[Foundation-l] RfC: Mission & Vision Statements of the Wikimedia Foundation

[Gregory Maxwell]

On 11/16/06, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
[snip]
> Adding the adjective "educational" somewhere doesn't help because
> opinions on just what is educational are likely to open a whole new
> round of debate.
[snip]

Although it is difficult to say what is educational, there are many
cases where it is not difficult to obtain broad consensus that a
particular item is not.

[snip]
> The mission statement is a big picture document.  It is about wishes and
> possibilities, not about restrictions.  Where needed those restrictions
> can come later.

I'd prefer to say that a mission statement should not attempt to micromanage.

It should fully define the destination, but not every footstep along the path.

The question of a statement about 'educational' being too close to
micromanagement is one I can not answer with certainty. However,
"educational", in a broad sense, is an actual and important aspect of
our implemented mission, and it would be unfortunate if we couldn't
find a clear way to express that in the written expression of our
mission.