Brad: this was brilliant, thank you. I have been thinking about how to phrase this all week, and you touched it with a needle.
The Foundation's one undelegable role is to protect the community identity through its marks. That is a foundation upon which all else rests. There are many ways we can improve our visibility and use of marks in different regions. This is a task facing all of us in our own communities. (And in this, passion and persistence can be as important as a great concept.) But it is self-destructive for our mark-protector to repurpose a project name against the wishes of its community. It is no better to circle the question, saying "we are only considering it. of course we have the unilateral right to do this, the project name is *our* mark and not *yours*". That cuts deep — like carving out one's own heart to realize one of its passing desires. Brad wrote: > Protection of the [marks] is an incredibly important function that cannot be carried out by the community, legally. > The Foundation's job is to hold these marks and the identity of the community sacred. > If I may be direct, that's where you screwed up. The Board has a lot of work to do now to return to the idea > that you need to be a fiduciary for the community. You need to hold the > community's interest and identity sacred. > Now is the time to pause before even more tremendous damage is done. Our ethos includes self-governance, collaboration, and public iteration. Let us embody that in this discussion. We should also be always prepared <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Umberto_Eco> to rebuild the encyclopedia (or any aspect of free knowledge) from scratch. Let us not rest on our laurels, and continue building anew. Sam. On Mon, Jun 22, 2020 at 12:25 PM Brad Patrick <bradp....@gmail.com> wrote: > Today, the community is everywhere around the globe, and the structural > dichotomy > remains the same, but at scale. > > If the Foundation is leaving money on the table by not exploiting its > Brand, so be it. "The Foundation" as a commercial organization has utterly > lost sight of who it works for if "the Brand" is the subject of the > conversation. YOU ARE TRUSTEES OF A COMMUNITY OF INTERESTS, AND THAT MEANS > PEOPLE - THE COMMUNITY - FIRST. Stop acting like a hedge fund. > Rethink the sacred obligation you have to the people > around the world who pour their souls and blood into free culture and the > aspiration of free knowledge. That's who you work for. The Foundation > doesn't protect "its" brands. It works for the community, as trustees of > their cultural contributions. > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
