[Wikimedia-l] AffComs $40,000 Hong Kong junket

Lodewijk lodewijk at effeietsanders.org
Tue May 14 07:45:13 UTC 2013


2013/5/14 Lodewijk <lodewijk at effeietsanders.org>

> I don't think it is trivial either, and having a discussion is fine.
> However, the bigger discussion is perhaps more relevant - because AffCom is
> simply following WMF policy here, which is in place for many employees,
> board members (and others? not sure).
>
> So I think there are two relevant discussions to be had: First of all,
> whether there should be an AffCom meeting at all. Fair question of course.
> (analogous you could wonder if certain chapters should really send a
> representative to Wikimania from their budget, whether certain employees
> really should be there and whether all chapters should be present at the
> Chapters meeting - all fair discussions to be had in their time, too). The
> second relevant question is, in my opinion, whether the WMF travel policy
> is good, proportional etc. This policy has mostly received criticism from
> two sides - some think it is too elaborate, and WMF should get 'less
> luxury' (again fair discussion, but we should then focus on the whole
> question) - another criticism is that it should be equalized for all
> Wikimedia-sponsored trips, including individual engagement grants, trips to
> the chapters meeting etc. When this question was brought up last time, I
> believe it was Sue who mentioned that this would simply result in much less
> travel and participation. Again, a fair question.
>
> Personally, I feel that WMF Committee (and board) members should not be
> treated to a lower standard than staff members, simply because they are not
> being paid for their work. But maybe I'm the only one in thát opinion
> though...
>
> Lodewijk
>
>
> ps: I wanted to add to that, but hit 'send' too quickly: I am a member of
the Affiliations Committee, and might be considered biased for that reason.


> 2013/5/14 Andrea Zanni <zanni.andrea84 at gmail.com>
>
>> On Tue, May 14, 2013 at 12:30 AM, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_law_of_triviality
>>
>>
>> I don't really think this is a triviality.
>> Cents and single dollars of chapters are weighted and analyzed,
>> FDC and GACs nitpicks and their goal is to assure that donor moneys is not
>> wasted.
>> We all know that there are issues on that and a lot of chapters had to
>> work
>> hard to be able to draw their budget, and receive their money.
>>
>> 40'000 $ for Wikimania travels are a lot, especially compared to the
>> travel
>> budget of chapters. Period.
>> I would assume that WMF and the Board budgets should be reasonably
>> proportional to chapters ones.
>> Maybe I'm the only one, though.
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