[Foundation-l] Where we are headed

[Anthere]

Anthony DiPierro wrote:
> On 6/3/06, Angela <beesley at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>>On 6/4/06, Anthony DiPierro <wikilegal at inbox.org> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Is there an archive somewhere of all the historical board votes?  I'd
>>>be interested in seeing it.
>>>
>>>Overall, it's really hard to find information about what it is the
>>>board and its members have been doing.
>>
>>http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolutions
>>
>>Watching that wiki, and reading Wikizine ( http://cur.wikizine.org/ )
>>are two good ways of keeping up with the Board's actions. Suggestions
>>on how to improve communications are very welcome.
>>
>>Angela
> 
> 
> I'm trying to think of a major thing that I can suggest, rather than
> nitpicking minor details.  Overall, wikimediafoundation.org is very
> outdated.  Even just looking at the front page the quarterly reports
> contain nothing from the current year (5 months into it), the projects
> section starts with a red link, the second feature talks about the
> Quarto which is a project which was abandoned over a year ago.
> 
> One of the higher pageranked pages is
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Meetings, which contains no
> information about meetings in 2006.  One of the meetings I stubled
> across, http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Meetings/October_22%2C_2004,
> talks about changing membership from opt-out to opt-in.  This doesn't
> seem to have been implemented, and I'm not actually sure whether or
> not I'm even a member.  http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Bylaws
> points to http://wikimediafoundation.org/bylaws.pdf, which seems to be
> the original bylaws from 2003 (which have apparently changed).
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_bylaws is
> another version, which seems to have been updated, but it doesn't seem
> to have taken all resolutions into account (besides the opt-in/opt-out
> one, I remember reading from you or Ant that the notion of "Member
> Representative to the Board of Trustees" had been dropped).
> (Interestingly, http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/About_Wikimedia
> points to *both* versions.)
> 
> Anyway, thanks for the links.  I guess my "suggestions" were somewhat
> nitpicky.  But I do think it's pretty important that people know a)
> whether or not they're actually a member of Wikimedia and b) what the
> bylaws of the foundation are.
> 
> Anthony

Vaccum.

A new version of the bylaws were written about 2 months ago. This new 
version entirely remove the notion of membership (so the notions of 
opt-in and opt-out disappear). However, the new text recognises the 
input and importance of the community (it was not the case before).

 From a "board election" point of view, the existence of members or not, 
does not have impact. There are still community representatives on the 
board. However, there is an-ongoing discussion on the 
election/appointement modes.

As of today, I am unable to answer to your question (am I a member or 
not ?). If the new bylaws were to be adopted, the answer would be "no".

As for whether the bylaws will be adopted or not, I posted a resolution 
regarding the first three parts of the bylaws (including the membership 
part) on the board wiki 5 weeks ago.
As of today, none of the board members have voted on the resolution, nor 
really made any comment (so I have no idea if the lack of voting is due 
to opposition, lack of interest, lack of time or whatever).

ant

PS : note that it is not possible to oblige people to vote.