[Wikimedia-l] Strange, surprising, bold and unnecessary - reply to the WMF board statement

[James Heilman]

"The WCA is lead by the council, who are all volunteers. They will be
supported by staff, but the council are in charge."

I would love to have my Wikipedia work supported by staff too. Who is
paying for said staff? How much are they projected to cost? In fact I
would simply like some of the travel costs and accommodations for
those involved in my Wikipedia projects covered. I am happy to cover
my own costs.

We have a second draft budget here
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Chapters_Association/Draft_budget_2012-2013
at more than $300,000

We have $42,000 going to a translator / PR person? I have managed to
find translators for more than 30 languages which have translated more
than 1 million words in 2012 as part of this project
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Medicine/Translation_task_force
Most translation on Wikipedia is done by volunteers. Why is
translation for this organization deem more important than say for key
medical diseases?

I see that in the second draft the funding for the SG has decreased
from 96000 euro to 60000 euro. I think the number I am looking for is
around zero, we are an organization run on volunteers. The World
Health Organization is willing to have a Wikipedian in Residence. I
have found someone who will do it for free / the experience of working
at the WHO but he needs some help covering his expenses. The person is
willing to work full time to do out reach to 600 interns at the WHO
who are usually young leaders in their respective medical communities
from around the world.

With respect to the law firm costs of $30,000. That is a lot for
supporting collaboration between chapters. With respect to $10,000 for
a chapters network / skype? But skype is free and we already have
meta. It is inexpensive to set up a website.

-- 
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian

The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com