[Foundation-l] Hierarchical top-down control and co

Wed Jun 23 18:50:59 UTC 2004

Delirium wrote:

> I know what a board is, but I disagree that we
should have one 
running 
> significant parts of Wikimedia projects. 
Hierarchical top-down 
control 
> is the exact opposite of the wiki way of doing
things.
> > We do of course need a board for legal reasons,
and the board may 
need 
> to make some decisions.  But it should not be
running the project, 
and 
> when it does make decisions, it should do so as
openly and publicly 
as 
> possible, in consultation with the normal
consensus-based method of 
> decision-making we use.
> > -Mark

I see that you are worried. I am not really sure why.
You are currently worried that things *might* happen.
Perhaps could you explain what exactly is worrying you
?

In the past few days, you mentionned, lack of
efficiency, waste, corruption, hierarchical top-down
control and such.

I think you should show a little more trust in us, and
in the whole process.

The board is not here to decide how the projects
should be run, except for basic respect of a couple of
rules (respect of NPOV rules, respect of copyrights,
respect of other people and openness). Except when
these 
rules are broken AND the local community does not
succeed to fix the issue, I do not think the board
should be implicated in any project management.

The board is not here either to do everything instead
of you.

The goals of the projects are
* gather knowledge
* then make it available to use and reuse
* to the highest number of people on the Earth

The role of the board is essentially to *help* this to
happen.

We should primarily focus on finding money, and insure
that at any time, we have enough money so that the
information is readable, is editable 
and may be distributed to suit that goal : highest
number of people (which implies, many languages and
availability of information for those without net
access).

I invite you to join the fuzzy buzy noisy happenings
on meta, so you can feel involved. And mostly to feel
that this is not happening in other places, by other
people, people you do not know, people who are out of
your control, which might be scary.

First, there are many people getting involved in board
issues. They are setting pages to outline what the
board should do, where we should turn our attention
first, explaining how they could help, what we should
not forget etc... And this is good. Because that allow
us to know exactly where the concerns are. Angela and
I are not deciding alone what we should do or not do,
according to our own perception of the situation. 
We are not gonna do things behind doors. On the
contrary, participants are leaders in saying what they
think is important and should be done first so that
the project can proceed smoothly. At the same time,
they 
indicate where they feel like helping, and they will
be motor in what they will do.

I think anyone who feels left out, who fears the board
will now decides everything, will spend all the cash
to go on holidays, or whatever ***should*** join meta
and participate in setting all this, should get 
involved in one of the working group. There is plenty
to do. Your help is welcome
- in the development team (in particular for the
development of these features, or helping us know at
any time what the money needs are)
- to help set a decent budget (accountants welcome)
- to help organise the membership dues system (both
from a legal and technical perspective)
- to help raising funds (we need proposals and help to
write the proposals)
- to help with all legal issues (from copyrights to
privacy issues, there is really plenty to do)
- to help with all press contact related issues (such
as setting press release, interviews, and such)
- and more...

2 people won't do this alone, right ? We will
participate, but mostly, we wish that this is done,
and is done well. And if it is not done, we will try
to call for help so that this is done :-) And if we do
not 
think of doing something, then it is your role to tell
us it is important.

The one thing I can say : the one who does nothing but
just whines that decisions are taken without him or
*could* PERHAPS be taken without him, is responsible
of that situation. 
Wikipedia is just this : it gives you the ability to
act yourself, this is so great, so take that chance
:-)

That is my last comment on the topic.

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