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

[effe iets anders]

2008/5/1, daniwo59 op aol.com <daniwo59 op aol.com>:
>
>  In a message dated 5/1/2008 2:27:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
>
> polimerek op gmail.com writes:
>
>  But the  cost of travel by plane is similar around USD 500 - and
>  practically - time  of travel as well if you take into consideration
>  time spent to get to  airport and time spent in custom, check-in etc.
>  And believe me - the  difference between London and Warsaw is much
>  higher than between LA and NY  in terms of language, habits, level of
>  personal income etc. We are not  going to travel across Europe and US
>  on horses, so the distance in miles is  not so important :-)
>
>
>
>
> Sure, the cultural differences are vast. I was simply addressing geographic
>  differences, which facilitate interpersonal contact, a key component of
>  chapter  building.
>
>  As for some of the other comments: sure, regional US chapters can raise
>  money, but for what purpose? As for PR, let's say that a chapter forms in
>  Atlanta: are they going to be the ones to speak on CNN, or will it be the
>  Foundation? Similarly, what if Bill O'Reilly wants to interview someone: will it  be the
>  Chair of Wikimedia New York or the representative of the Foundation. As  for
>  a "death of titles," that should not be what this is about. It only serves  to
>  highlight differences in rank, rather than eliminate them. Once we used to
>  pride ourselves on an admin being nothing more than an ordinary user with a
>  mop.  Why create a culture of hierarchies when it is not needed?
>
>
>  D
I think you misunderstand me here. I do not care about internal
hierarchy or something. But in negotiations with companies and
foundations and universities etc, it *does* help if you have something
to show off with. It is not for nothing that US people are known for
theyr making up all those fancy titles.

More important, I only mentioned it as one of the limited resources.
For some things you need certain resources, and "titles" is just one
of them. Most of the time you need combinations of recourses to get
things done.

-- Lodewijk