[Wikimedia-l] Annual reports from the Wikimedians of Los Angeles User Group

[Josh Lim]

Hi, folks.

On behalf of the Wikimedians of Los Angeles User Group (WikiLA), we are
glad to share with all of you our two latest annual reports: one for
2022-2023, and the other for 2023-2024 (the current one), which we have
shared on Meta. You can find our annual reports below:

   - 2022-2023:
   https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Los_Angeles/2023
   - 2023-2024:
   https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Los_Angeles/2024

Should you folks happen to be in the Greater Los Angeles area, we would
love for you to join us with some of our activities. This Saturday, June
8th we also have the latest edition of our Wiknic at Pan Pacific Park in
central LA, and you are all welcome to join us. Please find more
information about that here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/LA/Wiknic2024.

We look forward to continuing the important work of promoting Wikipedia and
the Wikimedia projects in our little corner of the U.S., and we're excited
to be back at it once again.

Best regards.

Josh Lim
[[User:Sky Harbor]]
Wikimedians of Los Angeles User Group
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Affiliates] Chapter De-Recognition: Wikimedia Philippines

[Josh Lim]

Hi Kirill,

Nowhere in my last three e-mails did I imply that the process was arbitrary or 
unfair.  I have expressed in both my correspondence to this list AND to my 
private correspondence with the parties involved that it is your prerogative to 
determine our status or not.  That’s fine and dandy, and we’ve come to accept 
that.

But what I will NOT stand for is that you seem to imply that we should be 
thoroughly discredited for our mistakes.  I’m sorry, but that’s the signal I’m 
getting from the opposing side here: that I have no right to contest your 
narrative of what happened because you seem to be in the right and I, by virtue 
of having led Wikimedia Philippines to the ground — something that still weighs 
very heavily on my conscience — should just shut up and accept things as they 
are.

You talk of forgiveness and acceptance for these efforts.  But you seem to 
forget one thing that’s important here: compassion.  We felt we were on the 
right track with getting our house in order, and asked for more time to do so 
when the axe came to fall.  The situation isn’t as black and white as you paint 
it to be: it could’ve been that the revocation notice period wasn’t invoked 
because we were on the right track and that we could use more support in 
getting our affairs in order, but that wasn’t what happened here.  That’s fine 
with us now, but don’t you dare tell me that you respect our efforts now when 
we’ve been telling you this for months.

In any scenario, we will return to compliance.  I’ll make sure myself that we 
do, and there are people at WMPH who intend to make that happen.  But whether 
you will appreciate these efforts is the ball in your court, not ours.

Josh

> On Apr 25, 2017, at 9:10 PM, Kirill Lokshin  wrote:
> 
> Josh,
> 
> We are, as a movement, remarkably forgiving of things like missed
> deadlines, incomplete reports, and other compliance issues that, in a
> different environment, might be regarded with rather more severity.  This
> is, I think, as it should be; we are, for the most part, volunteers --
> often volunteers with little experience in managing formal reporting and
> other elements of organizational compliance -- and we need to be flexible
> and accommodate that if we are to successfully build a diverse and
> inclusive movement.
> 
> At the same time, it's important to keep in mind that this forgiveness is
> not -- and cannot be -- infinite.  Wikimedia Philippines had been directly
> aware of its non-compliance -- both with regard to its obligations under
> the Wikimedia chapter agreement and in other areas -- for more than two
> years; indeed, as Ting has mentioned, addressing that non-compliance was on
> the Affiliation Committee's agenda when you yourself were a member.  It is
> disingenuous for you to imply that the formal suspension notice sent to you
> in September was somehow unexpected or unfair; it was the unfortunate but
> necessary culmination of a lengthy sequence of attempts to address the
> situation, and not the unwarranted and arbitrary demand you've made it out
> to be.
> 
> Nobody -- not the Affiliations Committee, not the Wikimedia Foundation, not
> anyone else -- is disputing the fact that you made efforts to return to
> compliance.  We acknowledge, and appreciate, these efforts; but, at the end
> of the day, they were merely *efforts* -- as you yourself have admitted,
> you ultimately failed to complete the actions that were required of you by
> the deadline.  Unfortunately, since that deadline was mandated by the legal
> notice requirements in your chapter agreement, rather than something
> determined by the Affiliations Committee or the Wikimedia Foundation, there
> was no further relief that we could give you.
> 
> Regards,
> Kirill Lokshin
> Chair, Affiliations Committee
> 
> On Tue, Apr 25, 2017 at 7:17 AM, Josh Lim  wrote:
> 
>> First of all, I'm not blaming anyone. I'm merely stating what is our
>> position: that is, that we've been dealing with our issues to the best of
>> our ability.  That said, I'm sorry, but I will not tolerate being told that
>> I am "misleading" the movement by telling people what we've done to get
>> ourselves out of this mess.  I wouldn't dare stake my own reputation on
>> misleading the movement, and for people to presume otherwise is appalling
>> for a movement that claims to work on a fundamental assumption of good
>> faith.
>> It's perfectly fine that we've come to opposing conclusions as to how
>> compliant we are, but the facts stand that we've worked our butts off to
>> return to compliance.  And we intend to do so.  If the Wikimedia
>> Foundation's ideal conclusion is that non-compliant affiliates ought to
>> disband entirely, then

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Affiliates] Chapter De-Recognition: Wikimedia Philippines

[Josh Lim]

sues started to
>> appear in 2014, and the chapter was notified back then. More issues
>> accumulated over the time, and a solution was indeed searched for. Please
>> elaborate on what "substantive discussion, consultation or investigation"
>> means.
>>
>>
>> 1: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/PhilWiki_Community
>>
>>
>> El 25/04/2017 a las 12:16 p.m., Gnangarra escribió:
>>
>>> It appears to me as this discussion has caused some confusion and it
>>> should be clarified as I know that the Philippines had two members at the
>>> recent Wikimedia Conference in Berlin arent there reporting requirements
>>> attached to eligibility requirements. They are also part of the group
>>> organising the ESEA conference in February 2018 along with a number of
>>> other affiliates in the region. Those of us who have committed people, time
>>> and other resources need some clarity as well
>>>
>>> While there appears to be some confusion here, Affcom and WMF should at
>>> least take some time to clarify the issues especially given its currently
>>> 2am in San Francisco and it was only 9pm when Joshes email was sent. To me
>>> it appears as if no substantive discussion, consultation or investigation
>>> of Joshes claims could have taken place to warrant such a harsh response so
>>> quickly.
>>>
>>> On 25 April 2017 at 16:05, Maor Malul >> mao...@zoho.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>>      Hello Josh,
>>>
>>>      The WMF and the AffCom have decided not to disclose further
>>>      details of the very serious governance issues in order not to hurt
>>>      the movement and the reputation of the people involved. Please,
>>>      avoid misleading and adding drama to this situation -which is
>>>      already difficult, and damages the movement as a whole. WMPH was
>>>      given very specific recommendations of what do and what not to do,
>>>      but decided to go its own way.
>>>
>>>      M.
>>>
>>>
>>>      El 25/04/2017 a las 06:17 a.m., Josh Lim escribió:
>>>
>>>          If you folks seriously think that we weren’t being
>>>          “accountable”, then I have serious doubts about how this
>>>          process will remain sustainable.
>>>
>>>          I’m sorry, but this process has been exceedingly demotivating
>>>          for everyone involved.  I’ve been trying to keep myself
>>>          composed throughout the entire process, but at this point I
>>>          simply cannot.
>>>
>>>          I will gladly admit that we’ve made mistakes, us more than
>>>          others.  Every organization does.  But I will not allow the
>>>          work that I’ve dedicated over a decade of my life to be thrown
>>>          out the window because we weren’t “accountable”.  To the best
>>>          of our ability, we WERE accountable to our community and to
>>>          the movement.  And I, frankly, feet that we were as
>>>          accountable as we could’ve been.
>>>
>>>          You may all want to know why I’ve been silent through this
>>>          entire process.  It’s because I cannot, and I still cannot,
>>>          process the grief this entire process has brought upon
>>>          Wikimedia Philippines, and especially myself.  I will try to
>>>          be optimistic about the future, as people have been telling me
>>>          to do, but at this point in time, at least have some respect
>>>          for the work that we’ve done over the last six years.  That’s
>>>          really all I’m asking for at this point.
>>>
>>>          Thanks,
>>>
>>>          Josh
>>>
>>>              On Apr 23, 2017, at 9:41 PM, James Heilman
>>>              mailto:jmh...@gmail.com>
>>>              <mailto:jmh...@gmail.com <mailto:jmh...@gmail.com>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>              I second Itzik's comments. We need some degree of
>>>              accountability. Hopefully this will encourage groups in
>>>              the Philippines to become more active again.
>>>
>>>              James
>>>
>>>              On Sun, Apr 23, 2017 at 2:14 AM, Itzik - Wikimedia
>>>              Israel>>              <mailto:it...@wikimedia.org.il>
>>>              <mailto:it...@wikimedia.org.il
>>>
>>>              <mailto:it...@wikimedia.org.il>>>wrote:
>&g

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Affiliates] Chapter De-Recognition: Wikimedia Philippines

[Josh Lim]

Hi James,

Towards the end of the process, and I will admit I was guilty of this as well, 
we have been so demotivated by the process that we felt it wasn’t worth it to 
continue communicating with the Affiliations Committee further.

Over the last year, we had been working to return to compliance.  These 
included adopting new processes to automate old manual ones, completing overdue 
financial reports, and pursing other changes that were asked of us.  We had a 
deadline, and we have completed as much of it as we could, but ultimately there 
were items that we didn’t complete by that deadline, either because we couldn’t 
(government bureaucracy for much of it), or because we felt that given our 
capacity the deadline was overly ambitious.  We accept responsibility for that. 
 However, despite our efforts, it was decided that we should lose chapter 
status.

I will admit that we haven’t had the best communication record with the 
Foundation and the Committee, fine.  But we tried to do what they asked anyway. 
 We didn’t decide to disband like Wikimedia Hong Kong, and the decision 
basically said that our efforts are all for naught.  That’s where it became 
increasingly difficult for us who want to keep going at WMPH to get the chapter 
moving on these things.

So far, we’re sticking around and still working to return to compliance.  But 
this is something we’re all disappointed over.  As for me personally, having 
dedicated so much of my life to building the chapter and the community here in 
the Philippines at large, I don’t know how to process what’s going on, since 
it’s as if everything I’ve built is for naught.

Thanks,

Josh

> On Apr 25, 2017, at 11:45 AM, James Heilman  wrote:
> 
> Hey Josh
> 
> So where was the missed communication? Were there extenuating circumstances
> regarding why Wikimedia Philippines was not able to produce the required
> documents? Was active communication between Wikimedia Philippines and
> affcom ongoing?
> 
> James
> 
> On Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 9:19 PM, Josh Lim  <mailto:jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com>> wrote:
> 
>> If you folks seriously think that we weren’t being “accountable”, then I
>> have serious doubts about how this process will remain sustainable.
>> 
>> I’m sorry, but this process has been exceedingly demotivating for everyone
>> involved.  I’ve been trying to keep myself composed throughout the entire
>> process, but at this point I simply cannot.
>> 
>> I will gladly admit that we’ve made mistakes, us more than others.  Every
>> organization does.  But I will not allow the work that I’ve dedicated over
>> a decade of my life to be thrown out the window because we weren’t
>> “accountable”.  To the best of our ability, we WERE accountable to our
>> community and to the movement.  And I, frankly, feet that we were as
>> accountable as we could’ve been.
>> 
>> You may all want to know why I’ve been silent through this entire
>> process.  It’s because I cannot, and I still cannot, process the grief this
>> entire process has brought upon Wikimedia Philippines, and especially
>> myself.  I will try to be optimistic about the future, as people have been
>> telling me to do, but at this point in time, at least have some respect for
>> the work that we’ve done over the last six years.  That’s really all I’m
>> asking for at this point.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Josh
>> 
>>> On Apr 23, 2017, at 9:41 PM, James Heilman  wrote:
>>> 
>>> I second Itzik's comments. We need some degree of accountability.
>> Hopefully this will encourage groups in the Philippines to become more
>> active again.
>>> 
>>> James
>>> 
>>> On Sun, Apr 23, 2017 at 2:14 AM, Itzik - Wikimedia Israel <
>> it...@wikimedia.org.il <mailto:it...@wikimedia.org.il> 
>> <mailto:it...@wikimedia.org.il <mailto:it...@wikimedia.org.il>>> wrote:
>>> Thank you Maor for the update.
>>> 
>>> We usually love to see our movement expend and welcome recognition of new
>>> organizations, but I strongly believe that we continuously need to check
>>> and evaluate our current organizations.
>>> 
>>> Our brand, name and reputation are part of our core assets - and while
>> it's
>>> not an easy step, I appreciate Affcom efforts not only to recognize new
>>> ones but also to de-recognize organizations that are not longer active or
>>> non-compliance with our movement requirements.
>>> 
>>> Few weeks ago in Berlin we had a first meeting to start discuses what is
>> a
>>> "movement accountability" and how we evaluate organizations who operate
>>> outside of the FDC proces

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Affiliates] Chapter De-Recognition: Wikimedia Philippines

[Josh Lim]

If you folks seriously think that we weren’t being “accountable”, then I have 
serious doubts about how this process will remain sustainable.

I’m sorry, but this process has been exceedingly demotivating for everyone 
involved.  I’ve been trying to keep myself composed throughout the entire 
process, but at this point I simply cannot.

I will gladly admit that we’ve made mistakes, us more than others.  Every 
organization does.  But I will not allow the work that I’ve dedicated over a 
decade of my life to be thrown out the window because we weren’t “accountable”. 
 To the best of our ability, we WERE accountable to our community and to the 
movement.  And I, frankly, feet that we were as accountable as we could’ve been.

You may all want to know why I’ve been silent through this entire process.  
It’s because I cannot, and I still cannot, process the grief this entire 
process has brought upon Wikimedia Philippines, and especially myself.  I will 
try to be optimistic about the future, as people have been telling me to do, 
but at this point in time, at least have some respect for the work that we’ve 
done over the last six years.  That’s really all I’m asking for at this point.

Thanks,

Josh

> On Apr 23, 2017, at 9:41 PM, James Heilman  wrote:
> 
> I second Itzik's comments. We need some degree of accountability. Hopefully 
> this will encourage groups in the Philippines to become more active again.
> 
> James
> 
> On Sun, Apr 23, 2017 at 2:14 AM, Itzik - Wikimedia Israel 
> mailto:it...@wikimedia.org.il>> wrote:
> Thank you Maor for the update.
> 
> We usually love to see our movement expend and welcome recognition of new
> organizations, but I strongly believe that we continuously need to check
> and evaluate our current organizations.
> 
> Our brand, name and reputation are part of our core assets - and while it's
> not an easy step, I appreciate Affcom efforts not only to recognize new
> ones but also to de-recognize organizations that are not longer active or
> non-compliance with our movement requirements.
> 
> Few weeks ago in Berlin we had a first meeting to start discuses what is a
> "movement accountability" and how we evaluate organizations who operate
> outside of the FDC process and I believe Affcom have a significant part in
> it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Regards,Itzik Edri*
> Chairperson, Wikimedia Israel
> +972-54-5878078  | http://www.wikimedia.org.il 
> 
> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
> sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment!
> 
> 
> On Sat, Apr 22, 2017 at 9:49 PM, Maor Malul  > wrote:
> 
> > *
> >
> > Dear all,
> >
> > *
> >
> > **
> >
> > *Recognition as a Wikimedia affiliate - a chapter, thematic organization,
> > or user group - allows an independent group to officially use the Wikimedia
> > name to further the Wikimedia mission, with certain duties and
> > responsibilities.  While most Wikimedia affiliates adhere to the basic
> > compliance standards set forth in their agreements with the Wikimedia
> > Foundation, a protocol has been developed to address the exceptional cases
> > when a Wikimedia affiliate does not meet minimum compliance standards and
> > their continued recognition as a Wikimedia affiliate presents a risk to the
> > Wikimedia movement.*
> >
> > *
> >
> > On September 9, 2016, Wikimedia Philippines was notified of their
> > suspension as a Wikimedia affiliate due to long standing and serious
> > governance issues, as well as non-compliance with reporting requirements
> > which go as back as 2014, has been sent multiple warnings regarding them,
> > and on the date mentioned above,  was provided with an explicit list of
> > tasks and deadlines in order to return to compliance with their chapter
> > agreement. The chapter failed to complete these tasks by the deadline of
> > November 28, 2016, and was consequently notified that they would no longer
> > be recognized as a Wikimedia chapter after the termination of their Chapter
> > Agreement on March 1, 2017.  It is important to make clear that the
> > Affiliations Committee will continue to support other organized Wikimedia
> > communities and their activities in the Philippines.
> >
> > If you have questions about what this means for the community members in
> > their region or language areas, we have put together a very basic FAQ,
> > which may be found at > 
> > wiki/Wikimedia_movement_affiliate_de-recognition_FAQ>https:/
> > /meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_movement_affiliates/ 
> > 
> > Affiliate_derecognition_FAQ.*
> >
> >
> > --
> > "*Jülüjain wane mmakat* ein kapülain tü alijunakalirua jee wayuukanairua
> > junain ekerolaa alümüin supüshuwayale etijaanaka. Ayatashi waya junain."
> > Maor Malul
> > Socio, A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela | RIF J-40129321-2 | www.wikimedia.org.ve 
> > 

[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Philippines Board of Trustees and officer elections

[Josh Lim]

Dear Wikimedians,

On June 18, 2016, Wikimedia Philippines held new elections for our Board of 
Trustees, serving a two-year term from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018. They are:

* Relly Bautista (previously served from 2010 to 2013)
* Romnick “Nick" Coros (new)
* Josh Lim
* Reyton “Boj" Ordonio (new)
* Vera Villocido (new)

At this point, please allow me to introduce our new Board members.

Nick Coros is from Tayabas City, Quezon, some 130 km south of Manila.  He is a 
software developer for an independent international vendor, and has been a 
Wikipedian since 2008, where he is an administrator on the Tagalog Wikipedia.  
He was also a Top 50 finalist in the Philippine contest for Wiki Loves 
Monuments 2012.

Boj Ordonio is from Baguio City, but is currently resident in Metro Manila.  A 
biologist by training, he is studying to earn his Master of Arts in Education 
at the University of the Philippines Diliman.  He has been a Wikipedian since 
2011 and has helped execute some of our events, and is also one of a handful of 
Spanish-speaking Wikipedians in the Philippines.

Vera Villocido is a teacher by profession, but she has over twenty years of 
experience in education, social development, local governance and consultancy, 
working with a number of international organizations and local NGOs.  Resident 
in Alburquerque, Bohol, she is also one of our most prolific non-Manila based 
editors, having been a Wikipedian since 2006.  From 2014 to 2016, she also 
served as the Internal Auditor of Wikimedia Philippines.

Leaving the WMPH Board of Trustees are Johnny Alegre (User:Buszmail), Jenna 
delos Reyes-Butac (User:Waiting for serendipity), Marco San Andres 
(User:Chitetskoy) and Paolo Barazon (User:Titopao).  We thank them for their 
service to the organization, the community and the movement at large, and we 
wish them all the best in their future endeavors.

During the Board election, elections were also held for the vacant position of 
Internal Auditor.  Joseph Ballesteros (User:Jojit fb), who previously served on 
the Board and was WMPH President from 2011 to 2012, won the election.

In addition to holding elections for the Board of Trustees, the new Board held 
elections for officer positions in the organization the following week.  
Officers serve for a term of one year.  Our new slate of officers is as follows:

* Chair of the Board: John Paul Antes (User:Markadan)
* Vice Chair: Romnick Coros (User:Nickrds09)
* President: Josh Lim (User:Sky Harbor; re-elected)
* Vice President: Emmanuel Ramirez (User:Sunkissedguy; re-elected)
* Secretary: Reyton Ordonio (User:Bojaleatorio)
* Treasurer: Eugene Alvin Villar (User:Seav)

Please join me in welcoming the new WMPH officers and trustees. We all look 
forward to working with our colleagues in the Wikimedia movement. :)

(P.S.: Please make sure to CC the other e-mail addresses here, as I don’t think 
our new Board members are subscribed to this list.)

On behalf of the Board of Trustees of Wikimedia Philippines,

Josh Lim
President, Wikimedia Philippines

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com <mailto:jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com> | +63 (977) 831-7582
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
http://about.me/josh.lim <http://about.me/josh.lim>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Transition plans for WMF leadership - Board Reform

[Josh Lim]

While my first impression of this proposed plan is fairly positive, I do have 
one major concern.

> Wiadomość napisana przez Ramzy Muliawan  w dniu 
> 24.02.2016, o godz. 11:47:
> 
> - Six regional seats, popularly elected by the regional communities. The
> proposed "regional communities" would be North America, South and Central
> America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and
> Asia Pacific and Oceania.
> - Five at-large seats, or what we call today as community seats. Like the
> regional one, it will be popularly elected --- but by the whole community.

My concern with the "at-large" seats is that if we’ve looked at the history of 
community Board elections, the electorate is overwhelmingly from the developed 
world.  The candidates are also overwhelmingly from the developed world.  We’ve 
already seen this in the current election, where despite the presence of six 
fine developing world candidates, myself included, the electorate settled on 
three white men (no offense to Dariusz, Denny and James).

Under this proposed plan, Europe and North America will get one seat each.  
Let’s hypothesize that all the elected "at-large" seats went to developed world 
candidates.  And then the affiliate seats have also traditionally gone to 
developed countries as well.  Then we have Jimmy’s seat.  Under this plan, we 
run the risk of having eleven of the fifteen seats dominated by developed 
countries.  So does this mean that the remaining four seats should simply be 
tokens for developing countries, but to which we have no leverage because we 
can easily be outvoted by the other members of the Board?

Last year, I had spoken out against quotas for developing countries, since it 
effectively puts our representation at the mercy of the Board.  I am still 
figuring out what would be the best way to approach this issue, especially 
since voting for community Board seats is by language, not by country, but I’m 
looking at a mixture of temporary quotas (and I stress "temporary"), developing 
stronger mechanisms for getting developing country Wikipedians involved in 
movement governance (through affiliates, stronger consultation mechanisms when 
discussing movement-wide issues, etc.), and weighted voting in favor of certain 
geographies if this is technologically possible.

Josh

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com  | +63 (977) 831-7582
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
http://about.me/josh.lim 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Transition plans for WMF leadership - Board Reform

[Josh Lim]

Lane, it’s one thing to have nominees.  It’s another to win the election.  
Global South candidates obviously didn’t win the community-selected seat 
selection, so I’d approach with some skepticism the possibility that we’ll 
suddenly have a Board member from those regions of the world as a result of the 
ASBS process.

That said, it’s early.  Maybe things will change this time around.  But if this 
process didn’t lead to an ASBS member from the regions of the world Amir talked 
about in his e-mail, then what will?

Josh

> Wiadomość napisana przez Lane Rasberry  w dniu 
> 23.02.2016, o godz. 23:05:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> Could I remind you all that there is a board election in progress right now
> for 2 of the 10 seats? Please see details for the 2016 Affiliate-selected
> board seats election at
> 
> 
> Amir, you said that you wanted representation from "India, China, Russia,
> Iran, Brazil, Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Arab countries and
> finally, all of Africa". If you like, you may encourage anyone from those
> countries to seek a nomination. Also, it would be very helpful if you could
> encourage the Wikimedia chapters in those countries to participate in the
> election in any way that they could, especially by planning to vote during
> the upcoming voting period.
> 
> Thyge - we do have a sort of house of representatives and it has a board
> election happening right now.
> 
> Nominations for the board are open till March 8! Election starts March 24!
> Please share the message.
> 
> Thanks - if anyone has questions post on the election page.
> 
> yours,
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Feb 23, 2016 at 9:47 AM, Yaroslav M. Blanter 
> wrote:
> 
>> On 2016-02-23 14:54, Thyge wrote:
>> 
>>> We should not have direct elections to the board. We should have a "house
>>> of representatives" with X members from each part of the world and charged
>>> with electing the board and decide major issues like location of the WMF,
>>> changed of bylaws etc.
>>> 
>>> Regards,
>>> Thyge
>>> 
>>> 
>> I do not think it could solve the diversity issue.
>> 
>> To appoint the number of individuals with a set of skills and needed
>> diversity, one needs candidates which will have needed skills and desired
>> diversity to start with.
>> 
>> Our experience as a movement (and also of people in other organizations in
>> different contexts) that these people do not always queue at the doors of
>> the WMF office to wait for being elected. They need to be scouted,
>> negotiated with, and convinced to be willing to sit at the board. This is
>> what currently various companies are paid to do, and this seems to be a
>> reasonable arrangement to me.
>> 
>> As far as the candidates are there, I do not see much of a difference
>> whether the community, a selected group (like house of representatives), or
>> the Board votes for them. And as soon as there is no difference there is
>> also no need to make the structure more complicated. I thus conclude that
>> this House of representatives is not needed for the Board elections.
>> 
>> (It might be needed for other things, which are outside the scope of this
>> discussion).
>> 
>> 
>> Cheers
>> Yaroslav
>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Lane Rasberry
> user:bluerasberry on Wikipedia
> 206.801.0814
> l...@bluerasberry.com
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JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
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Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Farewell <3

[Josh Lim]

Dear Anna,

I can’t thank you enough for all the work you’ve done to help us get to where 
we are today.  We wouldn’t have an Education Program, nor would we have been 
able to effectively leverage our partnership with Smart Communications here in 
the Philippines, if it weren’t for your efforts.  For that, Wikimedia 
Philippines is forever grateful.

But at the same time, as a Wikipedian, I am eternally grateful for all the 
advice, the stories, and lessons and, most especially, the laughs.  It was 
definitely awesome seeing you at Wikimania.  I was certainly hoping to see you 
this year if I get the chance to.  But either way, know that we will always be 
here for you, as we hope you will be for us.

If we had to look for examples of awesome Wikimedians, you definitely count as 
one.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything, and we will 
definitely miss you.  Hopefully, somewhere, someday, our paths will cross once 
again.

Many hugs from Manila,

Josh

> Wiadomość napisana przez Anna Koval  w dniu 10.02.2016, 
> o godz. 01:49:
> 
> Dear friends,
> 
> During the past three years, I have been privileged to be a part of this
> movement and this organization.
> 
> I have been honored to be your colleague and to work with you in service of
> the sum of all knowledge.
> 
> In particular, I wish to note particular projects that have inspired me
> very much.
> 
>   - Working with Philippe Beautdette, Maggie Dennis, James Alexander, and
>   Jan Eisfeldt to keep our community safe from threats of harm. [1]
>   - Working with Patrick Earley, Nick Wilson, Erica Litrenta, Sherry
>   Snyder, Oliver Keyes, and James Forester on the rollout of VisualEditor. [2]
>   - Working with Yana Welinder and Heather Walls to design a user-friendly
>   trademark policy. [3] [4]
>   - Working with Siko Bouterse to support Individual Engagement Grants and
>   movement diversity. [5] [6]
>   - Working with Jake Orlowitz to promote the Wikipedia Library and the
>   Wikipedia Adventure. [7] [8]
>   - Working with Jaime Anstee, Edward Galvez, Amanda Bittaker to encourage
>   evaluation and learning. [9]
>   - Working with Asaf Bartov to encourage regional cooperation in Central
>   and Eastern Europe. [10]
>   - Working with Floor Koudijs. Tighe Flanagan, Kacie Harold, Samir
>   Elsharbaty, Rodney Dunican, Sage Ross, Jami Mathewson, and LiAnna Davis on
>   the Wikipedia Education Program. [11]
> 
> The Wikipedia Education Program is especially near and dear to my heart. It
> is a means of educating readers, recruiting contributors, and creating
> quality content. Since 2014, the number of education initiatives around the
> world has increased by 36%. [12] [13] And 25% of all education programs are
> in one of the regions that I directly supported. [14] I am so proud of what
> they have accomplished. And I am enthusiastic about what great things they
> have yet to achieve.
> 
> I want to thank and compliment my current manager, Floor Koudijs. She is a
> competent, considerate, conscientious leader, and her diplomacy skills are
> unsurpassed. I am confident that the education team and the education
> program will continue to excel under her leadership. They are in the best
> hands.
> 
> I want to thank and compliment my hiring manager, Maggie Dennis. She had
> faith that, although I wasn’t an active community member, I could be taught
> to be a good community advocate. I am so proud that I proved her right. She
> taught me how to work in accordance with and to have the utmost respect for
> the wiki way. [15]
> 
> Wikipedia is a miracle, a monument to altruism. It is vital to the internet
> ecosystem, and it is vital to the education system. I hope that more young
> people especially will find their way to it and help out. And when they do,
> I hope that they are met with wise mentorship from veteran community
> members, just as I was.
> 
> I intend to remain a Wikipedian even after I am no longer a WMF staff
> member. And, with that promise, I’ll see you on the wikis. [16]
> 
> All the best,
> Anna Koval, M.Ed.
> 
> [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Threats_of_harm
> [2] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor
> [3] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Trademark_policy
> [4]
> http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/10/29/designing-a-user-friendly-trademark-policy/
> [5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG
> [6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Diversity_Conference
> [7] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library
> [8] https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Adventure
> [9] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Evaluation
> [10] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Central_and_Eastern_Europe
> [11] https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education
> [12]
> https://outreach.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Education/Countries&oldid=70367
> [13] https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Countries
> [14]
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ACEE_2015_State_of_the_CEE_Mov

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Appointment of María Sefidari to Wikimedia Foundation Board

[Josh Lim]

I am happy to see María returning to the Board, though I wish it took place 
under happier circumstances.  I have confidence in her wisdom and her ability 
to help steer us out of this mess, though I certainly hope that she’ll be able 
to commit to whatever it is that James was fighting for while he was on the 
Board. ¡Felicidades! :)

That said, I do want to point out something that Salvador said in his e-mail:

> The diversity inside the Board gets many benefits with this appointment.


I have significant problems with this statement.  While I appreciate the fact 
that María represents two of our underrepresented communities (women, sexual 
minorities), I am doubtful that her return to the Board will suddenly lead to 
"more diversity", especially when it comes to our communities in the developing 
world.  We’ve been fighting for more geographic diversity on the Board and in 
the movement at large with very limited success as it is, so yet another 
developed world trustee does no favors for us even if I have lots of praise for 
María otherwise.

Josh

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com  | +63 (915) 321-7582
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Changes in the Board

[Josh Lim]

Thank you, Patricio, for the heads-up.  I’m sure that it must’ve been difficult 
for everyone, especially those on the Board.

It was very honorable of Arnnon to step down in deference to the community, and 
I hope that while we may be indignant at his past actions, we can continue to 
find places for people in our community who may show an interest in what we do 
but to who we don’t always see eye-to-eye on our values.  While I still think 
that this episode will generate a whole lot of lessons for us to learn from, I 
hope that Arnnon will continue to engage with the movement in a meaningful way 
even though he is no longer a part of the Board.  Thank you for taking heed of 
the community, and I hope that despite what may be a rude awakening, that you 
will find your place among us, somehow, somewhere in the movement.

Hopefully, now that this episode has come to a close, we can finally begin the 
process of healing and figuring out what went wrong.  There’s still a lot of 
things left unaccounted for, and I hope that after this, the Board will 
continue to build on that momentum by doing the right thing and helping the 
community understand what on Earth happened over the last few weeks so we can 
finally move forward.

Josh

> Wiadomość napisana przez Patricio Lorente  w dniu 
> 28.01.2016, o godz. 04:52:
> 
> Dear All,
> 
> Throughout the discussion about the appointment of Arnnon Geshuri to the
> Board of Trustees, the Board has carefully listened to you and discussed
> internally. Earlier today, Arnnon decided to step down from the Board. To
> paraphrase his words, he doesn't want to be a distraction for the important
> discussions that the community and the Foundation need to face in the times
> to come. We want to thank Arnnon for his ongoing commitment and for helping
> us to move forward.
> 
> The Board Governance Committee is working to improve and update our
> selection processes before we fill the vacancy left by Arnnon’s departure.
> We are sorry for the distress and confusion this has caused to some in our
> community, and also to Arnnon.
> 
> Patricio and Alice
> 
> 
> 
> Patricio Lorente
> Chair, Board of Trustees
> 
> Alice Wiegand
> Vice Chair, Board of Trustees
> --
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JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Affiliations Committee appointments, January 2016

[Josh Lim]

Hi everyone,

First of all, I want to congratulate everyone joining (or re-joining) the 
Committee this cycle.  Some of the Wikimedia movement’s best minds will be 
joining the rest of the Committee, and I have full confidence in Rosie, Emna 
and Tanweer—three wonderful Wikimedians who I’ve come to know over my 
lifetime—in fulfilling our mission.  I also want to congratulate Carlos, 
Salvador and Galio for their successful return to the Committee, to which I’m 
sure their insight and leadership will continue to serve the Committee well.

I also want to thank all of you, especially Greg, Bence and Lodewijk, for all 
the kind words.  I am of course disappointed that I wasn’t reappointed to the 
Committee, but I trust its wisdom, and perhaps it was for the best.

That said, it has been the greatest honor of my life thus far to serve in the 
Affiliations Committee, and I want to thank you all for the responsibility 
you’ve accorded to me.  I know the Committee will continue to do great things, 
as we’ve done over the last three years, and I have confidence that they will 
continue to fight for our affiliates moving forward, no matter where they are 
in the world.

Even if I’m no longer in the Affiliations Committee, I look forward to serving 
the movement in other capacities, and in the meantime, I'll continue to pursue 
the meaningful work of bringing our movement's Asian communities together, as 
well as fighting for increased geographic diversity in places where they need 
to be improved.

Once again, thank you all, and I look forward to seeing what’s in store for our 
movement moving forward.

Best regards,

Josh

> Wiadomość napisana przez Gregory Varnum  w dniu 
> 25.01.2016, o godz. 13:36:
> 
> Congratulations to the newly appointed and reappointed members! Also, thank
> you to Lodewijk and Bence for their kind words. :) I would also like to
> join them in thanking Josh for his work over the past few years.
> 
> Not surprisingly, I have a great deal of respect and affection for the
> AffCom and their work. I think this is an especially interesting time for
> the committee, and am excited to see what comes from them in the coming
> months. :)
> 
> -greg
> 
> 
> On Jan 24, 2016, at 2:08 PM, Tito Dutta  > wrote:
> 
> Congratulations everyone. :)
> 
> On 25 January 2016 at 00:32, Mardetanha  wrote:
> 
> congratulation all new members
> 
> 
> Mardetanha
> 
> On Sun, Jan 24, 2016 at 10:00 PM, Kirill Lokshin  
> 
> wrote:
> 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> I'm pleased to announce that, following the recent call for applications,
> the following candidates have been appointed to seats on the Affiliations
> Committee:
> 
> - Salvador Alcantar Morán (re-appointment)
> - Carlos M. Colina (re-appointment)
> - Galileo Vidoni (re-appointment)
> - Emna Mizouni
> - Tanweer Morshed
> - Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight
> 
> The newly appointed (and re-appointed) members will serve two-year terms,
> ending in December 2017.
> 
> On behalf of the Affiliations Committee, I would like to thank each of
> 
> the
> 
> applicants, as well as all of the community members who took the time to
> offer their feedback on the candidates during the public review process.
> 
> Regards,
> Kirill Lokshin
> Affiliations Committee
> 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] COI - was Re: [Board-l] Fwd: WMF etc.

[Josh Lim]

Hi Fae,

I’m subscribed to this mailing list using a Yahoo! e-mail address, and the 
problem also happens in reverse: some e-mails end up in my spam folder.  The 
problem is so bad that I’m contemplating switching my subscription to a 
different e-mail address, but hopefully I won’t need to do that for the 
foreseeable future.

Is there anyone else here who’s subscribed using a Yahoo! address and has spam 
problems, either with their or others’ e-mails?

Josh

> Wiadomość napisana przez Fæ  w dniu 23.01.2016, o godz. 
> 01:38:
> 
> Sorry you've had to change email Florence.
> 
> (Tangent) Could those who use *Yahoo email addresses* ask their
> friends to check if their emails regularly end up in spam boxes? I
> have found several Yahoo users who write to this list getting marked
> as potential trojans by Google and I only find their emails a month
> later, by accident, if ever.
> 
> P.S. this is not a Google conspiracy theory.
> 
> Thanks,
> Fae
> 
> On 22 January 2016 at 14:41, Florence Devouard  > wrote:
>> Le 21/01/16 20:05, Dariusz Jemielniak a écrit :
>>> 
>>> hi Florence,
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Then I was astonished when I discovered that Dariusz, who has been a board
 
 member for over 6 months, was not aware of the existence of the Conflict
 of
 Interest Policy, which include a pledge of commitment and an obligation
 to
 disclose potential conflicts of interest. A policy voted by the board
 several years ago and mandatory for all board members. It is apparently
 not
 enforced anymore, even though it is an approved policy and obviously a
 good
 governance practice. This makes me think the board is not operating
 properly anymore on this serious matter.
 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> just to clarify this issue: I have been signing the COI
>>> pledges/disclosures
>>> over the last 4 years, as the FDC member, and later as a Board member.
>>> Apparently I did not make myself clear that I think it is worthwhile to
>>> consider PUBLIC statements (as proposed in the email I was replying to),
>>> and not statements in general (which we do have). It may have left you
>>> with
>>> a reading that I was unaware of the COI policy as a whole; I apologize for
>>> my clumsy phrasing.
>>> 
>>> best,
>>> 
>>> dariusz
>> 
>> 
>> My apologies Dariusz; This point was a misunderstanding on my part after
>> reading this msg from you :
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2016-January/080945.html
>> 
>> I am really happy to read your clarification and see that this point is in
>> fact not an issue. Good :)
>> 
>> I actually stayed in confusion because I commented it, but you never gave
>> any further feedback.
>> But some people warned me my emails got stuck in spambox...
>> I changed my email address for the lists this morning... sent a message...
>> and it got stuck in moderation !
>> Hopefully this one will work out...
>> 
>> 
>> Florence
> -- 
> fae...@gmail.com  
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae 
> 
> 
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JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
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Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

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[Wikimedia-l] Community consultation on the future of Wikimania

[Josh Lim]

Hi everybody,

Last October, Siko committed to a community consultation on the future of 
Wikimania scheduled for November.[1] However, November came and went, and 
nothing has happened since then.

As a matter of course, I have to ask whether the WMF is still committed to 
holding a community consultation on Wikimania, and if so, when.  In addition, 
we’d like to know what the WMF and the Wikimania Committee have been doing 
since what happened last October that could allay all our fears over what’s 
happening with the future of the community’s conference.

On behalf of the Wikimania Manila team,

Josh

[1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2015-October/079310.html

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2017 Montreal - scooped by Signpost

[Josh Lim]

Hi Marc,

> Wiadomość napisana przez Marc A. Pelletier  w dniu 
> 05.10.2015, o godz. 23:03:
> 
> I know that the steering committee contacted our team (tentatively, very
> early in the year) in part because they were aware that we were already
> fully set to host Wikimania in 2017 with the groundwork for our hosting
> having started in 2010, and most of our preparations still usable (and,
> I expect, an opportunity to hold the first Wikimania in a Francophone
> location played a part).  It's clear to me the steering committee
> dropped a ball in not noticing that both of your teams had started
> working on bids in time to communicate with you.
> 
> That said, this kind of wasted effort is - from what I understand - the
> very reason why the process needed changing.  Even if three teams bid
> for 2017, two of them would necessarily have wasted the tremendous work
> that goes into preparing a bid - including the credibility cost of long
> talks with venue and sponsors that turn out to a miss and the morale hit
> of loosing in a bidding process.  I suppose I'm a bit "glad" that the
> leak occured before our team was ready to make the official announcement
> because - if nothing else - this will prevent that waste to have been
> even worse.


Wow, the more I’m disappointed at this ball being "dropped".  Heck, I can’t 
possibly describe the exasperation I feel at this new revelation coming from 
you as to when the Steering Committee reached out to you guys.

The Manila team was asked to consider planning for a Wikimania 2017 bid as 
early as January this year—less than a month after the announcement was made 
that Esino Lario won the bid for Wikimania 2016.  To hear that they reached out 
to you before anyone else knew—heck, to find out that this happened behind our 
backs even, speaks of the duplicitousness the Committee has acted with when it 
came to making a decision as critical as this.

I’m not mad at you guys, and I’d like to think that Montréal can pull it off.  
But I am definitely mad at the Committee not just for dropping the ball, but 
for having us here in Manila run under the impression that everything will be 
the same as last year, only to have the wool pulled over our eyes with this 
decision.

Josh

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com  | +63 (915) 321-7582
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2017 Montreal - scooped by Signpost

[Josh Lim]

Hi Marc,

> Wiadomość napisana przez Marc A. Pelletier  > w dniu 05.10.2015, o godz. 23:03:
> 
> I know that the steering committee contacted our team (tentatively, very
> early in the year) in part because they were aware that we were already
> fully set to host Wikimania in 2017 with the groundwork for our hosting
> having started in 2010, and most of our preparations still usable (and,
> I expect, an opportunity to hold the first Wikimania in a Francophone
> location played a part).  It's clear to me the steering committee
> dropped a ball in not noticing that both of your teams had started
> working on bids in time to communicate with you.
> 
> That said, this kind of wasted effort is - from what I understand - the
> very reason why the process needed changing.  Even if three teams bid
> for 2017, two of them would necessarily have wasted the tremendous work
> that goes into preparing a bid - including the credibility cost of long
> talks with venue and sponsors that turn out to a miss and the morale hit
> of loosing in a bidding process.  I suppose I'm a bit "glad" that the
> leak occured before our team was ready to make the official announcement
> because - if nothing else - this will prevent that waste to have been
> even worse.


Wow, the more I’m disappointed at this ball being "dropped".  Heck, I can’t 
possibly describe the exasperation I feel at this new revelation coming from 
you as to when the Steering Committee reached out to you guys.

The Manila team was asked to consider planning for a Wikimania 2017 bid as 
early as January this year—less than a month after the announcement was made 
that Esino Lario won the bid for Wikimania 2016.  To hear that they reached out 
to you before anyone else knew—heck, to find out that this happened behind our 
backs even, speaks of the duplicitousness the Committee has acted with when it 
came to making a decision as critical as this.

I’m not mad at you guys, and I’d like to think that Montréal can pull it off.  
But I am definitely mad at the Committee not just for dropping the ball, but 
for having us here in Manila run under the impression that everything will be 
the same as last year, only to have the wool pulled over our eyes with this 
decision.

Josh

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com  | +63 (915) 321-7582
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2017 Montreal - scooped by Signpost

[Josh Lim]

> On 5 Oct 2015, at 05:03, Pavel Richter  wrote:
> 
> BUT: That is not the main point. The main point is that Wikimedia now has
> replaced a broken process. And we should celebrate that. (And if it turns
> out that the new process does not work, than it will be changed again.
> Hopefully not by consensus, but by a small group of people who just say:
> Enough is enough).​


Pavel, with all do respect, I HIGHLY doubt there’s anything to celebrate here.

While I agree that the Wikimania process is broken, no one would’ve thought 
that the way we’d go about fixing that process would be handing that process 
over to a small group of people who can easily say “Oh!  This doesn’t 
work—let’s throw it out.”  For goodness’ sake, James claimed they talked to 
people—our question then is who did they talk to?  They certainly didn’t talk 
to us, and there DEFINITELY was no discussion taking place on Meta or anywhere 
else!

A lot of work was poured into the Manila and Perth bids, and at least for us 
here in Manila, we’re doing so because it was suggested (by Ellie, 
nonetheless!) to do so for the 2017 bid process.  If you seriously, seriously 
think that we will stand idly by and see this process be rammed down our 
throats while at the same time being advised that all our work is meaningless 
at this point, you’ve really got to be kidding us.

So yeah, if you think your idea of meaningful change is top-down diktat by a 
group of people who say “Enough is enough!” but without considering not just 
the open nature of our movement and the inherent need for discussion to take 
place before such drastic moves are taken, then I’m sorry, but this is utter 
hypocrisy.  You can’t have your cake by saying that we should value open 
communication between stakeholders in a movement like Wikimedia, and at the 
same time eat it too by saying that top-down decision making is acceptable when 
a process is broken.

Regards,

Josh

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com  | +63 (915) 321-7582
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
http://about.me/josh.lim 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2017

[Josh Lim]

Thanks for the heads-up, Chung-ming.  If this is true, then this is absolutely 
incredulous on the part of the Foundation.

After the Wikimania 2016 bidding process, the Manila team was asked by Ellie to 
consider submitting a bid for Wikimania 2017.  We are currently in the early 
stages of preparing that bid, which we hope to submit for approval by the WMPH 
Board and to the Wikimania bid committee before the stated November 15th 
deadline on Meta, and it is a bid that we look forward to submitting for the 
consideration of the community and everyone involved in the Wikimania bidding 
process.

That said, if everything in these three Google Docs documents is true, then I 
am at a loss for words as to how to express my utter disappointment at how this 
process seems to have been rammed through without any sort of consultation 
taking place whatsoever, despite assurances made to the contrary.  While I have 
a lot of faith in the execution of a Montréal bid, why now when preparations 
were being made for a bidding process?  Why couldn’t this wait until 2018 so 
that we have more to build on when that bidding cycle comes online next year?

At the same time, as someone who has vocally advocated for making Wikimania 
more accessible to Wikimedians from the developing world, I am at a loss at how 
the documents in question could possibly even justify the need to predominantly 
hold Wikimania in the U.S. and/or Europe, especially given all the issues that 
we’ve had with the scholarship process over the last few years, and even more 
so given all the Wikimedians who wouldn’t be able to have a chance to go to 
Wikimania unless it were brought to a place closer and/or more accessible to 
them, especially visa-wise.  Economizing I understand, but at the expense of 
making Wikimania more accessible to the developing world?

All in all I’m at a loss, and while I look forward to hearing the response of 
everyone involved in that process, my faith in the entire Wikimania process at 
this point is visibly shaken.

Best regards,

Josh
(on behalf of the Wikimania Manila 2016 bid team)

> Wiadomość napisana przez 梁忠明  w dniu 2 paź 2015, o godz. 
> 10:45:
> 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> I've just noted this (
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/19BpGCFdr9DZIldNTwS66MjFGDPpOs79oy9t-uZ9iIxg/edit)
> and the attached drafts <
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VEPKqDzWiujSCy4qM6KKnaRPyEM-gerInbYmGR7QYUo/edit>,
> <
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CjWKJDvrGXrXY_1aTZNEWskQFFdJSfn06OrjoGXOeOg/edit>.
> I wonder if they are useful, though I keep in mind that they are just
> drafts. If so, will Montreal experience a walkover?
> 
> Also found is a meeting minutes of a recent meetup of the Perth community <
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Perth/21>, it seems that
> they'll move forward, though their bid page is hollow at the moment.
> Oceania is also a region that Wikimania has never come before.
> 
> Chung-ming
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> 

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com  | +63 (915) 321-7582
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2017

[Josh Lim]

Thanks for the heads-up, Chung-ming.  If this is true, then this is absolutely 
incredulous on the part of the Foundation.

After the Wikimania 2016 bidding process, the Manila team was asked by Ellie to 
consider submitting a bid for Wikimania 2017.  We are currently in the early 
stages of preparing that bid, which we hope to submit for approval by the WMPH 
Board and to the Wikimania bid committee before the stated November 15th 
deadline on Meta, and it is a bid that we look forward to submitting for the 
consideration of the community and everyone involved in the Wikimania bidding 
process.

That said, if everything in these three Google Docs documents is true, then I 
am at a loss for words as to how to express my utter disappointment at how this 
process seems to have been rammed through without any sort of consultation 
taking place whatsoever, despite assurances made to the contrary.  While I have 
a lot of faith in the execution of a Montréal bid, why now when preparations 
were being made for a bidding process?  Why couldn’t this wait until 2018 so 
that we have more to build on when that bidding cycle comes online next year?

At the same time, as someone who has vocally advocated for making Wikimania 
more accessible to Wikimedians from the developing world, I am at a loss at how 
the documents in question could possibly even justify the need to predominantly 
hold Wikimania in the U.S. and/or Europe, especially given all the issues that 
we’ve had with the scholarship process over the last few years, and even more 
so given all the Wikimedians who wouldn’t be able to have a chance to go to 
Wikimania unless it were brought to a place closer and/or more accessible to 
them, especially visa-wise.  Economizing I understand, but at the expense of 
making Wikimania more accessible to the developing world?

All in all I’m at a loss, and while I look forward to hearing the response of 
everyone involved in that process, my faith in the entire Wikimania process at 
this point is visibly shaken.

Best regards,

Josh
(on behalf of the Wikimania Manila 2016 bid team)

> Wiadomość napisana przez 梁忠明 mailto:sprco...@gmail.com>> 
> w dniu 2 paź 2015, o godz. 10:45:
> 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> I've just noted this (
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/19BpGCFdr9DZIldNTwS66MjFGDPpOs79oy9t-uZ9iIxg/edit
>  
> )
> and the attached drafts <
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VEPKqDzWiujSCy4qM6KKnaRPyEM-gerInbYmGR7QYUo/edit
>  
> >,
> <
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CjWKJDvrGXrXY_1aTZNEWskQFFdJSfn06OrjoGXOeOg/edit
>  
> >.
> I wonder if they are useful, though I keep in mind that they are just
> drafts. If so, will Montreal experience a walkover?
> 
> Also found is a meeting minutes of a recent meetup of the Perth community <
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Perth/21 
> >, it seems that
> they'll move forward, though their bid page is hollow at the moment.
> Oceania is also a region that Wikimania has never come before.
> 
> Chung-ming
> ___
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> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines 
> 
> Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org 
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 
> 

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com  | +63 (915) 321-7582
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
http://about.me/josh.lim 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Cebuano and Waray-waray Wikipedias among Top 10

[Josh Lim]

Allow me to correct myself: my last line should read "bot-generated articles 
ALONE won’t jump-start a community, as the Cebuano and Waray examples have 
shown".

Josh

> Wiadomość napisana przez Josh Lim  w dniu 7 lip 
> 2015, o godz. 10:01:
> 
> Hi Anders,
> 
> While I would normally agree with your logic, take note that for both the 
> Cebuano and Waray Wikipedias, there were only 1-2 editors who said "yes" to 
> the endeavor.  For Waray, that was JinJian.  For Cebuano, that happened to 
> also be JinJian and one other editor who is currently not active.
> 
> I think Sverker meant well when he proposed (and implemented) bot-generated 
> articles for both Wikipedias, but other Filipino Wikipedians have also seen 
> first-hand what bot-generated articles do.  As I mentioned previously, the 
> Tagalog Wikipedia also had tens of thousands of bot-generated articles (our 
> article count went up from near-20,000 to over 60,000 as a result), which was 
> stopped only because of community opposition.  The biggest question thus is 
> how will a small community be able to maintain all these articles to begin 
> with?
> 
> Now, as I’ve understood Sverker has given Wikipedia editing workshops in 
> Cebu, as has Wikimedia Philippines in Samar and Leyte (where Waray is 
> spoken).  At this point, we’re figuring out how to grow our community in 
> those regions, though if you ask me we’re still at a loss as to how we can 
> sustainably grow communities in the Philippines without us having to look at 
> them too closely.  It’s not just a matter of content not being there—we’re 
> also dealing with a whole gamut of socio-cultural factors as to why after all 
> our attempts at introducing Wikipedia to people and showing them how to edit, 
> people still don’t choose to do so.
> 
> That said, while I also think the Wikipedians concerned meant well, I hope 
> this serves as a lesson to those considering bot-generated articles: 
> bot-generated articles won’t jump-start a community, as the Cebuano and Waray 
> examples have shown.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Josh
> 
>> Wiadomość napisana przez Anders Wennersten > <mailto:m...@anderswennersten.se>> w dniu 7 lip 2015, o godz. 04:33:
>> 
>> I am not saying this should be repeated. I am saying we should respect their 
>> choice, and not as outsiders criticize their effort. or put erroneous bad 
>> faith assumptions  on why they did this choice.
>> 
>> Anders
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Ilario Valdelli skrev den 2015-07-07 13:21:
>>> The best evaluation is to understand the evolution and the trend.
>>> 
>>> In the last months in waray for instance I have seen less than 10 edits in
>>> the overall project in one month.
>>> 
>>> This is not revitalization. I agree with the enthusiasm of the community
>>> members but I am personally in favor of comparison of numbers in a long
>>> time perspective.
>>> 
>>> I am happy to see more data and to monitor them to know if this is a model
>>> to be replied but the numbers are not really supportive.
>>> 
>>> Regards
>>> Il 07/Lug/2015 13:12, "Anders Wennersten" >> <mailto:m...@anderswennersten.se>> ha
>>> scritto:
>>> 
>>>> What gives you the right to be judgemental how they act on their version?
>>>> Is that your idea of the movement values and vision, to talk badly of other
>>>> efforts?
>>>> 
>>>> and I know for a fact they did not to this to get into this list you are
>>>> upset of. It is untrue when you state "like this which have inflated
>>>> article counts"
>>>> 
>>>> And I also know as a fact they are very happy with this effort because it
>>>> has energized their small community. You talk of big increased I think of
>>>> how many communities of this size that implodes  which is a more common
>>>> scenario.
>>>> 
>>>> As I have already stated I have no problem that you (and others) have
>>>> another view of the benefits of botgenrated arciels.
>>>> 
>>>> But please be supportive to the very small communities, who do their best
>>>> to survive and grow
>>>> 
>>>> Anders
>>>> 
>>>> Craig Franklin skrev den 2015-07-07 12:21:
>>>> 
>>>>> There is already a consensus on enwiki (please, hold your rotten tomatoes)
>>>>> that projects like this which have inflated article counts due to
>>>>> extensive
>>>>&g

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Cebuano and Waray-waray Wikipedias among Top 10

[Josh Lim]

stand the
>>>> temptation of quickly creating lots of articles to have some sort of
>>>> demonstrable impact, and I believe there is a place for some bot
>>>> generation
>>>> of articles on any project.  But after hitting "Random" a few times on
>>>> Waray, and seeing what came back, I'm not really sure how this is a more
>>>> useful resource for speakers of the language than just going into Wikidata
>>>> with the interface set to Waray.  I believe the time honoured, if slower
>>>> way of creating a Wikipedia, lovingly handcrafting it article by article,
>>>> is far more likely to lead to a positive impact for people.
>>>> 
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> Craig
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 7 July 2015 at 07:55, Asaf Bartov  wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>  Indeed, as Josh points out, there are also costs (even if only perceived
>>>>> or
>>>>> reputational costs) to populating a tiny Wikipedia with next to no active
>>>>> editors with hundreds of thousands of bot-generated stubs.  Is having
>>>>> stubs
>>>>> on all French communes in Cebuano better than having nothing in Cebuano?
>>>>> Probably, yes.  And by increasing pageviews (which is measurable), one
>>>>> increases the likelihood of "organic" conversion of readers into editors
>>>>> (which is *still* the most effective way to make Wikipedians, albeit not
>>>>> the easiest to directly control).
>>>>> 
>>>>> But, again as Josh says, that increase in *editorship* is yet to be
>>>>> attained.  The Waray Wikipedia (btw, "Waray-Waray" is, it turns out,
>>>>> objectionable to Waray speakers, and is mildly derogatory) is still
>>>>> largely
>>>>> edited by *one* committed individual, User:JinJian[1], as the stats
>>>>> plainly
>>>>> show.  Given that the bot was run *with* JinJian's consent, there can be
>>>>> no
>>>>> objection to its operation.
>>>>> 
>>>>> As Milos suggests, there seems to be an emotional response to those
>>>>> Wikipedias appearing in the top 10 view.  This should be divorced from
>>>>> those communities' sovereign decisions to run or not run the bot.  If the
>>>>> top 10 inclusion truly bothers people, and there's a strong consensus
>>>>> that
>>>>> Wikipedias largely populated by bot-generated stubs "should" not be
>>>>> included, a discussion could be had on what this view *should* mean,
>>>>> precisely, if not plainly the top 10 Wikipedias by article count.  And
>>>>> whatever refined definition is agreed upon (e.g. thresholds like a
>>>>> minimum
>>>>> number of active editors, or some formula involving the "article depth"
>>>>> figure, or whatever) can then be made the basis for the list, or indeed,
>>>>> for a different list, that would be more satisfying for those who are
>>>>> displeased with being "under" these Wikipedias on the list.
>>>>> 
>>>>> A.
>>>>> 
>>>>> [1] http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediaWAR.htm#wikipedians
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Mon, Jul 6, 2015 at 2:04 PM, Josh Lim 
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>  I can probably speak for those communities.  On the whole, the logic
>>>>>> behind the Lsjbot experiment was simple: build it and they will come.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> So far though, this hasn’t happened.  We from the Tagalog Wikipedia were
>>>>>> also approached for this experiment, but we know what happens when
>>>>>> bot-generated articles are made: the community is overwhelmed.  Out of
>>>>>> 
>>>>> that
>>>>> 
>>>>>> fear, we declined to participate.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> One of the concerns some editors in the Philippines have (and these are
>>>>>> sentiments I share) is that these two Wikipedias turn us into a
>>>>>> laughingstock, willing to increase article numbers at any cost.  At one
>>>>>> point, the Cebuano Wikipedia was described as a Wikipedia of French
>>>>>> communes, not content relevant to Cebu or Cebuanos.  I don’t think we’d
>>>>>> lik

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Cebuano and Waray-waray Wikipedias among Top 10

[Josh Lim]

> Wiadomość napisana przez Anders Wennersten  w dniu 
> 7 lip 2015, o godz. 04:11:
> 
> What gives you the right to be judgemental how they act on their version? Is 
> that your idea of the movement values and vision, to talk badly of other 
> efforts?
> 
> and I know for a fact they did not to this to get into this list you are 
> upset of. It is untrue when you state "like this which have inflated article 
> counts"
> 
> And I also know as a fact they are very happy with this effort because it has 
> energized their small community. You talk of big increased I think of how 
> many communities of this size that implodes  which is a more common scenario.
> 
> As I have already stated I have no problem that you (and others) have another 
> view of the benefits of botgenrated arciels.
> 
> But please be supportive to the very small communities, who do their best to 
> survive and grow
> 
> Anders
> 
> Craig Franklin skrev den 2015-07-07 12:21:
>> There is already a consensus on enwiki (please, hold your rotten tomatoes)
>> that projects like this which have inflated article counts due to extensive
>> botting rather than through having a lively community not be included on
>> the main page.  I think a lot of the comments here about a huge article
>> count attracting communities to curate that content are somewhat
>> disingenous, it seems that despite having lots of articles there is only
>> one active user on Waray Wikipedia, who is responsible for more than 99% of
>> total edits.  As Milos has alluded to, "number of articles" is a poor
>> metric for understanding how useful a particular project is to speakers of
>> that language.
>> 
>> Speaking here as a speaker of a minority language myself, I understand the
>> temptation of quickly creating lots of articles to have some sort of
>> demonstrable impact, and I believe there is a place for some bot generation
>> of articles on any project.  But after hitting "Random" a few times on
>> Waray, and seeing what came back, I'm not really sure how this is a more
>> useful resource for speakers of the language than just going into Wikidata
>> with the interface set to Waray.  I believe the time honoured, if slower
>> way of creating a Wikipedia, lovingly handcrafting it article by article,
>> is far more likely to lead to a positive impact for people.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Craig
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On 7 July 2015 at 07:55, Asaf Bartov  wrote:
>> 
>>> Indeed, as Josh points out, there are also costs (even if only perceived or
>>> reputational costs) to populating a tiny Wikipedia with next to no active
>>> editors with hundreds of thousands of bot-generated stubs.  Is having stubs
>>> on all French communes in Cebuano better than having nothing in Cebuano?
>>> Probably, yes.  And by increasing pageviews (which is measurable), one
>>> increases the likelihood of "organic" conversion of readers into editors
>>> (which is *still* the most effective way to make Wikipedians, albeit not
>>> the easiest to directly control).
>>> 
>>> But, again as Josh says, that increase in *editorship* is yet to be
>>> attained.  The Waray Wikipedia (btw, "Waray-Waray" is, it turns out,
>>> objectionable to Waray speakers, and is mildly derogatory) is still largely
>>> edited by *one* committed individual, User:JinJian[1], as the stats plainly
>>> show.  Given that the bot was run *with* JinJian's consent, there can be no
>>> objection to its operation.
>>> 
>>> As Milos suggests, there seems to be an emotional response to those
>>> Wikipedias appearing in the top 10 view.  This should be divorced from
>>> those communities' sovereign decisions to run or not run the bot.  If the
>>> top 10 inclusion truly bothers people, and there's a strong consensus that
>>> Wikipedias largely populated by bot-generated stubs "should" not be
>>> included, a discussion could be had on what this view *should* mean,
>>> precisely, if not plainly the top 10 Wikipedias by article count.  And
>>> whatever refined definition is agreed upon (e.g. thresholds like a minimum
>>> number of active editors, or some formula involving the "article depth"
>>> figure, or whatever) can then be made the basis for the list, or indeed,
>>> for a different list, that would be more satisfying for those who are
>>> displeased with being "under" these Wikipedias on the list.
>>> 
>>>A.
>>> 
>>> [1] http://stat

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Cebuano and Waray-waray Wikipedias among Top 10

[Josh Lim]

I can probably speak for those communities.  On the whole, the logic behind the 
Lsjbot experiment was simple: build it and they will come.

So far though, this hasn’t happened.  We from the Tagalog Wikipedia were also 
approached for this experiment, but we know what happens when bot-generated 
articles are made: the community is overwhelmed.  Out of that fear, we declined 
to participate.

One of the concerns some editors in the Philippines have (and these are 
sentiments I share) is that these two Wikipedias turn us into a laughingstock, 
willing to increase article numbers at any cost.  At one point, the Cebuano 
Wikipedia was described as a Wikipedia of French communes, not content relevant 
to Cebu or Cebuanos.  I don’t think we’d like that with other Wikipedias in the 
Philippines or elsewhere.

Regards,

Josh

> Wiadomość napisana przez WereSpielChequers  w 
> dniu 6 lip 2015, o godz. 04:52:
> 
> These are fascinating experiments, I hope that the Waray-waray and Cebuano
> communities will at some point report back to the wider community as to how
> this worked out. My fear is that too fast a growth rate could overwhelm
> whatever community we have in those languages leading to burn out of
> existing editors dealing with too many newbies at once, my suspicion is
> that this will vary by language depending on such variables as the ratio of
> PC users to smartphone users, and the ease with which editors can access
> the necessary character sets.
> 
> We have long known that bot creation of stubs that are of interest to
> speakers of a language is a way to recruit readers, and that some readers
> become editors. What I think we don't yet know is the maximum growth rate
> that a wiki community can cope with.
> 
> There is also a sustainability angle, though hopefully we can mitigate that
> by bot replacing of articles where the source has changed but they haven't
> been edited on the Cebuano or Waray-waray Wikipedias. Otherwise within a
> decade we could have pedias that look very dated, for example various
> record holders whose articles in other languages show their records have
> been surpassed, and villages
> 
> WereSpielChequers
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> 

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com  | +63 (915) 321-7582
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Securing access to Wikimedia sites with HTTPS

[Josh Lim]

Uh, I’m from a Third World country, and while I know the Internet here in the 
Philippines is shitty, I don’t think the WMF can be blamed for that.  I’ve been 
using HTTPS for quite a while now and for the most part, it works normally.

Let’s try to avoid overly generalizing the developing world here.  However, I 
too would like to hear something from the WMF as to how they will deal with the 
situation in countries where HTTPS is actively being blocked.

Josh

> Wiadomość napisana przez Comet styles  w dniu 13 cze 
> 2015, o godz. 06:34:
> 
> Congrats, you just made internet shitty for all 3rd world countries
> and did you people even bother to find out how it will affect users in
> China or Iran where HTTPS is BANNED?.
> 
> On 6/13/15, Tito Dutta  wrote:
>> Great job. :)
>> Thanks for informing
>> [PS. to members, you may read the WP:VPT
>> 
>> discussion too]
>> 
>> On 13 June 2015 at 03:05, Habib M'henni  wrote:
>> 
>>> This is really fantastic.
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> 
>>> Habib
>>> 
>>> Le 12 juin 2015 21:22:26 CET, Juliet Barbara  a
>>> écrit :
 The Wikimedia Foundation is pleased to announce that we have begun the
 transition of the Wikimedia projects and sites to the secure HTTPS
 protocol. You may have seen our blog post from this morning; it has
 also
 been posted to relevant Village Pumps (Technical).
 
 This post is available online here:
 
>>> https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/06/12/securing-wikimedia-sites-with-https/
 
 Securing access to Wikimedia sites with HTTPS
 
 BY YANA WELINDER ,
 VICTORIA
 BARANETSKY  AND
 BRANDON
 BLACK  ON JUNE 12TH
 
 
 To be truly free, access to knowledge must be secure and uncensored. At
 the
 Wikimedia Foundation, we believe that you should be able to use
 Wikipedia
 and the Wikimedia sites without sacrificing privacy or safety.
 
 Today, we’re happy to announce that we are in the process of
 implementing
 HTTPS  to encrypt all Wikimedia
 traffic. We will also use HTTP Strict Transport Security
  (HSTS)
 to
 protect against efforts to ‘break’ HTTPS and intercept traffic. With
 this
 change, the nearly half a billion people who rely on Wikipedia and its
 sister projects every month will be able to share in the world’s
 knowledge
 more securely.
 
 The HTTPS protocol creates an encrypted connection between your
 computer
 and Wikimedia sites to ensure the security and integrity of data you
 transmit. Encryption makes it more difficult for governments and other
 third parties to monitor your traffic. It also makes it harder for
 Internet
 Service Providers (ISPs) to censor access to specific Wikipedia
 articles
 and other information.
 
 HTTPS is not new to Wikimedia sites. Since 2011, we have been working
 on
 establishing the infrastructure and technical requirements, and
 understanding the policy and community implications of HTTPS for all
 Wikimedia traffic, with the ultimate goal of making it available to all
 users. In fact, for the past four years
 <
>>> https://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/10/03/native-https-support-enabled-for-all-wikimedia-foundation-wikis/
 ,
 Wikimedia users could access our sites with HTTPS manually, through
 HTTPS
 Everywhere , and when directed to
 our
 sites from major search engines. Additionally, all logged in users
 <
>>> https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/08/28/https-default-logged-in-users-wikimedia-sites/
 
 have been accessing via HTTPS since 2013.
 
 Over the last few years, increasing concerns about government
 surveillance
 prompted members of the Wikimedia community to push
 
 for more broad protection through HTTPS. We agreed, and made this
 transition a priority for our policy and engineering teams.
 
 
 We believe encryption makes the web stronger for everyone. In a world
 where
 mass surveillance has become a serious threat to intellectual freedom,
 secure connections are essential for protecting users around the world.
 Without encryption, governments can more easily surveil sensitive
 information, creating a chilling effect, and deterring participation,
 or in
 extreme cases they can isolate or discipline citizens. Accounts may
 also be
 hijacked, pages may be censored, other security flaws could expose
 sensitive user information and communications. Because of

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Introducing Kourosh Karimkhany, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships

[Josh Lim]

Hi Jens,

In the absence of any meaningful alternative, what should we do then?  Close 
down Wikipedia Zero and let the developing world languish in the dark?  We talk 
of a "more sustainable way to bring free knowledge (which is far more than 
Wikipedia)”, yet we’re not seeing anything coming out of this discussion.

I will be brutally honest to everyone in this mailing list: this entire 
discussion about Wikipedia Zero and net neutrality has become very patronizing 
against us in the developing world who benefit from the program.  The fact that 
we’re having this discussion without developing world voices (other than 
myself) is already troubling in itself since, so far, every discussion about 
Wikipedia Zero that I’ve seen only includes those "white, privileged and 
well-educated people” who you defend.

And yet you guys talk as if you know what’s best for the developing world.  
That’s the tone that I’ve been sensing in this entire discussion thus far, and 
I’m sorry, but it’s not helpful.  Please don’t speak as if you guys know what 
it’s like on the ground in Asia or Africa.

I’ve had to swallow my own pride just to accept the fact that net neutrality 
has to take the back burner to bringing more information out there to people.  
I have always believed in net neutrality as a means of ensuring a free and open 
Internet to everybody.  But if you’re in a country like the Philippines where 
the majority of people don’t even have the luxury of going online (and if you 
do, it’s bloody expensive), then having access to some information—even if that 
information is imperfect—is still better than none at all, since at least we 
can still correct any misinformation that may arise.  And as Wikipedians, we 
are in a position to do just that through ensuring that our content is 
well-monitored, neutral and comprehensive so that at least there’s a multitude 
of viewpoints present even if the information is coming from a single source.

We should make people in the developing world aware of net neutrality, yes, but 
we must also be careful to consider the existing socio-economic conditions of 
the countries where this program has been deployed.  I am all for the sharing 
of knowledge and the free exchange of information for the greatest benefit, but 
we cannot have that discussion if people are not able to have access to the 
Internet in the first place.  We cannot afford at this point to put the cart 
before the horse, and as I’ve mentioned earlier, in the absence of a meaningful 
alternative, this is the best we can do so far.

Also, just so you know: Wikipedia Zero, at least in this country, is being 
implemented by a local telecom with no discernible link to the big players like 
Orange or T-Mobile or Telenor.  They view it so far as good CSR and not as a 
means of controlling the flow of information or wanting to make a profit.  So 
yeah, at least for us it’s been good so far.  If it happens though that things 
turn sour, then expect us to fight for our principles.

Thanks,

Josh

> Wiadomość napisana przez Jens Best  w dniu 31 mar 2015, 
> o godz. 15:27:
> 
> Dear Gerard,
> 
> your arguments are just emotional rhetorics. Saying that "white, privileged
> and well educated" people aren't allowed to critize ways how
> first-world-led telecoms (like Orange, Telenor) are spreading a wrong,
> non-open "internet" in developing countries is just plain emotional
> rhetoric far away from any fact.
> 
> Wikipedia Zero is NOT bringing the free knowledge of the world to the
> people, it's bringing Wikipedia to the people, not more, not less. Also,
> zero-rating is helping to establish user habits which are used to have
> different prices for different kinds of data - That is the clearest
> violation of net neutrality and therefore of an open and free web.
> 
> Ignoring this is just helping the (first-world-led) Telecoms to establish
> NOT a free internet which also helped to create something like Wikipedia,
> but a walled garden system where you pay for different data of even (as it
> is the case e.g. in some parts of India) different websites. I think that
> it is ignorant to profit only short-term by bringing a Walled Wikipedia to
> the people and having Wikipedia in this exclusive deal in comparison to
> establish a sustainable way to bring free knowledge (which is far more than
> Wikipedia) to the people.
> 
> There must be another way to work for the value of "free knowledge for the
> people" but to destroy net neutrality and the experience of an open web in
> the very beginning at the same time. It is the duty of WMF to take care
> also of the framework which enabled Wikipedia in the start. Ignoring this
> and being proud of having a comfortable deal with some Telecoms is plain
> wrong and irresponsible - especially for a free and open digital
> development of the Global South.
> 
> best regards
> 
> Jens Best
> 
> 2015-03-31 9:05 GMT+02:00 Gerard Meijssen :
> 
>> Hoi,
>> With Wikipedia Zero people have access to 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Introducing Kourosh Karimkhany, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships

[Josh Lim]

I’m sorry, Andreas, but I cannot in good conscience support your stance calling 
for the closure of Wikipedia Zero, coming from a country that has so far 
benefited from the program not only in terms of the number of new readers that 
we have, but also potentially pave the way for more users as well.

While I understand the risks of the program in countries like Kazakhstan, you 
cannot possibly think that every country where Wikipedia Zero has been deployed 
would go so far as to actively manipulate information to keep readers ignorant. 
 The Philippines prides itself for a strong culture of freedom of speech and we 
have Wikipedia Zero.  I don’t see the Philippine government actively dictating 
the course of the projects’ evolution, so it isn’t fair that we would have to 
suffer from any loss of Wikipedia Zero because of what a totalitarian regime 
can do, when you don’t even materially benefit from the program’s existence.

I’ve become extremely annoyed at the insistence of Wikipedians in developed 
countries that Wikipedia Zero poses no net benefit to the movement, when in 
fact in developing countries it not only has helped bring greater awareness of 
Wikipedia, but also provides a conduit for passive readers to become 
Wikipedians as well.  Having seen this first-hand (Wikipedia mobile pageviews 
in the Philippines jumped, based on what I’ve been told, after Wikipedia Zero 
was rolled out), it is not fair that you’re asking the developing world to 
sacrifice bringing knowledge to people simply because you Wikipedians in the 
United States, Western Europe or wherever have the luxury to actually dictate 
the finer points of net neutrality on your own terms.  We don’t have that 
luxury when we have to pay sky-high data usage charges (and, in the 
Philippines’ case, sky-high data usage charges with onerous data caps!).

I am all for freedom of speech.  I have always advocated for freedom of speech, 
and will continue to fight for it.  But if your problem with Wikipedia Zero is 
that content could be warped to fit a certain state’s agenda, then the problem 
is not on your reader, but on us as a community.  We HAVE to make more users to 
prevent this from happening, and you don’t do that when you shut out a 
potential base of new users because we think that Wikipedia Zero serves to keep 
people ignorant rather than challenges them to think.  I think people, no 
matter where in the world they’re from, are smarter than that.

Seriously, I’m sick and tired of hearing people in the developed world tell us 
in the developing world that Wikipedia Zero brings no net benefit to us.  
Remember that Wikipedia Zero is a platform for distributing content—it doesn’t 
generate content on its own.  If you have problems with the program, then the 
onus is on us as a community to fix it, since all I’ve been hearing from 
detractors of the program is that we’re filtering out content.  Then why don’t 
we try harder to make our content even more inclusive, huh?

*rant over*

Thanks,

Josh

> Wiadomość napisana przez Andreas Kolbe  w dniu 31 mar 
> 2015, o godz. 02:37:
> 
> The recent Newsweek story on the Wifione / IIPM admin corruption case[1]
> has clear implications for Wikipedia Zero.
> 
> Wikipedia Zero creates hundreds of millions of passive Wikipedia users who:
> 
> - Cannot see the sources of a Wikipedia article (I believe SMS users cannot
> even see which statements *are* sourced and to what)
> - Cannot view alternative sources
> - Cannot meaningfully edit Wikipedia (lacking access to new sources)
> 
> At the same time, Wikipedia Zero creates a monopoly position for Wikipedia
> that makes the site an even greater target for manipulation by local
> elites, who *do* enjoy full read/write access to Wikipedia. Such monopolies
> are fundamentally incompatible with the values underlying the idea of a
> free and open web. Monopolies ultimately result in *control* rather than
> *freedom* of information.
> 
> The Wifione case illustrates that even in the English Wikipedia attempts at
> manipulation, focused on topics that the average Wikipedia contributor has
> little interest in or knowledge about, can be successful and remain
> undetected for years. Small, regional-language Wikipedias are far more
> unstable still, as the example of the Croatian Wikipedia demonstrated all
> too clearly.
> 
> Wikipedia is far too vulnerable to become the gatekeeper for information in
> developing countries -- if such a gatekeeper were even desirable (which it
> is not).
> 
> To give another example, I see that Wikipedia Zero is available in
> Kazakhstan.
> 
> Jimmy Wales recently asserted on Reddit that the Kazakh government "does
> not control the Kazahk *[sic]* Wikipedia".[2]
> 
> The Kazakh government, however, seems to disagree with Jimmy Wales.[3]
> 
> The Kazakh Prime Minister's official website has stated since 2011 that the
> Kazakh Wikipedia project "is implemented under the auspices of the
> Government of Kazakhstan and with the sup

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcement: WMF to file suit against the NSA

[Josh Lim]

Thanks for the news, Michelle, and good luck to the Legal team as this case 
moves forward. :)

That being said, I am concerned that the Foundation seems to give unequal 
airtime to U.S.-specific issues, while not really doing much about similar 
issues in other parts of the world.  Much of my analysis of the issue is on 
Quora, which everyone on this list may read about here: 
https://www.quora.com/Wikimedia-Lawsuit-Against-the-NSA-2015/How-do-Wikipedia-editors-feel-about-the-lawsuit-against-NSA/answer/Josh-Lim-8
 
<https://www.quora.com/Wikimedia-Lawsuit-Against-the-NSA-2015/How-do-Wikipedia-editors-feel-about-the-lawsuit-against-NSA/answer/Josh-Lim-8>.

Regards,

Josh

> Wiadomość napisana przez Michelle Paulson  w dniu 10 
> mar 2015, o godz. 15:53:
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> I’m writing to let you know that today the Wikimedia Foundation[1] is
> filing suit against the National Security Agency
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency>, the Department of
> Justice <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice>,
> and the U.S. Attorney General
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Attorney_General>[2] in order
> to challenge certain mass surveillance practices carried out by the U.S.
> government. We believe these practices are impinging the freedom to learn,
> inquire, and explore on Wikimedia sites.
> 
> Since the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures, we’ve heard concerns from the
> community about privacy on Wikipedia. This lawsuit is a step towards
> addressing the community's justified concerns. We believe that the
> surveillance methods being employed by the NSA under the authority of the FISA
> Amendments Act
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Act_of_1978_Amendments_Act_of_2008>
> negatively impact our users' ability and willingness to participate in our
> projects. Today, we fight back.
> 
> An op-ed
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/10/opinion/stop-spying-on-wikipedia-users.html?_r=0>
> by Lila and Jimmy about the lawsuit, and Wikimedia's stance on government
> surveillance, appeared in The New York Times this morning. Additionally, we
> just published a blog post
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/03/10/wikimedia-v-nsa/> with more
> information about the suit. (The post will also up on Meta for translation).
> 
> Best,
> 
> 
> Michelle Paulson
> 
> Senior Legal Counsel
> 
> Wikimedia Foundation
> 
> mpaul...@wikimedia.org
> 
> [1] We are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union> (ACLU).
> Other plaintiffs include The National Association of Criminal Defense
> Lawyers <http://www.nacdl.org/>, Human Rights Watch
> <http://www.hrw.org/>, Amnesty
> International USA <http://www.amnestyusa.org/>, Pen American Center
> <https://www.pen.org/>, Global Fund for Women
> <http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/>, The Nation Magazine
> <http://www.thenation.com/>, The Rutherford Institute
> <https://www.rutherford.org/>, and Washington Office on Latin America
> <http://www.wola.org/>.
> 
> [2] Other named defendants include: Michael Rogers
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_S._Rogers>, in his official capacity
> as Director of the National Security Agency
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_the_National_Security_Agency>
> and Chief of the Central Security Service; Office of the Director of
> National Intelligence
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_National_Intelligence>; James
> Clapper <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_R._Clapper>, in his official
> capacity as Director of National Intelligence; and Eric Holder
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Holder>, in his official capacity
> as Attorney
> General <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Attorney_General> of
> the United States.
> 
> 
> *NOTICE: This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you
> have received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about the
> mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation and for legal/ethical
> reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community
> members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more
> on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.*
> ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimédia France travel policy & Learning patterns

[Josh Lim]

This is great, Emeric!  We’d be glad to take a look at this. :)

For our part, Wikimedia Philippines has a travel policy as part of our Expense 
Policy, and it’s been working well for us for the last 3-4 years now.  We’ll be 
glad to share our policy as well.

http://www.wikimedia.org.ph/wmph/Expense_Policy#A._Travel_expenses

Regards,

Josh

> Wiadomość napisana przez Emeric Vallespi  w 
> dniu 9 mar 2015, o godz. 16:49:
> 
> Dear movement fellows,
> 
> After our "Board handbook", we are pleased to share with you the
> Wikimédia France "Travel policy" (this time, in French and English!):
> 
> (en) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimédia_France/Politique_de_voyage/en
> (fr) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimédia_France/Politique_de_voyage
> 
> This document is the compilation and formalization of our expenses
> reimbursement's practices for several years.
> The main goal of this formalization is to clarify, for our various
> stakeholders in the organization, the expenses which can be reimbursed,
> the amounts, the conditions and the process.
> And because it's clearer we think that it's going to facilitate the
> volunteers involvement. Indeed, by knowing in advance if expenses can be
> covered, we are hoping that volunteers will take more initiatives to do
> projects, even if there is a cost.
> Of course, it facilitates the work of our treasurers and executive
> director who deal with the approval of expenses requests/reports,
> because the commons cases are anticipated in the policy, and now they
> have to intervene only for specific cases, which are less frequent.
> 
> It is also ensuring a healthier governance: it clarifies the process of
> escalation if needed and it provides fairness for every requests' answers.
> Besides it allowed to define consensually the frame of reimbursements
> with different stakeholders.
> 
> As it might be useful for other entities, we shared in a Learning
> Patternswhy we think it's useful for us to have this policy,what
> problems it solves and how we have solved them:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Learning_patterns/Travel_policy_−_defining_travel_support_conditions_to_further_volunteer_involvement
> Moreover, we did an "unofficial" translation of the policy (link above)
> to ease your feedback possibilities about this policy, about the process
> we followed or to be inspired by if you are thinking about such an
> initiative of document in your organization.
> 
> Feel free to ask any questions or make suggestions of improvement.
> Cheers,
> -- 
> Emeric Vallespi
> Vice President
> 
> Wikimédia France
> www.wikimedia.fr | Twitter: @Wikimedia_Fr
> 
> Mob. +33 6 61 15 13 12 | emeric.valle...@wikimedia.fr
> 
> Twitter: @evallespi
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> 

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com  | +63 (915) 321-7582
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
http://about.me/josh.lim 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Veteran Malayalam Wikipedian BabuG signed off...

[Josh Lim]

Hi Viswa,

Thank you for this stirring tribute.  Wikimedia Philippines and the Filipino 
Wikimedia community would like to share its deepest condolences and we hope 
that his family will be okay in this most trying of times.  He will be sorely 
missed by both Malayalam and non-Malayalam editors alike.

Regards,

Josh

> Wiadomość napisana przez ViswaPrabha (വിശ്വപ്രഭ)  w dniu 5 
> mar 2015, o godz. 23:07:
> 
> Dear Wikimedians all over the world,
> 
> One of our stalwarts at ml Wikimedia community, Wikiuser:BabuG
>  (
> https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Babug)  expired yesterday night.
> 
> Despite having paralyzed due to a severe stroke and severely affected by
> several subsequent health problems, he was guided to Wikipedia by his son,
> Dr. Ajay, another prominent Malayalam Wikipedian, as a possible remedy to
> escape perpetual loneliness.
> 
> His real world name was G. Balachandran.He was born on 14th October 1938 in
> a small village off North Parur, Ernakulam District, Kerala, the
> Southernmost state of India.He  joined the Armed Forces Engineering College
> and then continued to serve the Indian Armed forces for long many years.
> 
> He started contributing to Wikimedia, particularly to Malayalam Wikipedia,
> in the year 2008.
> 
> His initial contributions to Malayalam Wikipedia were based upon a
> pulp-converted digital Encyclopedia, released by the Government through
> GFDL licence then.  He continued to create even more full-featured articles
> on his own, later. By 2014 October 18 - the day he edited last in
> Wikipedia- he had 1935 full-blown articles initiated and expanded by
> himself in ml.wikipedia.org. Besides, he also contributed more than 350
> images to Wikimedia commons and a handsome  amount of contributions to
> Wikisource, Wikidata and Wiktionary.
> 
> He always attributed his renewed energy and life's aspirations to the
> Wikimedia mission, for having returned to a meaningful life after a 20-year
> long and frustrating solitude while constrained to an immobile chair. Ever
> since 2008, he stood up and started walking and moving around. His was an
> extreme example for us in Malayalam WP to showcase how Wikipedia can change
> lives.
> 
> In almost all our Wikipedia Outreach sessions, we utilized this great
> example to motivate and excite the newcomers to WP.
> 
> Tory Read mentioned about BabuG thus, in a document
> , a  review
> on the state of Indian Wikimedia Communities, in 2011:
> 
> G. Balachandran, a septuagenarian who lives outside of Ernakulum in Kerala
>> state, said that working on Malayalam Wikipedia helped him recover after a
>> stroke left him paralyzed. “He’s much sharper now,” said his wife Jagadamma
>> K. “He’s made a lot of new friends, and that’s been good for his health.”
> 
> 
> For us in Malayalam Wikipedia, today is a black day, for having lost a
> great beacon on our voyage to ultimate openness and freedom in knowledge
> and wisdom.
> 
> 
> Yet, we feel, BabuG has made his life stamped immortal for ever and has
> shown us the pathway we should follow in continuing our humble
> contributions to the ultimate cause of mankind.
> 
> 
> -ViswaPrabha
> (On behalf of Malayalam Wikimedia Community)
> http://ml.wikipedia.org
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> 

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com  | +63 (915) 321-7582
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
http://about.me/josh.lim 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF is shutting down grantmaking for good projects for 3 months for no reason

[Josh Lim]

Allow me to throw in some perspective here, since I think I stand somewhere 
between midway and the opposite end of the spectrum vis-à-vis this discussion.

> Wiadomość napisana przez Romaine Wiki  w dniu 4 sty 
> 2015, o godz. 05:21:
> 
> Hi Ilario,
> 
> As said before, that certain grant requests are submitted late, it doesn't
> mean it is a good idea.
> 
> I was also not speaking about WLM organizers alone, but about all
> organizers in general.
> Shutting down the grantmaking for them is highly demotivating. Also when it
> does not effect them directly.

Wikimedia Philippines is still planning its 2015 annual plan, so for us, we 
don’t have a lot to lose from grantmaking opportunities lost due to the 
Grantmaking team’s focus on the gender gap.  And while I disagree with the 
method by which it was done—that we were only informed three weeks in 
advance—I’m inclined to believe that this makes affiliates more innovative with 
their programs.  If it means securing funding through doing programs that 
address the gender gap, then so be it if means expanding our skill set and 
helping woman participation in the process.

In addition, we’re exaggerating the impact of the gender gap focus here: note 
that Alex’s announcement said that they will focus on other grants either 
before February 1 or after April 30.  Them not accepting requests during that 
window need not mean that you can’t have a grant request already sitting pretty 
on Meta waiting for consideration; I think they were wrong in wording it, but 
I’m disinclined to believe that they will simply shoot requests down just 
because it fell during that window.

> It is effectively shutting down all projects that should start or are to be
> started in these three months. The Grants page says
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Start : "Supporting mission-allied
> people and organizations around the world."
> This is not supporting, but demotivating, demolishing, discouraging, and
> frustrating the organizing volunteers.
> 
> Shutting down the grantmaking gives a strong negative signal to every
> organiser. "Your project is not important enough for the movement", that is
> what this campaign says.

I disagree.  There’s nothing in the grant process that prevents you from 
keeping the proposal as a draft until the window lapses, and projects need not 
be derailed just because funding can’t be secured between February 1 and April 
30.  While I agree that it’s a big inconvenience for affiliates to see their 
calendars pushed back because they can’t get funding, I am also disinclined to 
believe that the signal this sends is as strong as you think it is.

I’ve organized projects for WMPH, and ultimately since we’re dependent on the 
Foundation for our funding, we’ve had to find ways to meet halfway with respect 
to when projects ought to be implemented.  For me, so long as the project is 
implemented, that’s fine with me regardless of when the project was 
implemented.  The important thing here is that we’re forwarding the movement 
nonetheless.

Thanks,

Josh

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com  | +63 (915) 321-7582
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
http://about.me/josh.lim 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Our final email

[Josh Lim]

We should remember here that different chapters have different capacities when 
it comes to fundraising.  Now I won’t question Mathias’ point on the ability of 
addiliates to fundraise vis-à-vis the WMF’s desire to centralize fundraising, 
but there is one part of the e-mail that I *will* question.

> Wiadomość napisana przez Mathias Damour  w dniu 
> 20 gru 2014, o godz. 04:52:
> 
> Le 19/12/2014 00:08, Liam Wyatt a écrit :
>> This email was sent by WMF fundraising today.
>> I'm embarrassed. Read the email first, then I'll tell you why, below.
> 
> Then what ?
> I suggest the reasons why the WMF and Sue Gardner did struggle for years 
> against the ability of the chapters to fundraise were bad, or at least not 
> good enough.
> They were complaint about the fundraising banners and messages, I guess one 
> of the reason to centralize fundraising was to have full control on it and be 
> able to switch it on and off at any time in any country (such as Russia), yet 
> I don't think that it's even desirable.
> Furthermore the WMF shouldn't process the "Project and Event Grants" and 
> "Individual Engagement Grants" in the countries were there is an active 
> chapter.

And why not?

I’m sorry, but not all of us are Wikimedia Deutschland or Wikimedia France or 
Wikimedia UK, let alone affiliates in the developed world, where you have 
fundraising tools at your disposal and generous government support (e.g. gift 
aid, 1% programs, etc.) to match that, plus large numbers of readers who would 
want to donate banners or not.  Whether you like it or not, many 
affiliates—especially in the developing world and including mine (Wikimedia 
Philippines)—are completely dependent on the Wikimedia Foundation for their 
funding, and to think that the above is a solution to our problems simply 
because there’s money to *supposedly* go around is ludicrous.

We can build fundraising capacity, but it takes time.  In many cases, a *lot* 
of time.  Don’t think that turning off the tap now and forcing affiliates in 
the developing world to fundraise otherwise without adequate preparation will 
magically make things better; I’d like to contend that they may make things 
much worse, and this solution is nothing short of suicide.  I’m a supporter of 
being financially self-sustaining (and WMPH has made steps towards that, as 
we’ve intended to be financially self-sustaining from the get-go), but this is 
the wrong way to go about doing it.

Thanks,

Josh

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] WaPo Wikipedia's 'complicated; relationship with net neutrality

[Josh Lim]

A developing country perspective is missing in this conversation, so I’m going 
to fill in the gap since I find it odd that we’re talking about "developing” 
countries, when everyone who’s been participating in this discussion so far has 
been from developed countries.

> Wiadomość napisana przez Tim Landscheidt  w dniu 1 
> gru 2014, o godz. 09:05:
> 
> Mike Godwin  wrote:
> 
>> [...]
> 
>> Trying to understand Wikipedia Zero as some kind of self-interested
>> organizational move is a mistake, in my view. What it is, IMHO, is a
>> logical development based on the core mission statement of Wikipedia.
>> And in the long term it's actually helpful to the advancement of
>> network neutrality without posing the anti-competitive risks that
>> other zero-rated services may pose.
> 
> I think on the contrary Wikipedia Zero illustrates nicely
> why net neutrality is so important: Wikipedia Zero favours
> solely Wikipedia (und sister projects), while contradicting
> or simply other opinions and resources bite the dust.
> 
> This mainstreaming, forming a monopolistic cabal on all
> things information is why I am a strong proponent of net
> neutrality.  The ease with which information can be shared
> nowadays should be used so that more people provide their
> views, not more people consume one view.

As far as I know, Wikipedia tries to synthesize several points of view so that 
we have a neutral approach to a particular topic, not favoring one view over 
the other.  In addition, the fact that you can edit through Wikipedia Zero 
allows for alternative voices to be heard.  I find it hard to believe that 
Wikipedia Zero stifles NPOV, if you’re hinting at people being "forced” to 
consume only one point of view, when even Wikipedia doesn’t aspire to do that.

> And I have severe doubts that Wikipedia Zero fulfils actual
> needs from the perspective of sustainable development.

I don’t know about where you’re in, but I can tell you that in the developing 
world, Wikipedia’s been very helpful in helping us spread the word about the 
projects.

In the Philippines, Wikipedia readership jumped when Wikipedia Zero was rolled 
out.  That’s more readers, and hopefully more editors.  We have a good 
relationship with the Philippines’ largest telecommunications company as a 
result, and they’ve been very supportive of our efforts to bring knowledge to 
more Filipinos.  And you say that that doesn’t contribute to "sustainable 
development”?

I think it’s profoundly important in this discussion that we need to avoid 
generalizing the world as if everyone’s in Europe or the United States.  Yes, 
net neutrality is important.  Yes, I support net neutrality and believe that 
ISPs shouldn’t discriminate against content providers.  But if it means 
bringing more information to more people, I’m willing to sacrifice that for a 
while because I think that Filipinos being given access to free information is 
more valuable — and more important — than what I believe in vis-à-vis net 
neutrality.  I hope everyone else here who doesn’t support Wikipedia Zero 
because of that will actually see the good that it has done for the developing 
world, and that the rest of us find great use for this program.

Regards,

Josh

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Recognition of the MediaWiki Stakeholder's Group

[Josh Lim]

I actually raised this when we were drafting the resolution. :P

Josh

Wiadomość napisana przez Chris Keating  w dniu 10 
lis 2014, o godz. 20:27:

>> 
>> PS: Stakeholder's or Stakeholders?
>> 
> 
> Stakeholders or Stakeholders' would be correct.
> 
> Stakeholder's implies there is one stakeholder only - presumably not the
> intention.
> 
> The difference only matters to pedants with very good English, but worth
> getting right.
> 
> Chris
> 
>> On Mon, Nov 10, 2014 at 7:31 AM, Nurunnaby Hasive  wrote:
>> 
>>> Welcome & Congratulations!
>>> 
>>> On Mon, Nov 10, 2014 at 9:34 AM, Gregory Varnum <
> gregory.var...@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
 Greetings,
 
 The Affiliations Committee is pleased to announce the recognition [1]
> of
 the MediaWiki Stakeholder's Group - a user group for "MediaWiki
>>> developers,
 admins, users, consultants, and hosting providers who cooperate in
> order
>>> to
 improve the software and advocate the needs of MediaWiki users outside
>>> the
 Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) and its projects."
 
 This group shows great promise and potential for helping organize
> folks
>>> who
 are interested in making MediaWiki even better and give a voice to the
>>> many
 non-WMF users of the software.
 
 So, now we have them joining the family of affiliates. Please, let's
> give
 them a warm welcome!
 
 More info about the group:
 https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Stakeholder%27s_Group
 
 Congratulations!
 -greg aka varnent
 Vice-Chair, Affiliations Committee
 
 1:
 
 
>>> 
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Resolutions/MediaWiki_Stakeholder%27s_Group_-_Liaison_approval,_November_2014
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> *Nurunnaby Chowdhury Hasive*
>>> Administrator | Bengali Wikipedia
>>> 
>>> Member | IEG Committee, Wikimedia Foundation
>>> 
>>> Moderator, Social Media Interaction | The Daily Prothom-Alo
>>> 
>>> Bangladesh Ambassador | Open Knowledge 
>>> Treasurer | Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) > 
>>> Task Force Member | Mozilla Bangladesh 
>>> Author & Translator | Global Voice
>>> 
>>> fb.com/nhasive | @nhasive  | Skype:
>>> nhasive
>>> | www.nhasive.com
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>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Quim Gil
>> Engineering Community Manager @ Wikimedia Foundation
>> http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil
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Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Alessio Guidetti, Cotton

[Josh Lim]

Absolutely terrible.  I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Alessio last year, and 
in all the occasions that we’ve talked, I’ve found him to be deeply insightful 
and helpful.  He will be truly missed by all of us.

On behalf of Wikimedia Philippines, please allow me to share our deepest 
condolences, and we hope that in these difficult times, we will find ways to 
remember Alessio for the Wikipedian that he was, is and will always be.

Regards,

Josh

Wiadomość napisana przez Andrea Zanni  w dniu 18 paź 
2014, o godz. 21:24:

> It is with great sorrow that Wikimedia Italia announces the death of
> Alessio Guidetti, better known on the projects as Cotton. He has been
> treasurer of the organization for about five years, from 2009 until last
> April.
> 
> Alessio started to contribute to Wikipedia at the end of 2006: after a few
> months he became already a sysop. He was a tireless translator of English
> articles in the most diverse fields, and also part of the small group of
> the patrollers -and, indeed, he continued his precious work until the last,
> even if invisible for most of the editors.
> 
> From the moment he joined Wikimedia Italia, Alessio was very keen to
> contribute effectively, guided by his well-known pragmatism. He run for the
> Board: as soon as he was elected, he took the role of treasurer, a
> difficult task and a fundamental one for us but little recognized. It was
> Alessio who took care of the most delicate and complicated tasks, and he
> did so in the years during which Wikimedia Italia was starting to grow big,
> the years of our quantum leap.
> 
> This spring he decided to not run again for the Board, but he kept
> collaborating with his successor for an effective -and not only formal-
> handover. He took care of the accounting, donations and employees'
> paychecks till his very last days. He has been an incredible help:
> trustworthy, precious, always ready for a joke.
> 
> Alessio has been a pillar of Wikimedia Italia: his pragmatism, his
> hardworking disposition, his sense of humor were, and are, a part of our
> organization. A part of how it was born and how it is growing. A part of
> what we are.
> 
> Wikimedia Italia is close to the family and the friends of Alessio in this
> grievous moment.
> 
> We will terribly miss him.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Many of you have know Alessio in Wikimanias and conferences.
> 
> If you wish, you can leave a last goodbye here on his userpage:
> https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discussioni_utente:Cotton#Ciao.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Andrea Zanni
> 
> on behalf of Wikimedia Italia
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JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
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Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Recognition of Wikimedia Belgium as a Wikimedia chapter by the WMF Board

[Josh Lim]

On behalf of Wikimedia Philippines, allow me to express my deepest 
congratulations to Wikimedia Belgium for securing their affiliation!  We look 
forward to you guys doing a lot of good for the movement, and to explore areas 
of cooperation between our two chapters. :)

Regards,

Josh

Wiadomość napisana przez Carlos M. Colina  w dniu 3 wrz 
2014, o godz. 01:46:

> Dear all,
> 
> It is an honour for me to announce that during Wikimania, the WMF resolved 
> [1] to recognise Wikimedia Belgium as a Wikimedia chapter. The resolution was 
> made public a few days ago.
> 
> The first discussions towards the establishment of a Belgian chapter started 
> many years ago, with the local community doing projects related to freedom of 
> knowledge since then, like organisation of WLM Belgium & Luxembourg in 2011, 
> 2012 and 2013. Along with these and other activities, the idea of a chapter 
> grew and evolved to the moment when, the decision was taken to start 
> officially the chapter creation process.
> 
> This process took longer than usual, due to many reasons, among those the 
> change in the chapter approval process by the WMF Board last year. 
> Nevertheless, after months of intensive discussion and interaction between 
> all parties involved, a recommendation from the AffCom was sent to the WMF 
> regarding Wikimedia Belgium. And here we are :-)
> 
> Please welcome the newest member of the family of Wikimedia affiliates!
> 
> Regards,
> Carlos
> 
> 
> 1: 
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Recognition_of_Wikimedia_Belgium
> 
> -- 
> "*Jülüjain wane mmakat* ein kapülain tü alijunakalirua jee wayuukanairua 
> junain ekerolaa alümüin supüshuwayale etijaanaka. Ayatashi waya junain."
> Carlos M. Colina
> Vicepresidente, A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela | RIF J-40129321-2 | 
> www.wikimedia.org.ve 
> Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Affiliations Committee
> Phone: +972-52-4869915
> Twitter: @maor_x
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JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

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Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Bangladesh has completed its local registration in Bangladesh

[Josh Lim]

On behalf of Wikimedia Philippines, allow me to extend my sincere 
congratulations to Wikimedia Bangladesh for completing its registration 
process!  We know how hard it is to navigate through the bureaucracy, but this 
shows that all turns out for the better in the end.  We look forward to seeing 
great things from you guys now that you have this status. :)

Warm regards,

Josh

Wiadomość napisana przez Tonmoy Khan  w dniu 11 cze 2014, 
o godz. 01:28:

> Dear All,
> 
> 
> It gives me great pleasure to announce that Wikimedia Bangladesh (WMBD) has
> successfully completed its local registration in Bangladesh. Our
> application for registration was approved by the Registrar of Joint Stock
> Companies & Firms - Bangladesh on 9th June, 2014 and I have collected the
> certificate of registration today (10th June, 2014).
> 
> 
> 
> Wikimedia Bangladesh has been registered under the Societies Registration
> Act of Bangladesh & our official name is Wikimedia Bangladesh Foundation.
> 
> The registration process was a very long and demanding one, but our
> perseverance and determination finally prevailed. It has become very
> difficult to get registration of a society/foundation in Bangladesh as the
> incumbents have to have security clearance from the National Security
> Intelligence (NSI) of Bangladesh, which is very difficult to get if not
> impossible. In the course of dealing with the registration process of WMBD,
> I learned that less than 5 applications for registration as societies get
> approved out of every 100. We submitted our application in May 2012 and it
> took us a little over two years to get the security clearance from NSI &
> complete all the bureaucratic process!
> 
> 
> It gives us a great sense of achievement that we could uphold the Wikimedia
> movement volunteerism spirit with passion, integrity and professionalism
> despite being a small volunteer community. The pending registration issue
> could not hold us from doing outreach activities locally & taking in the
> greater Wikimedia Movement. We organized some excellent programs, workshops
> & meet-ups with our limited resources during this time period. This effort
> successfully brought in good number of new contributors to Bengali
> Wikipedia & increased the article count. Volunteers from WMBD/Bangladesh
> are also actively participating in the international Wikimedia movement by
> taking part in discussions, conferences & as committee members in different
> Wikimedia committees.
> 
> 
> 
> We, as a chapter, want to make small but steady steps towards sustainable
> progress in fostering the Wikimedia movement in Bangladesh so that we can
> make the sum of all human knowledge accessible to the people of this region.
> 
> 
> Cheers
> 
> 
> Ali Haidar Khan (tOnmOy)
> Treasurer
> Wikimedia Bangladesh
> 
> "ভাবুনতো এমন এক পৃথিবীর কথা, যেখানে প্রতিটি মানুষ সমস্ত জ্ঞান বাধাহীন ভাবে
> আদান প্রদান করতে পারবে। এটাই আমাদের অঙ্গীকার।"
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JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Secretary (2013-2014), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly
Member, Ateneo Lingua Ars Cultura

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] A Quick Hello from New List Subscriber

[Josh Lim]

I’m generally pretty quiet on this list, but I figured I should respond to this.

Wiadomość napisana przez Comet styles  w dniu 5 cze 
2014, o godz. 14:03:

> meh, you are not a wikipedian unless you have been banned or blocked
> atleast once..


As a long-time Wikipedian who has not been banned nor blocked, I would like to 
dispute this statement. :P

Josh

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Secretary (2013-2014), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly
Member, Ateneo Lingua Ars Cultura

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com | +63 (917) 601-8631
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Which Wikipedias have had large scale bot creation of articles this year?

[Josh Lim]

The Tagalog Wikipedia did not use bots, but we had editors doing it manually.  
Users like Wikiboost, Booster Gold, etc. added hundreds, if not thousands, of 
articles in this manner, and that is not reflected in the statistics.

Luckily though, this has largely stopped due to community opposition.

Josh
 
JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Secretary (2013-2014), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly
Member, Ateneo Lingua Ars Cultura

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com | +63 (917) 841-5235
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
http://akira123323.livejournal.com




On Tuesday, November 26, 2013 8:10 AM, John Vandenberg  wrote:
 
On Tue, Nov 26, 2013 at 4:50 AM, Steven Walling  wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> My team is doing some background research in to Wikipedia article creation
> right now.[1] One question I'd like answer is which Wikipedias are
> currently (i.e. this year) running bots to create many articles.
>
> I know that Lsjbot has run (or is running) on Swedish (sv), Cebuano (ceb),
> and Waray-Waray (war). It seems to me that, by looking at the stats for new
> articles per day,[2] Dutch (nl) and Vietnamese (vi) Wikipedias might have
> also been running bots? Am I wrong?

Hi Steven

Indonesia language Minangkabau Wikipedia has also been using bots.
The project was started early 2013, and now has 220,800 articles.
Unfortunately this project, and other new projects, are not being
included in Erik Zachte's reports.

http://min.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Statistics
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedias_by_size

The same team are using the same bots to add content to Indonesian
Wikipedia. 100,000 new articles created in October.

http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/ChartsWikipediaID.htm

-- 
John Vandenberg


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Please, let's save the Wikipedia - from itself

[Josh Lim]

I think what we need to consider here is where the loyalties of many of these 
so-called "problematic" editors reside, whether their dedication to maintaining 
the content where their expertise has been valuable has been harmful to the 
overall health of the community.  While I think we are all on the side of 
Wikipedia here and we all have a genuine interest in improving the encyclopedia 
for everyone, we have gone to the point where we have started to perpetuate the 
idea that some are better at it than others, similar to that declaration in 
Animal Farmthat "all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others".

There are many reasons as to why this is the case, but I guess we need to 
reiterate the need for us to break down barriers here, both between ourselves 
as editors (step away from compartmentalizing ourselves into spaces where 
everyone else will agree with us because we are familiar with them), and 
between ourselves as people.  The latter, however, is very difficult to do, and 
it is one of the challenges that we have to face if we will want to assure 
Wikipedia's future success.

Regards,

Josh

 
JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Trustee (2010-2013), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com | +63 (927) 531-8301
Friendster/Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
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 From: Rui Correia 
To: Wikimedia Mailing List  
Sent: Thursday, September 5, 2013 5:08 AM
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Please, let's save the Wikipedia - from itself
 

Greetings to All

Let me start by saying that I don't do much here at the WP, not compared to
people who make hundreds of edits a week. I would love to, have a long list
of "to-do", but unfortunately time is not on my side.

In my limited involvemet here, I have seen many a good editor leave the
project. Mostly, people leave because they can't take it anymore having to
fight the 'blocks' of defenders that coalesce around certain topics.

In itself, though not very healthy, such blocks forming around topis is
fine. What is not fine is that if any issue gets referred to a higher
process for a resolution, it is often the same people grouping of people
previously involved in disputes on the same topic who come to the
resolution forum to issue a decision. However, it is always the 'outsider'
that loses. He gets acused of everything under the sun, and gets 'good
advice' from supposedly neutral editors, urging him to calm down, to temper
his language etc. It is like trying to point out that the earth is round at
a monthly meetng of the fat-earthers. That is not healthy and is making the
WP processes look like a kangaroo court run by a cabal.

And I expect pretty much the same reaction to this email.

I pointed out in an ealier email to this list the difficulty that one
encounters when you include something negative about certain big
corporations. I was stoned and made to feel that I was wrong and everbody
else was right. The reaction was tantamount to a chorus of "yes, we know
there are problems, but don't say it out loud, someone might hear you!".

Let's for argument's say that I was wrong. But - more importantantly - was
anything done to investigate what I was saying? What if there are legions
out there paid to sanitise the pages of big corporations? And we know that
they exist, and that WP has taken up the issue as in here,
http://nick-xomba-ceo.xomba.com/microsoft_accused_of_paying_blogger_to_alter_wikipedia_articles

I made a silly remark on a Talk page about the choice of the word
"downgrade" to refer to people using Windows 8 who wanted to go back to XP.
For a failed product, by Microsoft's own admission, going back to XP is an
upgrade, going back to sanity, not a downgrade.

I was first accused of trolling, then something else, then of offending the
entire community of users of Windows 8. The editor who is adamant - not the
first time - to purge ant-MS from the talkpage violated the 3RR, but
nothing gets done about it. I reported the 3RR, and it was immediately
closed, labelled as being relatiatory. There is a backlog of issues on that
page, but my entry was closed within minutes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Edit_warring#User:Codename_Lisa_reported_by_User:Rui_Gabriel_Correia_.28Result:_Closed.29

It was closed, claiming that it was already being addressed elsewhere.

So, I too will consider my stay here. Like I said right at the top, I don't
do much here, so I am certain I will not even be missed. I edit in eight
languages, small little bits here and there. I participated in a number of
initiaves on the development of Chapters in Africa and am happy to see that
things are moving. I had the honour and privilege to meet Jimmy Wales in
Sout

[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Asia meeting today

[Josh Lim]

Hi guys,

Please be reminded that today is the Wikimedia Asia meeting!  All Asian 
Wikimedians, from Turkey to Japan, Russia to New Zealand, are invited to 
attend! (Take note that this is not an "East Asia meeting": all Wikimedians on 
the Asian continent are strongly encouraged to attend.)

Today's meeting will be held at Y521 at 5:30 pm.

More information may be found at 
http://wikimania2013.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Asia_meeting.

Regards,

Josh

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Secretary (2013-2014), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com | +63 (917) 841-5235
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Asia meetup

[Josh Lim]

Hi guys,

The annual Wikimedia Asia meetup will take place during Wikimania 2013 in Hong 
Kong!  While there's no definite time yet, we will definitely set off a lunch 
day for our meeting.  We have a lot of things to discuss, so I hope you guys 
can come in! :)

For more information (and to sign up), please go to 
http://wikimania2013.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Asia_meeting.

Regards,

Josh
 
JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Trustee (2010-2013), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com | +63 (917) 841-5235
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Erik Zachte on bot-generated articles

[Josh Lim]

On the Tagalog Wikipedia, we call them "usbong" (new growth).

Speaking of deleting categories of short articles: I wonder why some Wikipedias 
chose to do this?  Aside from the Spanish Wikipedia, the Polish Wikipedia got 
rid of stub categories as well.

Josh

On Jun 28, 2013, at 8:46 PM, "Santi Navarro"  
wrote:

> In Spanish Wikipedia there isn't any category for short articles. The
> category "esbozos" (Stubs) was deleted (and the templates) some years ago.
> 
>> In the Dutch Wikipedia they are called "beginnings"
>> 
>> 2013/6/28, Asaf Bartov :
>>> On Thu, Jun 27, 2013 at 7:30 AM, Jon Davies
>>> wrote:
>>> 
 I learnt yesterday that the Welsh Wicipedia does not have 'stubs'. It
 has
 'Little Acorns' - so much nicer and more descriptive.
 
>>> 
>>> That's wonderful! :)
>>> 
>>>   A.
>>> --
>>>Asaf Bartov
>>>Wikimedia Foundation 
>>> 
>>> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
>>> the
>>> sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
>>> https://donate.wikimedia.org
>>> ___
>>> Wikimedia-l mailing list
>>> Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
>>> 
>> 
>> ___
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>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Santiago Navarro
> Wikimedia España
> http://www.wikimedia.org.es/
> 
> 
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> 


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Comments on compliance and the FDC Round 2 decisions

[Josh Lim]

Odd that we're making this suggestion, when in fact "conditional eligibility" 
already exists.  Wikimedia Philippines, for example, is conditionally eligible 
for FDC funding contingent on the completion of our deliverables (a grant 
report), which I believe was already delivered.

Regards,


Josh

 
JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Trustee (2010-2013), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com | +63 (927) 531-8301
Friendster/Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
http://akira123323.livejournal.com




 From: Dariusz Jemielniak 
To: cfrank...@halonetwork.net; Wikimedia Mailing List 
 
Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2013 4:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Comments on compliance and the FDC Round 2 decisions
 

Craig - this is a very good idea!

best,

dariusz ("pundit")


On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 10:20 AM, Craig Franklin
wrote:

> Thankyou Asaf, points 1.1 and 1.2 pretty much answered all my questions on
> this.
>
> If I might offer a humble suggestion though, might I suggest for the
> purposes of determining grant eligibility, rather than saying that it is
> "Confirmed" or "Not Confirmed", a third status of "Conditional Eligibility"
> is introduced.  This status would be used in situations like WMHK's, where
> they are eligible at the beginning of the FDC process but have deliverables
> due before the end of the FDC process that could potentially render them
> ineligible.  This would make it very clear to the entity that while they
> can proceed with their request, they also have to complete some other tasks
> to receive an allocation.
>
> Cheers,
> Craig Franklin
>
>
> On 30 April 2013 13:04, Asaf Bartov  wrote:
>
> > Hello, everyone.
> >
> > 0. Meta
> >
> > 0.1. I do not respect the choice by Deryck -- an experienced Wikimedian
> --
> > to voice his (understandable) frustration in a letter full of wikidrama,
> > and to follow it with a direct accusation of our team of "foul play"[0].
>  I
> > think this should not go uncommented on.  All of us deserve civility and
> > courteous discussions.
> >
> > 0.2 I am starting this separate thread to address some of the legitimate
> > questions asked on that other thread.
> >
> > 0.2 Please note I speak in my capacity as head of the Wikimedia Grants
> > Program, since grants compliance has been a large issue in Deryck's
> > narrative, but I do not speak for the (all-volunteer) FDC nor for the FDC
> > staff, who can speak for themselves (though some are on vacation, so it
> may
> > take a while).
> >
> > 0.3. This is a long e-mail, but I would like to believe I am both concise
> > and direct.  I just have a number of different issues to respond to.  I
> > have also tried to be systematic, so you can skip sections you don't care
> > about.
> >
> > 1. Clarifications about "Eligibility"
> >
> > 1.1. WMHK _was eligible_ to apply for funding in FDC round 2, was
> informed
> > of this publicly, and proceeded to apply.  FDC eligibility is determined
> at
> > a specific point in time, and the eligibility table is not changed after
> > that point in time.
> >
> > The effort was not "futile from the start", because at the time
> eligibility
> > was determined, it was not clear that WMHK is in fact non-compliant, and
> > the Finance team determined eligibility according to strictly
> > formal/technical rules -- the grant reports _were_ submitted, just before
> > the deadline, so WMHK was considered eligible.
> >
> > 1.2. After applying, WMHK has _fallen out of compliance_ with grant
> > requirements, when it emerged (and it was not known in advance) that WMHK
> > has in fact unilaterally re-purposed left-over funds from an old grant (a
> > fact only revealed at our insistence to account for all funds[1], one day
> > before the proposals were due) without consulting or even informing WMF.
> >  Some of the questions we have asked about those funds[2] have not been
> > answered to this day.  We require compliance in all existing grants
> before
> > additional funding is sent out (though funding _can_ be _approved_ while
> > some compliance issues are pending).
> >
> > I would like to stress that this is not a minor point of slight tardiness
> > or some missing receipt -- this is actual mismanagement of funds (though
> > not necessarily mis-use of funds, and NO ONE IS SUGGESTING BAD FAITH here
> > -- we do not think WMHK has done anything illicit or ethically
> improper!),
> > and _does indeed_ reflect on WMHK's ability to handle large grants.
> >
> > 1.3. It is WMF grantmaking staff's duty, within the FDC Framework, to
> > provide a factual assessment of applying entities track record with
> > previous grants.  This we have done, and anyone may see our
> assessments[3]
> > and compare them to the facts on Meta, in the grant and grant repo

[Wikimedia-l] Proposal for an Asian chapters/affiliates meeting at Wikimania 2013

[Josh Lim]

Hi, everyone.

During the Wikimedia Conference, a number of Asian chapters and chapters-to-be 
have decided to discuss holding an Asian meeting during Wikimania 
2013.  Affiliates in attendance were Wikimedia Hong Kong, Wikimedia 
India, Wikimedia Indonesia, Wikimedia Israel, Wikimedia Nepal, 
Wikimedia Philippines and Wikimedia Taiwan.

We agreed that there should be a discussion on Meta about when and where 
the meeting should be, what should be discussed during the meeting 
(meaning an agenda), and who should be able to attend.  This is to make 
sure that if we will have an Asian chapters/affiliates meeting, we will 
have as many people as possible attending this meeting, and our meeting 
will have some clear direction, especially as Vantharith Oum has 
suggested that we have an Asian Wikimedia Conference some time after 
Wikimania.

To this effect, I thank Siska for creating a Meta page
 back in 2011 which discusses Asian chapters meetings, so let's have 
this discussion on Meta so that as many people as possible can join in. 
 The discussion will take place at
 
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Asian_Chapters_Meeting#Meeting_during_Wikimania_2013.
 
 Please tell your chapter boards, your national mailing lists, your 
village pumps, and the like about this discussion.  If we will seriously
 discuss about the future of this inter-chapter group (and of Wikimedia 
in Asia in general), we have to discuss this as soon as possible.

(For those who are receiving this on Wikimedia-l and Chapters-l: if you or 
your affiliate is not on the Wikimedia Asia list, please sign up at 
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-asia-chapters.  
The list is not strictly limited to chapters, so if you're from an Asian 
country, including the Middle 
East, Russia, the Caucasus, Australia and New Zealand, please feel free 
to join the list.)


Thanks and I hope to see everyone in Hong Kong. :)

Regards,
Josh
 
JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Trustee (2010-2013), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com | +63 (927) 531-8301
Friendster/Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
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[Wikimedia-l] (no subject)

[Josh Lim]

Hi, everyone.

During the Wikimedia Conference, a number of Asian chapters and chapters-to-be 
have decided to discuss holding an Asian meeting during Wikimania 2013.  
Affiliates in attendance were Wikimedia Hong Kong, Wikimedia India, Wikimedia 
Indonesia, Wikimedia Israel, Wikimedia Nepal, Wikimedia Philippines and 
Wikimedia Taiwan.

We agreed that there should be a discussion on Meta about when and where the 
meeting should be, what should be discussed during the meeting (meaning an 
agenda), and who should be able to attend.  This is to make sure that if we 
will have an Asian chapters/affiliates meeting, we will have as many people as 
possible attending this meeting, and our meeting will have some clear 
direction, especially as Vantharith Oum has suggested that we have an Asian 
Wikimedia Conference some time after Wikimania.

To this effect, I thank Siska for creating a Meta page back in 2011 which 
discusses Asian chapters meetings, so let's have this discussion on Meta so 
that as many people as possible can join in.  The discussion will take place at 
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Asian_Chapters_Meeting#Meeting_during_Wikimania_2013.
  Please tell your chapter boards, your national mailing lists, your village 
pumps, and the like about this discussion.  If we will seriously discuss about 
the future of this inter-chapter group (and of Wikimedia in Asia in general), 
we have to discuss this as soon as possible.

(For those who are receiving this on Wikimedia-l and Chapters-l: if you or your 
affiliate is not on the Wikimedia Asia list, please sign up at 
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-asia-chapters.  The list 
is not strictly limited to chapters, so if you're from an Asian country, 
including the Middle East, Russia, the Caucasus, Australia and New Zealand, 
please feel free to join the list.)


Thanks and I hope to see everyone in Hong Kong. :)

Regards,

Josh

 
JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Trustee (2010-2013), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com | +63 (927) 531-8301
Friendster/Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Are chapters part of the community and board seats for affiliates?

[Josh Lim]

On Feb 23, 2013, at 4:27 AM, Fae  wrote:

> The vast majority of volunteers like the idea that there is a Chapter
> they can turn to to ask for help, or to get their idea for a project
> reviewed, funded and looking "official". If a volunteer came to a
> wikimeet with a brilliant idea for a project, but said they could not
> stand the stupid bureaucracy of chapters, I'd say "excellent mate, you
> go for it and I'll see what I can do to help with funding if you need
> it."

I'm inclined to believe that bureaucracy exists despite, not because of, 
chapters.  As it is, volunteers, especially those from the Global South, can be 
classified into two types:

1. They're "detached": they're part of the community, but they don't know about 
the support options open to them
2. They're so involved in the community, they could care less about the 
"bureaucracy" (in my university, this is called "going down the hill", as my 
university is on a hill)

Chapters aside, I'm in fact curious to know how many volunteers do know about 
the Foundation's grants system, or the research program, or heck, Wikimedia 
User Groups or Wikimania scholarships.  Granted, it's a good thing that 
volunteers have options open for them whether or not they want to deal with the 
bureaucracy, but it's all for nought if they're left unaware of those options.

Josh

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Trustee (2010-2013), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com | +63 (917) 841-5235
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Are chapters part of the community and board seats for affiliates?

[Josh Lim]

On Feb 23, 2013, at 4:27 AM, Fae  wrote:

> The vast majority of volunteers like the idea that there is a Chapter
> they can turn to to ask for help, or to get their idea for a project
> reviewed, funded and looking "official". If a volunteer came to a
> wikimeet with a brilliant idea for a project, but said they could not
> stand the stupid bureaucracy of chapters, I'd say "excellent mate, you
> go for it and I'll see what I can do to help with funding if you need
> it."

I'm inclined to believe that the "bureaucracy" exists despite, not because of, 
the existence of chapters, and many volunteers, particularly those from the 
Global South, are one of two types:

1. They don't know about the avenues that are available to them when it comes 
to pursuing projects that they'd like to do.
2. They're too busy being involved in the community to be involved in the 
"backstage" (in my university, we call this "joing down the hill").

Chapters aside, how many know about the Foundation's grants system? Or the 
research program?  Or, heck, even about forming Wikimedia User Groups or 
scholarships to Wikimania?  The message is there, but it doesn't seem to 
translate into greater individual participation if bureaucracy was a concern.  
It's good that there now exist mechanisms to help individuals with the projects 
they want to pursue, and we should strive to make it as accessible as possible 
(with as little bureaucracy as possible) but it's all for nought if people are 
left unawares of it, especially in countries where there are no chapters, or if 
the bureaucracy is stifling. (Some people, for example, may be turned off by 
the bureaucratic rigor of the grants program.)

Josh

JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Trustee (2010-2013), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com | +63 (917) 841-5235
Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
http://akira123323.livejournal.com

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Aaron Swartz is dead

[Josh Lim]

(For the first time I am finally posting on the Wikimedia-l list. :P)

Thanks for posting this, Everton.  It is extremely moving and, somehow, this 
should remind us of why we are all still here, and what we are fighting for.

With that said, I have said on Meta (and privately) that it's time for us to 
move the discussion away from his immediate death, and instead start to focus 
on what his death ought to mean.  I have to agree with Aaron is now a symbol: 
to me (and perhaps to many of us as well), he's now an ideal worth fighting 
for.  And, indeed, we have to complete the work that he started, if ever we 
will make his death meaningful.  I expressed these sentiments in a Facebook 
note I wrote yesterday:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/josh-lim/a-question-of-reflection-and-legacy-a-non-tribute-to-aaron-swartz/10151315708551878

Regards,

Josh

On Jan 15, 2013, at 6:29 AM, Everton Zanella Alvarenga 
 wrote:

> It is worth to listen professor Lessig interview on Democracy now
> 
> http://www.democracynow.org/2013/1/14/an_incredible_soul_lawrence_lessig_remembers#.UPRn4_WqvF0.twitter
> 
> "An Incredible Soul"
> 
> -- 
> Everton Zanella Alvarenga (also Tom)
> "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more
> useful than a life spent doing nothing."
> 
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JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Trustee (2010-2013), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com | +63 (917) 841-5235
Friendster/Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
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