Delirium wrote:

I know what a board is, but I disagree that we

should have one running

significant parts of Wikimedia projects.

Hierarchical top-down control

is the exact opposite of the wiki way of doing

things.

...

We do of course need a board for legal reasons,

and the board may need

to make some decisions. But it should not be

running the project, and

when it does make decisions, it should do so as

openly and publicly as

possible, in consultation with the normal

consensus-based method of

decision-making we use.

...

-Mark

I see that you are worried. I am not really sure why. You are currently worried that things *might* happen. Perhaps could you explain what exactly is worrying you ?

In the past few days, you mentionned, lack of efficiency, waste, corruption, hierarchical top-down control and such.

I think you should show a little more trust in us, and in the whole process.

The board is not here to decide how the projects should be run, except for basic respect of a couple of rules (respect of NPOV rules, respect of copyrights, respect of other people and openness). Except when these rules are broken AND the local community does not succeed to fix the issue, I do not think the board should be implicated in any project management.

The board is not here either to do everything instead of you.

The goals of the projects are * gather knowledge * then make it available to use and reuse * to the highest number of people on the Earth

The role of the board is essentially to *help* this to happen.

We should primarily focus on finding money, and insure that at any time, we have enough money so that the information is readable, is editable and may be distributed to suit that goal : highest number of people (which implies, many languages and availability of information for those without net access).

I invite you to join the fuzzy buzy noisy happenings on meta, so you can feel involved. And mostly to feel that this is not happening in other places, by other people, people you do not know, people who are out of your control, which might be scary.

First, there are many people getting involved in board issues. They are setting pages to outline what the board should do, where we should turn our attention first, explaining how they could help, what we should not forget etc... And this is good. Because that allow us to know exactly where the concerns are. Angela and I are not deciding alone what we should do or not do, according to our own perception of the situation. We are not gonna do things behind doors. On the contrary, participants are leaders in saying what they think is important and should be done first so that the project can proceed smoothly. At the same time, they indicate where they feel like helping, and they will be motor in what they will do.

I think anyone who feels left out, who fears the board will now decides everything, will spend all the cash to go on holidays, or whatever ***should*** join meta and participate in setting all this, should get involved in one of the working group. There is plenty to do. Your help is welcome - in the development team (in particular for the development of these features, or helping us know at any time what the money needs are) - to help set a decent budget (accountants welcome) - to help organise the membership dues system (both from a legal and technical perspective) - to help raising funds (we need proposals and help to write the proposals) - to help with all legal issues (from copyrights to privacy issues, there is really plenty to do) - to help with all press contact related issues (such as setting press release, interviews, and such) - and more...

2 people won't do this alone, right ? We will participate, but mostly, we wish that this is done, and is done well. And if it is not done, we will try to call for help so that this is done :-) And if we do not think of doing something, then it is your role to tell us it is important.

The one thing I can say : the one who does nothing but just whines that decisions are taken without him or *could* PERHAPS be taken without him, is responsible of that situation. Wikipedia is just this : it gives you the ability to act yourself, this is so great, so take that chance :-)

That is my last comment on the topic.

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