[Foundation-l] Are we a club?

[Marc Riddell]

> On 1/10/08, Mike Godwin <mnemonic at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Birgitte writes:
>>> I find this completely
>>> off-base.  WMF is *becoming* a club now.  In the past
>>> it was more like a trading center.
>> 
>> I think this criticism of my remark is fair. All analogies fail when
>> you analyze them enough.  I do believe that, in some ways, the
>> Wikimedia projects (and the Foundation) were like a club -- now they
>> are less so.  I think it is a defensible argument that some people
>> miss the club.  Nevertheless, p.rofessionalizing the infrastructure is
>> an important, positive step.
>> ...
on 1/10/08 2:28 PM, Milos Rancic at millosh at gmail.com wrote:
> 
> I think that I understand about what Gregory and Brigitte talk. Also,
> it looks to me that after Board's decision about licenses things
> became much better, thanks to the community's pressure after the
> decision.
> 
> Wikimedian community was a club of people involved in in the projects.
> During this year it became obvious that it is not such club anymore,
> which is good.
> 
> But, tendencies which are making WMF as a club of Wikimedian leaders
> which are making a meta-club with other similar clubs -- didn't start
> yesterday. And this is a problem.
> 
> Wikimedian community is *very* different from other free culture
> communities because it is not a group of geeks who don't want to be
> included in "some boring things" (like free software and open source
> movements are), as well as it is not a group of professionals who are
> communicating between themselves on the professional level.
> 
> Our community is much more diverse and much more like any society in
> the world. Because of that, community members don't want to treat
> community leaders as "good managers" or "people who made a right thing
> at the right time", but as a political leaders who need to be good
> managers, to do the right thing at the right time, but not only that.
> 
> I really think that comparing WM community with other free culture
> communities is a wrong way of thinking. Community similar to
> Wikimedian didn't happen in the history and people who are in the
> position to lead it have to be very creative and extremely careful in
> building its future. Consequences of doing good and bad job may be
> similar (while I hope not so drastic) to the consequences of bad job
> done by League of Nations.
> 
> Maybe it may look like a hyperbola, but I really feel that something
> big is brewing. And it is much better to be more careful then
> responsible for a disaster.
> 
There is something big that is brewing, Milos. The Wikipedia Community is
becoming more identified, more questioning, more assertive, and is demanding
more of a voice in decision making. And there are those in positions of
insinuated "authority" who are having a great deal of trouble with this.
Hang in there, there is a whole new model for a cyberspace community that is
also brewing.

Marc Riddell