I think Pete speaks with some wisdom here: a question that I would put to
the group...
"What is the need, seeking to be filled, that requires the incorporation of
a new group, in this instance?"
Once you've got a good answer to that question, then you're pointed in the
right direction.
Until that question and an answer can be articulated (and I haven't heard
one yet), it's a solution looking for a problem.
pb
(Personal capacity, yada yada yada)
___________________
Philippe Beaudette
Director, Community Advocacy
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
415-839-6885, x 6643
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On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 7:19 PM, Pete Forsyth <peteforsyth(a)gmail.com> wrote:
SJ, thanks for your much better-informed post, ours
crossed in the mail,
I'd have left it to you if I knew that was coming!
To all, I would suggest you ignore my post in deference to his. I do want
to say, I think you've misunderstood me in a couple places (probably my
fault for not being clear) -- most significantly, it wasn't my intent to
judge anyone, or or make assumptions about what they say; overall, I was
really just trying to make the same point you did (that chapters are not
the only way to organize), only I did it much less eloquently.
Again though, to all -- the best thing would probably be to ignore my
post, as the one SJ wrote about the same time covers the issue much better.
Pete
On Dec 19, 2012, at 5:09 PM, Samuel Klein wrote:
On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 7:58 PM, Pete Forsyth <peteforsyth(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:
* Chapters historically came into existence to (1) process donations in
local currency and (2) deal with local legal issues
I would say it is more
(3) provide an organization that could handle local partnerships and
communication: with content and promotion and other targeted projects. The
sort of thing that the WMF explicitly leaves to other entities, by virtue
of not accepting targeted donations.
* The difficulty of forming a chapter that
doesn't conform to legal
borders has caused tension in recent years
This was feared but has not been true in practice. (It was an issue of
forming an incorporated entity, period, not specific to a chapter.)
* The WMF Board and many in the community are
aware and concerned about
this
Not sure... concerned about what here? The explicit recognition of other
entities was to avoid forcing groups into a narrow mould in order to be
recognized as a stable part of the movement. It wasn't in response to
issues with geographic groups that weren't national; it was in to recognize
the majority of groups that are not geographic at all.
* The general solution is not so much to adapt
the Chapter model to fit
other cases, as to establish that other cases are fine *without* carrying
the name "chapter".
The Wikimedia movement has a new approach
to funds dissemination; being a
> chapter is not the only way to get grants or put the name "Wikipedia" (or
> "Wikimedia" etc.) to good use.
Yes.
In other words, just because the CHAPTERS committee
There is no longer a chapters committee; it is now the Affiliations
Committee :) And please don't judge what they /might/ think; just ask them.
SJ
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