Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: WMF Policy and Political Affiliations Guideline

2012-08-02 Thread Mark

On 8/2/12 7:51 AM, Samuel Klein wrote:

And I would love to see
the foundation practice delegating some of this bureaucracy and
responsibility to non-staff groups.  We have no shortage of energy, talent,
and experience there in the community.

In addition, there's a fairly well-organized set of advocacy groups in 
related areas (Creative Commons, FSF, EFF), who perhaps some of the work 
could be delegated to? There would still be a need for a process to 
decide when Wikimedia should do things such as agreeing to sign on to an 
EFF amicus brief. But imo it makes sense to leave most of the legwork to 
advocacy organizations who focus on it.


-Mark


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: WMF Policy and Political Affiliations Guideline

2012-08-02 Thread MZMcBride
David Gerard wrote:
 On 2 August 2012 05:13, MZMcBride z...@mzmcbride.com wrote:
 This appears to be an unprecedented power-grab by the office of the General
 Counsel.
 
 Um ... that's a bizarre perception.

Is it?

I read through the page at Meta-Wiki and couldn't help but notice that every
involvement required the approval of the General Counsel. I read the linked
Board resolution 
(https://wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Recognizing_Models_of_Affiliations)
and looked around wikimediafoundation.org and Meta-Wiki trying to find a
resolution or vote that directed the General Counsel to develop this kind of
policy, but didn't find anything.

Philippe seemed to suggest that there's a distinction between outside groups
approaching the Wikimedia Foundation for support and the community making
its own requests. The distinction seems incredibly murky and doesn't seem
likely to become clearer over time.

What type of action was the SOPA blackout in January?

MZMcBride



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[Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Wikimedia engineering July 2012 report

2012-08-02 Thread Guillaume Paumier
Hi,

The report covering Wikimedia engineering activities in July 2012 is
now available.

Wiki version: 
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_engineering_report/2012/July
Blog version: 
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/02/engineering-july-2012-report/

-- 
Guillaume Paumier
Technical Communications Manager — Wikimedia Foundation
https://donate.wikimedia.org

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[Wikimedia-l] Washington diary

2012-08-02 Thread Ziko van Dijk
Hello,

Please allow me to send a link to my 'Washington diary' about
Wikimania in Washington; it is mostly about the proceedings of the
Wikimedia Chapters Association.

Kind regards
Ziko

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ziko/Washington_diary

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] IRC office hours with the Wikimedia Fellows

2012-08-02 Thread Tanvir Rahman
Reminder: this office hours begin in 30 minutes. :-)
Join #wikimedia-office from your IRC client or
Webchat: http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#wikimedia-office

 -- Forwarded message --
 From: Siko Bouterse sboute...@wikimedia.org
 Date: Jul 31, 2012 3:36 AM
 Subject: [Wikimedia-l] IRC office hours with the Wikimedia Fellows
 To: wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org

 Hi all,
 The Wikimedia Fellows program will be holding IRC office hours in
 #wikimedia-office this Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 21:00 UTC.  Fellows
 Tanvir Rahman, Peter Coombe, Jon Harald Søby, Steven Zhang, Sarah Stierch
 and Jonathan Morgan will be there to discuss their current fellowship
 projects (exact topics TBD based on who shows up with
 questions/comments/feedback), and I'll take any questions on the
 fellowships program that you may have.[1][2]  As always, links to time
 conversion and other office hour info is on Meta.[3]  Hope to see you there!
 Best wishes,
 Siko

 1. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fellowship_News/Current, and this should
 be even more current by Thursday :-)
 2. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Fellowships
 3. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours

 --
 Siko Bouterse
 Head of Community Fellowships
 Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

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-- 
Tanvir Rahman
Community Fellow
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] IRC office hours with the Wikimedia Fellows

2012-08-02 Thread Tanvir Rahman
For those who missed our first office hour, logs are now available at
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours/Office_hours_2012-08-02

Hope to see you all next time.

Cheerio,
Tanvir

-- 
Tanvir Rahman
Community Fellow
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: WMF Policy and Political Affiliations Guideline

2012-08-02 Thread Andreas Kolbe
On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 9:45 AM, David Gerard dger...@gmail.com wrote:

 On 2 August 2012 05:13, MZMcBride z...@mzmcbride.com wrote:

  This appears to be an unprecedented power-grab by the office of the
 General
  Counsel.


 Um ... that's a bizarre perception.



Well, just look at the number of scenarios where the democratically elected
board is entirely out of the loop, or at best (possibly) consulted.

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Foundation_Policy_and_Political_Affiliations_Guideline
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF Policy and Political Affiliations Guideline

2012-08-02 Thread Andreas Kolbe
On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 12:52 AM, Brandon Harris bhar...@wikimedia.orgwrote:


 This is inserting a conspiracy theory where one does not exist.

 The English Wikipedia community voted on the blackout and directed
 it into existence, not the Foundation. We merely facilitated.



Yeah, and I remember how users were directed (by WMF staff, wasn't it?) to
stop marking votes by single-purpose accounts and IPs, as is common in
every other minor community discussion in the English Wikipedia. SPA and IP
votes are routinely discounted in garden-variety AfDs. But they counted in
the blackout vote.

It's a fact, and quite unprecedented. Why?

And the timeline of the Italian blackout in October, the
half-a-million-dollar Google donation in November, the first Wikimedia
endorsement of the Google position, also in November, and the subsequent
SOPA blackout in January, are what they are.

Politicians may protest, Oh, my lobbying for Mr Rich had nothing to do
with the $500,000 they gave me at about the time I started lobbying for
them. But people generally aren't stupid.

For the record, I did not endorse the SOPA blackout, and I deeply resent my
work in Wikipedia being leveraged to that political end.

And I deeply resent Jimbo's statements to the BBC today*, about how We
gave you Wikipedia and we didn't have to, and so you might want to listen
to what we have to tell you.

A gift is either made altruistically, without strings attached, or it
isn't. To claim selfless, altruistic purpose and then demand consideration
in return for what has been given is disgusting.


* http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19104494








 On Aug 2, 2012, at 5:45 PM, Andreas Kolbe jayen...@gmail.com wrote:

  On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 12:11 PM, MZMcBride z...@mzmcbride.com wrote:
 
  What type of action was the SOPA blackout in January?
 
 
  You mean, given the $500,000 Google donation Wikimedia received in
 November
  2011, one month after the Italian Wikipedia's blackout, and two months
  before the English Wikipedia's SOPA blackout, and round about the time
  Wikimedia first made public statements denouncing SOPA?
 
  Good question.
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 ---
 Brandon Harris, Senior Designer, Wikimedia Foundation

 Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF Policy and Political Affiliations Guideline

2012-08-02 Thread FT2
There's a fallacy going on here - ie a term with two subtly different
meanings.

The community - who are the ones ultimately making the gift do so
altruistically, in the sense of not seeking *compensation*, but that's not
the same as not expecting *consideration*. We do expect consideration.
Attribution (CC-by-SA/GFDL) is one form of consideration. The offer of this
knowledge by editors has quite specific terms that we expect to be met in
return by the world at large, which is the meaning of consideration.

The offer of that knowledge, and its gifting, also doesn't imply *
indifference*. This is more subtle, and arises because we aren't donating
our time and effort into a void. We are donating as a result of, and often
to benefit, things we believe in, such as helping others or free
knowledge.  There is an implied expectation (by some, perhaps not by
others) that it will be treated with respect and used to further humanity.

This kind of expectation isn't contractual, but it's there anyway. It's the
same kind of expectation that says you would probably be upset , if you
spend a week trying to find something as a special gift for me, and I
respond by flushing it down the toilet and saying well you gave it to me
so why are you upset what I do with my property? It might be legally true,
perhaps technically true, but it's certainly not socially and perhaps not
morally true.

We donate time, effort and sometimes money, and we are not indifferent to
whether those are supporting things we believe in. We donate for free
knowledge and humanity, and do so because we care about free knowledge and
humanity. Sometimes we say *Look, we care about these things enough that
we put this effort in, you care enough to support and appreciate us putting
this effort in, so please listen when we say that something is harming the
ecosystem within which that effort is placed*. That is completely ethical
and appropriate; no less than a wildlife volunteer who cares for dolphins
pointing out things that harm dolphins or any other ecosystem that one
might care for and try to support by nurturing it over time. Very few
people throw sustained effort or money into a vacuum without any care
whether it grows or dies.


FT2


On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 2:28 AM, Andreas Kolbe jayen...@gmail.com wrote:

 For the record, I did not endorse the SOPA blackout, and I deeply resent my
 work in Wikipedia being leveraged to that political end.

 And I deeply resent Jimbo's statements to the BBC today*, about how We
 gave you Wikipedia and we didn't have to, and so you might want to listen
 to what we have to tell you.

 A gift is either made altruistically, without strings attached, or it
 isn't. To claim selfless, altruistic purpose and then demand consideration
 in return for what has been given is disgusting.


 * http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19104494


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: WMF Policy and Political Affiliations Guideline

2012-08-02 Thread Birgitte_sb
Seriously stop hijacking this thread. Let MZMcBride have a chance at some 
discussion on his question.

This below is just not cool. Have some respect for MZMcBride. He didn't write 
out his thoughts or concerns with idea that the first reply would turn it all 
into snip fodder. That seems beyond demoralizing to me.

I know I am as guilty of a tangent as anyone, but can't we all, at the very 
least, agree to let one another's sincere *questions* stand without being 
twisted beyond all recognition. We need to insist on there being some lines in 
respect for the other person's voice, or else we are all better off to just 
write a blogs. The only point to joining a mailing list is so you might hear 
what others wish to say. As a sort of pact. This mailing list, I like it as a 
mailing list; I think it sucks as a blog.

Birgitte SB

On Aug 2, 2012, at 7:45 PM, Andreas Kolbe jayen...@gmail.com wrote:

 On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 12:11 PM, MZMcBride z...@mzmcbride.com wrote:
 
 What type of action was the SOPA blackout in January?
 
 
 You mean, given the $500,000 Google donation Wikimedia received in November
 2011, one month after the Italian Wikipedia's blackout, and two months
 before the English Wikipedia's SOPA blackout, and round about the time
 Wikimedia first made public statements denouncing SOPA?
 
 Good question.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF Policy and Political Affiliations Guideline

2012-08-02 Thread Risker
On 2 August 2012 21:07, MZMcBride z...@mzmcbride.com wrote:

 Brandon Harris wrote:
  On Aug 2, 2012, at 5:45 PM, Andreas Kolbe jayen...@gmail.com wrote:
  On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 12:11 PM, MZMcBride z...@mzmcbride.com wrote:
  What type of action was the SOPA blackout in January?
 
  You mean, given the $500,000 Google donation Wikimedia received in
 November
  2011, one month after the Italian Wikipedia's blackout, and two months
  before the English Wikipedia's SOPA blackout, and round about the time
  Wikimedia first made public statements denouncing SOPA?
 
  Good question.
 
  This is inserting a conspiracy theory where one does not exist.
 
  The English Wikipedia community voted on the blackout and directed it
 into
  existence, not the Foundation. We merely facilitated.

 To be clear, my question isn't about Google or donations or anything like
 that. My question, more directly, is: if the SOPA action from January 2012
 were held in August 2012 (following the implementation of this new
 statement
 from the General Counsel's office), would it be considered a community
 initiative or not?

 Given that this statement was written as a response to the January 2012
 SOPA
 blackout, it seems like a reasonable question. Philippe and others have
 indicated that such actions would _not_ fall under this new doctrine. Is
 this correct?


My sense is that the statement is written as a response to the overtures
that have been made to the WMF since the January 2012 SOPA blackout. Like
many people outside of the WMF umbrella (and quite a few inside it, as
well, based on comments we see regularly), it seems that many of these
advocacy groups believe that WMF=Wikipedia.  Those of us in the know
understand that there's an awful lot more that is involved, and that there
are widely divergent opinions on many issues between projects and within
the broader community.

It's easy to forget (in fact, most people have forgotten) that the English
Wikipedia community had been discussing some form of action in relation to
SOPA for almost two months before the blackout. The Italian Wikipedia
blackout in late 2011 demonstrated some significant fault lines if a large
project suddenly closes up shop; because of this, I think the WMF
justifiably had an interest in ensuring that if the English Wikipedia
community followed suit, it was done in a controlled way that would not
cause short-term or long-term harm to the actual project. I'm not talking
reputational harm, but damage to the hardware, software, and data that
are integral to the project.




 The line between what constitutes a community initiative and what's
 considered a request from an outside group still isn't clear to me,
 especially when I consider the Wikimedia Foundation to view the entire
 Wikimedia editing community as an outside group some days.


Ah, interesting point.  My read of this was that the guideline would
consider an initiative requested by a non-WMF community or organization to
be an outside group, whereas an initiative from one or more WMF
communities, or from the broader general WMF community, would not fall
under these guidelines.  The recent request for comment with respect to the
Internet Defense League[1] would be an example of an initiate that would
fall within this guideline, I think.

I think your questions illustrate the need for improving some of the prose
within the guideline so that these issues are clear to future readers, both
inside and outside of our broader community.  It's quite possible that my
own interpretation is off the mark as well.

Risker/Anne


[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/Internet_Defense_League
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF Policy and Political Affiliations Guideline

2012-08-02 Thread Samuel Klein
On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 11:59 PM, Risker risker...@gmail.com wrote:



  The line between what constitutes a community initiative and what's
  considered a request from an outside group still isn't clear to me

 Ah, interesting point.  My read of this was that the guideline would
 consider an initiative requested by a non-WMF community or organization to
 be an outside group, whereas an initiative from one or more WMF
 communities, or from the broader general WMF community, would not fall
 under these guidelines.  The recent request for comment with respect to the
 Internet Defense League[1] would be an example of an initiate that would
 fall within this guideline, I think.


That is my reading of it as well.

Are there guidelines or discussions on it:wp or en:wp about how to handling
future community initiatives?

SJ
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