[Wikimedia-l] Looking back at the London Conference

[Fae]

On 20 February 2013 07:57, Charles Andrès <charles.andres.wmch at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello Ziko,
>
> Because you want to hear:
>
> 1)Their is no census within the chapter whether we still want a deputy chair position

It's better for us to focus on the actions we are taking for the next
3 months. We decided to defer discussion about changing roles and
considering a board, or changing the titles we currently use. Any
member of the Council is welcome to draft a resolution or discuss
alternatives, but this will draw the oxygen away from being seen to
make progress on solid outcomes, rather than internal affairs.

> 2)if we keep a chair and a deputy chair, it has always been planned that this position should be open to vote at the next WCA meeting

It was my decision, made after private discussions with Ting and SJ,
apparently in response Jimmy Wales raising this for the WMF board's
attention immediately after my English Wikipedia ban and before the
end of the summer conference in Washington DC, to ensure that we would
have an election this spring for the Chair position in a more formal
and structured way. Though our vote was valid, I was never very happy
at being elected without competition or much discussion. For that
reason I was not prepared to just stay in position for 2 years. You
will recall that for the Deputy Chair position, there was a
competition and discussion so I believe this had a firmer sense of
democracy.

> 3) 7 council member connote decide on their own of keeping in place the deputy chair!!

Similarly, this was no a decision that was ever tabled or considered necessary.

> 4)The WCA do not need continuity, since ten month we haven't been able to provide something real , I don't see why we should continue this way

We chose to radically re-frame our plans. We have done this in a way
that does not require resolutions or complex bureaucracy to move
forward. I don't see how asking Ziko to go through an election process
now, helps demonstrate that we are taking an external focus. The
election process for Chair is a different matter, it was always
planned for March and I have chosen to bring this forward based on the
continued private approaches to the Council from 5 WMF trustees since
my election, who were not happy with the WCA having me as our elected
Chair, though the WMF itself has no public position on this matter.

Thanks,
Fae
-- 
Ashley Van Haeften (Fae) faewik at gmail.com
Chapters Association Council Chair http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WCA
Guide to email tags: http://j.mp/mfae