Yes, at the AGM the tripling of membership numbers was explained as
being due to an increase in members joining. No meaningful facts were
presented to the members, but the impression given by the Chair and
the CEO was that there would be more information publicly available.

My question was "why". Sharing information about any discussion the
trustees have had on improving protection against entryism, would be
healthy for transparency, as would sharing exactly what happened that
caused this massive, overnight, leap in membership totals. Currently,
there is zero information on the nature of who joined, which may have
been down to how they joined. As an example, if 351 people joined at
an academic conference in London, then the people joining would be
academics who go to events in London and if the 351 new members were
found due to appeals by the CEO on Facebook, then the new members
would be limited to people who follow or network with the CEO on
Facebook.

It appears that the jump in numbers was a one-off event, there has
been no continued growth since whatever happened. Should the chapter
start maintaining the published membership report again, then it will
be possible for people apart from chapter employees to have access to
the latest facts.

Thanks,
Fae

On 9 April 2018 at 22:01, Richard Nevell <richard.a.j.nevell@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Fae,
>
> As was explained at the AGM the increase in the number of members was the
> result of a successful membership drive.
>
> Regards,
> Richard Nevell
>
>
> On 9 Apr 2018 21:34, "Fæ" <faewik@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> During the last UK Chapter AGM, it was asked why the membership
> numbers had radically changed, there was no specific answer to the
> question. Was any analysis done on this afterwards? When reviewing
> membership it seems likely that the charity's trustees would have been
> concerned at these figures so shortly before the AGM, due to the
> potential risk of entryism.
>
> Membership jumped from a total of 147 (a five year low) in May 2017,
> to the all time record high the following month of 498, i.e. new
> sign-ups that month more than *tripled* the total membership.
>
> A second question - the report of membership numbers has been updated
> every month for the past five years.[1] It has not been updated since
> October 2017. Could anyone confirm what the most recent membership
> numbers are so the report can be updated?
>
> P.S. the links in the FAQ about the register of members are out of
> date, the companylawclub link is a 404 error and the companieshouse
> link advises to go to their new website.
>
> Links:
> 1. https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Membership/Numbers
> 2.
> https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Volunteers_-_Frequently_Asked_Questions#Why_do_you_keep_a_register_of_members.3F
>
> Thanks,
> Fae
> --
> faewik@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia UK mailing list
> wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
> WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia UK mailing list
> wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
> WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk



--
faewik@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae

_______________________________________________
Wikimedia UK mailing list
wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk