On 9/16/06, Jimmy Wales jwales@wikia.com wrote:
It is very very important that everyone vote.
Yes, absolutely.
I personally strongly strongly support the candidacies of Oscar and Mindspillage.
I think that's a very important, and valuable, statement. I am on the record as stating that the majority of any future expanded Board should be elected by the community (possibly through a membership model, but not necessarily so). However, in that model, sitting Board members can provide balance and reason by endorsing particular candidacies. Angela has endorsed me, and I think it is vital for you, Anthere and Michael to also share your views on the candidates.
I don't think a public, cross-posted mailing list thread is necessarily the best way to do so, as it might turn into an exchange of negativity. In the future, perhaps each candidate statement should have a "slot" for endorsements. That way, Board members and others could easily make their opinions known.
I for one welcome and encourage questions and comments about my candidacy at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Eloquence/Platform_2006
For those who do not wish to vote for me, I support the candidacies of Arnomane, Mindspillage, AaronSw, and UninvitedCompany. I do not support Oscar at this point in time; even though he is a very pleasant and experienced person, I think his skills are primarily in the area of diplomacy and negotiation, and will be more useful when the Board is larger and the structures of the Foundation have stabilized. However, I will probably support him for an expanded Board.
The voting system used in this election, approval voting, allows anyone to vote for as many candidates as they want, and I would be pleased to receive the support of you, the reader. I would also be happy if one of the other candidates listed above won, as I think that each one of them will do a great job at representing and helping to run and oversee the Foundation in this critical period of its history.