[Foundation-l] Board-announcement: Board Restructuring

[Mike Godwin]

Sam writes:

> Thank you for this reassurance.  I am astonished that the Board  
> would not
> anticipate this (widespread) interpretation of events, or recognize  
> that
> this change would be regarded by many as a power grab by insiders.

I'm pretty sure the Board anticipated criticism.

Speaking as someone who, like Erik, is a staff member who was not part  
of the vote on the restructuring, I figured that no  matter what the  
Board did or did not do, there would be a wave of criticism on  
foundation-l.  In my experience, that is the most common reaction of  
the list.

I urge folks here to interpret the Board's actions as an attempt to  
meet several goals -- greater integration of the chapters and the  
community members who act through chapters, plus greater expertise.   
Keep in mind that it was the Board you believe to be a "good" Board,  
with a majority of members from the community, that determined this  
was the best way to develop the Board further in support of the  
projects. I don't see how this counts as a "power grab by insiders"  
considering that, as pure power is normally assessed, being a Trustee  
of the Wikimedia Foundation is not exactly the same as being a member  
of Microsoft's or Apple's board.


--Mike