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

Sun Apr 28 20:54:44 UTC 2013

I think it's a good idea Sue. Wikipedians are different than Wikimedians,
etc.. There are many people on boards of chapters and involved in the
community that might not "edit" on wiki spaces, making them perhaps unable
to vote. And there are a lot of people involved in the community that
aren't editors or active on wiki, but, are strong voices involved in
helping to shape the movement into what it is.

I also think, culturally, it's critical that we consider moving away from
assuming people with high edit counts are more "important" than those
without. (bytes versus edit counts)

Regarding staff members who vote - I have a feeling most staff members who
do not contribute to the projects outside of their work obligations
probably won't vote. Just a guess (based on what I gather around the office
- just because you work for Wikimedia doesn't mean you contribute to our
projects outside of work hours).

-Sarah

On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 1:43 PM, Sue Gardner <sgardner at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> 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
> > >>>
> > >>>
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> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >>     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!
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> >
> > --
> > - Andrew Gray
> >   andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk
> >
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-- 
-- 
*Sarah Stierch*
*Museumist, open culture advocate, and Wikimedian*
*www.sarahstierch.com*