Arne Klempert wrote:
I am something irritated by some suggestions on meta regarding the international structure of Wikimedia. There are made suggestions, aligning local Chapter at a language, instead of aligning at a country, for example Wikimedia Francophone and Wikipedia Esperanto. IMHO that is the wrong way. Please look at other international non profit organizations how they do that.
I agree with this---local chapters should be for reasons of local convenience, particularly legal issues like tax-deductability of donations, ease of fundraising and local advertising, and so on. Making them language-based doesn't really address this, except for the people who happen to be in the country the foundation is based in. This shouldn't be language-based---an English-speaking German should be able to join the German Wikimedia branch and continue to work primarily or exclusively at en: if he or she desires; a German-speaking American should likewise be able to join the US Wikimedia branch and continue to work primarily or exclusively at de:. Language-type issues should be done on the Wikimedia Foundation level---the international organization. Perhaps language-coordination working groups could be set up within it, but there's no good reason I can see to tie these to national foundations of a particular country. Another disadvantage of that approach is that those in smaller countries are more discriminated against---why should a German-speaking person from Switzerland have to "report to" a foreign Wikimedia branch in Germany, for example?
-Mark