[Foundation-l] 2011 elections - low turnout

[WereSpielChequers]

I agree with Harel, there are huge numbers of editors who are entitled
to vote and don't do so. I think we put some effort into welcoming
newbies and forget that becoming part of the community is a process
and state of mind rather than a single event.

I think that a bot message from Jimbo or the foundation thanking
people for their 500th edit and saying that they are now entitled to
vote in trustee elections could be a very good way to build the
community.

You'd need to phrase it carefully though:)

WereSpielChequers
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>
> Message: 6
> Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2011 13:32:35 +0200
> From: Harel Cain <harel.cain at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] 2011 Board Elections: Input needed
> To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List
>        <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> Message-ID:
>        <AANLkTinno=BDmAcWEQSQwfDUWSPEGNOq0Yvwh7adPm8C at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Before we start extending the right to vote to ever wider groups of people,
> we should ask ourselves how much this right is exercised by those already
> entitled to it, and how many of those proposed to be granted the right to
> vote are expected to really make use of it.
>
> The last elections saw a participation of a few thousand of voters, just a
> small proportion of all the people eligible to vote, and I guess these could
> be split roughly into those who really are into foundation-level and
> meta-level issues and those who were (legitimately) recruited from among the
> home projects of the candidates without  too much real interest in the
> elections. Whoever didn't fall into these two categories rarely voted, and I
> anticipate the same will hold true for the new groups you proposed in your
> mail.
>
> The real question we should ask ourselves is how to make these elections
> more relevant and important for those groups of people already entitled to
> take part in them.
>
>
> Harel Cain
> Hebrew Wikipedia / Wikimedia Israel
>
>