Bylaws

The name of this organization shall be the Java Champions Community, hereinafter referred to as "the Group."

The purpose of the Group is to recognize key influencers in the Java community, provide advice, support and advance the adoption of Java technologies.

The Group name includes the word "Java", which is trademarked by Oracle.

Members of the Group can fall into three categories:

To participate in any Group activity, a member must be active unless otherwise noted in these bylaws.

Membership is open to individuals who have been nominated by at least two current Group members and approved by the Group and are not Oracle Employees.

A Group member nominates an individual by submitting the nomination form. The nomination form is created and maintained by the Group. The nomination requires both a nominator and a co-nominator.

Once a nomination has been submitted and processed by Oracle’s Java Champion Team, it will be announced on the Group Mailing List. This initiates a two-week discussion period during which Group members can discuss the candidate without voting.

The purpose of the discussion period is raise any concerns about the candidate, and facilitate discussions and/or the shifting of opinions without committing to a vote. This process also helps keeping the voting period purely for voting on a candidate instead of discussing the candidate’s merits and/or shortcomings.

After the discussion period, a two-week voting period begins. The start of the voting process is announced via an email from Oracle’s Java Champions Team, creating a voting email thread. Group members vote on the Mailing List by replying to the thread, using "+1" for approval, "-1" for disapproval, and "0" for non-commitment.

Voting is not compulsory, so Group members may choose not to participate in a candidate nomination.

A vote of "-1" carries significant weight against the nomination. Group members voting "-1" must provide a reason for their disapproval.

After the two-week voting period, the results are tallied: - Two negative ("-1") votes will disqualify a candidate. - A minimum of three "+1" votes are required to confirm a candidate as a Java Champion, and becoming a new member of the group.

Members have the right to attend meetings, vote on the Group matters, and participate in the Group activities.

A member may renounce their membership at any time by announcing their intent to renounce to the Group mailing list.

A member that starts working for Oracle would transition from being an Active Member to Alumni. If the member leaves Oracle, its Active status is re-instated.

In-person meetings may be held at conferences or events and can occur organically without prior announcements. Attendance at these meetings is not compulsory.

Online meetings can be organized by any Group member. Attendance at these meetings is not compulsory.

Oracle may choose to host In-Person and/or Online meetings for the Java Champions

Amendments to these bylaws may be proposed by any member.

Proposed amendments must be submitted to the Group Mailing List and as a pull request to the Java Champions Document GitHub Repo.

After the amendment pull request has been submitted, a minimum of two-week discussion period is set aside for discussion and amendments within the Group Mailing List.

Following the discussion period, a minimum of one-week voting period is set aside for open polling through the mailing list. The proposing member should announce the length of the voting period.

Voting on amendments to these bylaws shall be conducted openly within the Group to ensure transparency. Each member’s vote shall be recorded and disclosed. The results, including the total number of votes for and against, shall be documented by merging (if passed) or closing (if failed) the pull request amending the bylaws.

Amendments must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the members voting in the poll.