Wikimediapa-l

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24 discussions

Re: [WikimediaPA-l] Getting the ball rolling a little more, etc.
by Delphine Ménard 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

On 7/10/07, Casey Brown <cbrown1023(a)comcast.net> wrote: > It's fine, the post looks very good. My only problem with posting so soon > is that Foundation-l is a nightmare these days (not to say it isn't always a > nightmare). I would have waited until after the Travel policy and child > care discussions (more like arguments) blew over. But, of course, it is > quite alright and am glad to see we all share my eagerness to get started! > ;) Come on, you've officially hit the troll-l plateau of 50+ email in a thread. In the past two years I've been dealing with chapters, I don't think ANY post on foundation-l concerning a chapter has attracted so many people ;-) On a more serious note, I am quite impressed with some of the good comments on that thread, some people are really supportive of the idea and I'm glad about it. Know that you have my full support for this and that I will do my best (providing of course, *you* do your best ;-)) along with the chapters committee, to make sure that this adventure goes through. Delphine -- ~notafish NB. This address is used for mailing lists. Personal emails sent to this address will probably get lost.

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Re: [WikimediaPA-l] Getting the ball rolling a little more, etc.
by John McC 10 Jul '07

10 Jul '07

I guess my skepticism arises in part from the guy who was sitting next to me at the meetup (a member of the press committee, and definitely gave me the "yeah, right" vibe), and in part just from some hints here and there on IRC about whether the board will support any US chapters at all. Chapcomm has indeed been helpful, it's just a question of whether they have enough pull. Like I said, the legal stuff shouldn't be a big issue, once we know where we stand. Fundraising shouldn't be much of a problem either (barnstar cookies, anyone?)... we're talking about a few hundred bucks, not a few thousand. I'm not sure about Andrew's idea for using ideas as a membership requirement. It has a certain elegance, but some sort of follow-up on ideas would impress me more :). I don't know that we need to incorporate before announcing on mailinglists, but we certainly should if we're going to announce on newspapers (in fact, it would be nicer to have tax-exemption status before we start raising money for official press releases). I'll be happy to help write a mailinglist announcement later today (when it gets too hot to do real work). -johnny. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time with the Yahoo! Search movie showtime shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#news

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Re: [WikimediaPA-l] Getting the ball rolling a little more, etc.
by George Chriss 10 Jul '07

10 Jul '07

Hi, I like the chapters idea, especially for one located in Pennsylvania. Two quotations in this thread: "[W]e're talking about a few hundred bucks, not a few thousand." "Setting up a non-profit is quite easy to do (just requires a small infusion of cash, a set of bylaws, and a board of members to sign the papers)." I should caution that starting a new 501(c)(3) is not a trivial task. The process itself requires several hundred dollars and a true dedication to cutting through paperwork. Perhaps we can try completing the incorporation process via a wiki? Or at least documenting our progress as to assist other chapters? Thanks, George en_wp|irc: GChriss State College, PA

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Getting the ball rolling a little more, etc.
by John McC 10 Jul '07

10 Jul '07

Well, we've apparently generated a bit of interest from perspective members, so maybe it's safe to start thinking about what to do next. As I see it, there are three tracks we need to be paying attention to, and should try to concentrate our efforts on one of them, or perhaps break into working groups for each. The first track is dealing with the Wikimedia Foundation itself. That's a bit tricky because they can sometimes become a bit more interested in debate than in getting things rolling along :). Personally I think we could have the chapter independent of their approval (though we might need a name change if we're forced to go that route), but on the other hand I also (opining again) think that our *mission* should really just stay focused on the promotion and improvement of the foundation-run projects. The second track is our legal status. Setting up a non-profit is quite easy to do (just requires a small infusion of cash, a set of bylaws, and a board of members to sign the papers). However, I don't think we should do that until we know where we stand with the foundation (we can set up the paperwork, but we can't submit them until we know what we're called). The third track is developing our plans for doing things, and doing them. It might be better to work on this track until the first track gets straightened out, since most of the ideas we can develop and/or act on won't really be affected by where the other tracks take us. Small, short-term projects (such as scheduling another Wikimeetup where we can hold a quorum on what tracks to follow) could be easily arranged via irc, this mailing list, and the "Pretzel Stand" on meta. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to run a small fundraiser to raise whatever we'll need for submitting our articles of incorporation when the time comes (not to mention opening a bank account to keep the money in). Medium-term goals --such as developing informal curricula for outreach sessions-- can certainly get started too. Long term projects like making partnerships with non-profs, academic bodies, and even state agencies can also be pursued (at least we could translate and synopsize what the German chapter did and see if we could do something similar with the Commonwealth or even municipal governments). It's all a lot to think about, but no there's time like the present for making a start :). -Johnny. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Pinpoint customers who are looking for what you sell. http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/

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