[Foundation-l] Fwd: [Wikipedia-l] Dutch chapter - some background and more

Tue Apr 25 11:13:15 UTC 2006

I am top posting and breaking the thread on purpose, as I am not
trying to address all the concerns in this thread, but rather trying
to give a little background and a different perspective.

I have followed, in my position as local chapter coordinator, the
different steps in the founding of both the Vereniging (member
association) and Stichting (Foundation). For those who are puzzled by
this double organisational background, let me give you some
explanation.

A Vereniging is a member organisation, much on the model of all other
Wikimedia Chapters. Its board is elected by the general assembly, made
up of members who pay their fees to be part of the organisation. Note
that members *have* to be part of the Wikimedia projects to be members
of the organisation. Which, if anything, puts the power in the hands
of *the community*.

A Stichting is a Foundation, much on the model of our Wikimedia
Foundation. It has a board that is appointed. One of the members of
this board is appointed by the Verijniging. The reason given for the
founding of this Stichting is that in NL, sponsors, and particularly
governement or other big non-profit organisation, are less enclined
handing out large sums of money to member organisations, as their
"stability" is not as important as that of Stichting.

In the process of the founding of both, there was already much
discussion, that discussion was open (the nl.wikimedia.org wiki is
open to whoever wants to discuss). People there voiced their concerns,
including me.

As I understand it, the Vereniging will be the primary point of entry
for any deals with sponsors that may come to Wikimedia Nederland, the
Stichting will be used as a "buffer" for great-scale projects
involving lots of money, potentially employing people etc.. In that
respect, I believe that the choices made were the good ones.

That's for the background.

Now. I have read in this thread many counter-truths and misleading
statements. Let us make one thing very very clear.

Chapters, whatever their form, color or shape, are not responsible for
the content of Wikipedia or any other Wikimedia projects. Never. Ever.
At best, they will increase the pool of editors through promotion for
the projects. At worst, they have to relay the problems that they are
aware of "may be problematic content" (potential legal issues) to the
Wikimedia Foundation. That's it. There's no *editor* Wikimedia France*
or *Wikimedia Polska* or *Wikimedia Nederland*. There are editors who
pertain only to the projects, there are editors who pertain to both
the project and the organisation. End of the story.

Allow me to doubt that any of the board members of Wikimedia Nederland
blocked anyone on the Dutch Wikipedia "on behalf of the Wikimedia
Nederland". If they did block anyone or edit, it was in their
responsibility as editors or admins, only answerable to the community.
Pretending the contrary is mixing oil and water. It simply does not
work.

As far as the relationship between the Wikimedia Foundation is
concerned, the bylaws of both the Vereniging and the Stichting are
very clear, and leave no room for interpretation as to whether either
is ever going to take over the Wikimedia projects. They are not.

This is for my official statement.

Now, for those of you who have felt left out of the process, I will
say just this, going from a virtual project to an organisation is not
always an easy process. As a matter of fact, I have had the impression
that it was more painful for the Dutch than it has been for any of the
other chapters. However, I am confident that if you feel you need to
change things, you are empowered to do so.

*Backing down* from the founding process and *then* criticizing, is,
in my opinion, definitely not constructive. There is a wiki, it is
open, there is an organisation, you can become a member. The best you
can start with is making sure you have a voice in the Vereniging to
change things from the inside. It starts here:
http://nl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ledenlijst.

Cheers,

Delphine

--
~notafish