The type of certificate I’m talking about is not like a degree or qualification. It would contain a single sentence: “We thank this person for attending this event (dd/mm/yyyy) in (city) and making a contribution to Tryton”
This was not about impersonation: I’m specifically asking if the foundation would formally endorse a very simple certificate that confirms somebody made contributions.
Would the board be willing to give the director a very limited authorisation to sign certificates that confirm somebody made a contribution?
Certificates look a bit naked without any signature on them.
Please also consider how this would work for co-sponsors. If a sponsor gives some money or a room (e.g. in a university) they usually like to have their name added to all publicity materials.
Yes, this is specifically for people who make contributions. It is not only for coming to watch a talk about Tryton. Some other organizations already do this too. Fedora has badges, Debian has certificates now.
There is a very big cultural difference between different countries. In some countries it is hard for graduates to find their first internship if they don’t have any certificates. In Switzerland, for example, they like to have two signatures on a certificate.
A very large number of voluntary organizations give certificates to their members. For example, if somebody attends a first aid course, they receive a certificate. The certificate does not say they are a doctor. It says “This person spent one day at the first aid course.” This is very simple and accurate.
The links you mention could be integrated as a QR code on the certificate. It would be useful to have a single link that aggregates all the contributions. Maybe we could make links like this with a redirect:
https://contributors.tryton.org/email@example.org
→ Discourse user profile (302 Temporary redirect)
This type of URL would continue working even if Tryton stops using Discourse and changes the redirects to a different target.