[Foundation-l] Fundraiser update

[Mike Godwin]

Marc Riddell writes:

> The Foundation - and those who represent it - seem to have forgotten  
> that
> people are at the heart of what they are there to do. And, without the
> heart, it cannot live.

This is really an insupportable assertion. The Foundation and those  
who represent it are, if anything, hyperaware of the community on  
whose volunteer efforts we depend. That awareness factors into  
practically every decision we make.  Anyone who tells you otherwise is  
speaking out of ignorance.

To name only one example:  Every time we discuss Flagged Revisions at  
the Foundation, someone will express concern about how it might affect  
community participation if current edits of a sighted version are not  
visible (for some period of time, at least) to those who consult  
Wikipedia without logging in. Sometimes the person expressing concern  
is me -- I know from my own long-term experience in online communities  
that keeping people motivated to contribute is central to a  
community's success.

The idea that anyone at the Foundation ever forgets about the  
dependence of the projects on the larger community of editors is just  
nonsense, born out of the impulse, so common in online forums, to  
Assume Bad Faith.

Erik's passing reference to a 23-person organization is, when read  
properly, an *acknowledgement* of the larger community of volunteers  
-- it is precisely because the size of our organization is so small  
that we are so dependent on volunteers for our mission to succeed.  In  
fact, if you look again at Erik's actual words, that very passage  
*stresses how essential volunteers are*.  Here's the passage in  
question:  "As a 23-people organization, it's clear that our  
communication efforts need to culminate in volunteer-driven efforts of  
both a proactive and reactive nature. That's already the case to a  
great degree (thanks to volunteers like yourself), and I hope that we  
will continue to improve in that regard."

It take a lot of mental labor to read those sentences as *forgetting*  
about volunteers, when in fact volunteers are *expressly mentioned and  
given credit*,

Finally, it bears remembering that Erik's own role in the Foundation  
derives from his own history as a volunteer editor -- Erik's record as  
a contributor is exceptional by any standard, so it plainly makes no  
sense to suppose that Erik might even theoretically have forgotten  
about the importance of volunteers.

Try assuming good faith.


--Mike