[Foundation-l] Fwd: Wikimedia Brasil + WMF

[Florence Devouard]

On 9/1/11 5:37 PM, Jimmy Wales wrote:
> On 8/28/11 1:00 AM, Ray Saintonge wrote:
>> I think that developing such a legal entity should be a high priority
>> for Brazilian Wikipedians to ensure that Wiki activities in Brazil are
>> controlled by Brazilians. At the same time I don't think there is any
>> value to having a WMF appointee on your board; such a person would find
>> it difficult to function under circumstances of perpetual conflict of
>> interest.  No other chapter has such a clause.
>
> I had never thought of this before, but now that it has been mentioned,
> I just wanted to disagree, quite respectfully because Ray is awesome of
> course, and say that I think it is a very interesting idea to have a WMF
> appointee on the boards of chapters.
>
> There should be very few cases where there is a "conflict of interest"
> since chapters and the Foundation are deeply tied together always (and
> that's a good thing).  I think having a Foundation representative on the
> board of chapters does present some possibly insurmountable logistical
> issues (who will they be?) but I actually think such an arrangement
> might be incredibly valuable for improving communication and
> *decreasing* perceived conflicts of interest.
>
> --Jimbo

I can not help commenting a bit more on the matter of "conflict of 
interest". I think I can probably say more on the matter than most 
people here.

First because I pushed a LOT for the adoption of a COI policy on the 
board of WMF. And this generated lot's of painful discussions between 
you, Michael and I. In particular with regards to your involvement with 
Wikia.

Second because Wikimedia France used to have in its bylaws that it had a 
representant of WMF on its board. With veto rights.

Third because I used to be that person.

Our bylaws were changed a few years ago, as to decrease to a maximum the 
risk of WMF being considered liable in France through Wikimedia France. 
Removing this representative was the first obvious recommendation of the 
lawyer.

Fourth because I pushed with others for this rule according to which 
there should be no overlap between board of chapters/WMF and no overlap 
between staff and board as well. And I resigned from Wikimedia France 
board to respect that rule.

The truth is.... being a board member requires to be totally loyal to 
the organization you are a board member of.

One should not vote according to personal interests nor according to the 
interest of another organization one is also member of, to the detriment 
of the first.

You seek to remove "perceived" conflicts of interest, even if that means 
creating "real" conflicts of interest ?

Because there would be conflict of interest and rather BIG ONES.

We are facing rather severe challenges right now. Let's say it straight, 
Wikimedia Foundation is simply trying to absorb/control the chapters as 
is they were simple bureaux of the WMF locally and chapters kind of 
disagree with WMF idea that centralization is a good move for the 
mouvement...

I can not begin to imagine how unconfortable a representant of WMF would 
be if he were on the board of a chapter. Would he be loyal to the 
chapter ? Would he be loyal to the WMF ? How fair would that be to ask 
*anyone* to be put in such type of situation ? And which would be the 
impact to the public ? (in particular to other funding organizations ?) 
And how much chance is there that WMF could actually shoot itself in the 
foot in doing this ?

FLorence