The Vouching page on Reps SOPs mentions this (emphasis mine)
When a person applies to the Mozilla Rep program, that person needs to fill out a field called “References” where he/she needs to share the name of the person vouching for them. That voucher must be a Mozilla Rep signed-up to the program.
Similar mention is made in the Joining SOP (emphasis mine)
We require all applicants to have at least one vouch from another Rep in the application bug. We would recommend to include 3 vouches, but we value quality over quantity.
Is this mandatory vouch from another rep enforced? If not enforced, let us please update this language to a proper one.
If it is enforced, or if you think there should be a vouch by a rep, please read on.
Reps are not a power structure over other Mozillians
instead, they are here to help, empower and inspire people to contribute to Mozilla projects.
The subheading and the quote is from Reps wiki.
Reps are community coordinators
interested in:
- finding and connecting new talent with Mozilla projects they are contributing to
- developing communities on a functional or local level
- supporting local communities and Mozilla to have an effective and decentralized environment for contribution
- creating collaborations with adjacent communities to spread Mozilla’s mission and expand Mozilla’s outreach in the open source ecosystem
- collecting local knowledge from Mozilla communities to inform and inspire Mozilla’s strategy, activities and priorities
An open and community-driven program
The Mozilla Reps program is open to anyone who is:
- passionate about the Mozilla Project
- knowledgeable of the Mozilla organization, its mission, its products and its community
- willing to communicate to as many people as possible and keen to inspire people to contribute to Mozilla
(emphasis original)
Now, what prevents someone who’s been a mozillian for many years from recognizing people who are “passionate, knowledgeable, and willing” from vouching for another mozillian to be a rep?
You may say that someone who already deserves to be a rep would have worked with other reps as well (and not just mozillians) and therefore they can ask one of those reps whom they’ve worked with for a vouch. But consider these scenarios:
Scenario 1: Mozillian only connection
There are ways to contribute to Mozilla without a rep being present. There are mozillians who organize their own event about mozilla without budget/swag. There could be people who contribute to mozilla through these events. There could be contributors among this crowd who deserve to be reps.
Scenario 2: Working alone
The Activate website is full of practical ways people can start contributing to Mozilla. Imagine there is a brilliant contributor in some remote area of the world (there are remote areas in every place) working with the insights they’ve gained over the internet, building a small community (which is what mozilla wants to do through campaigns like activate) and contributing to mozilla. Now, this person comes to know about the reps program and thinks of themselves to be a good fit. Where should this person get a vouch from?
Suggestion
Kindly change the text in Reps wiki which suggests that only reps can vouch reps application or that at least one rep should vouch a reps application into a form that says vouches are not mandatory, but will make the application stronger and that vouches can be made by mozillians or (preferably) reps.