Kevin Smith for Council 2013

I'm Kevin Smith, I've been serving on Council for seven years, and I'm reapplying for a eighth. I've chaired the Council for the last five sessions.

The easiest way of judging if you want me on Council again is probably to look at the Council history and see if what I do is something you want Council members doing:
 * I tend to turn up to all the meetings.
 * I tend to read the XEPs before voting on them.
 * I tend to challenge and propose alternatives when I don't believe a XEP's ready.
 * I tend to let XEPs through when they solve a problem the community wants solved.
 * I tend to change my mind when I see arguments from people smarter than me.

History in XMPP

 * Started using in 2001.
 * Started writing code for Psi in 2002.
 * Joined the JSF/XSF members sometime later.
 * Project lead for Psi from 2004 until 2009.
 * Contributed a couple of early patches to SleekXMPP (Python library)
 * Wrote most of SleekBot (Chat bot using SleekXMPP)
 * Wrote SleekMigrate script (extract XEP-0227 export data from a server that doesn't support it)
 * In 2006 I participated in the Summer of Code program as a student
 * In 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012 as a mentor
 * In 2010, 2011, 2012 as an org admin.
 * Develop the Swift client with Remko.
 * Work for Isode, on the M-Link server and associated tools.
 * I'm one third of the writing team that brought you XMPP: The Definitive Guide, via O'Reilly.
 * Wrote MaybeLater, a web-based TODO app using XMPP for the datastore.
 * Wrote the Stroke XMPP library for Java (a port of Swiften to pure Java).
 * My name's on a number of XEPs.
 * I've served on Council for the 2006/2007/2008/2009/2010/2011/2012 period, chair for the 2008-2012 sessions and would like to serve for 2012/2013 if I'm deemed useful.

Suitability
Reasons I can helpfully contribute:
 * I have a lot of experience of XMPP through Psi, Sleek, Swift, M-Link, jabber.org admin, Council etc.
 * I have experience doing 'new stuff' and thinking ideas through, from a PhD and a couple of R&D-related jobs.
 * I can read and write XMPP 'stuff' (re: book).
 * I still have new things to say about XMPP.
 * I'm one of the jabber.org admins, so I've seen quite a lot of server use, both from users and abusers, and from the server P.o.V. (I've run at least five different server softwares in production and more in testing environments).

Films
No, those weren't me. Don't let that stop you voting for me, though, if you liked them.

Contact
xmpp:kevin@doomsong.co.uk