[Foundation-l] Wikimedia Pennsylvania

[Dmcdevit]

Jimmy Wales wrote:
> On Jul 10, 2007, at 8:35 AM, Dmcdevit wrote:
>
>   
>> Brion Vibber wrote:
>>     
>>> What's the argument in favor of state-level blocks?
>>>
>>>       
>> Indeed, out of curiosity, what is the reason for a sub-country chapter
>> at all, in contrast to most others? This might be obvious, but it
>> doesn't seem anyone has said it yet.
>>     
>
> One reason is that the United States is a really really really big  
> country.  France is the largest country in the EU.  It's a little  
> smaller than Texas, so if France were an American state (an amusing  
> and unlikely thought) it would be the 3rd largest.
>
> Having a "local chapter" including both New York City, Chicago, and  
> Los Angeles doesn't feel very "local".
>
> --Jimbo
That makes sense, but I think it would make more sense to have a 
national chapter with (an emphasis on) local subchapters, instead of 
simply scattered metro chapters in the US. The US may be big, but when I 
fly the length of the country from top to bottom, as I do often 
(Portland to Phoenix), the only major thing that changes is the 
temperature. It seems like we're saying the US has the reasons (internal 
commonality, etc.) for having a chapter, but is too big and/or legally 
disparate for a single chapter. Why not both? From an administrative 
perspective, it seems more sensible to organize people on a broader 
scale first, and then determine the viable subsets, rather than starting 
small before we know it works. Presumably, a national chapter could 
still provide useful services for the people in, say, Arizona, who have 
never even had a meetup and are unlikely to have a chapter in the near 
future. Most especially, if we are now contemplating many chapters in 
the US (there are 50 states, and I assume even more metro areas), a 
national chapter would be a good way to help get those organized, and 
lend support from other existing (sub)chapters.

Dominic