Talk:Board elections/2008/Archive2

Where can I ask candidates questions?[edit]

The following discussion is closed: Question & answer system will be available after submission phase

Where is the page where we can ask the candidates questions? Cirt 08:42, 14 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

We are only in the candidate submission phase, but you will be able to ask questions from candidates after May 22^nd when the submission period ends (there will be prominent links to the correct page). See also the "Q&A Candidates" section above. —{admin} Pathoschild 18:38:22, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. Cirt 06:41, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Questions before candidacy?[edit]

The following discussion is closed: All questions answered

What should a new Board member expect in terms of compensation for their expenses in performing their work? Doug youvan 06:48, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There are a few provisions for compensation, such as the travel policy and credit card usage policy. —{admin} Pathoschild 08:16:34, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
So that there is no misunderstanding: board members are not compensated for their work. They may be reimbursed for allowable expenses, or have certain expenses (such as travel) paid by the foundation, but they donate their time and expertise. Philippe 22:01, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Are Board Members indemnified and held harmless if the Foundation is sued? Doug youvan 06:48, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, to the extent permissible by the law. See Bylaws, Article VIII, "Indemnification". —{admin} Pathoschild 08:22:44, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

How are US-foreign Board members issued the equivalent of a US IRS 1099? Doug youvan 06:48, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Since board members don't generate income, I'm not sure this question applies, but legal questions should be directed to the Foundation's attorney, Mike Godwin. Philippe 15:51, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How is the "real name" of a Board member verified? Doug youvan 06:48, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
One must identify themselves to Cary Bass. You will be contacted by a member of the Election Committee with the specific details, but it generally entails submitting a driver's license, passport, or other official documentation indicating a candidates real name and age by a secure means to Cary. Daniel (talk) 07:23, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If the Foundation decides to become for-profit, provided that certain requirements are met with the US IRS, will Board members transition into the new company and benefit financially? Doug youvan 06:48, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This would presumably be decided by the board. —{admin} Pathoschild 08:16:34, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Can a Board member be involved in soverign wealth investments? Doug youvan 06:48, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Specific questions regarding the conduct of board members and their external investments (which are subject to conflict of interest disclosure) should be addressed to the Foundation's attorney, Mike Godwin. Philippe 22:03, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can a Board member make a political endorsement? Doug youvan 06:48, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Board members are not prohibited from other activity, to my understanding, although I believe there is a policy that they may not use the Brand in the pursuance of that activity. Philippe 15:51, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Are the minutes of previous Board meetings published online for potential candidates and others to review? Doug youvan 06:48, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
foundation:Meetings may best explain the set up in that regard. Daniel (talk) 07:23, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Do Board members have time cards under the US FAR? Doug youvan 06:48, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Under which law? US FAR Is - to me - Federal Acquisition Regulations, which wouldn't seem to apply here. Can you clarify? Philippe 15:51, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That is the correct FAR, and it goes with DCAA audits. They are sensitive about time cards, and it is my understanding that nothing is off one's time card for a salaried person. Hopefully, donation of time to the Foundation is off the time card. Doug youvan 21:07, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Because board members are not employees, they are not, as I understand it, subject to time card requirements. Board members donate their time, and receive no compensation. Philippe 21:59, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Is employment by companies such as Microsoft, Google, or Yahoo considered a conflict of interest for Board members? Doug youvan 06:48, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
May not answer your question directly, but have a look at the foundation conflict of interest policy, and the pledge of personal commitment that a Board member have to agree to. KTC 08:02, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Given that the Foundation might be the dominant source of information on the web: Do candidates have to have a background check? Doug youvan 06:48, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It would be best to address this to Florence.

General comment: Many of these questions are quite specific to the operations of the Board and less to the election. ElecComm members have tried to answer the comments here, but be aware that our area of expertise is the election. Questions about the operation of the Board should best be addressed to Florence or a sitting Board Member. Philippe 15:51, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for all the answers. Please email me at doug@youvan.com if you have any thoughts on username = Nukeh , that is me. Doug youvan 21:19, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It seems you don't meet the prerequisites to candidacy, but hopefully these answers will be useful for other candidates. —{admin} Pathoschild 22:11:17, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Clarification on linking out from submission.[edit]

The following discussion is closed: No outbound links in statements.

Did I misunderstand the rules for candidate submissions. I understood one was not allowed to link out to external candidate platforms from the candidate submission. Yet there are multiple such links in the candidate submission by Gregory Kohs... -- Cimon Avaro 17:08, 17 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The ElecCom are aware of this. Majorly (talk) 17:10, 17 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, although we were aware of that. That candidate is currently rewriting his candidate statement. —{admin} Pathoschild 19:08:38, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

I have modified my statement to be less than 1,200 non-space characters, and I have removed the outbound links. I look forward to the support of the voting community. - Thekohser 15:10, 18 May 2008 (UTC) (Gregory Kohs)[reply]

Actually, this edit does not seem to be appearing on the actual page. Is the page subject to some kind of "stable versions" hold? - Thekohser 15:24, 18 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I assume that the page is under "patrol". - Thekohser 15:34, 18 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, it appears fine. It must be an issue on your end. The "patrol" feature does not restrict a page from being shown to any one, it is just a way for us to check for vandalism (it's not used though). Cbrown1023 talk 19:13, 18 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Candidate-Statements[edit]

The following discussion is closed: See questions page.

Actually no one of the candidates brings me to vote for him. For me the main problem no one of them speaks about. No one talks about the license problem, about our line depending images and other data on commons (and other projects, for instance "fair use" at some projects). We could get some really big problems from this side - but no one seems interested in this. A candidate I should vote for must have a vision for this problem or at least must realize the problem. The Foundation must start to care about that. Marcus Cyron 09:44, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, do not vote then. Or put yourself as a candidate.--Yaroslav Blanter 11:47, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Candidate statements are limited to 1200 characters, so they can't state their positions on every current issue. You can ask candidates questions on Candidates/Questions in a few hours, which will help you determine what their positions are on these issues. —{admin} Pathoschild 20:46:45, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

As a candidate my view, btw, is that the original choice of GFDL was a well reasoned one *at the time* (for somewhat complex reasons, which I can explain if neccessary), but of course I am well aware that GFDL was designed with manuals in mind, not encyclopaedias, and has severe problems on that front. I am not sufficiently versed in the current behind the scenes state of play with the CC/GFDL talks to comment on the situation authoritatively in detail though. I do think though that the people from the foundation who are involved, are very well qualified for that task, and am fairly convinced that being as we are the overwhelmingly largest user of GFDL, our voice is definitely heard in all those negotiations. -- Cimon Avaro 15:49, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can we answer questions yet?[edit]

The following discussion is closed: Question period open, length rules on the questions page.

I see the User:Privatemusings has asked a serious question at Board elections/2008/Candidates/Questions. Are we permitted to answer yet, or do we need to wait for candidate listings to close? Sarcasticidealist 18:35, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Technically the question page shouldn't be edited for another few hours, but I suppose that won't make much difference. Feel free to answer. —{admin} Pathoschild 21:13:04, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Retroactive question: is there a character limit on our answers to questions? Sarcasticidealist 23:50, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Or a character limit on questions themselves? ;) +sj | help with translation |+ 00:03, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

For what it's worth, I'd say there's no harm (and a fair bit of gain) in longer answers where necessary. Not sure what the committee's position is, though. giggy _(:O) 12:33, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The current position is "We ask voters to leave no more than 4 non-duplicative, brief and rigidly-relevant questions. Questions which do not directly relate to candidacy in the Board Election will be removed at the discretion of the Committee. Please be respectful of the time that candidates must spend answering, and the time other voters must spend reading. ......." and "It is strongly suggested that answers to questions do not exceed approximately 1600 characters (not counting spaces). ........". KTC 14:29, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

To clarify, that is 1600 characters per question? -- Cimon Avaro 15:52, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. KTC 17:12, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure why, but I can't answer the questions - it seems that the template isn't listing all candidates yet. Ryan Postlethwaite 17:33, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I see you've worked it out. The first two questions were added before nomination closed so were simply missing some of the candidates from the auto-generated code. Adding your name like you did works. Now if only you answering didn't edit-conflict with me fixing it... :D KTC 17:48, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, many thanks - I was about to come back here to say I'd worked it out, but my computer crashed :-( Ryan Postlethwaite 17:56, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

suggest archiving....[edit]

The following discussion is closed: Archived

much of the above (and feel free to delete this section too!) - don't want to 'be bold' in election areas, otherwise I'd roll up my sleeves myself.... nothing to do with the fact that I always manage to make a pigs ear out of archiving, oh no..... cheers, Privatemusings 04:00, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Done. I left some sections which are still relevant, but most of the other stuff was for candidate submissions which has now closed. Thanks, Daniel (talk) 04:10, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Q&A[edit]

The following discussion is closed: Link added to navigation box and is being translated

Located at Board elections/2008/Candidates/Questions Hi,

Where is the Q&A located? I know for sure there must be somewhere, as I saw it in Nijmegen, but I can't find a link to it... Effeietsanders 08:26, 26 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's located at Board elections/2008/Candidates/Questions and linked from Board elections/2008/Candidates. --Erwin(85) 08:30, 26 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ehm, actually I would expect a more clear link :) Could someone please consider to make an actually findable link? :) (Ie, in the navigation box?) Effeietsanders 22:28, 26 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Done, now being translated. Daniel (talk) 02:11, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Q&A translations[edit]

The following discussion is closed: Systran looks good.

As Q&A probably won't be translated, I think it would be worth having an easy access to an online translation service, so I would suggest to add {{Translate with google}} (for example) to Board elections/2008/Candidates/Questions and its subpages. Korg 17:51, 28 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I tried to translate the page Board elections/2008/Candidates/Questions/1 with Google Translate, but it is not completely translated;^[1] I also tried with Yahoo! Babel Fish, but the page doesn't get translated at all (I get the error message: "Error encountered while translating text."^[2]). Do you encounter the same problems?

I then tried with Systran, and it seems to work.^[3] I've included the newly created template {{Translate with Systran}} in Board elections/2008/Candidates/Questions/intro; please feel free to improve it. Thanks, Korg 18:26, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Linking the Questions from the Navigational Template[edit]

The following discussion is closed: Link added to navigation box and is being translated

I think we should link to the questions from the main navigational template Template:Board elections 2008. Otherwise people are having problems trying to access the questions. Thanks Alex Bakharev 00:51, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

We're in the process of finalising this, however it now does appear. Daniel (talk) 02:10, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Is it possible to change one's vote?[edit]

The following discussion is closed: Enough. This page is not designed for either of the purposes below. I'm selective archiving this, and implore everyone involved to not comment on the issue (other than the replacing-a-vote generally, obviously) on board election pages. Daniel (talk) 02:33, 2 June 2008 (UTC) [reply]

I made the mistake of giving one of my votes to a candidate before discovering that he (Gregory Kohs) is the banned "MyWikiBiz" user (see en:Category:Wikipedia sockpuppets of MyWikiBiz).

Is there a process whereby I may expunge that vote? Athaenara 23:18, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, just vote again. Your pervious votes will be over-written with the new ones. Cbrown1023 talk 23:35, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! Athaenara 23:47, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Many of those sockpuppets have nothing to do with me. To me, that's a lesson in how adversarial and inaccurate Wikipedia administrators have become. There are two classes of voters in this election: those willing to ask the important questions, and those who already think they know the answers. Thank you for your initial vote, when you thought you were voting according to the merits of my positions and principles. -- Thekohser 23:53, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You are MyWikiBiz, regardless of the status of "many" of them.

I see it as unfortunate, and not to be respected, that you used my request for assistance here as an opportunity to promote your candidacy. Athaenara 00:15, 2 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

With all due respect, you used it as an opportunity to drag his candidacy down. Your request for help did not need to extend to specific details, rather only that you need to change your vote. You would have received the same response. It does not, in my opinion, seem inappropriate for him to respond to your comment, which was specific to him. 75.183.127.68 02:15, 2 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]