Hello all.
The Toolserver has been run by Wikimedia Germany since 2005. We now feel that it's time to make the Toolserver a joint operation. In the past, other chapters have expressed the wish to contribute to the toolserver, and some have done so, but it was always a bit tricky.
We hope to improve this situation by creating an independent entity that runs the toolserver. We have discussed this during the Wikimedia Conference 2010 in Berlin, documentation of this discussion can be found at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapters_meeting_2010/Documentation/Working_Groups/Toolserver.
Mainly, we agreed to form a working group that includes every chapter that is interested in discussing the future of the Toolserver governance and is willing to financially contribute towards the operation of the Toolserver. The purpose of this working group is to propose the organizational and legal structure for a new Toolserver association and with some basic roles & responsibilities of such an association.
All chapters have received a request for participation from Wikimedia Germany's ED, Pavel Richter, and several have already expressed an interest in taking part. If you would like you local chapter to be involved with toolserver governance, please ask them about it. The deadline for joining the working group is June 11, working group than has until the end of September to come up with a proposal. The working group will consist of one official representative for each chapter, possibly aided by advisors/experts.
One important question the working group will discuss is how the toolserver community (you) can and should be involved with the governance body. What do you think would be a sensible way to do this?
Also, if you have any questions, concerns or proposals you would like to see addressed by the working group, please let me know - best by posting here.
Daniel Kinzler Software Developer Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.