Re: [Wikimedia-l] Affiliations Committee 2012 Annual Report
Gregory Varnum, 12/05/2013 19:47: Nemo, I'm not sure what you mean by a single person's POV. Are you referring to Stephen? No. It doesn't matter who that is. While it is true that WMF Legal did the final writing of some guidelines - a few points: 1. They are guidelines - and AffCom has flexibility if it so desires and finds necessary. 2. They were written based on feedback from non-AffCom folks on talk pages, Milan, and elsewhere - as well as based on input from AffCom. 3. Naming guidelines exist for chapters and other entities - this is nothing new. 4. A final summarizing guideline or document being written by one person with unique skills, such as legal, is also nothing new, unusual, or implies that only their views are represented - that's just not true. A talk page post is not a final summarizing guideline. At best, it should be moved to main namespace and tagged properly (explaining how it got to guideline status etc. etc.). Nemo ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
Re: [Wikimedia-l] Affiliations Committee 2012 Annual Report
On Thu, May 16, 2013 at 6:56 PM, Federico Leva (Nemo) nemow...@gmail.comwrote: Gregory Varnum, 12/05/2013 19:47: Nemo, I'm not sure what you mean by a single person's POV. Are you referring to Stephen? No. It doesn't matter who that is. Geoff speaking and signing his post as General Counsel is definitely carrying weight. Due to their initial nature, it was necessary to see whether it would change based on discussions, but if only by nature of the time elapsed and the repeated commitments from the legal department confirming that these guidelines are operative make them policy. While it is true that WMF Legal did the final writing of some guidelines - a few points: 1. They are guidelines - and AffCom has flexibility if it so desires and finds necessary. 2. They were written based on feedback from non-AffCom folks on talk pages, Milan, and elsewhere - as well as based on input from AffCom. 3. Naming guidelines exist for chapters and other entities - this is nothing new. 4. A final summarizing guideline or document being written by one person with unique skills, such as legal, is also nothing new, unusual, or implies that only their views are represented - that's just not true. A talk page post is not a final summarizing guideline. At best, it should be moved to main namespace and tagged properly (explaining how it got to guideline status etc. etc.). Indeed, I think now we can consider those initial thoughts to have stuck and as general clean up we will be incorporating it by reference or directly into the guidelines on setting up thematic organizations. (It is already included in the user group guidelnies by reference, but a cleaned up version on a separate page or a summary would be the way to go). Thanks, Bence ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
Re: [Wikimedia-l] Affiliations Committee 2012 Annual Report
Bence Damokos, 11/05/2013 15:13: Yes, to be fair, since the closing of the report, we had made some progress on this issue (e.g. we've had some user group name templates pre-approved[1] during a meeting in Milan with Stephen from the legal team and had clarified the process and responsibilities for names that don't match those templates for example in the case of thorgs). It remains to be seen if things do go smoother going forward with these improvements, but the goodwill is there on each side. It's a bit weird that the Affiliations Committee is tasked with ensuring that the name matches a single person's POV from a talk page. Nemo ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
Re: [Wikimedia-l] Affiliations Committee 2012 Annual Report
Nemo, I'm not sure what you mean by a single person's POV. Are you referring to Stephen? While it is true that WMF Legal did the final writing of some guidelines - a few points: 1. They are guidelines - and AffCom has flexibility if it so desires and finds necessary. 2. They were written based on feedback from non-AffCom folks on talk pages, Milan, and elsewhere - as well as based on input from AffCom. 3. Naming guidelines exist for chapters and other entities - this is nothing new. 4. A final summarizing guideline or document being written by one person with unique skills, such as legal, is also nothing new, unusual, or implies that only their views are represented - that's just not true. - greg aka varnent On 12 May, 2013, at 2:04 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) nemow...@gmail.com wrote: Bence Damokos, 11/05/2013 15:13: Yes, to be fair, since the closing of the report, we had made some progress on this issue (e.g. we've had some user group name templates pre-approved[1] during a meeting in Milan with Stephen from the legal team and had clarified the process and responsibilities for names that don't match those templates for example in the case of thorgs). It remains to be seen if things do go smoother going forward with these improvements, but the goodwill is there on each side. It's a bit weird that the Affiliations Committee is tasked with ensuring that the name matches a single person's POV from a talk page. Nemo ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
Re: [Wikimedia-l] Affiliations Committee 2012 Annual Report
phoebe ayers, 01/05/2013 21:54: Dear Bence and all, This is a very good report! It is very clear, just the right length and gives a good picture of all of the activity of the committee -- both accomplishments and frustrations. AffComm did a lot in 2012! Thank you very much for all of your and the committee's work on behalf of Wikimedia. +1 I'm very concerned about this issue, which comes up in many points: «[...] failure to come up with a naming guideline to be applied to new affiliates that has caused significant delays and uncertainty in processing applications [...] unclear situation has caused a number of delays in the full roll-out of the new models and finding solutions that are faster and less resource intensive on the legal team [...] any name that incorporated a Wikimedia trademark would need to be pre-approved by the WMF Legal Department [...] until finalised, easier to apply guidelines are adopted that can be used independently by the volunteers behind proposed affiliates and the Affiliations Committee, the act of naming proposed affiliates will be a difficult and lengthy process.» As usual, process, role and responsibilities as clear as mud. Nemo ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
Re: [Wikimedia-l] Affiliations Committee 2012 Annual Report
On Sat, May 11, 2013 at 3:05 PM, Federico Leva (Nemo) nemow...@gmail.comwrote: phoebe ayers, 01/05/2013 21:54: Dear Bence and all, This is a very good report! It is very clear, just the right length and gives a good picture of all of the activity of the committee -- both accomplishments and frustrations. AffComm did a lot in 2012! Thank you very much for all of your and the committee's work on behalf of Wikimedia. +1 I'm very concerned about this issue, which comes up in many points: «[...] failure to come up with a naming guideline to be applied to new affiliates that has caused significant delays and uncertainty in processing applications [...] unclear situation has caused a number of delays in the full roll-out of the new models and finding solutions that are faster and less resource intensive on the legal team [...] any name that incorporated a Wikimedia trademark would need to be pre-approved by the WMF Legal Department [...] until finalised, easier to apply guidelines are adopted that can be used independently by the volunteers behind proposed affiliates and the Affiliations Committee, the act of naming proposed affiliates will be a difficult and lengthy process.» As usual, process, role and responsibilities as clear as mud. Yes, to be fair, since the closing of the report, we had made some progress on this issue (e.g. we've had some user group name templates pre-approved[1] during a meeting in Milan with Stephen from the legal team and had clarified the process and responsibilities for names that don't match those templates for example in the case of thorgs). It remains to be seen if things do go smoother going forward with these improvements, but the goodwill is there on each side. Best regards, Bence [1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Step-by-step_user_group_creation_guidediff=prevoldid=5476169 ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
[Wikimedia-l] Affiliations Committee 2012 Annual Report
Hi all, I am happy to let you know that the Affiliations Committee's Annual Report for 2012 has now been published on Meta at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_committee/Reports/2012, giving a glance into the internal workings of the Committee's last year. It was prepared in order to update the WMF Board on Trustees on the Committee's work and to provide a snapshot and record of what happened in the year, especially as we have transitioned to refreshing the membership of the Committee every year and it is our commitment to continuously improve our practices, which require good documentation. I hope you will find the report useful. As noted on the page, it includes information up till 31 December 2012 and life has not stopped either inside or outside of the Committee, we have made headway on many of the bottlenecks and challenges of last year and I am happy with where the Committee is at right now, even though this year is facing up to be a busy one. Any questions, or feedback are welcome, especially as we are still experimenting with reporting format, content, and the level of detail. Best regards, Bence Damokos Chair, Affiliations Committee ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
Re: [Wikimedia-l] Affiliations Committee 2012 Annual Report
Dear Bence and all, This is a very good report! It is very clear, just the right length and gives a good picture of all of the activity of the committee -- both accomplishments and frustrations. AffComm did a lot in 2012! Thank you very much for all of your and the committee's work on behalf of Wikimedia. best, Phoebe On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 5:23 AM, Bence Damokos bdamo...@gmail.com wrote: Hi all, I am happy to let you know that the Affiliations Committee's Annual Report for 2012 has now been published on Meta at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_committee/Reports/2012, giving a glance into the internal workings of the Committee's last year. It was prepared in order to update the WMF Board on Trustees on the Committee's work and to provide a snapshot and record of what happened in the year, especially as we have transitioned to refreshing the membership of the Committee every year and it is our commitment to continuously improve our practices, which require good documentation. I hope you will find the report useful. As noted on the page, it includes information up till 31 December 2012 and life has not stopped either inside or outside of the Committee, we have made headway on many of the bottlenecks and challenges of last year and I am happy with where the Committee is at right now, even though this year is facing up to be a busy one. Any questions, or feedback are welcome, especially as we are still experimenting with reporting format, content, and the level of detail. Best regards, Bence Damokos Chair, Affiliations Committee ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l -- * I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers at gmail.com * ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
