I'm going to be cursed for top-posting, but c'est la vie.
The United States is a unique country made up of fifty separate states. A great number of these states are geographically large enough to hold small European countries like the one I live in - Belgium - and have plenty room left to spare. When you look at some of these states, say, California, they have a GDP that would put them in the top ten or twenty global economies. There are a variety of other aspects of the U.S. that make it unique, but none which in my opinion merit giving it a special status.
I believe U.S. chapters should be encouraged, and it is up to their potential members to decide how to structure them. Yes, with the WMF being a U.S. registered entity there may be details that differ from those of other chapters, they may be sub-entities as opposed to independent in their own right. This is no reason to assume they would be under-represented at WMF board level.
I've not followed a lot of this discussion as it has simply been too high volume. There are too many people shoot first and ask questions later. However, why would a situation where the various chapters select their candidates and put them forward for a WMF-wide election not be reasonable? A global election for the seats in question, but the candidates selected at a more local level by the chapters. Candidates who have their chapter's endorsement and are a lot more serious than people who'd suggest things like shutting down everything but Wikipedia.
Brian McNeil
-----Original Message----- From: foundation-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:foundation-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Florence Devouard Sent: 04 May 2008 17:56 To: foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Chapter-selected Board seats - brainstorming
Birgitte SB wrote:
--- On Sun, 5/4/08, effe iets anders effeietsanders@gmail.com wrote:
From: effe iets anders effeietsanders@gmail.com Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Chapter-selected Board seats - brainstorming To: birgitte_sb@yahoo.com, "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List" <C> Date: Sunday, May 4, 2008, 9:59 AM 2008/5/4, Birgitte SB birgitte_sb@yahoo.com:
The board suggested in the restructuring FAQ
said:
"We acknowledge that giving the chapters an
official voice in the governance of the Foundation makes it more important than before, that chapters -as much as possible- reflect the full range of Wikimedia supporters. Therefore, we now want to encourage the creation of sub-national chapters in the United States." [1]
This is where my interest in the US chapter
information stems from. So please don't patronize me that the US is asking for attention or making an issue out of something that should simply be neglected if the need is not felt. The only reason there is an issue at all is that people from outside of the US are insisting there should not be sub-national chapters without a national one. Perhaps I should have ignored them rather than started this attempt I have been making to see those concerns addressed.
Birgitte SB
[1]http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees/Restructure_Announc ement_Q%26A
Yeah, you are right, the FAQ seems to suggest that indeed. OK, I should reword my statement probably to something along the lines that I do not want to tell people that they should set up a chapter. I agree that the balance of pro's and con's has been changed somewhat since the board restructuring yes. But after all, it remains so that the volunteers running the chapter should decide whether it is worth it. Whether things are worth the trouble.
Thank you. I am personally uncertain whether things are worth the
trouble. That is why I am trying to get answers on why the board and people who believe chapters to be important think US chapter(s) to be worthwhile.
Birgitte SB
The way I understood it when we drafted the text is this: We felt that various people considered that the board was not supportive of the creation of a USA chapter; From the moment when the chapters have a say in the board membership, it seemed likely that part of the community could have complained that American citizens would not be able to have a voice about these reserved chapters given that the board did not allow US chapters. As such, what our sentence primarily meant was that the board would not oppose the creation of a USA chapter.
It does not mean that we know or have a clear opinion on how to deal with state level - city level - library level etc..., It does not mean that we yet know what these chapters would do it simply means that on the principle, we'll be happy to approve a USA chapter ... or USA chapters, or USA chocolate cake, or something, that will make it possible for USA citizens to get involved at board membership level.
HMMM, I hope I am clear ;-)
ant
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