[Foundation-l] Chapter-selected Board seats - brainstorming

[Birgitte SB]

--- On Thu, 5/1/08, Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Chapter-selected Board seats - brainstorming
> To: "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List" <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> Date: Thursday, May 1, 2008, 7:33 AM

> At this moment there are no sub-national chapters so this
> notion is
> academic. It would make sense to have a US chapter in the
> first place. When
> a particular chapter has proven itself, it makes sense to
> give it more
> influence. The German chapter is well organised and has a
> lot of experience.
> I would rate their contribution higher then a newly created
> chapter.
> 
> It is about getting the job done and get a decent job done.
> If it is only
> about power, then I think this whole notion stinks.


The US sub-national issue is not about power but logistics.   One national chapter will never self-organize in the US.  All the incentives to do so (tax-deductabilty, legal support, press contacts) have been "stolen" by the WMF.  So if WMF is going to declare that the US must have one national chapter (or begin with one) they must organize it for the US or it will never happen.  I am not sure which of those outcomes is more embarassing for the people who believe chapters are important.

Sub-national chapters in the US are still capable of self-organizing because of there is incentive to do something local with WMF.  But no-one in the US percieves the whole nation as "local".  I doubt there would actually be one per state, but certainly some states like Texas would have one while others might be regional like New England. However I cannot see Wikimedians in the US getting together and forming a national chapter.  There is simply no benefit to the US Wikimedians for having a US national chapter. 

Birgitte SB


      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and 
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ