On 09/02/11 12:25 PM, Theo10011 wrote: > On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 9:07 PM, Jimmy Wales<jwa...@wikia-inc.com> wrote: >> On 8/28/11 1:00 AM, Ray Saintonge wrote: >>> I think that developing such a legal entity should be a high priority >>> for Brazilian Wikipedians to ensure that Wiki activities in Brazil are >>> controlled by Brazilians. At the same time I don't think there is any >>> value to having a WMF appointee on your board; such a person would find >>> it difficult to function under circumstances of perpetual conflict of >>> interest. No other chapter has such a clause. >> I had never thought of this before, but now that it has been mentioned, >> I just wanted to disagree, quite respectfully because Ray is awesome of >> course, and say that I think it is a very interesting idea to have a WMF >> appointee on the boards of chapters. >> >> There should be very few cases where there is a "conflict of interest" >> since chapters and the Foundation are deeply tied together always (and >> that's a good thing). I think having a Foundation representative on the >> board of chapters does present some possibly insurmountable logistical >> issues (who will they be?) but I actually think such an arrangement >> might be incredibly valuable for improving communication and >> *decreasing* perceived conflicts of interest. > I am sorry Jimmy, I don't follow. I don't see who they will be, to be an > insurmountable logistical issue for a Foundation representative, but > instead, a complete reversal of previous policy and exercise. It undermines > the entire concept of local organizations and brings an unnecessary outside > influence on an independent legal organization. Are you arguing for such a > representative on other chapters? or are you singling out Brazil here. > > In case this is about Brazil, I would like to question why a similar > proposal wasn't considered for India since it's also a priority area. The > entire notion, that having a WMF representative on a chapter board for the > purposes of aiding in communication seems wrong to me.
I would not want to think of this in terms of "singling out Brazil", nor would I want to jump to conclusions about who came up with the idea. It could even have been someone on the Brazilian side. Suffice it to say that I consider it a bad idea. A strong autonomous Brazilian chapter is long overdue. The only previous issue was the desire of some Brazilians to avoid having a legally responsible corporate structure. That is being worked on satisfactorily. For the WMF to regard Brazil as a key element in its Global South strategy is rational, but at this stage it has the appearance of compromising the development of a Brazilian chapter. This may be less problematic once WMBR is firmly established. Ray _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
