[Foundation-l] Travel policy

Mon Jul 9 23:48:47 UTC 2007

Oh, and ...

On Mon, July 9, 2007 20:22, The Uninvited Co., Inc wrote:
> Or we choose deliberately board members such as Bill Gates, Richard
> Branson, Bill Clinton etc.... who are rich, do not need to get any
> reimbursement, do not need to work any more etc...

Remind me again how many (self-declared or otherwise) multi-millionaires
we have as project editors at the moment? and how many of them voted in
the last election? or stood in the lst election?

The WMF projects are *world* projects of *equals*, and that means people
come from all walks of life and all the financial backgrounds around the
world from an income of $5 a month to $50,000 a month or more, but
inarguably scewed to the lower ends applicable to each country as that is
where the majority of people who are, as the saying goes, "time rich, cash
poor" tend to be.

If you /really/ want a Board solely confined to rich, white, middle-class
men - who would in no way 'represent' the editors and users of the wide
range of WMF projects - then that would not be at all the way to do it.

Sheesh, and I thought that in the similar way to our all supporting free
and open content and free and open software, in recognising that allowing
and *encouraging* the input of *everyone*, that we same people who support
those freedoms and openness recognised the inherent freedom of being open
as to *people* too.

I'm really sorry, ashamed even, to find otherwise.

Alison Wheeler