[Foundation-l] [WikiEN-l] Wikinews

Sun Oct 31 12:45:24 UTC 2004

> Launching a new projet is something extremely
> important. A voting bar set at 50% is something I find
> plain wrong.

I agree.  I'd rather see the bar at around 20% (with at least 10 people
voting in favor).  I do see the argument for majority, though, and in this
particular case it didn't really matter.

> I know that in any decision the global community will
> adopt, there will be some happy and some unhappy
> people, and this is also why, though we must sometimes
> rely on voting procedure because of community size, I
> see voting as a bad choice.

I agree with this, too.  I think having a survey is acceptable, in order to
gauge opinion on the matter, but ultimately the decision of whether or not
to go into a new project should be a board decision.

> And this in particular as some of those opposing the
> creation believe this project, as is, could hurt the
> project overall.

That's really why I see it as a Board issue.  I think it's pretty much
impossible that Wikinews is going to hurt the foundation, but that's an
argument that should be considered on its merits.  If it comes down to a
vote, that's why we've elected a Board of Directors, to make the final
decision on broad and important issues like the creation of a new project
(and when I say a new project I don't consider languages to fall under this
unless they seriously duplicate another language, such as simple English).

In some ways this whole issue is an example of Wikipedia being a victim of
its own success.  I say "Wikipedia" intentionally, because were there no
foundation there would be about zero reason not to start a project like
this.  But we do have a foundation, and just like we're not requiring a vote
and consensus every time the foundation spends money on a new server, we
shouldn't require a vote and consensus every time the foundation starts a
new project.

The foundation doesn't run on consensus.  The bylaws don't require the Board
to make decisions by consensus, and the Board isn't elected by consensus.
In fact, 4/5 of the Board (all but Angela) was installed without even a
*majority* support, though it is nearly certain that Jimmy Wales would have
received a consensus support.

Anthony