On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 2:06 PM, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.comwrote:
2009/8/28 Anthony wikimail@inbox.org:
I think the main valid reason is that it's kind of rude to ask someone
like
Halprin to commit a certain portion of his quite valuable time to the project, absolutely free, and not to even allow him one board vote (out
of
what, 10 now?).
I don't see why. I donate lots of my time to the project and don't get any board votes.
With all due respect, I'd say your time is worth a lot less than his. Besides, not all people are like you.
I would hope (and assume) he took the seat because he
supports the cause not because he is power hungry.
I would too. Absolutely. But there's something to be said about specifically having a power not granted to you because you're deemed untrustworthy. In fact, on a smaller scale I think that's one of the reasons Wikipedia works.
I'd rather see a system for experts where "the community" (with a better definition than just whoever makes X edits) ratifies the nominees made by the nomination committee, or at least one where "the community" has the power to remove members. But I'd rather see the Wikimedia Foundation as
a
membership organization... So whatever.
That is an interesting idea. A ratification process wouldn't be too difficult logistically and would help keep the real power in the hands of the community, where it should be.
The WMF as a membership organisation would be great, but I don't think it is practical.
It's not practical in the sense that there's not a snowball's chance in hell of the board agreeing to it, but I don't see why it's not practical otherwise. The biggest reason people give is that they would want to become a member without revealing their identity. To them I say either get over it, or contribute to the individual project(s) without having membership in the foundation.
Of course, that leads back to the fact that some (many?) people are not willing to volunteer for an organization when they have a power not granted to them because they are deemed untrustworthy. Of course, in this case, I say we can do without those people.