On 3 Aug 2010, at 10:27, Rannpháirtí Anaithnid wrote:
Would the activities of a Wikimedia Ireland be so greatly different from any activity we might engage in as individuals right now so as to warrant a greater fear of being sued than we have right now as individual? Or would it attract greater attention for would-be suers?
If no then an unincorporated association would probably be sufficient. At the start anyway.
A chapter is both easier to find and easier to sue than a single person, as it has a higher profile amongst those that might sue a Wikimedia organisation (e.g. you'll be able to find its contact details via the WMF press contacts page) and there is a legal entity rather than a single person. It will probably have greater funds than an individual, and hence represent a choicer pick for someone to sue.
The normal situation is that someone sees something in a Wikipedia article that they don't like, and tries to sue to get it taken down. The defence for a chapter faced with this is that we don't have any control over the contents of Wikipedia - that's the WMF. A number of chapters have already been (unsuccessfully) sued on this basis - e.g. Wikimedia Deutschland and Wikimedia Italia. Wikimedia UK has had some threatening letters, but nothing that has progressed further (yet).
So, it's probably worth having that safety net of limited liability in place just in case.
Mike Peel