Open Letter to the WikiOasis Foundation Board April 2026

Dear WikiOasis Foundation Board,

I have been an active contributor to this project since day 1, in October 2024. I have poured hundreds, if not thousands of hours of my time into this project, because I believed in the mission. Recently, thinking about decisions passed by the Foundation board, I feel that the way that this project is governed is counter to how it was intended to be back on the first day.

Decisions such as who serves as a global rights holder has been left under the jurisdiction of the board, and when I have privately discussed changing how these rights holders are chosen, I have been downright told "no", or given vague answers as to why this is not possible, without transparency.

When the WikiOasis Foundation was incorporated, I had reservations surrounding how the board would govern operations, however in recent weeks it's become increasingly clear to me that the board have no interest in providing governance to the community at large, instead wanting issues such as steward, global administrator and other global rights placements to be handled behind closed doors, leaving those hundreds of wikis and thousands of users who use the platform to have no say in who serves them.

The Board do not appear to be concerned about some of the most pressing issues currently, such as financial pressure and a lack of funding, focusing instead on governing the community, which should govern itself.

At minimum, the Board need to accept that self-governance solely by the board poses risks to key stakeholders within the community, and should involve the community in decision making as much as possible, opening public forums for discussion of site policy where possible, and allowing the community to choose who serves as a global rights holder and on the board. This transparency and trust should underpin all decisions that feasibly can be made publicly, and allow the Board to better serve the needs of the community.

I would urge the Board to seriously reconsider their Board-only leadership structure, focusing instead on a structure which provides community stakeholders access to open discussion on board related matters.

The signatories of this letter are concerned the Board does not currently operate in a way that reflects the values of the movement. We want to work together and change this closed activity of the Board, and open forums for discussion surrounding the project to the wider community, allowing them to have a say in how their platform is ran.

Signatures

--zippybonzo (c • ca) 15:43, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
--Justarandomamerican (talk) 15:46, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
As the president of the Board myself, I couldn't agree more that the community should have a say in how to govern itself. In fact, the Board is actually meeting next week to discuss the very topic of community governance. Tali64³ (talk) 15:53, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
As one of the individuals who is NDAed with the foundation and handling sensitive information, I believe the foundation is further moving from open governance until recently. I am in support of this movement. Fearless (talk) 10:03, 17 April 2026 (UTC)