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.

My approach to Council is unlikely to change significantly if I serve this year:

I tend to turn up to all the meetings.
I tend to read the XEPs fairly thoroughly 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 there are compelling arguments.

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 2006/2007/2008/2009/2010/2011/2012/2013 period, chair for the 2008-2013 sessions and would like to serve for 2013/2014 if I can be useful.

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).
I have (hopefully) interesting perspectives of different types of real-world deployments through my day job.

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