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

[Jimmy Wales]

Brad Patrick wrote:
> From my perspective, what happens in the office to keep 
> the servers running, bills paid, and all of the rest of the stuff that 
> never touches the online space (much less in other languages and 
> projects) could not be more separate than the day-to-day goings on of 
> the projects.  I grasp how utterly challenging it is to reach across the 
> divide, really.

Totally!

> If I understand what I think Jimbo 
> meant, he meant that the reins of the organization were NOT going to be 
> tossed over to venture capitalists who would treat it as a private 
> company, that the people WMF turns to for assistance will come from both 
> inside and outside the community, and that the community must always be 
> respected as the source of everything we do.  

Yes, that is what I mean... from the Foundation side of things.

And I also mean something else, too, from the community side of 
things... it is a too common reaction of people in the community to 
think of "the Foundation" as a distant entity to be blamed or yelled at 
when something goes wrong, and I think that's a mistake.  The right 
answer is: get involved at the "foundation" level.

Delphine is a perfect example of this.  She doesn't bitch abstractly 
about the foundation, she *gets to work helping make things better*. 
There are a TON of people like that.  And I think we need to communicate 
this far and wide throughout the wider community... don't think of the 
Foundation as some abstract entity which is trying to impose its will on 
people, but rather as something you can be a part of.

--Jimbo