I'm also willing to listen to criticism of the chapter, and I promise I'll do my
best to address any issues that I can, as long as it does not fall directly within the
operational remit of the staff.
I don't share the concern about the jump in membership. All the reports I have seen
indicate that the membership grew because a significant number of donors simply agreed to
call £5 worth of their donations a membership fee. We have quite a few regular donors, so
it does not seem unlikely to me that the observed effect on membership numbers was almost
wholly as a result of that.
The possibility of entryism has been a concern for the Board for some time, because of low
numbers of members. However, again as far as I am aware, the jump in membership was not
localised to any group other the very diverse group who are our regular donors. The result
of that will be to make it more difficult for any special interest group to become a
significant voting block, although the proof of that will lie with the next AGM, when we
see if the number of members voting goes up in line with the increased membership. I have
a sneaking feeling it might not.
As ever, the trustees will be keen to hear of issues that the community raises, and
concerned members should always feel that they can ask any trustee for items to be raised
at the next Board meeting - or earlier, should the matter be urgent.
Cheers
--
Doug
On 10 April 2018 at 18:57 Stevie Benton
<stevie.d.benton(a)gmail.com> wrote:
" though you are right to imply that the chapter is over-sensitive to
criticism... "
John, I must have missed that bit as I didn't see Katie imply that at all. If
anything, I think the chapter receives, and always has received, a lot of unwarranted
criticism from people who have ill-defined issues with how it operates. Some people have
always been very quick to rush to criticism rather than gently join a conversation. Others
simply have an axe to grind.
The chapter is doing a good job. Wouldn't it be nice if we heard people say that
more often?
On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 6:49 PM, John Byrne <john(a)bodkinprints.co.uk
mailto:john@bodkinprints.co.uk > wrote:
> >
> As very often in recent years, I got a notification of my post sent an hour
or so ago, with completely blank text. Yet Katie has clearly seen it, as she quotes me.
Have others also got blanks? Can the rather cryptic instructions for replies be clarified,
or is there some bug? I get the digest version. It doesn't exactly encourage people
to contribute, and may be a factor in the much lower activity on this list in recent
years. It never used to happen.
>
> No Katie, I don't think this has much to do with it, though you are
right to imply that the chapter is over-sensitive to criticism...
>
> John/Johnbod
>
>
> On 10 April 2018 at 18:37 wikimediauk-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia
mailto:wikimediauk-l-request@lists.wikimedia .org wrote:
>
>
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>
> Today's Topics:
> 1. Re: UK chapter membership numbers (Charles Matthews) 2. UK chapter
membership numbers (John Byrne) 3. Re: UK chapter membership numbers (Katie Chan) 4. Re:
UK chapter membership numbers (Richard Nevell)
>
>
> > > >
---------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2018 14:25:51 +0100 (BST)
> > From: Charles Matthews
> > To: UK Wikimedia mailing list
> > Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] UK chapter membership numbers
> > Message-ID: < 1623281894.198396.1523366751569(a)mail2.virginmedia
mailto:1623281894.198396.1523366751569@mail2.virginmedia .com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
> >
> > > > > > On 10 April 2018 at 11:41 Fæ wrote:
> > >
> > > It appears that the jump in numbers was a one-off event,
there has
> > > been no continued growth since whatever happened.
> > >
> > > > > > I don't know what happened. I
did correspond with the office about a prompt to renew. One could simulate such a
"one-off event" by simply asking people whose membership had lapsed to renew. I
was doing this sort of thing for WMUK some seven years ago, so as an explanation it is not
far-fetched.
> >
> > Charles
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2018 17:31:33 +0100 (BST)
> > From: John Byrne
> > To: wikimediauk-l(a)lists.wikimedia
mailto:wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia . org
> > Subject: [Wikimediauk-l] UK chapter membership numbers
> > Message-ID: < 522111329.168305.1523377893491(a)email.1and1
mailto:522111329.168305.1523377893491@email.1and1 . co.uk
http://co.uk >
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> >
> > An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> > URL:
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 3
> > Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2018 18:31:14 +0100
> > From: Katie Chan
> > To: UK Wikimedia mailing list
> > Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] UK chapter membership numbers
> > Message-ID: <
7mbf1d6v6k6decqn08p662nx.1523381474669(a)email.android
mailto:7mbf1d6v6k6decqn08p662nx.1523381474669@email.android . com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> >
> >
> >
> > Oh I don't know, maybe this "yawning gap"
wouldn't be so wide if the chapter don't get criticised for both not increasing
its membership numbers and having increased its membership numbers.
> > Just a wide guess....
> > KTC
> >
> > Sent from my Samsung device
> >