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User:Michael Snow/Candidate statement and discussion

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< User:Michael Snow

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hcheney (talk | contribs) at 22:27, 10 May 2004 (question). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

I offer here a statement about my reasons for running for the Wikimedia Board of Trustees, and my abilities and qualifications related to this position.

To ask me questions about my candidacy, please post your question in the Discussion section below. I speak English, French, and German, so questions in all of those languages are welcome. I can also try reading Italian or Spanish, although I'm not completely fluent in those. I may choose to answer questions in English, to be more precise in my statements and allow more people to understand them (if this is a problem for you, let me know with your question, and I can answer in a different language). My responses to questions will be posted on this page, so that anyone can read them.

Statement by the candidate

The elected positions on the Board of Trustees represent the community as a whole. I think it is critical that the representatives listen carefully to user interests and concerns. We need someone who will represent community interests on the Foundation, and communicate back to the community about Foundation activities. I plan to work diligently and always be available and responsive when people have Foundation-related issues to discuss. I also want to make sure that we do not neglect projects other than Wikipedias, or languages other than English. We need to organize things so that all of our projects have the resources they need to succeed.

Professionally, I am a lawyer, and I believe the Wikimedia Foundation would benefit greatly from having a lawyer on the Board. My legal perspective would help the Foundation with issues related to the operation of a non-profit organization. For example, we need to achieve and maintain tax-exempt status, to encourage donations, and then make sure that donations are used appropriately for the Foundation's charitable purposes. Also, because all of the Foundation's operations involve the handling of intellectual property, I can bring valuable expertise to the Board in dealing with these issues. My professional training and practical experience in these matters would be valuable to have on the Board of Trustees.

I hope that you will support me for Contributing Active Member Representative to the Wikimedia Board of Trustees. The Foundation has many great projects, yet has barely tapped its potential - I want to help us achieve that potential.

Thank you,
Michael Snow

Discussion

Thanks for running - it has taken the pressure off of me to run. :-) My personality type (INTJ) would have forced me to run for the Contributing Active Member Rep if somebody like you (there are only a few people I regard as highly as you) had not decided to run. I also think that Arno will be an excellent choice for Volunteer User Rep. The only problem I see is that I am the de facto Wikimedia treasurer already. Is this a role you would be interested in? Another idea would be for a change in the by-laws to allow the Trustees to appoint officers that then would have to be approved by the membership. --mav 21:27, 6 May 2004 (UTC)

Well, the bylaws provide that the Board of Trustees will designate one of the trustees as Treasurer. I'm not going to presume that would be me, but I am willing to function in that capacity. To the extent that involves assuming duties you currently fulfill, I'm sure an orderly transition can be arranged, leaving you more time for other contributions to the project. Also, I expect that the Treasurer could make use of assistance, either from volunteers or someday, paid staff. I'm not sure that a change in the bylaws would be needed to do that, and in any case the Board has the power to change the bylaws if necessary.
I appreciate the kind words as well. Regarding the position of Volunteer User Representative, I am not personally going to comment on any candidate. I am not running as part of a "ticket" with anyone, and I respect any candidate who may choose to run for either position. I encourage everyone to support the candidates they feel are best qualified. Naturally, Mav can support whomever he wants and express that as he feels appropriate. --Michael Snow 22:46, 6 May 2004 (UTC)

Hi. I am glad to see someone with legal expertise would run for the election.

I am wondering if the Foundation would have a talk with FSF regarding GFDL, so that we can either get some custom-made version of GFDL successor license or something else that fits to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Is this potentially something you would care? Tomos 17:56, 7 May 2004 (UTC)

I am definitely interested in future developments in the GFDL. The Wikimedia Foundation should certainly work with the Free Software Foundation to have input on future versions of the GFDL, since we are a major user of that license. If an updated version fits our needs, it should be possible to use that version. However, given the nature of copyleft licenses, it would be difficult to change to a different license. In any case, whatever license we use for any of our projects, we should make sure the license is not so customized that it becomes effectively impossible for others to use that license. To be copyleft, the license has to be as readily reusable as the content. --Michael Snow 21:53, 7 May 2004 (UTC)
Thanks for your answer. :) And I did not mean to be tricky or anything when I talked about customization. it is true that customization might compromise the freedom of others to use wikimedia projects' materials. I was just concerned about those requirements on title of the document, principal authors, history, etc. of GFDL. It seems that it is hard to strictly comply with them in some cases. Regarding switching the license, I am one of those people who is hoping (and hopeful) that GFDL and CC-by-sa will become mutually compatible. I also recall some mailinglist discussion in which people talk about the possibility that FSF allows us to switch to a different, more suited license from GFDL. Tomos 03:52, 8 May 2004 (UTC)
I was only trying to clarify, not criticize, and you raised important issues. I primarily wanted to reiterate that I believe our commitment to open content will guide our choice of which licenses to use, and what kinds of features those licenses should have. --Michael Snow 19:10, 8 May 2004 (UTC)

Mike I am considering giving you my vote for Contributing Active Member Representative but the issue has arrisen on irc chat that you have not been using wikipedia long enough to warrant such a vote. Could you explain in detail why your lack of expierence (compared to other members) should be overlooked? GrazingshipIV 17:48, May 10, 2004 (UTC)

I will answer this in three ways:
  1. Some of my qualifications and experience that relate to serving on the Board of Trustees are not specific to Wikipedia, so I have a lot more experience than just the time that I have been on Wikipedia.
  2. I think I have demonstrated enough familiarity with our policies and processes to be a fully qualified candidate in that respect. What I lack is not experience - it's seniority. If seniority is an important consideration for people, they should vote accordingly, and I respect that.
  3. I believe the more important question is not how long I have been here, but whether I am dedicated enough to the overall project. The elected trustees will serve for a term of one year. I am absolutely committed to still being active in the Wikimedia Foundation at the end of that year, and to representing community interests for the full duration of that year if elected.
I will elaborate some more on each of these points, since you asked for detail. However, I don't know what issues people want to know about, so anybody is welcome to ask me about this directly.
Point 1 - Because the Board of Trustees will face many questions involving legal issues, I think it would be very beneficial to have someone with legal expertise on the Board. As far as I know, Jimbo Wales, Tim Shell, and Michael Davis are not lawyers, and none of the other candidates so far are lawyers. I'm not suggesting that I should have final say on all legal questions, or even that the Foundation should be getting its legal advice from me. But I do think my experience and perspective about the law would be valuable to have on the Board.
Point 2 - I think it's fair to expect the elected representatives to be familiar with the community and our policies. The scope of our activity is so broad that nobody can be involved in everything at once, but they should know how to find things when needed. In that regard, I believe I am completely qualified. As an example, one of the projects I have been working on recently is Wikipedia:Topical index. This is a thorough index, organized by subject, of the pages in the Wikipedia namespace (sort of like Wikipedia:Utilities, but more complete). Although the Topical index may not be of practical use to everyone, I encourage people to take a glance at it and get a feel for the scope of this project (which is still ongoing).
In order to categorize pages, obviously I had to read them all first. As a result, I think I am quite familiar with our policies, policy discussions, and how the community works. Both through this project and out of personal interest, I have read a lot of "historical" discussion not only on Wikipedia, but also on Meta and the mailing lists. As a result, I have "experienced" many things that happened before I began participating personally. One of the great things about the wiki system is the preservation of history, so people can see how we got to where we are.
Point 3 - Ultimately, you have to decide for yourself whether you believe that I'm committed enough to this community. All I can add is that very experienced users, like Mav above, are willing to consider supporting me and don't seem to doubt my commitment. I don't believe I have done anything that should lead anybody to question whether I'm committed to the success of the Wikimedia Foundation and its projects. --Michael Snow 21:41, 10 May 2004 (UTC)

In the past, I have served on the board of a non-profit, and never requested reimbursement for my travel and lodging expenses. During the one year term from 2004 to 2005, if elected as trustee, would you submit travel, dining, and hotel expenses to the Wikimedia Foundation for reimbursement? I feel this is an important point considering the current general ledger of the Foundation. --"DICK" CHENEY 22:27, 10 May 2004 (UTC)

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