[Foundation-l] Remarks on Wikimedia's fundraiser

[MZMcBride]

David Gerard wrote:
> On 5 March 2011 21:15, MZMcBride <z at mzmcbride.com> wrote:
> 
>> "Defined by what the Foundation wants to accomplish"? I think you've
>> highlighted the problem pretty well, right there.
> 
> Then please answer my question, and give your plan, working backward
> from the mission statement to the necessary Foundation. Show your
> working, so we can see you don't fudge "oh, but that number's too big"
> at any stage - you're saying it's too big/too wasteful/whatever, but
> you've been snide as hell for the past few months, and I want you to
> actually justify your last few months of posts on a strictly "how do
> we achieve the actual goal?" basis.

I think you missed my point. The Wikimedia Foundation exists to serve the
Wikimedia projects. To me, that's a key point and it's one that's slowly
getting lost. It isn't about what goals the Wikimedia Foundation wants to
accomplish, it's about what goals the Wikimedia community wants to
accomplish that require the help of a Wikimedia Foundation.

Regarding your question, let's re-paste it.

David Gerard wrote:
> Indeed. Although it's quite possible Tobias is correct and WMF can
> achieve the mission with its current budget and staff, I'd like to see
> those who think so give their map of how they get from the goal to the
> current size or just over the current size. Show all working.

I half-wrote a reply to this before closing the window and moving on, but
since you're pushing, I'll try to write something coherent.

I read and re-read what you wrote/asked, and it seems to me that you're
asking the Wikimedia community to justify the Wikimedia Foundation's growth.
That seems rather backward to me. The Wikimedia Foundation (and its
employees) have to justify their own existence, not the other way around, as
I see it. From the way I read what you've written, you're making the
assumption that the current size is acceptable or necessary. The reality, as
I see it, is that the current size is completely arbitrary.

There are a few rather major points in what you're writing that I think
aren't as settled you think they are (or perhaps they're not as settled as I
think they should be). When you talk about "the mission," it's become fairly
clear that the current mission statement isn't serving its purpose. It's too
vague to be useful or meaningful in any real sense. This consequently means
that any attempts to build toward it are almost inherently flawed.

The Wikimedia Foundation has made it clear through its actions over the past
few years that its primary focus is Wikipedia. Its primary focus is not
Wikiversity, Wikinews, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, or any of the other projects,
it's Wikipedia. There is a finite amount of resources on the Wikimedia
Foundation side, so I think it makes sense to focus on the project that's
vastly and undeniably more successful than any of the others. But I think it
also makes sense to be more explicit about what the Wikimedia Foundation's
mission now is. It isn't to (generically) "empower and engage people around
the world to collect and develop educational content," the mission is to
build Wikipedia and the Wikipedia brand.

It isn't fair to people working on the Other Projects to pretend as though
they're any kind of priority, now or in the near future. It isn't fair to
the Other Projects to pretend as though they're soon going to see the same
level of resources that Wikipedia currently gets or that they're going to
see any increase in resources whatsoever. I think it would be fair to
disband those projects and be honest and upfront about what Wikimedia's
prioities and goals actually are. The goal of the Wikimedia Foundation isn't
to build a free content news service and it isn't to build a free content
... whatever it is that Wikiversity is. The goal of the Wikimedia Foundation
is to build a free content encyclopedia (Wikipedia) and its surrounding
brand.

And I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with that goal. Rather than trying
to do many things and doing all of them unspectacularly, why not make the
focus (in spirit and in writing) Wikipedia? Why not make the focus building
the best free content encyclopedia that we can? That goal is definable and
achievable. That goal is something that can be done well (following the Unix
philosophy, it's better to do one thing well rather than try to do many
things poorly).

Beyond the vagueness of the mission statement and going back to your
original question, there are views that the Wikimedia Foundation is being
wasteful. Even under the current mission statement, there's nothing in it
about the "necessary Foundation" relocating to one of the most expensive
areas in the United States and then expanding there. Of course a higher rate
of growth in the budget is going to be inevitable when you have to pay staff
a living wage in an area that's incredibly expensive to live in. Would most
non-profits actively choose to be in or expand in such an area? I don't
think so. It makes sense if you're Google or Apple or a for-profit
organization with a lot of money to spend, but does it make sense for
Wikimedia? I think most people within the Wikimedia community would say it
doesn't.

When you talk about showing the work to reach the goal, I think first you
have to define what that goal is. The Wikimedia Foundation seems to have
already decided that the goal is improving and building Wikipedia. With that
in mind, what's necessary to achieve that? In my mind, at a most basic
level, it's a matter of keeping the servers up and running. Wikipedia is a
web-based, free content encyclopedia. We don't have anyone currently
contributing by fax or carrier pigeon. So everything beyond keeping the
sites operational isn't the responsibility of specific editors or the
Wikimedia community to justify. It's the responsibility of those arguing
that we need to expand to justify the expansion, isn't it?

I've made an honest attempt to answer your question, but if you feel as
though I'm still missing what you're asking, keep poking. With enough
prodding and poking, I'll get there eventually.

MZMcBride