Hi everyone,
Thanks for all of the comments thus far. Here are some of my thoughts:
I agree that it would be a good idea to have some sort of set of goals and
specific talking points laid out before we actually meet again. Perhaps we
can start some kind of wiki (anonymous, if need be) to list issues that ppl
would like to discuss either by phone, Hangout, or in person. I also agree
that it might be better if we can do a phone conference or Google hangout
or similar before we meet in person if it's going to be more difficult for
folks to attend a physical meeting. I'd be happy to get a simple outline
going on etherpad or similar, if folks think this would be useful.
Regarding incorporation, it would help me to see a breakdown of benefits
and what would be expected of group members after this potentially happens.
And then ppl could provide feedback. I will admit that I'm still a little
unclear of the process, even though I signed that doc...
On the issue of the mailing lists, it sounds like a good idea to join CT
and Boston/NE into one. I didn't even realize there was a CT list until
now! Hi, CT folks :)
Regarding positions, I can see why they would be warranted for a group with
definite goals and plans. But it sounds like we might need more discussion
first about just what those goals and plans are/should be. I would not be
in favor of appointing positions, however. I like ppl's ideas about an
online vote if need be, similar to the process used to vote for candidates
on the WM Board.
Lastly, I appreciate the comments of everyone here and I'm hopeful that we
can keep up the conversations before we move toward the next level for us
as a group. As an anecdote, this past weekend I was at a reunion of a Peace
Corps group with members hailing from all over who have stayed together and
met as a group every few years since their service ended around 1970. I
interviewed every one individually about why this group was able to stick
together, when most Peace Corps volunteers just go their separate ways
after their service. Every single one of them acknowledged that without the
leadership of one particular guy, the group would have dissolved long ago.
So Kevin, it's awesome that you have so far taken on responsibility for
organizing meetings, and I thank you for it. Sven, it is so obvious that
you care deeply for this group, and I also thank you for your long-standing
commitment and suggestions, even now from afar. You rule! I hope we can all
keep a civil dialogue going as we move forward with constructive ideas and
feedback on things we can do better for the future.
As for this weekend, I'd be happy to postpone it; I'll speak for myself in
saying that I have my hands quite full getting ready for our upcoming
events... I'm excited for the Mass History edit-a-thons later this month
(I'll be at the Schlessinger one if anyone's going), and I'm also getting
some wonderful feedback in advance of the Ada Lovelace Day event, which is
likely to be attended by a slew of Brown students who are not yet Wikipedia
editors. Looking forward to hearing from others of you with your input!
all the best,
maia
maiaw.com | 917-553-6158 | @20tauri | WPuser:girona7
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 12:47 PM, Kevin Rutherford <Ktr101(a)hotmail.com>wrote;wrote:
Hey all,
In regards to Sven’s comments, I think official positions would make it
easier so that we could have designated persons doing designated work (i.e.
the secretary takes notes). In terms of the Connecticut mailing list, if we
can, we should merge it into the Boston one and maybe create a New England
list, because the Connecticut list had one post in around five years until
we started using it this summer. In terms of elections, I am all for doing
something online, but do we want to have a meeting on Saturday? If not,
then I need to know soon so that we can cancel it and notify people that we
are doing an about-face on something that we planned for months. I do like
Scott’s idea of a secret ballot should we decide to go that way, and I
would love to learn how to do that so that we can adequately figure this
stuff out in time.
In terms to discussing things off the list, I have been in contact with
AffCom and Pharos in regards to becoming a user group. A summary of the
AffCom stuff was the signing of the User Group Agreement alongside Maia,
and all that needs to be done is to copy the names from the July event over
onto the WMNE page, to show current interest and to update it. In terms of
discussions with Pharos, I have been mentored by him and talked about the
running of the group in order to figure out how to more easily run
everything. We haven’t been engaging in any illicit activities, and I have
never had any ill will behind it, as Pharos attested in an earlier e-mail.
I have also been balancing school and other extracurricular activities, so
that is why I haven’t been as consistent as I have wanted to in the past
month or so.
I hope this answers everything, and I look forward to responses from
others.
Sincerely,
Kevin Rutherford
*From:* C. Scott Ananian <cananian(a)wikimedia.org>
*Sent:* Wednesday, October 02, 2013 11:54 AM
*To:* Sven Manguard <svenmanguard(a)gmail.com>
*Cc:* Connecticut Wikimedians <wikimedia-connecticut(a)lists.wikimedia.org>rg>; Boston
Wikipedians <Wikimedia-boston(a)lists.wikimedia.org> ; James
Hare<james.hare(a)wikidc.org>rg>; Affiliations
Committee list <affcom(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
*Subject:* Re: [Wikimedia-boston] Meeting time and other announcements
I, for one, would love to see more discussion happening on the mailing
list(s). In-person meetings (and real-time communication like IRC) doesn't
seem appropriate at this point. I've got a family at home and other
weekend obligations; before I find babysitting and make the trek to <real
world location>, I'd like to have some confidence that all other means of
communication/organization were exhausted. Voting on positions doesn't
seem to meet that bar. We can certainly do nominations online (either on a
wiki page or on the mailing list), and I'll volunteer to set up a
Selectricity instance if we need to run a secret ballot.
--scott
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