I'm making some general comments, which I plan will be my last in this thread for awhile:
* I think that a certain amount of compliance verification for WMF trademark agreements and affiliate agreements is understandable, and AffCom is one body that can participate in that verification. * WMF's purpose, as I see it, is to support good-faith content contributors on Wikimedia sites and the use of the content that they contribute to those sites. WMF's purpose does not extend to micro-managing affiliates or attempting to resolve every internal affiliate dispute with the time of WMF staff and AffCom volunteers. It would be best for WMF and AffCom to be modest in their involvement in affiliates' internal governance. I generally think that WMF's job should be to support the affiliates rather than to manage them. * I think that it will be difficult for anyone who sits on AffCom, even with the best of intentions and infinite time, to insert themselves competently into a dispute that is internal to an affiliate, especially an affiliate in a culture that is not their own and in which the AffCom member does not communicate in the same language as the members of the affiliate. It seems to me that internal disputes are best handled by the affiliate's own board members, members of affiliates' general assemblies, and applicable government officials like national charity regulators. The extent of the involvement of WMF and AffCom is, I think, best limited to (1) verifying that decisions that an affiliate makes are compliant with affiliate, grant, trademark, and other agreements with WMF, including verifying that funds that were already granted or donated to the affiliate are used in a manner that is generally compatible with the purposes of those grants and donations, and (2) taking steps to prevent funds that were donated to WMF from being imprudently spent on legal expenses on behalf of an affiliate, affiliate staff, or any parties to an internal affiliate dispute. While a certain amount of affiliate legal representation may be reasonable for WMF to fund, there is a point at which I think that WMF should cut off funding for continuation of an affiliate's dispute with another party, and if the result of that loss of funds is the loss of an affiliate organization then that is unfortunate but it may be the least bad option. * In general, I would encourage WMF and AffCom to avoid becoming parties to an internal dispute in an affiliate. I am concerned about the possibility that certain kinds of involvement could create a legal and financial liability to WMF and to the AffCom volunteers, and also about the possibilities of WMF and AffCom being manipulated as political tools in internal affiliate disputes. * If and when AffCom and/or WMF choose to get involved in an internal affiliate dispute, my guess is that attempting to gather evidence "on the ground" with appropriately licensed and credentialed investigators, such as attorneys or accountants who practice in the jurisdiction of the affiliate, is likely to produce a generally reliable set of evidence on which AffCom and WMF could base decisions. Attempting to gather reliable evidence remotely seems likely to be difficult, and deciding to intervene based on unreliable evidence is risky. * Cross-affiliate disputes are a place where I think that AffCom's involvement would be beneficial, particularly with regard to taking measures to limit the possibility of disputes from occurring. * I hope that the composition and charter of AffCom will be reviewed during the WMF strategy process, particularly with regards to transparency, with regards to what AffCom's role should be in the event of various kinds of affiliate disputes, and with regards to how AffCom members are appointed and re-appointed. * Because of the complex and international nature of the matters in which AffCom seems to be involved, I think that requiring formal onboarding and ongoing training for AffCom members on relevant subjects would be a good idea, and I would likely be in favor of WMF spending a modest amount of funding for that training. Pine ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine ) _______________________________________________ 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>
