Well it appears the Board wants to be the drivers, ie manage the Foundation.
----- Original Message ---- From: Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Sunday, June 1, 2008 4:30:57 PM Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Board Election 2008 : fake candidature ?
This is the reason the Board election is little more than a popularity contest. Looking at the credentials of those running, Greg is arguably more qualified (in terms of education and relevant experience) than most of those running. However, due to the fact that this election _is_ a popularity contest, he is unlikely to win.
Personally, several of the candidates should withdraw, as they have clue as to how to manage a non-profit organization. Simply: they have no business there. However, I leave that for the voters to decide.
They're not managing the organisation, they're directing it. There is a difference. The role of a community member of the board is to represent the communities views on issues. There are appointed board members and staff for the areas that require expert knowledge.
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2008/6/2 Geoffrey Plourde geo.plrd@yahoo.com:
Well it appears the Board wants to be the drivers, ie manage the Foundation.
What makes you say that? Managing the Foundation is Sue's job and, from what I've seen, the board seems to be leaving her alone to do her job as she sees fit, for the most part, and just offering general guidance on the direction they want the Foundation to go it, which is exactly what a Board of Trustees is meant to do. You don't need to be an expert on non-profits to decide what general direction you think one should go in. It's a matter of personal opinion. We should elect someone whose personal opinion most closely matches our own, so it really is a popularity contest. Experts are needed, but they are appointed, not elected (although, obviously, if the person elected happens to be an expert as well, all the better), so we don't need to worry about that.
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