[Wikimedia-l] WMF Policy and Political Affiliations Guideline

[Andreas Kolbe]

Well, if you don't see a problem, please explain how you see the matter.

Who is the advocacy advisory group, and why is it said that they
(a) represent the community's voice and (b) are managed by a Foundation
department?

I presume the underlying idea of the policy is that there should be checks
and balances. The Foundation and the community are supposed to balance each
other, in some sense. But there is something odd about a proposed policy
that says that the Foundation has to consult only one community organ – one
which is "managed" by the Foundation – and that the community proper will
only be consulted "if there is time" (a vague expression if ever I've heard
one).

In addition, the proposed policy says that everything it says in it may be
ignored at will, for it ends with the sentence,

"WMF reserves the right to deviate from this policy depending on the
circumstances. The General Counsel must approve any such deviation."

So, per this policy, the combined weight and value of over a decade's worth
of contributions by tens of thousands of volunteers with completely
disparate political views can be thrown behind any political cause just as
long as the General Counsel approves. Great! What do you think of that?

Andreas


On Sat, Aug 4, 2012 at 2:55 AM, Risker <risker.wp at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 3 August 2012 22:00, Andreas Kolbe <jayen466 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > <lots of stuff>
> >
>
> Andreas, I'm sorry, but you've been involved in Wikimedia projects for
> quite a while now.  What in heaven's name would ever give you the idea that
> the WMF could possibly get itself organized enough to co-ordinate something
> like this with Google?
>
> Now, could you please get back to the subject, which is how the WMF should
> handle third party requests to participate in advocacy, and drop this whole
> Google/SOPA thing, or at least take it off this list?
>
> Risker/Anne
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