[Foundation-l] Opinions/suggestions for "outside" members of the board?

[Anthony DiPierro]

On 6/19/06, Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 6/19/06, Erik Moeller <eloquence at gmail.com> wrote:
> [snip]
> > Would I want Eben Moglen, RMS or Larry Lessig to vote on our copyright
> > policies, or on what new project to approve, or on what personnel to
> > hire? Most likely not. Would I want Mitch Kapor, a key advocate of
> > Mozilla's current corporate approach, to vote on whether Wikipedia
> > should allow advertising? Definitely not. Nor do these people bring
> > truly different perspectives to our organization that we do not
> > already have.
> [snip]
>
> Of course you don't.

I gave a brief explanation of what I think Erik is talking about wrt
Larry Lessig.  For an example of the dispute, see also
http://intelligentdesigns.net/blog/?p=25

His problem with Mitch Kapor seems clear.  For more background see
[[Mozilla Corporation]].

I'm not sure what his problem with RMS and Eben Moglen are.

These people don't bring particularly different perspectives to the
organization, but I do think their input is useful, because they
represent some of the most influential people with regard to those
perspectives.  I'd love to have RMS and Larry Lessig battling it out
on this mailing list over how best to implement Wikimedia project
copyright policies (with Eben Moglen presenting his own opinions as to
how best to implement these policies).  But I think it's pretty
obvious that they're already invited to do so.

Unfortunately I don't know much about Mitch Kapor.  But given what I
do know I would love to hear his input on how best to bring
sustainable revenue to the foundation.  This doesn't mean I know
enough to say he should be given a vote.

As I alluded to of those 4 people I'd probably be willing to give RMS
a shot.  From what I've seen he definitely seems to have the integrity
I'd want from a board member.

Anthony