[Foundation-l] the easy way or the less easy way

[Erik Moeller]

On 6/17/06, Anthere <Anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Another practical issue is that I am currently the only board member
> interested in trying to do that. Given that trying to rewrite bylaws is
> meant to take a few hours, I'd be happy to know what you guys think and
> what other board members think.
>
> And I get mostly silence.

Perhaps you have a better idea how I feel now. When the committees
first came up, I wrote a detailed summary of my concerns on this list
- zero response. The open meeting, which I put a lot of energy into,
had almost no visible follow-up. Jimmy asked for comments on possible
outside Board members, I made some - no follow-up. In the recent
discussions, most of my longer answers were also ignored, and you
responded to one of them by only labeling it a "campaign platform",
while Gregory has been sniping from the sidelines against
"windbagging" "douchebags".

I welcome your initiative, Anthere. I think the Apache model is a
remix of some ideas that have been discussed before, and will need
some thoughtful consideration. In particular, we definitely need to
figure out who our members are, if anyone -- and fix the bylaws.
"Wiki" philosophy to me means maximizing participation and openness,
but not without safeguards. Having voting members undergo a human
vetting process may work, but the process should be built so that it
doesn't degenerate into the mess RfA on en.wp has become, where every
voter makes up their pet criteria that make up a good Wikimedian. The
criteria of membership should be objective, and objections should be
actionable and reasonable.

I suggest that a workshop be set up at Wikimania to discuss these
things in person; in addition, if you want my personal thoughts on
anything, you can always ask. Based on past experience, I am not
convinced that a continuing discussion on this mailing list makes much
of a difference. I agree with Brad that reforming and expanding the
Board so that it can actually meaningfully engage the community in
these debates is very much needed. At the moment, arguing with the
Board feels like arguing with a one-armed assembly line worker during
the night shift. He just doesn't have a lot of time and attention for
you.

Erik