[Foundation-l] [WikiEN-l] Wikimedia Board Elections

[Delphine Ménard]

On 9/18/06, Kelly Martin <kelly.lynn.martin at gmail.com> wrote:

For the record, I agree with Andrew. Kelly, your post was one of the
best and most concise of this year.

> On 9/17/06, Birgitte SB <birgitte_sb at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > And how should the Foundation ensure the election for
> > these delegates are handled in the proper manner?
> > Would the delegates be issused by langage or
> > community?  How would you define a language?  Or else,
> > How would this affect requests for new language
> > creations for projects?  Would all communities have
> > the exact same sufferage requirements or could they
> > come to their own consensus?  Who would verify and
> > enforce any rules the Foundation requires for these
> > elections?  Would people then be allowed to vote for
> > several delegates if they meet the sufferage
> > requirements of several communities?
>
> All of these are good questions.  All of them can, and should, be
> answered, but not in the space of a single email message.
>
> > I think this
> > proposal is quite beyond the capability of this
> > organzation.
>
> That's a very disappointing statement.  Why do you believe that?  More
> importantly, what do you think needs to be changed so as to not make
> it beyond the capability of this organization?

The question is not to me, but let me give a tentative answer.

First, let me point (again) to
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikicouncil . Not exactly a new idea
but the concept at least tries to address (if not answers) many of
Birgitte's concerns.

However, I believe that thinking that the Foundation has to do all of
this is taking the problem by the wrong end.

If "the community" of Wikimedia projects is to be represented in the
board of the Foundation, it should be "the community" of Wikimedia
projects that takes itself by the hand(s) and makes this happen, not
the other way around.

We've seen that the "Foundation" doing anything invariably leads to
mild or fierce accusations of "the Foundation" wanting to take over,
rule and what not. Well, maybe if *we* the community, proposed the
organisation (the Foundation) with a comprehensive way to go about
this, showing that *we* the community, have understood what's at stake
on an organisational level, things could change for the better.

Therefore, Birgitte, I believe you are asking the right questions, but
the wrong way around, and therefore coming to the wrong conclusions. I
believe for my part that this is, as of today, quite beyond the
capability of the community.

Delphine
-- 
~notafish