Individual Wikimedians

Individuals today make up most participants in Wikimedia projects, generate most of the ideas, found most of the projects, and do most of work at almost every level of project development.

When discussing the various classes of participants in the Wikimedia movement, they should be listed as the default group, not as a catch-all for anyone [whose contributions are] not already defined by other categories, such as a named Chapter, the Foundation, an organized partner group that functions as a group and not as individuals.

In a few places, the individual participants who define and create most of our projects have been referred to as "independent volunteers". This page exists to suggest that "individual Wikimedians" is more appropriate.

I dislike the use of both 'independent' and 'volunteer' -- individuals aren't 'independent' in a way that others are not, so much as they are defined by their individual capacity and empowerment to contribute according to their own desires and ability, without recourse to a larger body to approve or justify their efforts. And 'volunteer' accurately describes almost all participants in this process, with the rare exception of some 20-30 people who are paid for some of their contributions. Sj 15:30, 4 September 2009 (UTC)