This is totally surprise for me. I checked the last years participation lists, and none of the chapters sent more than 2+1 representatives. The idea all this years was very simple: to keep the conference small as possible in order to have effective discussions, and to allow all the chapter to be equal - neither if you are WMDE or a chapter that just been approved few months ago with zero budget.
The fact that this year the "rules" (if they been written or not somewhere till now is less relevant) had been changed without having a discussions about it very disappointing. I'll be happy to hear from the organization committee about this surprising change.
BTW - The idea that people from WMUK are coming in order to promote Wikimania among chapters makes me very amusement.
On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 6:23 PM, Jon Davies jon.davies@wikimedia.org.ukwrote:
A few points.
There is no policy to restrict participation to three representatives. Indeed, many chapters are sending more than three delegates as has been the case in previous years.
For the record we have people going for four reasons:
- CEO and Chair as standard
- Two staff and one trustee who are invited to do presentations on areas
of strength in the chapter.
- Two trustees (we are guessing KR might actually be a misnamed Kate
West) who will be using this as part of their induction as trustees - a great chance to meet other people and learn about the community.
- Everyone can promote Wikimania London and learn about people's ideas
and expectations.
I think this is a sensible use of our resources, (flights to Berlin are cheaper than many train journeys to UK cities), supports our learning and helps share our knowledge and understanding with other chapters.
And on a final point we will certainly not be going round in a sort of WMUK gang trying to overwhelm small chapters - quite the opposite and I think we have a good record at WMUK of supporting others.
*Regards, Jon Davies*
*CEO Wikimedia UK.*
On 31 March 2014 15:43, Russavia russavia.wikipedia@gmail.com wrote:
Gerard, et al
On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 9:59 PM, Gerard Meijssen gerard.meijssen@gmail.comwrote:
My point is very much that it is for the chapter to decide if they spend their money wisely. It is for members of a chapter to question
this
at an appropriate time and at an appropriate place.
Might I make a point here.
It is not "their money", but rather the money of donors -- i.e. the
general
public -- who are every year told that Wikipedia needs your help to survive.
The "movement", as you all like to refer to it, has a tendency to waste money on frivolous things such as travel and accommodation, as
demonstrated
last year by http://twkozlowski.net/how-40k-dollars-turned-to-petty-cash/and http://twkozlowski.net/saving-by-spending-according-to-affcom/
The appropriate time to question such spending is BEFORE the funds is committed and spent. The place is unimportant, but here is as good as
any.
As a member of "the movement", Fae has every right to ask such questions, and I believe he also has the right to be able to ask such questions without snide remarks such as "Really Fae, as you are no longer the
chair,
why rule "from the grave"?" being thrown at him . Unfortunately, there
is a
tendency in "the movement" when legitimate questions are raised, for a committed movementarian to deflect from that questioning with snide attacks.
Now, Fae has asked some legit questions of UK chapter, and it is only
fair
that they answer them.
Cheers,
Russavia _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
-- *Jon Davies - Chief Executive Wikimedia UK*. Mobile (0044) 7803 505 169 tweet @jonatreesdavies
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