[Wikimediaindia-l] Wikimedia India Chapter

[Gautam John]

Hello Shahid and Praveen:

> Who decided the list of founding members (Signatories) mentioned on this page http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_India/MoA#WIKIMEDIA_INDIA? And how was this list decided? How come Gautam K John (who is self-admittedly not involved with Wikipedia) was invited to be a founding member, but someone like User:Bhadani was not?

It's a fair point you raise. The group arose out of those who had
shown a previous communicated interest in being part of a local
chapter formation. It wasn't a secretly selected group but one that
came together basis a common and communicated cause. As for me, yes, I
am not a Wikipedian and I accept that criticism. However, if I may
make a point. An organization needs representation not just from
within its own community but also from those outside who share the
vision and the philosophy.

> I'm all for a Wikimedia India chapter, but it should be a group of all the people who are actually part of the Wikipedia community! It should not be a bunch of politicians that want to be face of Wikipedia to the Indian media without having made any substantial contributions to Wikipedia.

Would you say that of everyone who has been so kind as to spare
immense amounts of time and put in much effort to get it to this
stage?

> Wikimedia India will receive thousands of rupees in donations. We need trusted people who are representative of the pan-India Wikipedia community to handle it.

Yes. It will. Which is why we need you and everyone else in the
community to hold the organization accountable.

There have been previous efforts at getting this organization started
- the need of the hour was getting it up and running. I think it'd be
great if we could do that.

Thank you.

Best,

Gautam
________
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