Pardon the mobile device mistype. A *move* toward more openness. Pine On Mar 13, 2015 12:49 PM, "Pine W" <wiki.p...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Oliver, > > I have thought about running more than once (: > > Perhaps I am reading more into that comment than was intended. > > James, > > I have mixed feelings about having discussions behind closed doors. > Sometimes it's convenient or emotionally easier to do so, but I worry about > losing our value of openness in the process. The majority of my evaluation > is based on what I've seen in writing from board minutes, which seem pretty > sparse on Q&A with the ED and staff. By contrast, I'm accustomed to our > generally open meetings of government entities here in Washington State > where we have some pretty expansive open records and open meetings laws, > and these seem to viewed in a positive light by the public which wants to > understand the positions of its elected officials. A mice toward more > openness about board discussions might ease some of my concerns. > > Thanks, > Pine > On Mar 13, 2015 12:32 PM, "Oliver Keyes" <ironho...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> (Personal capacity) >> >> Pine: I think you're reading far more into Phoebe's comment than it >> actually contained. What she said was "I trust our legal team to make >> decisions about what legal actions to participate in." In other words, >> to make evaluations about the probability of success, the necessity of >> the thing that's being (defended|challenged) to the legal framework >> that lets the projects exist, and act on that basis. >> >> Unless I missed an election and the board now contains the equivalent >> expertise in internet law and the intricacies of our governing >> frameworks to an entire legal department, it seems entirely >> appropriate that these kinds of evaluations be left to the, you know, >> lawyers. I agree that boards should ask tough questions, but I've >> never been in a WMF board meeting and, to my knowledge, neither have >> you. There's a wide range of options between "directly making >> decisions about legal questions" and "not asking questions"; it's not >> as binary as you seem to believe. This applies to the VE as much as it >> does anything else. If you think the WMF needs a more activist board - >> which seems to mean "a board that makes individual, specific product >> decisions and assumes legal expertise", I encourage you to run in the >> next election and we'll see what the movement as a whole thinks of >> that position. >> >> On Fri, Mar 13, 2015 at 3:04 PM, Pine W <wiki.p...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > I'm generally supportive of this legal action, but I am troubled by this >> > statement: >> > >> > "I trust our legal team to make decisions about what legal actions to >> > participate in." >> > >> > In general I think highly of Michelle, but this statement fits a >> > long-running pattern I percieve in WMF governance of the board being >> > deferential to the ED and staff. This goes back to Sue's tenure and >> > possibly longer. I feel that the Board should respectfully ask tough >> > questions about staff recommendations. Had the board done so, we might >> all >> > have been saved from the MediaViewer, VisualEditor, and other product >> > dramas because the Board would have been vigilant about project >> selection >> > and quality control. WMF needs an activist board. All of the guidance >> that >> > I read about boards in general says that good boards do due diligance, >> and >> > I would encourage the WMF board to be proactive and ask tough questions. >> > This can be done while maintaining a positive and respectful atmosphere. >> > >> > Thank you, >> > >> > Pine >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines >> > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org >> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, >> <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines >> Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org >> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/guidelineswikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org> >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, >> <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
