[Foundation-l] jobs

Fri Jun 2 01:27:12 UTC 2006

Kelly Martin wrote:
> On 6/1/06, Anthere <Anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
>>There is something hugely upsetting in the comments I read in this
>>thread. It is seeing people complain things are not publicly
>>discussed... but who do not even comments when the issues are raised
>>publicly. It is seeing people complain things are not done... but they
>>do not do things themselves. It is seeing people complain we do not
>>welcome their help... but they say no when we ask them.
> 
> 
> Well, my perspective on the above comments:
> 
> I complain about the Foundation to many people.  I don't do anything
> about it because the structure of the Foundation is such that I am
> disenfranchised from actually having any influence other than through
> backchannel politicking.  The bylaws of the Foundation concentrate all
> power in the Board, and further structured so that a majority of Board
> members are not responsible to anyone but themselves.  This structure
> makes the Board inherently resistant to change.  I am not sanguine
> that the Board will ever even recognize all of the problems that exist
> right now, let alone come up with a useful solution.

it is the second time I see you using that expression. What does that 
mean "I am not sanguine" ? except for not being an orange which is 
probably true ?

   So I complain to
> my friends and associates, and try to convince them to agree with me
> (that the Board is going about the business of running the Foundation
> in the wrong way) with the vague hopes of eventually convincing enough
> of the Board members to put their personal interests behind their
> fiduciary duty to the Foundation and, for once, start making decisions
> that reflect what is best for the Foundation instead of what is best
> for that individual Board member.  (No, I shall not name names.  If
> you are on the Board, it's up to you to decide whether I'm talking
> about you or not.)

I do not feel concerned.

> As to being asked to help: The only representatives of the Foundation
> who have ever asked me to help are Danny Wool and Brad Patrick.
> (Well, except for when Jimbo asked me to serve on the enwiki ArbCom,
> but he was doing that as Jimbo, not as CEO of the Board.)  Even when I
> told people that I was ready and willing to help, I never got
> requested to do anything.  So I've concluded that WMF doesn't really
> want my help.  Either this is because the WMF has concluded that my
> talents are of no use to it, or because the WMF has ignored me when
> I've offered to help.

Right. I have one job for you. I forwarded on checkuser list yesterday 
an email of someone complaining of misuse of checkuser on fi. I do not 
have the time to study the case. You are in charge of exploring the 
issue, clarify if there was blantant abuse (in this case, please ask us 
to remove the status) or mostly ignorance (in that case, please inform 
the checkuser). Do you accept the job ?

> So, yes, you may be asking for help, but frankly I find it hard to
> figure out what help you need or who to talk to about it -- and
> besides, your volunteer coordinators should be working to match
> volunteers with tasks that need doing, instead of making volunteers
> hunt around to find something to do that fits their talents.  But then
> again, that's yet another one of the myriad defects of the WMF: the
> Foundation appears to have no clue how to manage volunteers, either.
> (Does WMF even have a volunteer coordinator?)

Interesting question.
Is the job of a board member
1) define the strategy of the Foundation in the long run
2) manage everyday operations of the organisation
3) focus on human management of volunteers ?

According to books, it is 1. According to reality, it is 2. According to 
wishes, is it 3 ?

Let me see... I need

1) someone with good knowledge of cell phones to help us figure what we 
could do with wikipedia and cell phone (technical description). Able to 
answer all emails on OTRS of cell-phone people proposing various 
partnership.

2) Someone with good graphical skills to improve the look of a CD for 
kids 7-13. And make the external jacket. Speaking french will be a bonus.

3) Someone to clean up and rearrange all pages on meta related to the 
Foundation. Good english skills required as well as knowledge of the 
Foundation structure

4) Someone to update various pages on the foundation website. To check 
the discrepancies between the english version and the other languages 
version. To contact the various editors responsiable of this version to 
tell them about the discrepancies. Require : access to WMF site and good 
communication skills.

5) A baby-sitter at Wikimania for my baby. Skills : knowledge of kids. 
Plump preferred. Male, female, trans welcome. Date and location : early 
august in Boston.

6) A lawyer or legal counselling to fix broken contracts received on 
OTRS. Skills required : patience and availability.

7) Checkuser issue : it seems the privacy policy, the checkuser policy 
are not making everyone happy. I am looking for someone to review both 
and make new proposals. Additional jobs : doing stats of useage. Asking 
Brion to add a system to allow easier consulting. Skills : tough skin.

8) OTRS assistant : job, improve the spam filter. OR, clean up the board 
queue.

9) Fundraising assistant : someone to help Mav to write a resolution 
allowing the creation of that committee. Then, help to make a GREAT 
fundraising before summer. Skills : being creative with good 
communication ability. Urgent job.

10) Business development : I need someone to help figuring out how much 
are trademarks are worth. Example : if we make a dvd, how much to ask 
per item. If we make a board game : how much to ask per item.

11) Also in business development. I need someone to collect the names 
and addresses of all mirrors (in all languages) and to contact them one 
by one to propose them a live feed; Will require to contact translators 
to fix languages templates. Should get a tech description from Brion. 
Skills and various : should have tech knowledge and OTRS access. 
Multilingual preferred.

More later as soon as I had time to really think about it.

> I imagine I'll anger more than a few people with this email.  I hope
> so; maybe out of that anger will come the desire for change (instead
> of the desire to kill the messenger, which I fear is more likely to be
> the result).
> 
> With regards,
> 
> Kelly