On Thu, 28 Jun 2007, the contactbox wrote:
-----Original Message-----
The anonymity available to editors on Wikimedia Foundation projects is, I agree, an inherent component of those projects and we have recognised that such a request may be made of the Chapters too.
Involvement to the point of membership is something that anonymous as well as non-anonymous editors will wish for as an option. You are right that at rock bottom, the Companies Act requires members to provide names and details of amounts guaranteed, and register these on public record. I think as a matter of law you're mistaken about the practicality of a trust being a member, and holding a block vote, to cover the votes and rights of anonymous editors. If it's not detailed enough above, here's how it might be done, more explicitly.
One thing that you need to ensure somehow is that a person does not gain more than one vote by being a member of WMUK and a member of the anymous trust.
Say I am a member of WMUK as Chris McKenna, and then apply to join the anon trust as Thryduulf. Obviously a sane first check would be to see if I've published my name anywhere on a Wikimedia site (in my case I have, but for the purposes of argument assume I haven't).
The anon trust can't say ask WMUK "Do you have a member by the name of Thryduulf" as they don't register people by username they wont be able to say. The trust also cannot say "do you have a member by the name of Chris McKenna?" as this proves that I am a member of the anon trust - which removes my anonymity. This also works in reverse with WMUK asking the trust.
Also you need to sort out what the trust does when its members are not unanimous about how they want to vote. Say the trust has 5 members, and the question is "Should the logo be red, blue or green?". If all 5 members agree it should be blue, then there is no problem, the trust casts 5 votes for blue. If 4 members think green, and one abstains then it cassts 4 votes for green. If 2 members think it should be blue, two prefer green and one want the red logo, can the trust cast 2 votes for blue, two for green and one for red? If two members abstain and each of the other three prfer a diffierent colour, does the trust place 1 vote for each colour, or does it not both to vote as it would be irrelevant?