Sam writes:
Thank you for this reassurance. I am astonished that
the Board
would not
anticipate this (widespread) interpretation of events, or recognize
that
this change would be regarded by many as a power grab by insiders.
I'm pretty sure the Board anticipated criticism.
Speaking as someone who, like Erik, is a staff member who was not part
of the vote on the restructuring, I figured that no matter what the
Board did or did not do, there would be a wave of criticism on
foundation-l. In my experience, that is the most common reaction of
the list.
I urge folks here to interpret the Board's actions as an attempt to
meet several goals -- greater integration of the chapters and the
community members who act through chapters, plus greater expertise.
Keep in mind that it was the Board you believe to be a "good" Board,
with a majority of members from the community, that determined this
was the best way to develop the Board further in support of the
projects. I don't see how this counts as a "power grab by insiders"
considering that, as pure power is normally assessed, being a Trustee
of the Wikimedia Foundation is not exactly the same as being a member
of Microsoft's or Apple's board.
--Mike