Wait, wait, wait. I thought we had all formed consensus that the appointment of Matt Halprin and his $2 million briefcase full of money was an ideal (or, at least nearly ideal) measure of progress and success for the Wikimedia Foundation. I was about to announce a call for a standing ovation, with a sporadic "Huzzah!" or two to punctuate our support!

Now you've got this wild idea, Thomas, to totally revamp the Board structure? What are you, some kind of troll who won't toe the party line?

Actually, I think your idea is a step backwards, Thomas. Without the full immersion of at least four "outside" experts directly on the Board, how will the outside world ever come face-to-face with exactly how amazing is this Foundation, that it not only can't recognize conflict of interest and self-dealing snafus -- it actually actively seeks them out?!

Just like they tried to rocket a few school teachers up into space, so that they can come back and recount to students first-hand what it's like to be in orbit, we need to have outsiders on the WMF Board, so that after their one- or two-year ordeal, they can come back to the mainstream of reality and tell us about how the WMF does its Jedi mind trick.