Challenges

From WikipediaStory

Challenges

Here are some of the legal and other challenges facing WMF.

• Legal issues in the future. Is the big legal case looming out there?
• Will the community survive long term?

The community ceased to exist as a single entity some time ago; the current multiple localised communities appear to be fairly robust.

Much of the English Wikipedia community today is obsessed with and relishes drama of all kinds: vote stacking by sockpuppets, banned and blocked users returning under new accounts, POV pushing by editors with undisclosed conflicts of interest, and external "attack sites" revealing the identity of long-term editors. Because of this love of drama, the obvious solution to all of these problems (real name requirement for editors) will not be adopted.

• For most non-profits, surviving its charismatic leader is a key moment: who will succeed Jimmy Wales, and what effect will that succession have for the community?

Jimbo has already ceased to be significant to anyone other than the press and some of the English Wikipedia.

That minimizes the problem he poses. As I wrote elsewhere: "The problem isn't that Wales is the leader of the project (because he isn't, not in a tangible way), but that although he isn't the leader, many people think he is. So his shadow prevents anyone from filling the vacuum of leadership on one hand, while on the other whenever he makes a statement -- be it an off-hand comment or a considered opinion -- there is a large group of people who will assume that what he has said is now policy & act accordingly." -- Llywrch 20:13, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

• Is the foundation healthy in terms of governance and financial sustainability?