I knew they are theoretically self-appointed, but was under the impression that at least until now an appearance of democracy and legitimacy towards the community has been respected, which no longer seems to be the case. I wonder what would be the legitimacy of a self-appointing body in the eyes of the Wikimedia Movement, and all the communities which are part of it?
Regards, Paulo
Adam Wight adam.wight@wikimedia.de escreveu no dia quarta, 7/10/2020 à(s) 17:20:
Greetings, this is a semiautomated response pointing out that the Wikimedia Foundation Board is not elected, it's self-appointing. The so-called "elections" are in fact nominations to be considered by the Board. Therefore, the Bylaws have not been broken.
This is an unfortunate arrangement, please see [1] for some background about the conversion from a membership organization to a non-membership organization which is no longer legally required to hold elections.
Regards,
Adam W. [[mw:User:Adamw]]
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_membership_controversy
On 10/7/20 5:55 PM, Paulo Santos Perneta wrote:
The terms of 3 BoT members expired last month, and the BoT itself decided to extend them? What is the legitimacy of that? And why is a BoT which is expected to be in a mere interim management waiting for elections, presenting profound changes to its Bylaws [1]?
[1] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Octob...
Best, Paulo
Nataliia Tymkiv ntymkiv@wikimedia.org escreveu no dia quarta,
7/10/2020
à(s) 16:49:
Hello,
I can answer a few of the questions raised in this thread.
When the Board postponed the community selection of trustees, we also extended the terms of the trustees in the affected seats (María
Sefidari,
Dariusz Jemielniak, and James Heilman)[1]. Their terms were originally
set
to expire last month, but because of that term extension they are still serving as trustees, and as such María remains the Board Chair and
Dariusz
and James continue on as Committee Chairs[2].
Raju Narisetti and Esra'a Al Shafei have been reappointed to the Board
for
an additional three-year term[3][4].
The current members of the Board of Trustees are listed on the Wikimedia Foundation website[5].
We do not currently have a shortage of trustees on the Board, and we
have
had a quorum for every decision we have made this year. We have
published
some outstanding Board records, many of which were just approved at our recent meeting in September[6][7].
I have just sent an email to this list, as well as posted an update to Meta-Wiki, with a request for feedback on matters related to the Foundation’s Bylaws and trustee selection[8]. That announcement contains more information about the postponed community selection of trustees.
Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Vice Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
[1]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Postponement_of_Community_S...
[2]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Board_Officers_and_Committe...
[3]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Renewing_Raju_Narisetti%27s...
[4]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Renewing_Esra%27a_Al_Shafei...
[5] https://wikimediafoundation.org/role/board/
[6] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetings
[7] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolutions
[8]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Octob...
<
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/July_...
*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal
working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend.
You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you
in
advance!*
On Thu, Oct 1, 2020 at 9:52 PM Bill Takatoshi billtakatoshi@gmail.com wrote:
After I asked my questions on September 4, I was sent the message below by some role account I've never heard of, asking about claims that have used the names of five other people. I don't edit under my real name, but I have never used the names in the linked forum postings.
The linked posts also claim that the Foundation's nonprofit status is at risk. I am not a lawyer, but I am skeptical of that claim even though five Trustees whose three-year terms expired in August apparently voted on a Resolution in a Board meeting on September 24. According to Section 4 of the Bylaws, "A quorum shall consist of a majority of Trustees then in office." Section 6 says, "the Board may continue doing business as a Board during the vacancy of any Trustee position." Therefore, since four of the five remaining Trustees all voted in favor, the Resolution was properly carried, in my layperson's view. I am less certain about the propriety of allowing a Trustee whose three year term expired to continue to serve as Chair.
The lack of any update or even ETA for an update on
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2020#Pos...
is baffling. Elections have never been held in person, only online, and so the excuse that they were postponed because of the pandemic crisis seems extremely suspicious. Indefinitely delaying elections for such a vacuous reason makes the Foundation look like the worst of the bad actors in today's international political climate. Doesn't the cancelled travel of the pandemic crisis give the Foundation more time to hold elections, not less? Whether non-profit status is at risk or not, I would hope that the Foundation, Board, and Elections Committee would be more interested in upholding the principles of good governance than failing to even announce a new schedule or even a date by which a new schedule will be announced.
-Will
On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 10:31 PM Gender Desk genderscribe@gmail.com wrote:
Mr. Takatoshi,
Wikipediocracy has suggested that you have also used the names "Rogol
Domedonfors, Renée Bagslint, Jennifer Pryor-Summers, Felicity Braingut, Thomas Townsend and others." http://wikipediocracy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=11567
Can you comment on that?
Regards, Genderdesk
genderdesk.wordpress.com
On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 7:38 PM Samuel Klein meta.sj@gmail.com
wrote:
Can anyone from the elections committee comment? What is the current plan? //S On Fri, Sep 4, 2020 at 8:05 PM Bill Takatoshi <
billtakatoshi@gmail.com
wrote:
How long can the Foundation legally postpone Board of Trustees
elections?
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2020#Pos...
has a comment from April saying, "Once things get moving again, appopriate [sic] date for the election will be decided and an announcement will be made."
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees#Curre...
suggests that five board members terms end on "Wikimania 2020" -- but is that accurate?
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Term_Limit_Proposal_for_Byl...
is clear that "All Board terms are three years" and "the term of each such appointment shall not exceed three years."
Who are the current members of the Board of Trustees?
Can the board achieve a quorum in its present state?
Who is the Chair currently?
-- Samuel Klein @metasj w:user:sj +1 617 529
4266
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