Mailing List Archive: Wikipedia: Foundation

A question about chapter seats.

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innocentkiller at gmail

Apr 29, 2008, 1:27 PM

Post #1 of 4 (308 views)
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A question about chapter seats.

As has been said, the two new "chapter" seats will be filled by representatives
of the individual chapters, with the method of selection left up to
the chapters
(and no real guidance on how to go about this). Of course, an open election
would be fantastic, but we have no way of knowing if this will be the case.
Only time will tell.

However, as the chapters are left to decide how their seat will be dispensed,
what if they came forward with an idea such as "the WMF Board will pick a
member of our board to represent us on the WMF Board." Or perhaps, "the
staff will select for us." Or potentially, "ChapCom and the Chapters Coordinator
will make the decision."

While these aren't likely scenarios I think, would the Board consider adding a
provision to eliminate such possibilities as this? Having someone within the
WMF decide who the Board members are for the chapters is not only a
massive potential conflict of interest, but would also lose some of the appeal
a chapter-based seat might have (as the decision would be coming from within,
not from the chapter itself).

For what it's worth, the chapter representation is severely limited compared to
the overall traffic. According to Alexa, the United States (no
chapter) approximates
to over 29% of all views. Japan (no chapter either) is around 9%. This is nearly
the first 40% of the overall traffic which has been disenfranchised to
an extent.

-Chad

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sebmol at gmail

Apr 29, 2008, 1:38 PM

Post #2 of 4 (268 views)
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Re: A question about chapter seats. [In reply to]

On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 10:27 PM, Chad <innocentkiller [at] gmail> wrote:

> As has been said, the two new "chapter" seats will be filled by
> representatives
> of the individual chapters, with the method of selection left up to
> the chapters
> (and no real guidance on how to go about this).

The board said that two seats would be filled by representatives chosen by
the chapters. It specifically did not say that those two seats are meant to
represent The Chapters.

> However, as the chapters are left to decide how their seat will be
> dispensed,
> what if they came forward with an idea such as "the WMF Board will pick a
> member of our board to represent us on the WMF Board." Or perhaps, "the
> staff will select for us." Or potentially, "ChapCom and the Chapters
> Coordinator
> will make the decision."

That decision would be outside of the scope of what the chapters seats are
for. The board specifically said that these seats are to be filled by the
chapters. That means, the decision or choice has to be made by the chapters.
The board's statement did not really leave room for complete delegation to
someone else, much less someone bound in loyalty to the foundation.

> For what it's worth, the chapter representation is severely limited
> compared to
> the overall traffic. According to Alexa, the United States (no
> chapter) approximates
> to over 29% of all views. Japan (no chapter either) is around 9%. This is
> nearly
> the first 40% of the overall traffic which has been disenfranchised to
> an extent.
>

Most of the traffic is caused by readers who have no opportunity to
influence the board's composition unless they apply for an appointed
position themselves, become an editor meeting the voting requirements, or
joining a chapter and influencing the selection through it.

Sebastian
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mbimmler at gmail

Apr 29, 2008, 1:40 PM

Post #3 of 4 (264 views)
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Re: A question about chapter seats. [In reply to]

On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 10:27 PM, Chad <innocentkiller [at] gmail> wrote:

> While these aren't likely scenarios I think, would the Board consider adding a
> provision to eliminate such possibilities as this?

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees/Restructure_Announcement_Q%26A

"The two chapter seats will be selected by the chapters, using a
process which they will determine, ***and which will be approved by
the board.***" [emphasis added]

"Can the chapters select the chapter-selected seats whenever they want?"

"Yes. The chapters will need to define a process for selecting those
seats. That process will need to be approved by a majority of the
chapters, ***and by the board.*** [emphasis added again]"

--
Michael Bimmler
mbimmler [at] gmail

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wikipedia at verizon

Apr 29, 2008, 7:57 PM

Post #4 of 4 (265 views)
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Re: A question about chapter seats. [In reply to]

Sebastian Moleski wrote:
>> However, as the chapters are left to decide how their seat will be
>> dispensed,
>> what if they came forward with an idea such as "the WMF Board will pick a
>> member of our board to represent us on the WMF Board." Or perhaps, "the
>> staff will select for us." Or potentially, "ChapCom and the Chapters
>> Coordinator
>> will make the decision."
>>
> That decision would be outside of the scope of what the chapters seats are
> for. The board specifically said that these seats are to be filled by the
> chapters. That means, the decision or choice has to be made by the chapters.
> The board's statement did not really leave room for complete delegation to
> someone else, much less someone bound in loyalty to the foundation.
>
Right. In fact, a scenario like the one suggested, where the chapters
come back to the board and say, "You make the choice for us", is pretty
much the one proposal I could guarantee right now that I would reject.
But as indicated by Sebastian's comment, the chapters can be trusted to
understand the intent, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with.

--Michael Snow

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