[Foundation-l] Fwd: [Wikipedia-l] Dutch chapter

Mon Apr 24 08:22:50 UTC 2006

i agree with walter too.

fruggo is rightly referring to the fact that unfortunately, in the beginning
of the formation of the dutch chapter, there have been attempts by two dutch
wikipedians (both currently no member of the boards) to create a foundation
only, without any involvment of the dutch communities. both ronald and i
recently found out that both of us had been asked to participate in this. at
the time, in fact both of us independently (since we weren't informed about
attempts to persuade the other), refused to do so, i might as well say:
literally prevented this.

in 5 meetings, see
http://nl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia:Ontmoeten/Plaatsgevonden the ideas
concerning the founding of the dutch chapter took their final form. these
meetings have been open to everyone and have been announced well before they
actually took place, and were each attended by various wikians, both from
holland and from belgium. it was finally agreed upon by those present, that
2 organizations would suit the dutch situation best, and would give maximum
possibilities of being active and to apply for funding in holland; both an
association (see: http://nl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Statuten_VWN_%28en%29 and a
foundation, see: http://nl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Statuten_SWN_%28en%29 were
founded - see also http://nl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Statuten/Reglement_FAQ,
translation not complete yet).

since the creation of these, negative comments have bursted from a limited
number of wikipedians, rather loudly advocating their mistrust in the
chapter and the people involved. given the rapidity of their new comments,
in combination with the spreading of false rumours and strange notions (for
example, someone falsely stated that the statutes have never been published
- i provided the links here, histories of, if necessary also: earlier, dutch
versions are available thanks to the mediawiki software; another comment was
that any sysop holding a position in the chapter would have a position with
too much power, and conflicting interests), it actually gives the impression
of a concerted action, since end of march...

maybe fruggo is right in suggesting that the current board and chapter is
suffering from the mistrust that those two people that have tried to
organize a chapter before, without any involvement or even knowledge thereof
by the dutch communities, has left behind.

only solid information can replace rumours however, so we are currently
working at updating nl.wikimedia.org, trusting that everyone, at least the
imho current majority of dutch people that support and trust the chapter,
and the people having organized it, will stay informed.

oscar

On 4/19/06, Fruggo <fruggo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I believe Walter is right when he contradicts that there is a group of
> admins that act against the wishes of the community. When the first plans
> of
> a Dutch Wikimedia organisation were made I contributed to the discussions
> on
> the Dutch Wikimedia website and I went to a (the first?) meeting of people
> who were interested. It soon occurred to me that some people had very
> strong
> opinions on forming an organisation, and there was not many room for
> dissident opinions. I got the impression that many people thought that the
> organisation could/should have a say about the Dutch Wikipedia. I didn't
> like the way some people (who were intent on becoming a board member)
> seemed
> to force their opinion on others, so I backed out of the development of
> the
> organisation. I believe that the way dissident opinions were handled is
> now
> an important source of the fear of many Dutch Wikipedians that the Dutch
> foundation and association (but mostly the foundation, since that is the
> least democratic) will not listen to the Dutch community.
>
> -Fruggo
>
> Walter Vermeir schreef:
>
> >
> > > I think the biggest problem is that a certain group of Dutch
> moderators
> > take
> > > decisions for example to block someone for a long time, without being
> > > interested in the opinion of the community. Something there is some
> > admin
> > > power abuse done by that specific group of moderators. Now the case is
>
> > that
> > [cut]
> >
> > The Dutch Wikipedia is not paradise. But you give the impression that
> > there is a group of admins on the Dutch Wikipedia who are behaving
> > strongly against the wishes of the community. And that those are now
> > also controlling those new chapters.
> >
> > This is highly incorrect.
> >
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