On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 7:56 AM, Alison Wheeler
<wikimedia(a)alisonwheeler.com> wrote:
AIUI there are a number of changes required to the new
AoA/MoA as a result
of Charity law/registration changes, although these are probably mostly a
matter of detail not major rewrites.
The WER documents caused no problems whatsoever, indeed they were
specifically designed to permit everything we might require, maintain
control in the hands of the editing members (should anything awful
happen), etc.
As a subtle note, the requirements of the chapcom have also changed
since V1 became a chapter. One thing to point out is that we're
pushing very hard for a serious divorce between the concept of
"editors" on the wiki, and the concept of membership in the various
national chapters. Your MoA/AoA should not include any mention of a
relationship between the two, your membership should not be limited to
active editing wikimedians. There are a lot of open-content
enthusiasts in the world who can strengthen your cause but who do not
participate in these particular projects.
The only 'root problem' WER experienced was
the well-over-a-year holdup
with the WMF not liking that we had (correctly and on a firm legal basis)
not used "Wikimedia" in the name of the company. There were no other legal
issues at all.
For as long as I've been a chapters committee member we've been
discouraging chapters from using "Wikimedia" in the name. In fact,
we've recently rejected one proposal for exactly that reason.
--Andrew Whitworth