1. The legal documents regarding the operation of
WER/WMUK have always
been freely and easily available to anyone who wants them through the WMUK
website and on meta without any need to specifically request them from the
Company Secretary or anyone else.
I can't find the documents on the website and the ones on meta are
described as drafts, hence my request to the secretary for the actual
ones.
2. Q: "the question is, when will the chapter
actually be a functional
organisation that can provide more than just fancy job titles for a
handful of people?"
The WMUK organisation is actually pretty functional already in terms of
outreach work - media, organisations, interviews. David and myself
regularly field enquiries from all around the world (at all hours too!)
The two things it cannot do at the moment are (i) accept non-cash
donations and (ii) accept membership fees which are not paid in cash.
These are, quite clearly, very bad problems to have, but they aren't
preventing the effective work of the organisation. The "fancy job titles"
are anything but as they actually open doors and make us "meaningful" for
those seeking our input / help.
Without the ability to accept any real donations (cash donations, if
any, will likely be very small), the chapter is unable to do anything
which costs money - that's a serious limitation. The outreach work
could be significantly increased if we had a budget to put towards it.
3. Wiki Educational Resources Ltd (the holding company
for the Chapter and
which has the contract with the Wikimedia Foundation)is due to have an AGM
in the very near future. At that meeting one-third of the present
Directors are required to retire and may seek re-election alongside any
new candidates from the current membership. That third is of those who
have served the longest (though at present all were elected or re-elected
on the same date - the previous AGM). I have indicated to the other
Directors that I am presently inclined to probably not seek re-election,
though that isn't confirmed at this date.
Given the chapter's failure to date, I would request that the whole
board stand down, interest parties be given a chance to join and then
an election held. If people choose to re-elect two thirds of the
current board, then so be it, but we should have the choice.
4. Q: "So the question is: what doors would being
able to say "from
Wikimedia UK" open for Wikimania hopefuls?"
We provided an email address for the Wikimania team leader last year
which, sfaiaa, is still operating. If the target recipient should be
changed just let me know.
That would be good, I don't know who would be the best person to
handle that at this stage.
5. Q: "Can someone here give me the short rundown
on Paul's business
background and/or ties to the Wikipedia community?"
Paul has had a longtime connection with Wikipedia and the Wikimedia
community and has the requisite documentation and experience for the job.
There's a non-answer if every there was one.
6. "James F. spoke at length of the hair-tearing
nightmare of even getting
a goddamn bank account for an intended charity in the UK, given the
marvellous new banking regulations designed to make sure we're not
money-laundering."
Yeah, though you would have thought that the banks have decided we are
absolute ne'er-do-wells from the response we've had! Yes, we've lost two
previous treasurers (somewhat careless, accepted) and the current one has
been offline the last month or so due to a family crisis (but I spoke to
him on the phone some minutes ago and will be meeting with him in person
on Wednesday to see what we can get sorted asap). We've also had a
downside in that - aiui - the banks and Charities Commission have actually
*changed* how they view prospective charities during the time we've been
trying to get all this sorted which in some areas has put us right back at
square one. grrr!
It does not take over two years to get a bank account set up, however
unhelpful the banks are. As for the changes to charity law, as I
understand it, we don't need to register with the Charities Commission
unless our annual income is over £5000 which it presumably is not. We
just need to contact HMRC and register as a small charity, which is a
much less onerous task.
7. Q: AGM Date?
Somewhat complicated here ... last year the members of the company OK'd a
date shorter than the required notice (as permitted by the Articles) and
will probably do so again to comply with Companies House etc. *but* what
we'll then do is what we actually planned to do last year (sorry!) and
once the damn bank account situation is regularised (ie opened and ready
to receive funds) is have an EGM at which we will enable a change in the
Directors of the company to take place that won't have to await next
year's AGM.
Given that it's taken over 2 years so far and I see no reason to think
any progress has been made towards getting a bank account, I consider
that unacceptable. You are taking advantage of the fact that you can't
accept new members to get away with not giving interested parties the
say they deserve in the running of the chapter.
8. Q:Help Wanted?
Yes, as soon as we have the practical problem of taking money sorted we
need to replace the absent position of someone to maintain the membership
information; to help organise our own public and private events; and to do
all sorts of other useful stuff. We ***really*** want this to be people
who are currently involved with Wikimedia projects - we did add some
requests on the WMUK website which did result in some offers but they
weren't from people currently involved / knowledgeable about the wiki way.
We'll hear from you again in another 2 years or so, then?
Thanks for your understanding, and apologies that from
above the surface
we appear to be serenely doing nothing when we are actually paddling like
hell under the waterline!
I see no evidence of that, whatsoever.