Governance
Stewardship of the Fair Deal Policy
Protecting clarity, integrity, and responsible evolution.
FDP is not owned as a product. It is stewarded as shared infrastructure. Stewardship exists to protect FDP from misuse, dilution, capture, or ideological distortion—without turning FDP into an enforcement regime.
What stewardship means here
Stewardship is not enforcement. FDP does not certify alignment, police participants, or adjudicate disputes. Stewardship focuses on clarity of principles, coherence of language, and responsible evolution. It does not imply centralized control, moderation of communities, or adjudication of disputes.
Why stewardship matters
Without stewardship, shared norms tend to fragment, become performative, or lose meaning over time. Stewardship keeps FDP usable, legible, and trustworthy across contexts.
How FDP evolves
FDP changes are considered based on real-world use: recurring misunderstandings, edge cases, systemic blockers, and unintended consequences. Evidence comes before opinion.
What stewardship protects against
- FDP becoming a marketing label
- FDP becoming a moral ranking system
- FDP being used as a coercive tool
- FDP being misrepresented as legal substitute
Relationship to platforms and ecosystems
FDP is platform-agnostic. It may be referenced on professional profiles, used inside organizations, embedded in platforms, or adopted by networks. No platform owns FDP.
Relationship to SEF
The Social Enterprise Foundation (SEF) can act as an initial steward of FDP: holding the policy in trust, maintaining openness, and supporting learning—without claiming control.
Contributing
Participants can contribute by sharing experiences of use, surfacing edge cases, documenting systemic blockers, and proposing clarifications. Contributions should aim to improve clarity and practical utility, not impose ideology.
The Human Agreement baseline
Stewardship activity respects a simple boundary: ideas may be challenged rigorously; people are never dehumanized.
Anchor adoption in practice
The best way to strengthen FDP is to use it in real collaborations and feed back what you learn.