A Q and A session about German Verein

Below is an IRC log about German verein. The conversation took place Jun 23, 2004 (UTC) on #de.wikimedia.

The participants were Elian, Sansculotte, Tomos.

<tomos> How would the verein spend money?
<tomos> I think there is a membership fee. (24 euro, if I remember correct.)
<elian> yes
<elian> first of all:
<tomos> yes.
<elian> send money to the foundation for hardware
<tomos> I see.
<elian> finance promotion actions for wikipedia in germany
<elian> like a boot at congresses and so on
<tomos> yes.
<elian> and then we will see
<tomos> :)
<elian> but the most important goal is to keep the servers running ;-)
<elian> tomos: you are from which country?
<tomos> Japan.
<tomos> I live in U.S. now. 
<tomos> Is there any legal limit for international transfer of the funds?
<elian> yes
<tomos> I have heard from Anthere that in France, no more than 40% can be sent 
abroad.
<elian> it must be for a defined use
<tomos> defined use means ..?
<Sansculotte> transfers must have a dedicatet purpose
<elian> such as a new server
<elian> or a certain amount for traffic costs
<elian> we can't send money to the foundation and say: do with it what you want
<tomos> okay, so if the purpose is specified, verein can send a lot of its 
money to the U.S.
<tomos> that sounds good and reasonable.
<tomos> I have learned from Arne that verein's goal is not just to promote de. 
projects (de.wikipedia, de.wiktionary)
<tomos> but to promote all projects.
<Sansculotte> yes, indeed
<tomos> But I was worried - if only 40% can be sent to the Foundation, a lot of 
money should be spent locally. And that would mean for german (language) 
projects.
<tomos> But if verein can contribute to the hardware and traffic, my worry was 
wrong.
<tomos> I am not sure how the Japanese law is, but I hope the situation is the 
same.
<tomos> May I ask another question?
<tomos> Do verein members have to pay to the Wikimedia Foundation to become 
Contributing Active Members? 
<tomos> Or if someone joins the verein, he is automatically a member of the 
Wikimedia Foundation?
<elian> that's under discussion I think at the moment
<tomos> If people contribute to the servers and traffic through verein, I think 
Wikimedia Foundation membership should be given to verein members.
<tomos> No?
<Sansculotte> double membership makes not much sense
<tomos> I agree.
<Sansculotte> the verein has been founded as a local german chapter of 
wikimedia foundation
<tomos> But I guess the verein board members have its own decision-making 
power. 
<tomos> But their decisions are not about de.wikipedia?
<elian> no
<elian> at least not about internal wiki affairs
<elian> we handle the press contacts
<tomos> I see. Press contacts sounds reasonable.
<tomos> Any contracting?
<elian> yep
<tomos> Sometimes, content partnerships and other activities involves 
contracting.
<elian> there will be contracts
<tomos> And the verein can do that on behalf of de.wikimedians and Wikimedia 
Foundation.
<tomos> Registering domain names, for example?
<Sansculotte> yes, that was the original motivation to found the verein
<tomos> Any discussion about local servers? I know there are some active 
developers who live in Germany.
<Sansculotte> sometimes some people think loud about own servers, but its 
widely consensus that they make not really sense
<Sansculotte> its easier and cheaper and more reliable to finance more servers 
in the central server farm
<tomos> I see.
<tomos> elian and Sansculotte: May I upload this conversation to meta? 
<elian> from my part: yes
<tomos> I can replace your name with something else, if that is better.
<elian> not necessary
<tomos> okay. :) I will identify you as User:Elian, then.
<tomos> But if you don't like the idea, Sansculotte, I will not make this 
public, of course.
<elian> and feel free to come here if you want news about the verein
<tomos> great. :)
<Sansculotte> no problem, if you want to upload it on meta
<tomos> Thanks. :) I am very sure that many people are interested in verein. 
This would help them.
<tomos> I also wonder - was there a discussion about legal responsibility of 
the verein?
<elian> not yet
<tomos> So it is not sure if verein is (or can be) responsible for de.wikipedia 
contents. 
<tomos> Say, in case of copyright violation, leaking of trade secret, 
defamation, etc. 
<elian> it won't be. the servers are in the US, we have no direct access
<tomos> I see. 
<tomos> Thank you for your help. I will go now.
<Sansculotte> bye tomos
<elian> good night tomos
<tomos> My best wishes to you and verein.
<Sansculotte> thanks a lot