On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 15:40:25 +0200, Anthere anthere9@yahoo.com wrote:
I do not think it is a legal requirement that board meetings are help publicly. And I do not think it would be a good idea that we are required to discuss publicly only. As for the meeting in question, I for one, did not keep a copy of the log, and if some one did, I request to review it before it is possibly made public.
I was under the impression the board would be responsible for macro issues that were incapable of being done by the "community", such as the legal, monetary and logistical needs of the Foundation. And that anything that could still be initiated and decided on by the community would be done in wiki space by Wikipedians. If this is an incorrect interpretation, then an explanation would be appreciated.
So my response to your point would be either: 1) The decision should not be done by the board, but by Wikipedians with the usual due process of proposal, discussion, yet more discussion, too much discussion, then voting. or 2) The decision be made by the board but be open and solicit opinions from the community, with the proceedings made public.
Clearly, the way you suggest (by the board, but closed) is very much against the open spirit the Wikipedia community is used to. To be clear, I'm largely in favor of the Wikispecies proposal, and don't think the board acted in bad faith. But we should also take this opportunity to make sure that we set the right precedent for future decisions.