Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-10-15/News and notes

Good review of the FDC process of dividing up over $10 million of "OUR MONEY." It bears repeating that the community is requested to review the proposals.

It can be a bit shocking to see a chapter with a few dozen members request funds of something like a million bucks, or seeing that a chapter has 44 staff members. Given the overwhelming volunteer nature of Wikipedia, the first response of many people is likely to be "you want how much?!!!" But, as shown in the article, it is great to see the innovation in the UK and German chapters - things like the Toolserver that we use all the time. It is also great to see the German chapter bringing in outside cash that multiplies the effect of the support they get from the Foundation.

Probably even more important is the support to smaller chapters in the Global South, and the future results we can expect from them. This is not to say that we should just assume that the money from the Foundation in the proposals is all carefully planned. Watching this closely and commenting on potentially wasteful spending will be very important.

BTW, I am writing as an individual, not as a member of the FDC Advisory Group which helped plan the FDC and its procedures. I will say that the FDC AG considered community input and oversight to be a very important part of the process. So I'll just repeat that the community is requested to review the proposals. Smallbones( smalltalk ) 21:12, 16 October 2012 (UTC)
 * I notice that you don't mention the grave censorship and bias concerns many people have about the "partners" you've yoked us with in Saudi Arabia. Tell me again: do we want to partner with people who track down and punish dissidents? Orange Mike  &#x007C;  Talk  21:41, 16 October 2012 (UTC)
 * "you've yoked us with"? Who is you? Certainly not me, and I doubt that the signpost folks did it either. Smallbones( smalltalk ) 03:34, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Orange Mike, you may not know that many WPs have no rules, or weak rules, requiring balance and the provision of reliable sources. That seems to be a more fundamental target for your comments than a Telco (or an ISP). Tony   (talk)  04:26, 17 October 2012 (UTC)


 * This is insane. Tiny and unrepresentative little groups are receiving bushels of money chucked out the side of a helicopter. WMF should be banking the cash and building an endowment fund or spending it on things we need, like expended server capacity or WYSIWYG editing software, not hurling it in bales to every clique capable of envisioning a spending scheme. Carrite (talk) 22:09, 17 October 2012 (UTC)