[Foundation-l] Call for nominations: chapter-appointed seats on the WMF Board of Trustees

[Nathan]

I'm interested in answers to the procedural questions, too.

It's seems like a quixotic process, as laid out on the meta page. The board
members are to be selected by completely unstructured discussion, with
consensus judged by the moderators. The process even seems to allow for the
discussion to reach its conclusion in person, with no permanent records, at
the Chapters Meeting. If the discussion reaches no consensus, or the
consensus determination of the moderators is challenged, a "vote" will be
held - in public, on a wiki page.

Other than confidentiality, no guidance is provided to the chapters on how
to select their preferred candidate - nor on which chapter representatives
can participate in the discussion on the chapters-wiki. If any chapter
member can participate, doesn't that unduly advantage native English
speakers and their chapters? If only some, how are they to be selected?

Additionally, Beria Lima says that chapters-wiki is mirrored on meta - but
the process page[1] refers to chapters-wiki as confidential, and says that
discussion of candidates' real names should be restricted to that wiki so
that only members can see it.

This whole thing seems pretty ad hoc and amateurish for an organization
that is trying to be more robust and modern about its practices. Is there a
background check? Is there some threshold for participation beneath which
the current Board might refuse to certify the results? Are we really sure
that the chapters represent enough Wikimedians to merit two seats on the
Board selected in such an opaque manner?

[1]: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapter-selected_Board_seats