[Foundation-l] Election Results

[Ray Saintonge]

Brion Vibber wrote:
> On 8/12/09 12:07 PM, Steven Walling wrote:
>   
>> While I personally am very pleased with the results, I wonder how the
>> election results will be perceived outside Wikimedia.
>> With numerous media outlets reacting to PARC's research about the state of
>> the community, I fear this endorsement of seemingly "old guard" Wikimedians
>> as our Board representation will support claims about the community becoming
>> unfriendly to new participants.
>> Thoughts? Am I being too nervous, or do others see that potential too?
>>     
> On the contrary, getting the old guard more active is essential in 
> resolving such community issues -- Wikipedia was much more 
> newbie-friendly in its first couple of years than it is today, and we 
> need to recover that spirit.
>   

I concur.  As you described in another thread about dividing your job in 
two, one can too easily get caught up in administrative tasks and forget 
what got us involved in the first place.  We hang on because we still 
believe in the vision, and that vision comes with a deeply felt ethic.  
The old guard may even be more committed to democratic principles than 
the young Turks who profess to be. The dilemma therein for the old guard 
lies in the fact that the solution may lie in bold actions that conflict 
with our democratic ethic.

Ec