The Wikimedia NYC Board of Directors is deeply concerned by and opposes the constitutional changes proposed to the Bylaws of the Wikimedia Foundation, that in several ways mark a sudden reversal of direction from the community-focused, decentralized model promised by the 2030 Movement Strategy process. The Wikimedia NYC Board has posted a statement of opposition[1] and continues conversations internally. User:Pharos is also facilitating two meetings of the Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network this weekend - anyone with an affiliation is welcome to join, even if they are not an official liaison or representative.
Megs -- President, Wikimedia New York City [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/October_2020_-_Proposed_Bylaws_changes#Statement_of_Opposition_from_Wikimedia_NYC [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Wikimedia_Affiliates_Network On Mon, Oct 19, 2020 at 2:25 PM Yuri Astrakhan <[email protected]> wrote: > I second that. It always amazed me that the community that has built the > entire site does not have the majority in deciding the future of the site, > and this seems to make it even less so. > > On Mon, Oct 19, 2020 at 2:03 PM Brion Vibber <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> From what I've read in the thread above I agree with Yair, and would add >> that this feels like a big power grab against the community. >> >> I believe that Wikimedia Foundation must reject these proposed bylaws >> changes to preserve our open, democratic nature, and hold elections to fill >> all seats. >> >> -- brion >> former CTO >> current software architect >> >> On Tue, Oct 13, 2020 at 5:12 PM Asaf Bartov <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Hello. With my list-moderator hat, I am relaying two messages from Jimmy >>> Wales, sent from an address he apparently hadn't used before, that were >>> unintentionally caught by the mailing list filters and could not be let >>> through. I paste them below. >>> >>> Asaf >>> >>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >>> From: Jimmy Wales <[email protected]> >>> To: [email protected] >>> Cc: >>> Bcc: >>> Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2020 05:12:55 +0100 >>> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Call for feedback about Wikimedia Foundation >>> Bylaws changes and Board candidate rubric >>> On 10/7/20 6:32 PM, Samuel Klein wrote: >>> >>> The replacement of an explicit voting process with an unspecified >>> process + >>> schedule seems unnecessarily vague. >>> >>> I agree that the vagueness is not good. To make sure everyone is aware: >>> there has been no discussion and I'm unaware of anyone >>> on the board who would be in favor of *removing* elections. I think the >>> current wording here is awkward and may have been designed >>> to not be super prescriptive about how exactly we might move to a process >>> with a community-driven and community-approved "rubric" >>> combined with elections. To remedy this defect seems quite easy - a >>> future >>> revision should explicitly include as much detail as is possible, >>> and certainly should mandate elections. >>> >>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >>> From: Jimmy Wales <[email protected]> >>> To: [email protected] >>> Cc: >>> Bcc: >>> Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2020 05:13:08 +0100 >>> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Call for feedback about Wikimedia Foundation >>> Bylaws changes and Board candidate rubric >>> On 10/7/20 10:03 PM, Yair Rand wrote: >>> >>> (Another minor point: The change from the description of the appointed >>> seats from "non-community-selected, non-chapter-selected" to >>> "non-community-sourced" seems to imply that the Board is prohibited from >>> filling these seats with any community members. Previously, there have >>> been >>> community members in these seats.) >>> >>> I think this is a very good "catch". I'm sure that wasn't the intention >>> of >>> the rewording. I didn't >>> write it and of course I can't speak for anyone else. I can say that >>> there >>> has been no discussion >>> at the board level of anyone suggesting that we should not be able to >>> select community members >>> for these seats. >>> >>> Indeed, my personal view is that as we pursue board expansion, it is >>> crucial that we try as hard as >>> we can find to fill the appointed seats with as many deeply experienced >>> community members (who >>> have other relevant skills) as we possibly can. >>> >>> In terms of this proposal, I think that a minor change to clarify this >>> minor point is a great idea! >>> >>> I think the ambiguity probably arose with the change from "selected" to >>> "sourced" - a change that, itself, >>> deserves great scrutiny. >>> >>> =============== >>> >>> (end of Jimmy's two messages. Future posts from Jimmy's new address >>> should >>> go through.) >>> >>> Asaf >>> _______________________________________________ >>> 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: [email protected] >>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, >>> <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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: [email protected] >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, >> <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> >> > _______________________________________________ > 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: [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> >
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