Talk:Wiki Project Med/Archives/2016

Data

In collaboration with User:West.andrew.g we have been producing data regarding Wikipedia and Medicine here. We have just come out with data regarding how many edits people have made to medical articles during 2015[1] and how many medical articles exist is different languages.[2] Best Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 07:26, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

When non-Wikipedians ask about Wikipedia they want this information. Thanks very much - this information is great for public relations. I will use editor stats and article counts by language in lots of talks because I know this always comes up. Blue Rasberry (talk) 14:57, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

If you have other details you want collected happy to hear them :-) Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 00:43, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

Doc James This information would be much more valuable if it were contrasted with information from competitors.

• Wikipedia:WikiProject_Medicine/Stats/Number_of_articles_by_language_2015 - Wikipedia is in lots of languages. How many languages does WebMD, NIH, and CDC use, and how much content do they have in each?
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/Stats/Top medical editors 2015 (all) - Again, what are equivalent numbers (best estimate) for competitors? How does one even begin thinking about this?
• Then the biggest issue is traffic. I continue to hear that Wikipedia is not a significant source of health information, and the presumption behind this statement is that Wikipedia is a low-traffic health information source and that competitors are high-traffic. I know there are already charts, but I would like to see them regularly updated, and especially - I would like to get any authority to sign off on the validity of comparison charts so that they can be circulated and discussed with more confidence.

Thanks. Blue Rasberry (talk) 16:28, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

We discuss this some here [3]

It is difficult to get data from other people. We cannot even get pageview data from the NIH unfortunately. I would love to compare how many page views their article on "cancer" or "gout" get with respect to our article on the same topic.

We include a broader scope of topics in what we define as medicine in some respects (physicians for example) but narrowing in other respects (we do not have 10 of M of abstracts for journal articles).

Thus comparisons are a little like apples and oranges and the services we are using to make the estimates are far from perfect. We just got info on mobile for example that was not in the prior analysis. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 23:49, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

Return of James to our board

Dear all, James Heilman was removed from the WMF yesterday.[4] It doesn't look like this is open for review or appeal, and James has stated on email that he is happy to return to the board of the WikiProject Med Foundation. Responses have been positive, and given that the original grounds for his resignation are now not relevant anymore I see no reason to deny this.

I have stated on email that I am finding myself with insufficient time to chair the Foundation to the standards that I would personally expect, and that I am happy to relinquish the chair back to James. Please state your views below. JFW (talk) 16:21, 29 December 2015 (UTC)

Board member comments

• Support as proposer. JFW (talk) 16:21, 29 December 2015 (UTC)
•  Support We are a hands-on board. James is a hands-on leader, who is well-suited to this role. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 08:41, 30 December 2015 (UTC)
•  Support Vinicius Siqueira (talk) 23:55, 10 January 2016 (UTC)
•  Support CFCF 💌 📧 23:23, 24 January 2016 (UTC)
•  Support Ocaasi (talk) 20:54, 7 September 2016 (UTC)
•  Support -- Daniel Mietchen (talk) 03:26, 8 September 2016 (UTC)
•  Support Biosthmors (talk) 16:59, 9 September 2016 (UTC)

Discussion

• (Caveat: As of this writing I am not a formal member, so I don't think I get to vote here. I did just submit an application for membership, moments ago.) It has been suggested by several people that re-electing Doc James might be an appropriate response to the WMF Board's decision to remove him. I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other, and I don't know how Doc James would respond to being reelected and/or re-appointed, but it seems like a reasonable option for the community to consider. With that in mind, I'd suggest moving slowly in reappointing him to the WikiProject Med Foundation board (if it's deemed impossible for him to serve on both boards, either due to COI concerns or the demands on his time). -Pete F (talk) 17:19, 30 December 2015 (UTC)

Thank you for your thoughts, Pete. If James is restored to the WMF board, I'm sure our board will be able to agree on a replacement chair. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 05:12, 31 December 2015 (UTC)

Yes I would be happy to return to the board of the WMF if they are willing to have me. Otherwise am also happy to return to the board of Wiki Project Med Foundation. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 10:10, 31 December 2015 (UTC)

ILAE

We continue to collaborate with the en:International League Against Epilepsy. They have moved EpilepsyDiagnosis.org to a CC BY SA license following a couple of years of discussion. They are also forming an open access journal in which to publish Wikipedia formatted literature reviews which I imagine User:Anthonyhcole will be happy about. Additionally they are interested in some of us presenting at their next big conference in Dec 2016 in Houston. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 20:19, 2 February 2016 (UTC)

That's great James. Their journal Epilepsia is the journal of epilepsy. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 23:53, 2 February 2016 (UTC)

Cure Award for 2015

Has been sent out to all the top editors across all languages. The cut off was more than 250 edits to medical articles. The award can be seen here and includes an invite to join Wiki Project Med Foundation. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 04:02, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Memberships

The board has been discussing holding our first annual general meeting soon. James has just invited the 300 most active medical editors across all language Wikipedias to join. I've proposed sending an invitation to the talk page of all medicine projects across all languages.

Proposed invitation:

Hi! I'm writing to invite people with an interest in medicine and health to join Wiki Project Med Foundation, a user group whose mission is to improve our health content. There are no associated costs, and we would love to collaborate with you. If you'd like to join us, please complete this form, and if you have any questions or comments, please join the conversation on our talk page. --Anthonyhcole along with the rest of the team at Wiki Project Med Foundation

--Anthonyhcole (talk) 04:11, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Looks good to me Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 04:17, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Membership application

Looking at the membership application[5]

• Should we make the COI box optional?
• And should we reword it as "Do you have any conflicts of interest? If no simple put "no"
• And for sex we should have a "rather not say" box
• And we should have a link to a tool that will help people determine how old their account is and how many edits they have made. I am happy if they are not medical edits

Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 04:28, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

• I'd feel more comfortable if members declared any glaring conflicts of interest.
• The present wording is "Do you have a commitment or loyalty that conflicts significantly with our mission, such as receiving payment to positively represent a therapy." I prefer the existing language, because it spells out what we mean by COI. I'd like it to give them a tick box for "No", and a tick box for "Yes" followed by a paragraph box where they can explain their COI. But Google docs seems to offer either tick boxes or paragraph responses - not both.
• Agree "rather not say" sex should be an option.
• James, would you like the tool to be in the Google form or in the responses spreadsheet?

--Anthonyhcole (talk) 05:04, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

I've added "I'd rather not say" to the sex question. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 04:22, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

I think Google form is good. The output is a spreadsheet no? Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 04:55, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Should we post the criteria somewhere?

Our by-laws presently say

Membership will be open to all persons over the age of twelve (12) years and who support the mission of the Corporation. The members and the Board of Directors of the Corporation by their majority vote may from time to time establish such other criteria for membership, including a schedule of dues, as they deem appropriate.

The criteria for membership are basically embodied in the above-linked Google form. Perhaps once we've finished this discussion, we should summarise the criteria on the main page under "Membership"? --Anthonyhcole (talk) 04:58, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Agree Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 04:57, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Google Docs and security

I've seen serious criticism elsewhere of people using Google to host confidential information. That is probably a valid concern. Are there alternative, more secure methods of managing memberships? --Anthonyhcole (talk) 05:01, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Yes people who have access can easily duplicate all information. I think we should simply try to collect as little information as possible. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 04:57, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Privacy of membership list

The membership application currently states:

Other private information (real names, full addresses if optionally given, email addresses, contact numbers) will be collected and stored by the Membership Secretary. This information will never be shared with an outside organization or with non-Board members, without explicit permission from the member concerned, and will only be shared with other members of the WPMEDF Board if necessary for WPMEDF communications that advance our ongoing projects and mission.

New York non-profits are subject to some fairly inflexible provisions regarding members' right to inspect the membership list; see e.g. NPC §621:

(a) Except as otherwise provided herein, every corporation shall keep [...] a list or record containing the names and addresses of all members [...]

(b) Any person who shall have been a member of record of a corporation for at least six months immediately preceding his demand [...] upon at least five days written demand shall have the right to examine in person or by agent or attorney, during usual business hours, its [...] list or record of members and to make extracts therefrom.

I'm not sure if this provision can be tailored out in your bylaws (there's nothing explicit to that effect in §621, but perhaps New York law allows for such in general), but I would suggest giving some thought to how you might deal with these requirements in practice. Kirill Lokshin (talk) 12:47, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Thanks Kirill. We had a moment in Wikimedia Australia, where someone was standing on his right to inspect the membership list (with home addresses). When he realised he'd actually have to travel to the office and look at the physical book (i.e., the staff wouldn't post or email him a copy), I think he lost interest. Still, we need to change the above advice. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 03:16, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

I've changed the preamble to read:

Members' Wikimedia usernames and country of residence will be public. Other information (real name, full address, email address, contact number, sex, age, conflict of interest, etc.) will be collected and stored by the Membership Secretary.

Per New York Not-For-Profit Corporation Law § 621, the list of current members' real names and addresses (only) may be viewed at our New York office by anyone (or their agent or attorney) who has been a member for at least six months immediately preceding their request to view. Your Wikimedia user name will not be revealed; neither will any other information - just name and address. If we receive such a request, we will email all members five days before viewing occurs, so they may resign from the foundation and have their name and address removed from the viewed list.

Kirill, do you know of a software package for managing memberships? --Anthonyhcole (talk) 04:12, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

I like that wording Anthony. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 05:02, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

@Anthonyhcole: I'm not aware of any software that's specifically intended for membership management, but I think just about any CRM package can be used for that purpose. At WMDC, for example, we use the contact management features in Podio. Kirill Lokshin (talk) 11:58, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

en:Healthcare Information for All (HIFA)

Hey All We are one of the supporting organizations of Health Information For All as per [6] I have renewed our support again this year with a 50pound donation. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 12:53, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Update to medical up

Our offline medical app was update to include anatomy articles here Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 19:32, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

We now have medical ZIMs for all the official languages of India in which we have medical content here Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 20:30, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

Please comment on my Individual Engagement Grant talk page about my proposal for Guided Checklist for Health Topic Experts

Hello everyone,

I created a new Individual Engagement grant to try and fix a problem. Grants:IdeaLab/Effective Engagement with Health Topic Experts using Guided Checklists

From my work with Cochrane as a Wikipedian in Residence and my observations of other attempts to engage health topic experts in editing, I've come to the conclusion that the quality of the contributions of health topic experts does not match their level of expertise and effort the we as Wikipedians put into training new medical editors. So, I decided to create a new project to develop a Guided Checklist that would assist a health topic expert in assessing the quality of a health articles on Wikipedia, and then guide their contributions toward making edits to correct the lack of quality.

My individual engagement grant would involve interviewing health topic experts and active medical editors, as well as a community consultation on Wikipedia English WikiProject Med. Please add yourself as a volunteer if you would like to participate. Or leave suggestions on the talk page. Or endorse if you support the idea. Sydney Poore/FloNight (talk) 00:00, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Wikimania 2016 in Italy

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

The full day of medical events at Wikimania went well. Details can be found here Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 23:12, 13 July 2016 (UTC)

---

I have been asked what and from whom people want to hear talk at Wikimania?Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 05:49, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

Am working to develop a program here Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 04:53, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Who is attending?

• Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 04:52, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
• Sydney Poore/FloNight (talk) 07:15, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
• Blue Rasberry (talk) 20:38, 3 March 2016 (UTC)
• User:Mikael Häggström and user:Esh77 are on the program schedule

  Roger that. Mikael Häggström (talk) 11:30, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

• -- Daniel Mietchen (talk) 11:31, 4 March 2016 (UTC)
• --Tobias1984 (talk) 11:00, 12 March 2016 (UTC)
• --Saintfevrier (talk) 22:59, 18 March 2016 (UTC)
• CFCF 💌 📧 11:31, 19 March 2016 (UTC)
• Shani (talk) 15:31, 21 March 2016 (UTC)
• --Geraki ^T_L 16:20, 31 March 2016 (UTC)

Med topics you want to hear about?

• I am currently running this pilot project under an IEG grant. I am very interested in attending the Wiki project Med sessions in Milan and interacting with the Wikimedia medical community: the next step for Wikitherapy could be promoting the concept to hospitals (i.e. not only mental health institutions) and getting doctors and/or patients involved. I have connections in Greece that would be willing to embrace the idea. If you would like me to make a brief presentation I would be happy to do so! See also the poster I have submitted here. Thanks, looking forward to seeing you at Wikimania 2016!--Saintfevrier (talk) 11:36, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

Great have added you here at 11:30am [7] Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 14:24, 20 May 2016 (UTC)

Who you want to hear give an overview of our work?

Poster

Have put together our poster here Please feel free to edit further. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 07:24, 12 March 2016 (UTC)

Medical pre-conference on Jun 22nd 2016 at Wikimania

Can people please indicate if they are planning to attend here Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 21:17, 8 May 2016 (UTC)

Date of Med talks at Wikimania moved

The medical day at Wikimania has moved from Jun 22nd to Jun 23rd.[8] Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 17:26, 19 May 2016 (UTC)

---

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2016/Needs

Hello there! We are going to have the fifth annual Wikimedia CEE Meeting in Armenia. In order to prepare the programme, we need your input about some questions and needs you (as an affiliate or community) have. You can also share something working (or not) for you. Could you please add the info to the page? Thank you! --Lord Bumbury (talk) 13:14, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

P.S. I shall send this request via email as well --Lord Bumbury (talk) 13:14, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

User:Лорд Бъмбъри if you get any medicine specific feedback let us know. We would be happy to collaborate. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 15:18, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

Please add the translate tag in first section

Hi, I am translating to japanese language. In Wiki Project Med#Mission, First sentence (T:5 and T:6) only tagged, this part only can translating. There is no problem in the other sections.

I think maybe translate tag is nothing in the other part. So I read the following:mw:Help:Extension:Translate/Page translation example#Step 4: Making changes. If manually I must be careful. But, I do not know well.

Please add the translate tag in the first section. --タバコはマーダー (talk) 05:10, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

User:タバコはマーダー I am horrible with these tags aswell. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 07:56, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

James, early reply, thank you. I wait someone. --タバコはマーダー (talk) 15:15, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

Will see if I can find someone. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 01:46, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

It looks like this has been handled. If not, please {{ping}} me. WhatamIdoing (talk) 07:19, 24 July 2016 (UTC)

Wikimania 2017 in Montreal

Wikimania is going to be Aug 11 to 13th in Montreal Canada this next year.[9] We are planning to repeat our day of medical talks as part of the preconference (in other words on Aug 10th, 2017). The room will have 90 seats.

Have started drafting of an agenda here. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 16:47, 13 July 2016 (UTC)

Content distribution

Had a conversation with en:Outernet today. They basically do satellite distribution of content to receivers of which there are about a thousand in the developing world.[10]

Am in discussion with them regarding distributing the medical app (1Gb of content) via this system. They have distributed apk files before and people are quick to figure out how to install them on their phones. The cost is 1000 USD. Are we interested in spending the donation we received this year on this project? Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 21:42, 13 July 2016 (UTC)

Offline medical app in Chinese

Hey All The offline medical app is now available in Chinese here. Please share as appropriate. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 15:09, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

Enquiry

Hello, why I can't add the name of my country in Participant demographics section? when I save the show this (Multiple translation unit markers for one translation unit.)?, thanks --Alaa :)..! 18:53, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

You mean here [11]? What country do you wish to add User:علاء Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 03:44, 23 July 2016 (UTC)

Yes Doc James, and I wish to add my country Palestine, thanks for replay --Alaa :)..! 11:16, 23 July 2016 (UTC)

Done Wiki_Project_Med#Participant_demographics :-) Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 16:38, 23 July 2016 (UTC)

Thank you Doc.James :) --Alaa :)..! 09:42, 25 July 2016 (UTC)

Offline Medical App Launched in Arabic

Hey All Excited to announce that we have launched the offline medical app in Arabic. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 09:49, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

Active voting

In case anyone is curious and watching this talk page, there have been recent edits to Talk:Wiki_Project_Med/Archives/2016#Return_of_James_to_our_board. Others voted there recently, and I followed course. I just thought it would be proper to leave a note here just in case. Biosthmors (talk) 17:02, 9 September 2016 (UTC)

Thanks Bios Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 21:07, 22 October 2016 (UTC)

New project with Cochrane

This is innovative in the sense that it is a new sort of program but also routine in that it includes typical Wikipedia training with an established friend of Wiki Project Med. I think people here are already familiar with Cochrane.

• en:Wikipedia:Visiting Scholars/Participating institutions/Cochrane 2016

I am posting here because I named Wiki Project Med as a supporter. Blue Rasberry (talk) 22:14, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

Thanks. Great opportunity. Do you know if they have had any applicants yet? Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 21:10, 22 October 2016 (UTC)

Community Tech Proposal

I have submitted a tech proposal here regarding introducing further offline capability to the main Wikipedia app. People's thoughts? Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 19:20, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Voting is open here Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 03:51, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

2016-17 chapter election

Election planning

There is discussion about a board appointment. Beyond that, the by-laws require an annual board election. This organization is due for an election.

I have told some Wiki Project Med members that I would draft an election process. I still would like to do that, but I have some challenges, and I wonder if anyone would volunteer to help.

The election should be by "members". There is some ambiguity of what constitutes a member and how they might be notified for an election. Assuming that we have a list of vote-eligible members, then there should be an election process.

I am not aware of any Wikimedia chapter which has documentation of an online election process. Wiki Project Med is an international online organization, so it requires a virtual election. In the past the chapter has had small email and phone officer appointment elections, but there is some demand to open up the organization to an easier and broader election process.

An obvious choice would be SecurePoll. This is the in-wiki voting system used for wiki elections, including Wikimedia Foundation board elections, English Wikipedia Arbitration committee elections, and the Meta-Wiki Steward Elections. As of now, all SecurePoll elections have been set up by WMF staff, and that election system is not available by request. It would be nice to use that system, because with SecurePoll, voting is restricted to people who have Wikipedia accounts. With any off-wiki system, that raises the challenge of confirming that votes are coming from people with Wikipedia accounts.

If we used an off-wiki option for an election, then I am not sure what system is best. SurveyMonkey is extremely popular but I am not sure it fits our need.

• Using a Survey for an Election or Poll

If I am left to my own, then eventually I will create a poll in some off-wiki system and draft some Wiki text to be mass-messaged to all members. This organization should probably have an election in October. Thoughts from anyone? In summary, here is what must be done:

• compile member list
• confirm voter criteria
• call for candidates
• set up off-wiki election tool
• mass message voters to visit election tool
• 2-week voting period
• count votes
• the current board makes appointments on basis of votes

Blue Rasberry (talk) 20:29, 9 September 2016 (UTC)

User:Bluerasberry thanks for taking this on. Let's move it forwards. What I will do is share the member list with you.

We can than create a mass online mail inviting members to vote. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 21:09, 22 October 2016 (UTC)

Call for candidates for the board of the WPMEDF

Currently, the board of WPMEDF has 10 members and we are considering expanding it to 12. We are looking at running an election this fall / spring. Can all those interested in running in the board election please add their name below. Applications will be open for a month (closing Nov 22, 2016). Half will be elected for a two year term and half for a 4 year term.

• Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 21:13, 22 October 2016 (UTC)
• CFCF 💌 📧 22:39, 22 October 2016 (UTC)
• Shani Evenstein 15:04, 23 October 2016 (UTC)
• Vinicius Siqueira (talk) 16:04, 23 October 2016 (UTC)
• RexxS (talk)
• Daniel Mietchen (talk) 20:07, 23 October 2016 (UTC)
• Keilana|^{Parlez ici} 04:50, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
• Ocaasi (talk) 21:00, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
• harej (talk) 02:03, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
• Sydney Poore/FloNight (talk) 06:20, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
• JFW (talk) 12:00, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
• Subas Chandra Rout (talk) 06:54, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

Comments

It might encourage those who are not already insiders to apply if you say what board membership involves. How often are the meetings held, where, what are the legal and practical preconditions to be a member, what legal fiduciary and financial obligations will a board member assume, what are the governing terms of the trust, how long is the term of office, ... Rogol Domedonfors (talk) 21:27, 23 October 2016 (UTC)

We are looking at 2 and four year terms. With half the board seats standing for election every 2 years.

The organization has no funding at this point in time. We are looking for active board members that will run projects as volunteers. If people are interested in working on grands through WPMEDF for specific project that would also be excellent.

We meet formally once a year at Wikimania and then primarily communicate by email and on Wikipedia. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 10:40, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for that – it seems quite important for potential members to know what they are signing up for. Rogol Domedonfors (talk) 18:10, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

There is always lots to do :-) Am looking for someone who would be interested in managing membership as our organization in that respect is less formal than it should be. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 18:16, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Closing this election

I am serving as election coordinator. As described above this organization is due for an election. The nomination period for candidates closed on 22 November 2016. All of the nominated candidates meet the organization's criteria to stand for election.

For this term there are 12 candidates and there are 12 seats. The next step would normally be a member vote, but the voting process which would have been held would select the top 12 candidates on the ballot if an election were held as planned. Because the only possible outcome of an election would be to select all 12 candidates, as election coordinator, I am comfortable presenting this slate to the current board as the chosen board for the next term. The organization of a vote among members would be an exercise with no effect on the election outcome. I propose that the current board deem the election resolved by this outcome which is equivalent to the planned vote.

Going forward, I would like to ask the current board to either accept or reject this statement of 2016-17 election results -

1. Formally raise the number of candidates from 10 as in the last term, to 12 this term, as mentioned here and discussed more off-wiki
2. Each individual in this slate of candidates is eligible to stand for election
3. The vote planned would accept 12 candidates on the ballot
4. In this case, the vote can be skipped due to its having no bearing on the election's outcome
5. The current term described in the by-laws is one year, but -
6. As discussed, with these candidates the board is instituting a change in terms. 6 of these candidates will get a 4-year term, and 6 will get a 2 year term, as appointed by the new board when it comes to office.
7. As always, elected candidates agree to keep the organization's by-laws

Membership elections remain important, but in this instance, the election can end without calling for all members to vote. The membership has had the usual and expected opportunity to engage in the election in this most central forum, and for this term, the membership is getting an election which is appropriate for the current level of member engagement and participation. Anyone who wants reform and more engaged elections for next term can make proposals for change and build more election infrastructure now.

Will a quorum of the the 2015-16 board accept or reject this statement of the election results? Blue Rasberry (talk) 22:13, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

We were looking to go to 2 years and 4 years for the duration. But otherwise looks good. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 22:31, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

Bluerasberry, have you received legal advice to the effect that what you're proposing is actually permitted under New York law? (For what it's worth, my layman's reading of NPC § 703 suggests that, if the bylaws state that the board will be elected by the membership, then the board must be elected by the membership; the mere fact that such an election would not be competitive would not give the currently-serving board the authority to simply appoint a successor.) Kirill Lokshin (talk) 22:48, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

Thanks User:Kirill Lokshin. I will see about asking a lawyer. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 22:52, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

More emails sent... Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 23:24, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

They recommend that we follow the by laws and the by laws recommend a meeting.[12] Hum Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 00:54, 17 December 2016 (UTC)

We need a meeting then! There are various options. Since the organization is in New York, and probably more members are there than anywhere else, I could host an in-person meeting at Wikipedia Day 2017 in NYC with the option for anyone to join virtually. If a virtual meeting works then I could set that up by phone or video for any time. It would probably be more effective to have a vote as part of a meeting than through any online system. Blue Rasberry (talk) 14:55, 17 December 2016 (UTC)

Yes lets do a phone meeting. Hangout will probably work. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 18:33, 17 December 2016 (UTC)

Hi James & Blue Rasberry, was a meeting scheduled..? If so, when? Some of us are not in NY and it's hard to follow this meta page. Could I suggest that we move the scheduling part to email? Thanks, Shani Evenstein 11:20, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

Nothing schedule yet. I get an email every-time someone changes this page. One can set that under preferences on meta. Most of us are not in NY. We have members from NA, SA, Europe, Africa, and Asia Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 15:28, 21 December 2016 (UTC)