[Foundation-l] Board-announcement: Board Restructuring

[Tim Landscheidt]

"Brianna Laugher" <brianna.laugher at gmail.com> wrote:

> [...]
> (Ironic...
> We are happy to let the content in the world's top reference source be
> decided by anyone who puts their hand up, but not the governance nub
> of same.
> When do we under- and when do we over-estimate our own power?)

> With the recent professionalisation of WMF - massively expanded staff,
> and the end of the "working Board", is this fear still well-founded?
> (if it ever was)
> [...]

IBTD. A lot of users will happily create articles, revert
vandalism and ensure NPOV on their turf but won't be inter-
ested to follow foundation "politics" and so will either not
participate in elections or maybe cast their vote for the
most populist candidate.

  What I find most interesting about the whole quest for
councils and board seats (vulgo: power) is that there is no
incentive to those positions: The funds are earmarked (and
rather small) and as soon as you make a decision that is
contrary to the community's consensus, they will walk and
you will have to cover yourself whether Amy Winehouse is so-
ber or stoned at the moment. Or, in other words: There is no
power because you cannot give orders to volunteers.

  Personally, I would not mind if the current board's terms
end 2099 as long as the servers are running, MediaWiki is
maintained and developed and the financial conduct does not
cross any legal limits.

Tim