On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 8:53 AM, Philippe Beaudette < philippebeaudette@gmail.com> wrote:
KTC wrote:
They are available on the submission page if one want to see it. The committee would just prefer they not be as visibly available until we have confirmed the candidates meet the eligibility criteria and that their candidate submission meet the election regulation. This is partly to ensure fairness to all those who stand. Say a candidate submission is too long (as has been the case a couple of time), it does take time for them to correct it. In the mean time, if it were all widely visible, the other candidates can/will complain about unfair advantages gained over the exposure to the longer statement.
KTC appropriate conveys the feelings of the committee on this one. These presentations are currently being SUBMITTED; not PRESENTED. At this point, they're being given to the committee so that we can begin things like qualification of the candidate, translation of the statements, etc. Once they are released, they'll be in much wider distribution. This is a slightly different process from last year.
If the intent is to wait until the end of the submission period before releasing any of them, then I think this process does considerable harm by discouraging additional volunteers for the position. While there may be a mild advantage to the candidate to submitting early, I think there is a bigger advantage to Wikimedia in presenting candidacies on a rolling acceptance basis.
-Robert Rohde