[Foundation-l] Remarks on Wikimedia's fundraiser

[Fred Bauder]

> No, I do not think the situation was solved two years ago. Some of the
> topics discussed here over the last year have indicated some of the
> continuing problems.
>
> The attitude that the volunteers are here only to write articles, and
> should leave the general concerns of the site  to the professionals,
> is a good part of the problem. Many organizations do work that way,
> and they can be successful in their own terms.  Wikipedia is an
> attempt to do something different.

The problem, of course, is that the "professionals" are often not
professionally trained in what we do, at present only practical
experience prepares someone. Not that a rigorous academic program in wiki
administration could not be developed. Care would have to be taken to
hire people with actual knowledge to teach in such a program rather than
the usual crowd on the short list that is usually interviewed in media
explorations of Wikipedia. Some of them have been out of the game for
quite some time. One wonders who would pay substantial tuition and spend
years learning such skills, but some people do prepare themselves
academically for volunteer work.

Language such as "In her role as executive director of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Sue Gardner oversees none other than Wikipedia," is fine for
outside observers. I'm sure Sue Gardner understands her powers of
oversight, or even understanding of internal processes, are limited; and
that a clear grasp of those limitations is one of the qualifications for
her position.

Fred