[Foundation-l] Wikimedia main office

Fri May 26 14:57:52 UTC 2006

On 26/05/06, Daniel Mayer <maveric149 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> We have been talking about this for at least a couple years; the last time
> we did so publicly was
> just mentioned and linked to by Erik. The reason why this is necessary is
> due to the fact that we
> long ago reached the limit on what volunteers alone can accomplish. We have
> therefore been missing
> out on many different potential opportunities (for getting grants, very
> large donations and to
> reach our ultimate goals) simply because we have not had proper staffing.
> And a staff needs a
> person to manage them and the daily aspects of running the organization.
> Simply put, we are
> transitioning from the amateur football club model to a professional
> organization. Staff are an
> investment.
>
> -- mav

You see i really don't like how that was worded (this is not meant at
all to be a personal attack on mav just a warning about what we may
become). " We have been talking about this for at least a couple
years; the last time we did so publicly was just mentioned and linked
to by Erik." I've been lurking and occasionally posting on this list
and others for most of the time it has existed and now that Erik
linked to that thread i do remember it but that is the only previous
mention i remember (i'm not saying there haven't been more, just that
we haven't had a large public debate about it). I think we need to
engage anyone who is willing to be engaged in a debate about where we
should be heading and how we should go about it. Espesially if the
direction is towards corpratisation. So far i think the WMF has been
doing the best it can of a difficult job and i don't mean to critisise
anyone personally, I just think that the future direction of wikimedia
is up to the community not the board or its officers, staff or
whoever. The money that the foundation spends is not the foundation's
but the wikimedia community's (i am not talking in a legal way i am
talking in an ethical way. It was given for the community not the
foundation).

The balance sheets tell me that 60 something percent of money goes to
servers and hardware and the rest goes to other stuff. I don't think
that is a good balance. That is my view. What is the view of most
people in the community? What is the view of most donors? I dunno.
Does anyone? Do all the board members and others who have most to do
with the day to day running of foundation issues think we need a CEO?

paz y amor,
-rjs.

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