Hi All, I wanted to share a personal perspective here, since my own journey in this community speaks directly to the questions being raised.
I joined Fluss as a contributor from Dream11 in February 2025, entirely outside the Alibaba ecosystem. I was a Flink user who had always admired how the Flink SQL team made streaming so approachable. I decided to try my luck and sent a cold email (Attached Below) to learn directly from the team. To my surprise, I was welcomed, and I got to work alongside some of the very people who built that experience. I became a committer in July 2025 and was proposed for PPMC membership in February 2026. That path was not fast-tracked or based on any organisational affiliation. It was the result of 12 months of sustained involvement: contributing to core design, participating in code reviews, organising community calls, giving talks, and helping onboard new contributors. One concrete example of how this community operates: I drove the Iceberg integration roadmap end to end. That work was not assigned or directed by any single organisation. It grew out of observing the Lakehouse trend accelerating across global regions and companies, and from direct feedback we gathered from multiple potential users and adopters. The fact that a contributor from outside the founding ecosystem could identify a strategic gap, champion it publicly on the mailing list, and see it through to delivery is, I think, a good reflection of how this community actually makes decisions. What made all of this possible was the mentorship I received from existing members, many of whom came from the Alibaba days. They invested in me as a contributor, not as a representative of any company. I never felt that my affiliation mattered; what mattered was the work and the willingness to take on responsibility. >From where I stand, vendor neutrality in this community is not just a policy. It is how things actually operate. Roadmap discussions, release planning, and feature decisions all happen publicly. I have personally seen contributors from Ant Group, ByteDance, Dynatrace, LinkedIn, Fresha, DigitalOcean and others engage as equals in those conversations. I believe the community has earned graduation, and I am confident it will continue to grow in a way that reflects the Apache Way. Best regards, Mehul Batra [image: image.png] On Tue, May 26, 2026 at 7:19 PM Anton Borisov <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > Since my name has come up in the discussion, I wanted to add a short > note from my side. > > I appreciate the kind words about my contributions. At the same time, > those contributions were only possible because of the openness of the > current Fluss community > and the support I received from existing PPMC members and committers. > > My experience has been that technical discussions and reviews happen > openly, and that contributors from outside are welcomed and helped to > become productive. > I have personally benefited from that process. > > I also think it is useful for the project to make expectations around > committer and PMC membership explicit, and I believe the Fluss > community is moving in the right direction here, > and I trust the community to continue growing contributors into > broader project responsibility. > > I’m happy to continue contributing to Apache Fluss in whatever way is > useful to the community. > > -- Anton > > вт, 26 мая 2026 г. в 13:50, Jark Wu <[email protected]>: > > > > Hi Justin, > > > > Thank you for raising the PMC selection questions. We truly appreciate > > the IPMC's careful review, and we are happy to provide more clarity on > > the PMC selection process to help with the assessment. > > > > The PPMC has aligned on a clear and consistent set of criteria for > > selecting new PPMC members, applied without bias to all candidates: > > > > - The bar for becoming a committer is intentionally kept fairly low to > > encourage broad participation and onboarding of new contributors. > > - The bar for PPMC membership is set fairly high, reflecting the > > additional responsibility of guiding project direction, mentoring, and > > stewarding community health, and long-term involvement. > > > > This criteria was discussed in the private mailing list [1], and the > > qualities are outlined in our community guidelines [2]. > > > > For example, Mehul became a Fluss committer in July 2025 and was > > proposed for PPMC membership in February 2026. During those seven > > months, he was not only highly active in core design and code review, > > but also contributed significantly to community growth by organizing > > community calls, presenting talks, and attracting new contributors. > > These are the qualities we look for in new PPMC members. > > > > Regarding Anton: we fully recognize Anton's valuable contributions and > > agree that he has already demonstrated many of the qualities we seek > > in a PPMC member. However, Anton was only recently invited to become a > > committer this month. So we did not rush to include him in this > > initial PMC list. We maintain a strong pipeline of talented and active > > committers, several of whom are currently under observation for future > > PPMC nominations. Notably, most of our new committers come from > > non-Alibaba companies, which contributes to greater diversity in the > > future composition of the PMC. > > > > I agree that some committers have been more active recently than > > certain proposed PPMC members. We believe this is a natural dynamic. > > With the exception of Mehul, who is the only new PPMC member joined > > during incubation, all other proposed PMC members are initial PPMC > > members. Their contributions were thoroughly evaluated when Fluss > > entered the Apache Incubator. While some may be less visible in > > day-to-day coding or reviewing activities, they remain actively > > engaged behind the scenes, providing strategic guidance and critical > > support for the project's growth. Therefore, we have included them in > > the proposed PMC list based on their sustained commitment and > > historical impact. I think this also follows the "merit never expires" > > of The Apache Way[3]. > > > > The PPMC does not and will not nominate individuals based on seniority > > or title within a company. From the committers and PPMC members who > > joined during the incubation phase, you can see we apply consistent > > evaluation criteria. Everyone nominated has made solid contributions > > to the project. > > > > Thank you again for your time and for helping ensure a thoughtful > > graduation process for Fluss. I hope this addresses your concerns > > regarding the PMC selection. > > > > Kind regards, > > Jark > > > > [1] https://lists.apache.org/thread/rn7vkhm3sktg2jgsd8l2j4yn9y9dvbc5 > > [2] https://fluss.apache.org/community/become-a-committer/ > > [3] https://www.apache.org/theapacheway/ > > > > On Tue, 26 May 2026 at 17:08, <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > I want to make a general point about PMC membership criteria that I > think is relevant to this discussion. > > > > > > Seniority or title within a company is not a basis for membership in > the PMC at the ASF. PMC membership should reflect sustained community > engagement and a willingness to take on governance responsibilities, not > organisational hierarchy. > > > > > > I would ask the PPMC to confirm that all proposed PMC members have > been selected on this basis. > > > > > > Kind Regards, > > > Justin > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > >
