[Foundation-l] The fallacy of power

[Jimmy Wales]

Samuel Klein wrote:
> My case for the converse is a worry about corruption.  Community members who
> have devoted a significant portion of their lives to the project and
> demonstrated their gut-level appreciation of the value and necessity of the
> projects are far less corruptible than interested and talented outsiders;
> while the breadth of the projects' appeal has granted us the benefit of
> contributions from experts from all walks of life.

I see no reason to think this is true or false.  It is an interesting 
speculation.

> This is a strawman.   The current board is a good one, and recognizes that
> the power to organize, inform, and guide the projects' social and creative
> content movements lies with the community.  The /reason/ that this board is
> wise has to do with its history, its long experience with the projects, and
> its community membership.

And that board, with all that experience, has come to an understanding 
born in a long process of work that we need some outside expertise on 
the board, and that we have not managed to get the kinds of expertise 
that we need solely by drawing from a community process that has tended 
to choose excellent community members and editors (who we also need).