Wikimedia Foundation elections/Board elections/2006/Candidates/en

Template:Election candidates 2006/Translation

Template:Election2006

Rules for candidates

The English text below is the official text, approved by all three organizers. If any translated text differs from the English original, the English will prevail.

Candidates for election to the Wikimedia Board of Trustees should present themselves on this page before 23:59 August 28, 2006 (UTC). At least one trustee will be elected to a term ending July 2007.

To be eligible as a candidate, you must have more than 400 edits on at least one Wikimedia project, the edits must all be made with the same account, and the first edit must have been made at least 90 days prior to 00:00, 1 August 2006 (UTC). Candidates must also be at least 18 years of age. Candidates should be aware that Board positions are not paid and do not offer per diems; Trustees must be able to financially support thier activities as a Trustee (including international travel) and must be able to devote a significant amount of time to Trustee duties.

It is not possible to hold a Board position anonymously, so please stand only if you are willing to make your real identity known. Candidates will be required to identify themselves fully to Essjay, Aphaia, Datrio, or another designated individual, unless they have done so for the previous Board election. You will be contacted with further details. Candidates who have been confirmed by one of the Election Officials will have the word confirmed next to their name.

Please copy the template and fill in the following information. To avoid giving preference to one candidate over another, please list your nomination alphabetically by username, according to the Unicode Collation Algorithm.

You may submit your statement in any language(s), however we recommend that you include one in English. We also recommend that statements should not exceed 1,000 characters in length in the original language(s). Volunteer Wikimedia translators will translate your statement to other languages; we will do our best to ensure that all statements are available in as many languages as possible, but cannot guarantee everything will be translated. The more concise and the earlier it is submitted, the more likely a volunteer will translate it.

Finally, please list your name and all the language(s) in which you submit your statement in the #Quick view of candidates section of the English page.

Example

Please post your candidate information under the "Candidates" section as shown in the following example:

=== [[User:User name]] ===

'''User name:''' ~~~
'''Real name:''' xxxxx xxxxx
'''Location:''' City, Country
'''Age:'''
'''User page(s):''' xxxxx
'''Wikimedia participant since:''' xxxx
'''Projects in which I participate:''' xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx
'''Languages in which I participate:''' xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx
'''Link to user contribution page(s):''' xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx
'''Your candidate statement:''' (no more than 1,000 characters recommended)
'''For questions, please post here:''' xxxxxx

Quick view of candidates

Candidate acceptance has now begun. Candidates have until 23:59 Monday, August 28, 2006 (UTC) to list themselves alphabetically here.

• AaronSw

  chr, en, es, eo, fr, hu, ja, sv.

• alex756

  chr, en, eo, fr, hu, ja, sv

• Arno Lagrange

  ca, chr, cs, da, de, en, eo, es, fi, fr, hu, it, ja, nl, no, pl, pt, ru, sv, tl, tr, uk, zh

• Arnomane

  chr, Da, de, en, eo, es, fr, ja, sv

• Cerejota

  chr, de, en, eo, es, fr, it, ja, nl, no, pl, sv, zh

• Charles Matthews

  chr, cs, da, de, en, eo, es, fr, glhu, it, ja, nl, pl, sv, ru, zh

• Cimon Avaro

  chr, cs, de, en, eo, es, fr, ja, nl, no, pl, sv, zh

• Eloquence

  chr, cs, de, en, eo, es, fr, it, ja, nl, no, pl, pt, sv, tl, zh

• Evrik

  ca, chr, cs, de, en, eo, es, fi, fr, hu, it, ja, nl, no, pl, pt, ru, sv, tl, tr, zh

• Improv

  chr, de, en, eo, es, fr, ja, nl, no, ru, sv, zh

• Kelly Martin

  chr, de, en, eo, es, fi, fr, ja, nl, no, pl, sv, tl, zh

• Kim Bruning

  chr, en, eo, es, fr, ja, sv

• Linuxbeak

  chr, de, en, eo, es, fi, fr, it, ja, nl, no, pl, sv, tl, zh

• Mindspillage

  chr, cs, de, en, eo, es, fr, it, ja, nl, no, sv, tl, zh

• NicholasTurnbull

  chr, de, en, eo, fi, fr, ja, nl, no, pl, sv, tl, zh

• Oscar

  chr, cs, de, en, eo, es, fr, it, ja, nl, sv, zh

• Ross.Hedvicek

  chr, de, en, eo, es, fi, fr, it, ja, nl, no, sv, tl, zh

• UninvitedCompany

  chr, de, en, eo, es, fr, ja, nl, no, sv, zh

• Zuirdj

  chr, en, eo, es, fr, ja, nl, sv, zh

Candidates' presentations

Please list your entry in alphabetical order.

Cerejota

User name: Cerejota
Real name: Carlos Rivera
Location: Brooklyn, New York, United States
User page(s): Cerejotai
Wikimedia participant since: December 2004
Projects in which I participate: enwiki, commons, meta (occasionally)
Languages in which I participate: English. I can read German, but not well enough to participate.
Link to user contribution page(s): Cerejota contribs,
Your candidate statement:

Because democracy is more fun when you have a huge playing field.

I will make no appeal to authority, I am running because it would be ultra freaking cool to be a voice of my fellow editors, however, or rather because, of how contentious we all get.

My platform:

• Bring diversity to the Board, english speakers are sometimes from countries who speak other languages;

• Support the self-development of the community: consensus and reasoned debate among a horizontal playing field, while engaging the community to mitigate the negative impact of instances when this is not true. I think policy can never be a substitute for community;

• Engage fellow Board members with energy, respect and a great sense of humor. And of course humility.

• Support efforts directed at institutional development of the Foundation, with a particular interests in targeting beneficial relationships with third parties in seeking a better infrastructure and redundacy. No more locked databases! No more "wikipedia is busy" messages!

• As a Board Member I will have a dedicated email address for the community to contact me. I will be accountable, and will act upon the consensus that emerges in my talk page, not upon my personal beliefs (except for my pet advocacies below).

• Help with the outreach and evangelism of Wiki as a software platform, regardless if they are projects of the foundation itself or not, yet of course with a focus around the Foundation's projects.

• Creation of a Wikibabel: a translator's space dedicated to the process of reducing the language differential among wikipedia language versions.

Pet advocacy points:

• Advocate that a successful, peer-reviwed membership period in the Moderation Cabal be a pre-requisite for adminship. The tolerance and exposure to different users created in that environment can only benefit the community, and this process will limit the aberration of users who become admins after 2 months and 700 edits;

• Total support for the Wikipedia Neutrality Project;

• Edit conflicts are what make wikipedia great. I will try to get the board to comment on that: edit conflicts are what guarantee that the encyclopedia both remains current and NPOV. Peer review for the masses, by the masses!!!

• I forgot yo mention I completely and without reservation support the German Userbox Solution, it bot gurantees the lively community we need to develop great editing and resolves the namespace issue. A great NPOV solution! Makes me proud to be a wikipedian!

Do engage me at my wikiabode: enwiki talk page

Improv

User name: Improv
Real name: Pat Gunn
Age: 28
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
User page(s): en (other userpages exist but have no significant content)
Wikimedia participant since: Late 2002 (lurked on Nupedia mailing list before then)
Projects in which I participate: primarily enwiki
Languages in which I participate: English. I occasionally read articles on the german, spanish, and japanese wikis, but I don't trust my grammar enough to contribute
Link to user contribution page(s): en
Your candidate statement: I've seen the project take off, and have been involved in it (and Usenet, and various other community-based projects) for many years. Reading several of the meeting notes, I believe I can contribute to the kinds of discussions involved in management of the project. I believe in the following:

• There should be established an endowment for the foundation (if it has not yet been done) to provide a financial cushion
• Seek out other sources of funding that don't require us to fundamentally change our no-advertisements, open nature
• The board should continue to be conservative in official day-to-day action on the wiki, reluctant to act except when it is necessary for the good of the project
• Avoid building costs and "hard" infrastructure when avoidable, in order to make certain that the project remains solvent, noncorrupt, and flexible
• Explore ways to present the data we have so far in more formats than the web (e.g. TTS, mobile devices, etc), for the benefit of humanity
• Take great care to avoid risks that may place the project in legal jeopardy

If elected, I promise to take the duties seriously, giving the time and effort needed to be a productive member of the board.
For questions, please post here: Bored? Board Questions for Improv

Kelly Martin

User name: Kelly Martin
Real name: Kelly Martin
Location: Niles, Illinois, United States
User page(s): enwiki, dewiki (more or less), Commons, meta
Wikimedia participant since: December 2004
Projects in which I participate: enwiki, commons, meta (occasionally)
Languages in which I participate: English. I can read German, but not well enough to participate.
Link to user contribution page(s): enwiki, commons, meta
Your candidate statement: I am running for the Board because I've been encouraged to do so by people whose opinions I trust. I had not intended to do so, but when people I trust approach me to ask me to do something, I tend to take their requests seriously.

My platform:

• Ensure the Foundation remains accountable to its supporters and users;
• Build the infrastructure we need to respond to the massive increase in public attention Wikipedia gets, and to leverage this public interest to the benefit of the other projects;
• Improve communication within the Foundation, between the Foundation and the projects, and between the projects and the developers;
• Recruit volunteers, and when necessary, staff, to ensure that things that need to get done get done right and get done on time;
• Cultivate partnerships with others who will respect our core principles and benefit our mission; and
• Work toward reasonable growth and economic sustainability in a manageable timeframe.

For questions, please post here: enwiki talk page

Linuxbeak

User name: Linuxbeak
Real name: Alex Schenck
Location: North Scituate, Rhode Island, United States
User page(s): enwiki, Commons, meta
Wikimedia participant since: March 2005
Projects in which I participate: enwiki, commons (on occasion, and usually anonymously), meta
Languages in which I participate: English. Can read and speak French (with some difficulty) and can read some German.
Link to user contribution page(s): enwiki, commons, meta
Your candidate statement: I am running for the Board because I've feel that the board needs a more "involved" member to better understand and manage the rapidly evolving Wikimedia environments. As a Wikipedia bureaucrat, an IRC group contact and a heavy participant of Wikipedia, I feel that I could provide the board with refreshed positive energy.

My platform:

• Advocate for Wikimedia project users in cases that require Board attention;
• Help shape how the world views Wikimedia projects so that public enthusiasm expands;
• Provide a "for the people" viewpoint to the Board;
• Cut bureaucracy and unnecessary red tape as to make the projects more productive;
• Reaffirm Wikimedia's, and especially Wikipedia's, underlying goal of building an encyclopedia
• Serve as a conduit for ideas, concerns, and suggestions

For questions, please post here: enwiki talk page

MakeChooChooGoNow

User name: MakeChooChooGoNow
Real name: Harvey Henkelman
Location: Brandon, Florida USA
User page(s): enwiki, Commons
Wikimedia participant since: July 2005
Projects in which I participate: enwiki, commons
Languages in which I participate: English.
Link to user contribution page(s): enwiki, commons
Your candidate statement: I am running for the Board because I thought it would an interesting thing to do. My platform:

• Help to increase the respectability toward Wikipedia from the public at-large.
• Popularize the use of Wiki as a common utility, a 'fountain of knowledge' of sorts.

Questions can be posted here: enwiki talk page

NEMT

User name: NEMT
Real name: Andrew Avallone
Location: Wayne, PA, USA + Siena, Italy
User page(s): enwiki
Wikimedia participant since: February, 2006 (acted anonymously for years prior)
Projects in which I participate: enwiki, wikiquote (usually anonymous)
Languages in which I participate: English, Italian
Link to user contribution page(s): enwiki
Your candidate statement: I am declaring my candidacy for the board because I feel Wikimedia needs radical change to maintain its environment of inclusion and global relevance.

My platform:

• Establish en:WP:IAR as the only official enwiki policy, thus creating a logical paradox;
• Cleanse enwiki's administration ranks and establish a more strict qualification guide for future admins (i.e.: no more high school students mediating debates);
• Remove vanity articles allowed to exist through the enwiki admin oligarchy;
• Gradually phase-out polarizing (and frankly, useless) userboxes;
• Affirm YTMND fads as encyclopedically relevant;
• Serve as a bridge between contributors and bureaucrats to improve wikimedia for all involved

For questions, please post here: enwiki talk page

NicholasTurnbull

User name: NicholasTurnbull
Real name: Nicholas Turnbull
Location: Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom
User page(s): enwiki
Wikimedia participant since: September 2004 as IP; December 2004 as current username
Projects in which I participate: enwiki
Languages in which I participate: English; occasionally, French (undeniably rough, alas).
Link to user contribution page(s): enwiki contribs
Your candidate statement: For a while, it has been my opinion that the most difficult challenges facing Wikimedia - those caused by "scaling" of projects to a far larger user base, particularly in the case of the English Wikipedia - will be the issues most crucial in the long-term.

Those challenges I believe we are seeing now; an increased amount of recourse to organised dispute resolutions, community schisms relating to policy and process, inefficiency in authority structure, financial constraints, and site technical issues. Communication with the communities of Wikimedia projects has also been very far from optimal. All these problems need solutions, and need solving rapidly to ensure the continued success of Wikimedia's projects.

These are among the many challenges that I wish to take up. I seek to be of service to Wikimedia projects to the best of my abilities, and thus, I hope I shall have the opportunity in 2007 to make a difference.

For questions, please post here: English Wikipedia talk page, or alternatively e-mail me: nicholas (dot) turnbull (at) gmail (dot) com

DJ TheOoO

User name:DJ TheOoO
Real name: Arian Koźbiał
Location: Wolbrom, Poland
Age:13
User page(s): click here
Wikimedia participant since: 24 july 2006y.
Projects in which I participate: plese talk to me
Languages in which I participate: Polish and English
Link to user contribution page(s): click here
Your candidate statement: yhy
For questions, please post here: click here