[Wikimedia-l] Why not everyone have the right to vote in the Board & FDC elections?

[Sue Gardner]

Interesting thread, Itzik --- to be honest, I had forgotten that staff had
been granted the right to vote regardless of edit count. I wouldn't be
surprised if the only staff members who do vote are those who would qualify
under the edit count requirement anyway.

Seems to me that rather than creating new exemptions from the edit count
requirement, we might be better off to lower the number of edits required
so that anybody who's demonstrated interest in the projects would qualify.
If edits on meta, mediawiki, outreach, etc., qualify, and we were to lower
the edit count requirement, then I think that would be inclusive of
most/all contributors. Would something like that make sense?

Thanks,
Sue
On Apr 28, 2013 1:26 PM, "Andrew Gray" <andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk> wrote:

> On 28 April 2013 06:15, rupert THURNER <rupert.thurner at gmail.com> wrote:
> > also agree to simplify the rules. what i'd really love would be to
> > better standardize and with it simplify "volunteer community", for all
> > elections and votes. and at least my wish would be that people who
> > donate their time by sending code patches to software considered
> > essential to run the site are included.
>
> The first elections (in 2004) had a simple "three months in the
> community" rule. After that, we added edit count restrictions. The
> first election with any "complicated" rules - allowing people in
> without passing the edit count limits - was 2008, when WMF staff,
> ex-Board members, *and* "Wikimedia server administrators with shell
> access" were added. In 2011, this got extended to people who "have
> commit access and have made at least one commit between 15 May 2010
> and 15 May 2011."
>
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2008/en
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2011/en
>
> So we've already got those in :-)
>
> I'm ambivalent about whether it's appropriate to have staff members
> (those who don't independently qualify as "community members") voting
> or not, but I think in principle Itzik has a very good point - either
> *both* WMF and Chapter staff should be able to vote, or *neither*
> should. I can't see any reason that it's right for a staffer in San
> Francisco to participate in the election, but it isn't right for one
> in Berlin!
>
> (It may be too late to change anything for this time around, of
> course, but it would be great if we could ensure consistency in future
> elections)
>
> - Andrew.
>
>
> > On Sat, Apr 27, 2013 at 11:49 PM, Asaf Bartov <abartov at wikimedia.org>
> wrote:
> >> Also agree with Nathan.  Those chapter board members who are not active
> on
> >> the projects already have a far greater relative weight in selecting the
> >> chapter-selected board seats.
> >>
> >>    A.
> >>
> >>
> >> On Sat, Apr 27, 2013 at 1:10 PM, Federico Leva (Nemo) <
> nemowiki at gmail.com>wrote:
> >>
> >>> Nathan, 27/04/2013 21:34:
> >>>
> >>>  I would go the other way, and limit the participants in the election
> >>>> for the community seat to people who are members of the volunteer
> >>>> community. Presumably that would include most members of most
> >>>> organizational boards, but only include those staff and other paid
> >>>> workers who also participate as volunteers.
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> I agree with Nathan, simplifying the rules is useful while complicating
> >>> them for a few dozens voters is not.
> >>>
> >>> Nemo
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ______________________________**_________________
> >>> Wikimedia-l mailing list
> >>> Wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.**org <Wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> >>> Unsubscribe:
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/**mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l<
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >>     Asaf Bartov
> >>     Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org>
> >>
> >> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
> the
> >> sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
> >> https://donate.wikimedia.org
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Wikimedia-l mailing list
> >> Wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list
> > Wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
>
>
>
> --
> - Andrew Gray
>   andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia-l mailing list
> Wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
>