On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 15:39, Jayanta Nath jayantanth@gmail.com wrote:
- On-spot *India Chapter membership* for visitors if they wish.
Was : Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal: Wikipedia participation at 'Kolkata Book Fair 2012'
I think we are going for numbers game here. Whats the point of on-spot membership? Seriously, does having 50,000 chapter members do any great thing for Wikipedia? I seriously fail to understand (in the past, future), what can the chapter do with just so many members who do not have an idea about Wikipedia community and many of whom may not go beyond attending meetups and conferences.
Sorry if am sound odd here, I just dont like this part of chapter, where the chapter instead of instilling confidence in community and making them members, chooses people who attend a meetup / conference / stall to become its members.(In many cases makes someone member of chapter without having a clue about it. I personally know this since my friend who happen to accompany me to a meetup, just because he had nothing else to spend time is a chapter member now) I do not mean any offense to any of those who sign up(they may be genuinely interested, good guys), but just fail to understand what we are trying to achieve with chapter membership numbers.
I agree with Srikanth. Some people with vested interests may want to join ... -+-~~~~
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 5:47 PM, Srikanth Lakshmanan srik.lak@gmail.comwrote:
On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 15:39, Jayanta Nath jayantanth@gmail.com wrote:
- On-spot *India Chapter membership* for visitors if they wish.
Was : Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal: Wikipedia participation at 'Kolkata Book Fair 2012'
I think we are going for numbers game here. Whats the point of on-spot membership? Seriously, does having 50,000 chapter members do any great thing for Wikipedia? I seriously fail to understand (in the past, future), what can the chapter do with just so many members who do not have an idea about Wikipedia community and many of whom may not go beyond attending meetups and conferences.
Sorry if am sound odd here, I just dont like this part of chapter, where the chapter instead of instilling confidence in community and making them members, chooses people who attend a meetup / conference / stall to become its members.(In many cases makes someone member of chapter without having a clue about it. I personally know this since my friend who happen to accompany me to a meetup, just because he had nothing else to spend time is a chapter member now) I do not mean any offense to any of those who sign up(they may be genuinely interested, good guys), but just fail to understand what we are trying to achieve with chapter membership numbers.
-- Regards Srikanth.L
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Fact: Chapter membership was open for all on last day of WCI 2011. Anyone who wished to become a member could by filling up a form and paying the fees.
If this was done in Mumbai, why not allow it in Kolkata? I think there needs to be a uniform policy behind this - either its open to all at all our events across the country or its not.
Kind Regards,
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 18:14:34 +0530 From: parakara.ghoda@gmail.com To: wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] On the spot Chapter membership.
I agree with Srikanth. Some people with vested interests may want to join ...-+-~~~~ On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 5:47 PM, Srikanth Lakshmanan srik.lak@gmail.com wrote:
On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 15:39, Jayanta Nath jayantanth@gmail.com wrote:
1) On-spot India Chapter membership for visitors if they wish. Was : Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal: Wikipedia participation at 'Kolkata Book Fair 2012'
I think we are going for numbers game here. Whats the point of on-spot membership? Seriously, does having 50,000 chapter members do any great thing for Wikipedia? I seriously fail to understand (in the past, future), what can the chapter do with just so many members who do not have an idea about Wikipedia community and many of whom may not go beyond attending meetups and conferences.
Sorry if am sound odd here, I just dont like this part of chapter, where the chapter instead of instilling confidence in community and making them members, chooses people who attend a meetup / conference / stall to become its members.(In many cases makes someone member of chapter without having a clue about it. I personally know this since my friend who happen to accompany me to a meetup, just because he had nothing else to spend time is a chapter member now) I do not mean any offense to any of those who sign up(they may be genuinely interested, good guys), but just fail to understand what we are trying to achieve with chapter membership numbers.
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 18:20, wheredevelsdare@hotmail.com wrote:
If this was done in Mumbai, why not allow it in Kolkata? I think there needs to be a uniform policy behind this - either its open to all at all our events across the country or its not.
My point was not specific to Kolkata. When i said 50,000 i didnt mean it will be only from Kolkata. If we continue the same, I am afraid we will have 50000 chapter members with 500 editors / community members. Good or bad is left to be subjective / personal opinions, but this might just make the community members who are already reluctant not to join a group where they cannot identify themselves.
Hi all, I am very much in favour of ( sincerely wishes so) the active community members being part of the chapter and its leadership and taking the chapter is next level. The chapter will have lose its relevance unless the community takes control of it and shape its future.
On a side note, I get these interesting questions each time when I ask people to join the chapter, "How will the chapter benefit me?" "What do I get from the chapter, if I join?" ( I am not blaming anyone, but pardon me, honestly that is the our typical Indian psychology). I reply them with another question " Think of this way, think of what I can do for the Wikimedia chapter ?".
Remember , We all became Wikimedians not because of thinking how we will benefit out of it, but by the sheer passion and joy of sharing knowledge with the whole world.
I keep iterating this often, May I ask to kindly remove the notion that Chapter = EC. Each one of us has an equal responsibility ( and opportunity) to take it forward and drive the chapter.
I am sure that many of you are aware there were just two nominations when the 3 vacant posts that were announced for the chapter Executive Committee. Saddened by the lack of interest, I had to literally ask, beg , "threaten" many of the members to stand for the elections and later we got another 4 more nominations. I myself had to stand for the elections, to prove my point, in spite of my insane personal & professional emergencies that I have been going through in the last few months. It is always easy to blame the system for " not working " but it takes some courage to stand up and be part of the system to change it.
I take this opportunity to sincerely invite all our dearest active community members to become the part of the chapter and shape its future.
Having said that, when our founding members drafted the MoA, the chapter membership was made open to any Indian who is above the 18 years of age. We didn't want to say No to anyone who is coming forward to join the chapter. We wanted it to be open and inclusive, we wanted to set no barriers for anyone to join, anyone who is genuinely interested and enthusiastic , just like in Wikipedia. If you think that model doesn't work, bring in a resolution. We can all discuss and make amendments to our chapter constitution to that effect ? So what will be the eligibility criteria for joining the chapter? Wiki username ? Edit counts ? Number of articles ?
We are still baby stepping... The chapter is officially just less than one year.. we have made some mistakes but we made more learnings and that will help us grow forward.
With lots of Wikilove,
Regards Tinu Cherian
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 6:14 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan < parakara.ghoda@gmail.com> wrote:
I agree with Srikanth. Some people with vested interests may want to join ... -+-~~~~
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 5:47 PM, Srikanth Lakshmanan srik.lak@gmail.comwrote:
On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 15:39, Jayanta Nath jayantanth@gmail.com wrote:
- On-spot *India Chapter membership* for visitors if they wish.
Was : Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal: Wikipedia participation at 'Kolkata Book Fair 2012'
I think we are going for numbers game here. Whats the point of on-spot membership? Seriously, does having 50,000 chapter members do any great thing for Wikipedia? I seriously fail to understand (in the past, future), what can the chapter do with just so many members who do not have an idea about Wikipedia community and many of whom may not go beyond attending meetups and conferences.
Sorry if am sound odd here, I just dont like this part of chapter, where the chapter instead of instilling confidence in community and making them members, chooses people who attend a meetup / conference / stall to become its members.(In many cases makes someone member of chapter without having a clue about it. I personally know this since my friend who happen to accompany me to a meetup, just because he had nothing else to spend time is a chapter member now) I do not mean any offense to any of those who sign up(they may be genuinely interested, good guys), but just fail to understand what we are trying to achieve with chapter membership numbers.
-- Regards Srikanth.L
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
-- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan. Wikipedia Coimbatore Meetup on December 10th. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Coimbatore
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 19:01, CherianTinu Abraham tinucherian@gmail.comwrote:
I am very much in favour of ( sincerely wishes so) the active community members being part of the chapter and its leadership and taking the chapter is next level. The chapter will have lose its relevance unless the community takes control of it and shape its future.
Word.
I keep iterating this often, May I ask to kindly remove the notion that
Chapter = EC. Each one of us has an equal responsibility ( and opportunity) to take it forward and drive the chapter.
With the very same intent, I opened up the thread, which EC has not opened / made much progress, so that we can do something to have more members who are informed and involved. I would like to point reply of R Srikanth. There are many such folks on the list, beyond it on various wikis in the "silent contributors" category who do not like to be a chapter member and this could be one of the reason. Instead of reaching to events and getting membership and at some stage tell the world chapter is X members strong, Chapter must put in more efforts in getting more members of community as its members and this thread can very well be a start.
Having said that, when our founding members drafted the MoA, the chapter
membership was made open to any Indian who is above the 18 years of age. We didn't want to say No to anyone who is coming forward to join the chapter. We wanted it to be open and inclusive, we wanted to set no barriers for anyone to join, anyone who is genuinely interested and enthusiastic , just like in Wikipedia
It is one thing to say "No to anyone who is interested" / but barriers to join, another thing to give out forms, ask them to fill up and canvass its just 100 Rs saying you can be chapter member without letting them know what it is.
+1 for recruiting more Wikipedian members.
I am one of those Wikipedians who hasn't become a member of the chapter because i am hesitant to get involved in chapter politics and fear of being forced to follow the agenda set by people who know nothing about Wikipedia (except perhaps talking about it). I am sure there are more wikipedians like me who are just observing what goes on from the sidelines. It is people like us who need to be prodded and dragged to become chapter members.(I will send in my membership application soon).
Getting non-wikipedians to sign up and increasing the numbers will eventually lead to an organisation completely out of tune with the Wikimedia movement. Numbers for numbers sake is not the road we should take. As Srikanth R pointed out, there are a lot of people who would love to take control. I believe such a thing did happen once before and the chapter was forced to send legal notices to dissuade it. Recruiting numbers for numbers sake might well lead to such a situation again. And when that happens chapter will become yet another talk only organisation completely irrelevant to what Wikipedia actually is.
So lets not put up any barriers for membership but at the same time, lets not advertise chapter membership to completely new people by going on membership drives in outreach events.
- Bala
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 7:19 PM, Srikanth Lakshmanan srik.lak@gmail.comwrote:
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 19:01, CherianTinu Abraham tinucherian@gmail.comwrote:
I am very much in favour of ( sincerely wishes so) the active community members being part of the chapter and its leadership and taking the chapter is next level. The chapter will have lose its relevance unless the community takes control of it and shape its future.
Word.
I keep iterating this often, May I ask to kindly remove the notion that
Chapter = EC. Each one of us has an equal responsibility ( and opportunity) to take it forward and drive the chapter.
With the very same intent, I opened up the thread, which EC has not opened / made much progress, so that we can do something to have more members who are informed and involved. I would like to point reply of R Srikanth. There are many such folks on the list, beyond it on various wikis in the "silent contributors" category who do not like to be a chapter member and this could be one of the reason. Instead of reaching to events and getting membership and at some stage tell the world chapter is X members strong, Chapter must put in more efforts in getting more members of community as its members and this thread can very well be a start.
Having said that, when our founding members drafted the MoA, the chapter
membership was made open to any Indian who is above the 18 years of age. We didn't want to say No to anyone who is coming forward to join the chapter. We wanted it to be open and inclusive, we wanted to set no barriers for anyone to join, anyone who is genuinely interested and enthusiastic , just like in Wikipedia
It is one thing to say "No to anyone who is interested" / but barriers to join, another thing to give out forms, ask them to fill up and canvass its just 100 Rs saying you can be chapter member without letting them know what it is.
-- Regards Srikanth.L
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Thanks Srikanths for initiating this useful discussion. Yes, we are all aware of the problem. But then again there are no straight forward answers & solutions too.
Ironically it is a similar to the "chicken & egg problem". The chapter needs the community to grow strong... The community will join the chapter only if it is strong".
One of things, we are trying is to expand the chapter leadership & larger community participation is by forming special interest groups for languages & cities. The SIG chair will form the SIG teams that will help & steer, catalyst the development of the particular communities http://wiki.wikimedia.in/City_and_Language_SIG_subcommittee_chair Many other teams like Finance, Fundraising , Web, PR/Media Relations, Outreach are in making and will be rolled out soon.
Bala, Welcome to the chapter ! :) Only if enthusiastic community members like you come forward , we can make the chapter a better place.
I also want to use this opportunity to open up discussion ( to all) on what should the chapter do. 1) in terms of getting more & more community members 2) having a better relation & participation with the community at large. 3) and what the community expects the chapter to do.
I would request to keep this discussion healthy and constructive. ( and obviously no personal attacks )
Over to you, dear community...
-TC
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 11:56 PM, Bala Jeyaraman sodabottle@gmail.comwrote:
+1 for recruiting more Wikipedian members.
I am one of those Wikipedians who hasn't become a member of the chapter because i am hesitant to get involved in chapter politics and fear of being forced to follow the agenda set by people who know nothing about Wikipedia (except perhaps talking about it). I am sure there are more wikipedians like me who are just observing what goes on from the sidelines. It is people like us who need to be prodded and dragged to become chapter members.(I will send in my membership application soon).
Getting non-wikipedians to sign up and increasing the numbers will eventually lead to an organisation completely out of tune with the Wikimedia movement. Numbers for numbers sake is not the road we should take. As Srikanth R pointed out, there are a lot of people who would love to take control. I believe such a thing did happen once before and the chapter was forced to send legal notices to dissuade it. Recruiting numbers for numbers sake might well lead to such a situation again. And when that happens chapter will become yet another talk only organisation completely irrelevant to what Wikipedia actually is.
So lets not put up any barriers for membership but at the same time, lets not advertise chapter membership to completely new people by going on membership drives in outreach events.
Bala
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 7:19 PM, Srikanth Lakshmanan srik.lak@gmail.comwrote:
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 19:01, CherianTinu Abraham tinucherian@gmail.comwrote:
I am very much in favour of ( sincerely wishes so) the active community members being part of the chapter and its leadership and taking the chapter is next level. The chapter will have lose its relevance unless the community takes control of it and shape its future.
Word.
I keep iterating this often, May I ask to kindly remove the notion that
Chapter = EC. Each one of us has an equal responsibility ( and opportunity) to take it forward and drive the chapter.
With the very same intent, I opened up the thread, which EC has not opened / made much progress, so that we can do something to have more members who are informed and involved. I would like to point reply of R Srikanth. There are many such folks on the list, beyond it on various wikis in the "silent contributors" category who do not like to be a chapter member and this could be one of the reason. Instead of reaching to events and getting membership and at some stage tell the world chapter is X members strong, Chapter must put in more efforts in getting more members of community as its members and this thread can very well be a start.
Having said that, when our founding members drafted the MoA, the chapter
membership was made open to any Indian who is above the 18 years of age. We didn't want to say No to anyone who is coming forward to join the chapter. We wanted it to be open and inclusive, we wanted to set no barriers for anyone to join, anyone who is genuinely interested and enthusiastic , just like in Wikipedia
It is one thing to say "No to anyone who is interested" / but barriers to join, another thing to give out forms, ask them to fill up and canvass its just 100 Rs saying you can be chapter member without letting them know what it is.
-- Regards Srikanth.L
Tinu, I understand that we need more members to take the movement forward, but we need to ensure that only genuinely interested people become a part of the chapter. Imagine this: Some comapny is unable to promote their product on Wikipedia. Keeps getting deleted. [Read the mail I sent about Marketing, last week]. One of them joins the chapter, becomes part of the EC after the AGM. What if he/she now uses that position to promote their comapny?
Think about it. --~~~~
On Tue, Dec 6, 2011 at 8:08 AM, CherianTinu Abraham tinucherian@gmail.comwrote:
Thanks Srikanths for initiating this useful discussion. Yes, we are all aware of the problem. But then again there are no straight forward answers & solutions too.
Ironically it is a similar to the "chicken & egg problem". The chapter needs the community to grow strong... The community will join the chapter only if it is strong".
One of things, we are trying is to expand the chapter leadership & larger community participation is by forming special interest groups for languages & cities. The SIG chair will form the SIG teams that will help & steer, catalyst the development of the particular communities http://wiki.wikimedia.in/City_and_Language_SIG_subcommittee_chair Many other teams like Finance, Fundraising , Web, PR/Media Relations, Outreach are in making and will be rolled out soon.
Bala, Welcome to the chapter ! :) Only if enthusiastic community members like you come forward , we can make the chapter a better place.
I also want to use this opportunity to open up discussion ( to all) on what should the chapter do.
- in terms of getting more & more community members
- having a better relation & participation with the community at large.
- and what the community expects the chapter to do.
I would request to keep this discussion healthy and constructive. ( and obviously no personal attacks )
Over to you, dear community...
-TC
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 11:56 PM, Bala Jeyaraman sodabottle@gmail.comwrote:
+1 for recruiting more Wikipedian members.
I am one of those Wikipedians who hasn't become a member of the chapter because i am hesitant to get involved in chapter politics and fear of being forced to follow the agenda set by people who know nothing about Wikipedia (except perhaps talking about it). I am sure there are more wikipedians like me who are just observing what goes on from the sidelines. It is people like us who need to be prodded and dragged to become chapter members.(I will send in my membership application soon).
Getting non-wikipedians to sign up and increasing the numbers will eventually lead to an organisation completely out of tune with the Wikimedia movement. Numbers for numbers sake is not the road we should take. As Srikanth R pointed out, there are a lot of people who would love to take control. I believe such a thing did happen once before and the chapter was forced to send legal notices to dissuade it. Recruiting numbers for numbers sake might well lead to such a situation again. And when that happens chapter will become yet another talk only organisation completely irrelevant to what Wikipedia actually is.
So lets not put up any barriers for membership but at the same time, lets not advertise chapter membership to completely new people by going on membership drives in outreach events.
Bala
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 7:19 PM, Srikanth Lakshmanan srik.lak@gmail.comwrote:
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 19:01, CherianTinu Abraham <tinucherian@gmail.com
wrote:
I am very much in favour of ( sincerely wishes so) the active community members being part of the chapter and its leadership and taking the chapter is next level. The chapter will have lose its relevance unless the community takes control of it and shape its future.
Word.
I keep iterating this often, May I ask to kindly remove the notion that
Chapter = EC. Each one of us has an equal responsibility ( and opportunity) to take it forward and drive the chapter.
With the very same intent, I opened up the thread, which EC has not opened / made much progress, so that we can do something to have more members who are informed and involved. I would like to point reply of R Srikanth. There are many such folks on the list, beyond it on various wikis in the "silent contributors" category who do not like to be a chapter member and this could be one of the reason. Instead of reaching to events and getting membership and at some stage tell the world chapter is X members strong, Chapter must put in more efforts in getting more members of community as its members and this thread can very well be a start.
Having said that, when our founding members drafted the MoA, the chapter
membership was made open to any Indian who is above the 18 years of age. We didn't want to say No to anyone who is coming forward to join the chapter. We wanted it to be open and inclusive, we wanted to set no barriers for anyone to join, anyone who is genuinely interested and enthusiastic , just like in Wikipedia
It is one thing to say "No to anyone who is interested" / but barriers to join, another thing to give out forms, ask them to fill up and canvass its just 100 Rs saying you can be chapter member without letting them know what it is.
-- Regards Srikanth.L
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
No, no.. Let me say that again and again, I passionately welcome the idea that it is the genuinely interested people ( aka community) who should be driving force of the chapter ! ( sincerely believe so and should be so). I am more a community member at heart but I believe the chapter has to and will play a bigger role in the Wikimedia movement of India.
But for that, we need more and more community members joining the chapter. The question is HOW ?
I was recently reminded of this interesting story of Rajat Gupta and Vajpayee >> Mckinsey were doing some fancy report on india and Rajat was presenting that india didn't need to worry about investment flowing to china because the real opporutnity in india was productivity improvement. Mckinsey said that actually india needed a lot less money and more efficiency. so Vajpayee listens patiently and then says, 'Guptaji, yeh sab to theek hai, lekin kaisa karna hai???'
It is not that we are all not aware of the problem, what we need to find is the solution.
I mentioned earlier, There is a "chicken & egg problem" on this. "The chapter desperately needs the community for the former's growth.. The community will only join the chapter only if it is strong !"
-TC
On Tue, Dec 6, 2011 at 10:00 AM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan < parakara.ghoda@gmail.com> wrote:
Tinu, I understand that we need more members to take the movement forward, but we need to ensure that only genuinely interested people become a part of the chapter. Imagine this: Some comapny is unable to promote their product on Wikipedia. Keeps getting deleted. [Read the mail I sent about Marketing, last week]. One of them joins the chapter, becomes part of the EC after the AGM. What if he/she now uses that position to promote their comapny?
Think about it. --~~~~
On Tue, Dec 6, 2011 at 8:08 AM, CherianTinu Abraham <tinucherian@gmail.com
wrote:
Thanks Srikanths for initiating this useful discussion. Yes, we are all aware of the problem. But then again there are no straight forward answers & solutions too.
Ironically it is a similar to the "chicken & egg problem". The chapter needs the community to grow strong... The community will join the chapter only if it is strong".
One of things, we are trying is to expand the chapter leadership & larger community participation is by forming special interest groups for languages & cities. The SIG chair will form the SIG teams that will help & steer, catalyst the development of the particular communities http://wiki.wikimedia.in/City_and_Language_SIG_subcommittee_chair Many other teams like Finance, Fundraising , Web, PR/Media Relations, Outreach are in making and will be rolled out soon.
Bala, Welcome to the chapter ! :) Only if enthusiastic community members like you come forward , we can make the chapter a better place.
I also want to use this opportunity to open up discussion ( to all) on what should the chapter do.
- in terms of getting more & more community members
- having a better relation & participation with the community at large.
- and what the community expects the chapter to do.
I would request to keep this discussion healthy and constructive. ( and obviously no personal attacks )
Over to you, dear community...
-TC
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 11:56 PM, Bala Jeyaraman sodabottle@gmail.comwrote:
+1 for recruiting more Wikipedian members.
I am one of those Wikipedians who hasn't become a member of the chapter because i am hesitant to get involved in chapter politics and fear of being forced to follow the agenda set by people who know nothing about Wikipedia (except perhaps talking about it). I am sure there are more wikipedians like me who are just observing what goes on from the sidelines. It is people like us who need to be prodded and dragged to become chapter members.(I will send in my membership application soon).
Getting non-wikipedians to sign up and increasing the numbers will eventually lead to an organisation completely out of tune with the Wikimedia movement. Numbers for numbers sake is not the road we should take. As Srikanth R pointed out, there are a lot of people who would love to take control. I believe such a thing did happen once before and the chapter was forced to send legal notices to dissuade it. Recruiting numbers for numbers sake might well lead to such a situation again. And when that happens chapter will become yet another talk only organisation completely irrelevant to what Wikipedia actually is.
So lets not put up any barriers for membership but at the same time, lets not advertise chapter membership to completely new people by going on membership drives in outreach events.
Bala
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 7:19 PM, Srikanth Lakshmanan srik.lak@gmail.comwrote:
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 19:01, CherianTinu Abraham < tinucherian@gmail.com> wrote:
I am very much in favour of ( sincerely wishes so) the active community members being part of the chapter and its leadership and taking the chapter is next level. The chapter will have lose its relevance unless the community takes control of it and shape its future.
Word.
I keep iterating this often, May I ask to kindly remove the notion
that Chapter = EC. Each one of us has an equal responsibility ( and opportunity) to take it forward and drive the chapter.
With the very same intent, I opened up the thread, which EC has not opened / made much progress, so that we can do something to have more members who are informed and involved. I would like to point reply of R Srikanth. There are many such folks on the list, beyond it on various wikis in the "silent contributors" category who do not like to be a chapter member and this could be one of the reason. Instead of reaching to events and getting membership and at some stage tell the world chapter is X members strong, Chapter must put in more efforts in getting more members of community as its members and this thread can very well be a start.
Having said that, when our founding members drafted the MoA, the
chapter membership was made open to any Indian who is above the 18 years of age. We didn't want to say No to anyone who is coming forward to join the chapter. We wanted it to be open and inclusive, we wanted to set no barriers for anyone to join, anyone who is genuinely interested and enthusiastic , just like in Wikipedia
It is one thing to say "No to anyone who is interested" / but barriers to join, another thing to give out forms, ask them to fill up and canvass its just 100 Rs saying you can be chapter member without letting them know what it is.
-- Regards Srikanth.L
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
-- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan. Wikipedia Coimbatore Meetup on December 10th. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Coimbatore
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Hi,
There are some free and open source minded/Linux group members around Kolkata,They have some knowledge about Wikipedia's philosophy. Some of our community member wants joint on spot payment method,as like we have at WCI2011 . They are not so comfortable with other method.Although On-spot India Chapter membership is not our main* *project scope. If India community/Wikimedia India chapter feels wrong, we can withdrawn this facility from this project.
On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 5:47 PM, Srikanth Lakshmanan srik.lak@gmail.comwrote:
On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 15:39, Jayanta Nath jayantanth@gmail.com wrote:
- On-spot *India Chapter membership* for visitors if they wish.
Was : Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal: Wikipedia participation at 'Kolkata Book Fair 2012'
I think we are going for numbers game here. Whats the point of on-spot membership? Seriously, does having 50,000 chapter members do any great thing for Wikipedia? I seriously fail to understand (in the past, future), what can the chapter do with just so many members who do not have an idea about Wikipedia community and many of whom may not go beyond attending meetups and conferences.
Sorry if am sound odd here, I just dont like this part of chapter, where the chapter instead of instilling confidence in community and making them members, chooses people who attend a meetup / conference / stall to become its members.(In many cases makes someone member of chapter without having a clue about it. I personally know this since my friend who happen to accompany me to a meetup, just because he had nothing else to spend time is a chapter member now) I do not mean any offense to any of those who sign up(they may be genuinely interested, good guys), but just fail to understand what we are trying to achieve with chapter membership numbers.
-- Regards Srikanth.L
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On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 18:30, Jayanta Nath jayantanth@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
There are some free and open source minded/Linux group members around Kolkata,They have some knowledge about Wikipedia's philosophy. Some of our community member wants joint on spot payment method,as like we have at WCI2011 . They are not so comfortable with other method.Although On-spot India Chapter membership is not our main* *project scope. If India community/Wikimedia India chapter feels wrong, we can withdrawn this facility from this project.
Jayantha,
There is nothing wrong in having the option. What I fear is, people who just happen to visit the stall are being made members without understanding what it is. I have this fear since it was how it was done in past, and continuing the same would be dangerous to chapter's health. Oh thanks Srikanth, I seriously didnt think of vested interests entering. Already communication with in chapter is poor citing the very same reason and discussions dont happen in the way they meant to be.
I know there are many folks in this list, who dont care about chapter, Sorry for spamming you, but I think its important to discuss with larger community since chapter will not fulfill its purpose without the community.
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