Sam writes:

Thank you for this reassurance. I am astonished that the Board would not anticipate this (widespread) interpretation of events, or recognize that this change would be regarded by many as a power grab by insiders.

I'm pretty sure the Board anticipated criticism.

Speaking as someone who, like Erik, is a staff member who was not part of the vote on the restructuring, I figured that no matter what the Board did or did not do, there would be a wave of criticism on foundation-l. In my experience, that is the most common reaction of the list.

I urge folks here to interpret the Board's actions as an attempt to meet several goals -- greater integration of the chapters and the community members who act through chapters, plus greater expertise. Keep in mind that it was the Board you believe to be a "good" Board, with a majority of members from the community, that determined this was the best way to develop the Board further in support of the projects. I don't see how this counts as a "power grab by insiders" considering that, as pure power is normally assessed, being a Trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation is not exactly the same as being a member of Microsoft's or Apple's board.

--Mike