[Wikimedia-l] Info: Election for WCA Chairperson

[Bence Damokos]

On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 10:50 AM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com>wrote:

> On Feb 25, 2013 9:41 AM, "James Alexander" <jamesofur at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Err .... ok, I'm sorry but this actually moves to the realms of scary.
> You
> > require the new Council member to send in a statement ... pledging
> loyalty
> > essentially? I don't see anything in the charter that would require
> > something like that, is it in your remit as chair? Sadly that just sounds
> > like a way to force out reformers, if you don't support the charter you
> > can't join the council? How do you expect to get things to change when
> > necessary?
>
> I'm hoping that was just a poor choice of words and Fae doesn't mean they
> have to support the charter, just that they have to agree to follow the
> charter. If they do have to support the charter, then that is excessive and
> undesirable.
>
Probably this type of discussions over the meaning of technical English
words after all, I hope that "supporting the Charter" includes supporting
the part about amendments) and the fact that inviting chapters to become
members was never really pursued more enthusiastically than stating that 1)
becoming a member just takes "these easy steps" therefore 2) logically,
every chapter can make the rational choice whether to join and if they
haven't yet decided to join that is probably because they haven't had time
to realize that this is the correct choice, probably "because they are not
active or too busy with other things."
At least, this was my personal perception at the time I was still a chapter
board member; I fear that this model might not work in attracting new
members (especially as the history to process is growing, so it makes more
difficult to make an informed decision) and some more active and welcoming
outreach might bring better results.

In that light, I think Jan Bart's suggestion to give voice to all chapters
and set up structures that are open not only in principle but practice is a
good idea. (Although, with that in mind, the choice of the chairperson -
especially as he needs to be a council member - seems like an internal
matter, so there might not be big benefits in extending the right to vote.)

Best regards,
Bence