[Wikimedia-l] letter from the FDC to the WMF

[Delirium]

On 10/23/13 2:08 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) wrote:
> Theo10011, 23/10/2013 00:21:
>> I'm quite surprised to constantly read FDC is somehow representative 
>> of the
>> larger community and accountable to them. Almost all the current members
>> were part of chapter leadership and have been quite active within that
>> circle. I suppose this is the same fiction as chapters inherently being
>> representatives of the larger community. The FDC is sort of a UN-like
>> gathering that yet somehow overlooks the largest and most active 
>> community
>> of all.
>>
>> Perhaps you might want to take a look at the dismal rate of actual
>> community participation in FDC discussions. An year or so in to its
>> formation, there isn't exactly a stellar record and high-opinions to go
>> around. I hope I don't need to point to the recent news articles and
>> comments about the FDC and possible issues of corruption, which might 
>> have
>> even played a part in.......whatever this is.
>
> I'm not sure how this matters for this proposal/request by the FDC: do 
> such defects exist or apply only to evaluating the WMF budget? If not, 
> how do they bring water to the idea of letting WMF be special compared 
> to the other entities' funding?

 From my perspective as someone not really involved in either the WMF or 
chapters (or other committees), but just an editor and a community 
member, I tend to see the WMF as "special" in this sense because it 
already has a Board of Trustees that in a fairly reasonable way 
represent the community/movement, who I trust to make decisions on 
funding priorities. Therefore it's not clear to me why *another* 
advisory board should be a second layer of bureaucracy evaluating its 
budget proposals. They are already evaluated by the Trustees primarily, 
and by the community as a whole secondarily, which seems like enough 
oversight. If the community disagrees with the WMF's direction or 
priorities, they can vote for different trustees in the next election, 
or otherwise suggest changes in its structure or membership. But in 
general I trust their judgment on how to allocate the Foundation's money 
in accordance with the mission.

Best,
Mark