[Wikimedia-l] Resignation announcement, and a parting remark to everyone

[Federico Leva (Nemo)]

David Gerard, 29/04/2013 11:16:
> On 29 April 2013 09:33, Federico Leva (Nemo) wrote:
>
>> It's very clear (to me) that the WMF grants system is not designed to make
>> Wikimedia entities grow, but only to reinforce those which are already
>> strong enough, keeping them at the same level they're at.
>
>
> It's not clear this was a design criterion. It was, however, obvious
> that this was what would occur. When the chapters screamed blue murder
> about it on internal-l, Sue and Erik decided they didn't like the tone
> and weren't going to listen any more.
>
> Unfortunately, this doesn't make an actual problem go away.

I think Erik may have unsubscribed well before that, but luckily I got 
off the list years ago so I don't know the details. ;-)
But yes, this is my point: as someone noted in the thread on internal 
wiki, "no place to work together" is the current default for WMF. If 
you're strong enough in your "market" or area of expertise, you can 
negotiate a partnership with WMF on some matters or programs (going from 
the simplest, e.g. a joint blog post, to the hardest, e.g. a FDC grant), 
and have some communication and joint work between you and (part of) the 
WMF. But in general, IMHO, it's better for one's own health to recognise 
that WMF is an external entity more or less as much as Apple, the EU or 
an oil company would be: first you develop your own strengths and then 
you go to the negotiations if you need to and have something to gain.

Nemo