providing project resources for contributors with similar interests to collaborate on the experience for everyone within our ecosystem.

I do not think that (2) is implied. Unless the implication is that CentOS Stream is supposed to grow beyond that, we probably should express this explicitly because otherwise people will expect more than what CentOS Stream is allowed to be.

This is a vision statement for CentOS (the project), not CentOS Stream (the distribution). CentOS is definitely more than the scope of what CentOS Stream itself is, as evident by our existing SIGs :)

A reader may assume we're targeting other distributions but we can clear that up with other documentation. From a vision perspective I think we need to be more open than what Red Hat may or may not be interested in. If those work into other distributions, all the better.

I've been thinking on this a bit and I feel like some words are missing...

CentOS aims to make Enterprise Linux better - though bug fixes, feature enhancements, or special interest extensions - providing project resources for contributors with similar interests to collaborate on the experience for everyone within our ecosystem.

'CentOS' as the subject is a bit far from the verb 'providing' which feels weird to me. I'll try to think up a draft of something in that vein.

Hrm -

CentOS aims to make Enterprise Linux better by providing project resources for contributors with similar interests to collaborate on the experience for everyone within our ecosystem. These contributions can be achieved through bug fixes, feature enhancements, or special interest extensions, and other means.

I was thinking something like:

CentOS aims to make Enterprise Linux better - though bug fixes, feature enhancements, or special interest extensions. This is done by providing a clear way to engage with the right resources for contributors with similar interests to collaborate on the experience for everyone within our ecosystem.

I don't want to lose the intent to document implicit in "clear way to engage", but that can be polished up. As I was playing with it I noticed this has a strong focus on development and no real indication that there is a place to get help with things. Collaborators and contributors are great! But do folks understand the folks answering questions on the forums or in IRC are part of the group. Personally I think they are, but I'm not sure that is a common view point.

My answer is equivocally yes they are but unless we make it clear it's an us and them

I don't equate collaboration and contribution with development. Fedora has gone to extensive lengths to dis-spell that notion recently as well. Answering questions, providing help on IRC, artwork, etc are all both collaborative and contributions.

If we need to adjust to be more inclusive, I would just drop the bug fix, feature, SIG part entirely. Those are examples of development activities that are also contributions, but I can see how they would be perceived as narrowing what we consider contributions to be.

Perhaps:

CentOS aims to make Enterprise Linux better by providing project resources for contributors with similar interests to collaborate or communicate about the experience for everyone within our ecosystem. Whether it is artwork, development, discussion, or troubleshooting - CentOS should provide a clear way to get involved for contributors of all skill and interest levels.

Posted for feedback : https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-devel/2022-December/120736.html

I did see one thing after being sent to the list. Should it be 'or' or 'and/or' when we talk about collaborate or communicate

:) the nature of pressing "send" is that suddenly typos appear

https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-devel/2022-December/142714.html

CentOS aims to make Enterprise Linux better by providing project
resources for contributors with similar interests to collaborate
and/or communicate about the experience for everyone within our
ecosystem. Whether it is artwork, development, discussion, or
troubleshooting - CentOS should provide a clear way to get involved
for contributors of all skill and interest levels.

Without any further comments from the list, we've agreed on this text in the Jan 11 2023 board meeting.