Review

A centralized forum to internally review and critically analyze Wikimedia wikis.

"Wikimedia fundraising principles" Board resolution

The Wikimedia Board has (unanimously) passed a "Wikimedia fundraising principles" resolution, that includes the following:

4) Maximizing participation beyond financial contribution: Consistent with the principles of empowerment underlying Wikimedia’s success, the Wikimedia Foundation should empower the largest possible number of individuals world-wide who can constructively contribute to direct messaging, public outreach, and other activities driving the success of Wikimedia’s fundraising efforts.

There is a theory surrounding Wikimedia projects that Jimmy Wales' primary goal is not to create a high-quality set of reference works, but it is to maximize participation. When examining some of the Wikimedia Foundation's focus, this goal is easy to see.

I believe this is the first time that such a goal has ever been made explicit by Wikimedia (or at least I don't know of this ever being stated so explicitly). While it's done under the heading of "fundraising principles," parts of the resolution read as though they're intended to reach outside fundraising.

When you look at Jimmy Wales' Statement of principles, there's an underlying theme about the importance of participation, but arguably not an underlying theme about creating quality content.

Thoughts? --MZMcBride 23:29, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

hi! you might want to move this to talk:Resolutions (I just changed the redirect). As for the substance of your comment, I don't think that we were trying to make a larger statement about values beyond what is stated here for fundraising, though increasing participation is certainly one of the strategic goals of the Foundation. best, -- phoebe | snark! 00:00, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Staff characteristics

I created a page at Staff characteristics. I'd be interested in what people think about it. --MZMcBride 05:11, 6 November 2010 (UTC)

Also, it'd be great if there were some magic to get the signature button on the toolbar for a page like this (non-talk namespace page being used for discussion). Someone should get on that. --MZMcBride 05:11, 6 November 2010 (UTC)