[Foundation-l] A local chapter without Wikimedians

[Jimmy Wales]

Luiz Augusto wrote:
> The same group of no-wikimedians managed to organize an event with the
> participation of Jimmy Wales[6]. I imagine that Jimmy think that the event
> is realize by wikimedians, therefore, before proceeding, let me make it
> clear: people who organized that event never participated in any Wikimedia
> project before. Mediators of the debate either.

I would like to say quite quickly that I was not misled in any way.  And 
based on my personal experiences in Brazil talking to people, I think 
that this problem can be resolved without any difficulty.

I think it is a mistake to have a chapter without a strong participation 
and support of the editing community, but I also think it is a mistake 
to assume that the main people organizing it have to be from the editing 
community, nor to assume that one needs a certain "edit count" in order 
to be able to do a great job.

What I strongly encourage is a series of local meetups - soon!  Like, 
this Friday, why don't people get together in person in Sao Paulo and 
perhaps Rio or wherever the most people can be gotten together, to meet 
each other and talk about this.

Thomas, who made most of the arrangements for my visit, spoke a great 
deal about community involvement, he was quite clear with me that he is 
not a very active Wikipedian, but at the same time, he was friendly, 
open, professional, and eager to expand our activities in Brazil.  It 
seems really unnecessary to me that there should be any conflict.

In case anyone is wondering, when I asked Thomas about who should be 
head of the Wikimedia chapter in Brazil, he was quite clear that he 
doesn't think it should be him.  Anyone who imagines this to be some 
kind of power play does not know Thomas - I encourage you to meet him.