I think Pete speaks with some wisdom here: a question that I would put to the group...
"What is the need, seeking to be filled, that requires the incorporation of a new group, in this instance?" Once you've got a good answer to that question, then you're pointed in the right direction. Until that question and an answer can be articulated (and I haven't heard one yet), it's a solution looking for a problem. pb (Personal capacity, yada yada yada) ___________________ Philippe Beaudette Director, Community Advocacy Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 415-839-6885, x 6643 phili...@wikimedia.org On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 7:19 PM, Pete Forsyth <petefors...@gmail.com> wrote: > SJ, thanks for your much better-informed post, ours crossed in the mail, > I'd have left it to you if I knew that was coming! > > To all, I would suggest you ignore my post in deference to his. I do want > to say, I think you've misunderstood me in a couple places (probably my > fault for not being clear) -- most significantly, it wasn't my intent to > judge anyone, or or make assumptions about what they say; overall, I was > really just trying to make the same point you did (that chapters are not > the only way to organize), only I did it much less eloquently. > > Again though, to all -- the best thing would probably be to ignore my > post, as the one SJ wrote about the same time covers the issue much better. > > Pete > > > On Dec 19, 2012, at 5:09 PM, Samuel Klein wrote: > > On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 7:58 PM, Pete Forsyth <petefors...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> >> * Chapters historically came into existence to (1) process donations in >> local currency and (2) deal with local legal issues >> > > I would say it is more > (3) provide an organization that could handle local partnerships and > communication: with content and promotion and other targeted projects. The > sort of thing that the WMF explicitly leaves to other entities, by virtue > of not accepting targeted donations. > > >> * The difficulty of forming a chapter that doesn't conform to legal >> borders has caused tension in recent years >> > > This was feared but has not been true in practice. (It was an issue of > forming an incorporated entity, period, not specific to a chapter.) > > >> * The WMF Board and many in the community are aware and concerned about >> this >> > > Not sure... concerned about what here? The explicit recognition of other > entities was to avoid forcing groups into a narrow mould in order to be > recognized as a stable part of the movement. It wasn't in response to > issues with geographic groups that weren't national; it was in to recognize > the majority of groups that are not geographic at all. > > >> * The general solution is not so much to adapt the Chapter model to fit >> other cases, as to establish that other cases are fine *without* carrying >> the name "chapter". >> > >> > The Wikimedia movement has a new approach to funds dissemination; being a >> chapter is not the only way to get grants or put the name "Wikipedia" (or >> "Wikimedia" etc.) to good use. >> > > Yes. > > In other words, just because the CHAPTERS committee >> > > There is no longer a chapters committee; it is now the Affiliations > Committee :) And please don't judge what they /might/ think; just ask them. > > SJ > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-SF mailing list > Wikimedia-SF@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf > > > Pete Forsyth > petefors...@gmail.com > 503-383-9454 mobile > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-SF mailing list > Wikimedia-SF@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf > >
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