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

rupert THURNER rupert.thurner at gmail.com
Tue Apr 30 07:56:03 UTC 2013


Absolutely! If there would be some always available public interface to
check if a user has voting right then this could be used on other votes and
elections in various languages as well, a little like the German wikipedias
"stimmberechtigung". This then could later on be adjusted to consider code
contributions to repositories important to wikimedias mission as well.

Rupert
 Am 28.04.2013 22:43 schrieb "Sue Gardner" <sgardner at wikimedia.org>:

> 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!
> > >> https://donate.wikimedia.org
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> >
> > --
> > - Andrew Gray
> >   andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk
> >
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