[Foundation-l] board candidacies

Sat Aug 12 00:49:08 UTC 2006

Anthony wrote:

>On 8/10/06, Delphine Ménard <notafishz at gmail.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>I sincerely hope that the international and cross project community
>>will get organized and vote on this election, so as to balance the
>>natural weight of the English Wikipedia and make sure that the person
>>elected on the board has the skills necessary to the position.Whether
>>they are or not from the English Wikipedia is indeed, irrelevant.
>>    
>>
>If it's irrelevant, then why is it being brought up?
>
Maybe it's just because many people do feel concerned about this.

>With only one seat up for grabs, I don't really think it matters what
>project the board member winds up spending most of his or her time on.
>
Fair enough.

>As for whether or not they speak English, I frankly don't think it's
>possible for someone who doesn't read and write English well to be an
>effective board member - unless maybe they have the money to hire
>their own personal translator.
>
Facetious eventualities aside, English has indeed been the lingua franca 
at both Wikimanias, both for official proceedings and casual 
conversations.  This ubiquitous practical reality does not imply any 
acquiescence to the superiority of English.  A simple recognition by 
native English speakers that language is not just language goes a long 
way toward bridging this divide.

Ec