[Foundation-l] Fundraising and site notice

[Oldak Quill]

On 07/01/07, Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:
> Oldak Quill schreef:
> > On 07/01/07, Florence Devouard <anthere at anthere.org> wrote:
> >
> >> Hello everyone.
> >>
> >> Just for a head up (or down)
> >>
> >> First, I wanted to announce to all that there will be no more matching
> >> donors in that fundraiser.
> >> This is due to a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, the
> >> reaction of some members in the community.
> >>
> >
> > Regardless of whether I agreed with the Virgin notice or not, this is
> > an excellent move on behalf of the Foundation. It demonstrates the
> > Foundatin's responsiveness to Wikimedians and that there is no
> > bureaucratic disconnect (which is always a worry when a project like
> > ours begins to organise into formalised institutions and structures).
> >
> > Thanks Florence and the rest of the team. You're doing an excellent job.
> >
> >
> Hoi,
> I am afraid you did not read the whole of Florence her e-mail, or you
> only read what you want to read.. "Fourth, we'll go on with limited
> funds. Limited means we'll go delaying certain issues. That's life !"
>
> This means that things that are deemed necessary will not happen or will
> not happen in the near future for lack of funds. There have been no
> serious proposals on how the WMF can make the money that it requires.
> And where you see responsiveness, I fail to see how our aim is indeed
> best served when you consider our growth and our lack of current funding.
>
> In my opinion this is at best a Pyrrhic victory.

IMO, the lack of funds is *not* a good thing. But that doesn't remove
from the perceived responsiveness of the Foundation. It seems to me
that the community was damaged/divided by the discussion last week:
there were alot of very emotive mails exchanged on this list. For this
reason, I think it was crucial that the Foundation demonstrate
responsiveness even at the cost of some funding. In doing so, the
community can, to an extent, heal.

I think that just announcing that that no matching donors would be
named in the SiteNotice would have been enough (I didn't object to the
anonymous matching donor). Still, too much is better than nothing.

-- 
Oldak Quill (oldakquill at gmail.com)