I agree completely. I have also suggested this in other places. We would
just have a "Wikimedia United States" that may or may not be an "official
organization" but is more of a "Chapters committee" aiming and making its
business to help out fellow chapters in the United States and get them
started. A committee based solely on Chapters in the United States would
allow us to focus on and learn more about American laws on items such as
this.
Casey Brown
Cbrown1023
-----Original Message-----
From: foundation-l-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org
[mailto:foundation-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of SJ Klein
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 3:04 PM
To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Wikimedia Pennsylvania
Whether or not this is the right formal structure, it is a good idea
to help get local wikipedia groups organized, on campuses and at
coffeehouses; promote local languages; &c.
SJ
On Tue, 10 Jul 2007, Dmcdevit wrote:
That makes sense, but I think it would make more sense
to have a
national chapter with (an emphasis on) local subchapters, instead of
simply scattered metro chapters in the US. The US may be big, but when I
fly the length of the country from top to bottom, as I do often
(Portland to Phoenix), the only major thing that changes is the
temperature. It seems like we're saying the US has the reasons (internal
commonality, etc.) for having a chapter, but is too big and/or legally
disparate for a single chapter. Why not both? From an administrative
perspective, it seems more sensible to organize people on a broader
scale first, and then determine the viable subsets, rather than starting
small before we know it works. Presumably, a national chapter could
still provide useful services for the people in, say, Arizona, who have
never even had a meetup and are unlikely to have a chapter in the near
future. Most especially, if we are now contemplating many chapters in
the US (there are 50 states, and I assume even more metro areas), a
national chapter would be a good way to help get those organized, and
lend support from other existing (sub)chapters.
Dominic
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