Re: [Wikimedia-l] June 4 1800 Maggie Dennis office hour (with a twist)

[Pine W]

Hello,

I'm trying to respond to this calmly here.

I request we think about the issues from some more angles.

I feel somewhat defensive, but not combative. I hope that this makes sense.

English Wikipedia took an enormous amount of volunteer effort to
build, and volunteers are people too. Some of us, like WMF staff, are
aware of risks to ourselves from our participation.

When people cause problems on wiki, such as with undisclosed paid
editing, we have a range of ways that we respond to that, including
blocking people. English Wikipedia is like a country, and as with any
county we need to deal with people who create problems, ranging from
minor issues to major issues. Maggie discussed some of the major
issues in her office hour, and I appreciate her and WMF trying to
address them.

We don't accept citizens and government employees doing whatever they
want. For example, if an administrator on English Wikipedia uses their
administrative permissions to lock a page from being edited when they
are involved in the content dispute, that lock will probably be
overruled. Depending on the administrator's past conduct, they may be
given anything from a reminder to a removal of their administrative
permissions.

One of the important concerns regarding the activities in the wiki is
that people aren't getting the support that they need when they are
feeling attacked.

I don't have answers to many problems in our world and on wiki, and I
think that none of us are claiming to. However, I'm certain that in
some circumstances, removing people is the right thing to do.

If this comes across as "Pine thinks that he has all the answers" or
something like that, please, please contact me off list, and let's
find a time to have a voice conversation.

Thanks,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] June 4 1800 Maggie Dennis office hour (with a twist)

[Pine W]

Agreed that office hours are a nice idea, although

1. For privacy reasons,I don't think that they need to be on video.
Sue had them on IRC. In the Wikimedia Cafe several of us use audio
only.

2. I'm digesting what Maggie said about the incidents of last July.
I'm not sure that the version of events that was communicated to her
captures how I would describe the multiple bad decisions that
happened, and I'm not inclined to believe that the problems can be
summed up as poor communications. I don't mean to put words in
Maggie's mouth, and I don't think that she was trying to provide a
comprehensive view of her briefing, but I also have concerns regarding
what I heard in her summary, and I would encourage Maggie to probe
extensively into what happened while she was on leave.

I don't know what all was going on inside of WMF, but I would have
wanted an outsider -- that is, not someone inside of WMF -- to review
the actions of the staff, similar to how police departments are
sometimes reviewed by outside agencies after high profile incidents,
and I would want the report from that review to be public. Given my
perspective on what happened, I think that at least one WMF staff
person probably should have been demoted or fired, and perhaps more
than one, up to and including Katherine. However, I don't have enough
information to decide what accountability measures should have been
taken. I would have more faith in the integrity of WMF if there had
been an outside review as I describe here, including public
accountability for the actions of individual staff, much as we do on
English Wikipedia for administrators and functionaries.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

On Fri, Jun 5, 2020 at 6:30 AM Natacha Rault via Wikimedia-l
 wrote:
>
> Yes thank you very much. I really liked the sincerity and the straight to the 
> point amswers. It feels great to be listened at and given sincere answers.
>
> Make this call a best practice, it rocked.
>
> Warm regards,
>
> Nattes à chat
>
> Envoyé de mon iPhone
>
> > Le 4 juin 2020 à 22:16, Tito Dutta  a écrit :
> >
> > True, (because of connectivity issues I was disconnected for some time).
> > Thanks Maggie for answering the questions and clarifying things. All the
> > best and good wishes.
> >
> > Thanks
> > Tito Dutta
> > Note: If I don't reply to your email in 2 days, please feel free to remind
> > me over email or phone call.
> >
> >
> >> On Fri, 5 Jun 2020 at 01:17, Aron Manning  wrote:
> >>
> >> Thank you, Maggie, Elena and Nick for this meeting!
> >>
> >> The event was very well organized on the first try, focused and
> >> informative.
> >> Special thanks to Maggie for tirelessly answering all the questions and
> >> giving insight to the wide spectrum of challenges.
> >>
> >> It was great to hear that transparency will be an important part of the
> >> processes to be developed and that the communities will be involved in
> >> working out the details. I think this is going in the right direction to
> >> establish trust and cooperation with the communities and a mutually
> >> agreeable outcome.
> >>
> >> Thank you to all participants and I hope there will be more meetings as
> >> this project progresses!
> >>
> >>
> >> Aron
> >>
> >>
> >>> On Tue, 2 Jun 2020 at 23:24, Maggie Dennis  wrote:
> >>>
> >>> We will post notes from the meeting, with the identity of question-askers
> >>> anonymized, afterward. Questions can be submitted on Telegram [1], on IRC
> >>> [2] or in the YouTube Chat or by email in advance to
> >> answ...@wikimedia.org
> >>> (To make sure they are presented during this meeting, please use “Trust &
> >>> Safety” as the subject line.)
> >>>
> >>>
> >> ___
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>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] "What's making you happy this week?" emails paused

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,

As an update regarding WMYHTW emails, they will probably remain paused
for June, and I am not sure that they will return. However, there will
be an "On the bright side" piece in this month's Signpost regarding
the 500,000 article milestone for Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia.

I think that I have enough capacity to continue monthly "On the bright
side" pieces in The Signpost for June onward.

I did not intend "What's making you happy this week?" to mean in
practice "What's making Pine happy this week?", but unfortunately that
is what often happened. I would be glad to see other people write
similar emails.

Thank you for reading,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

On Sun, May 10, 2020 at 6:42 PM Pine W  wrote:
>
> Hello colleagues,
>
> I am pausing "What's making you happy this week?" emails; however,
> other people are welcome to start threads. More detailed information
> follows.
>
> I hope to resume publishing emails but I do not know when this will
> happen. I might send emails on alternating weeks. Also, I am
> considering changing the subject line from "What's making you happy
> this week?" to "For what are you grateful this week?"
>
> Clovermoss is currently away.
>
> The pause is due to three reasons: a shortage of available time for
> volunteering; a preponderance of bad news; and concerns regarding
> governance issues in the Wikiverse that are difficult to resolve and
> push aside other tasks on which I would like to spend my Wikimedia
> time.
>
> As I mentioned above, while I am not starting these threads,other
> people are welcome to do so.
>
> I would appreciate comments regarding the possible subject line change
> to from "What's making you happy this week?" to "For what are you
> grateful this week?". You can email me on list or off list, or put
> comments on my Meta user talk page at
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Pine.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Pine
> ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Café online meeting for May 2020

[Pine W]

你好,*

A reminder that this month's Wikimedia Café will start 48 hours from now.

This month's meetup will focus on the recently announced 2030 strategy
recommendations. (See
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recommendations.)
Mehrdad Pourzaki, who is the Information and Knowledge Manager for the
Movement Strategy Core Team, will join us at this month's Café.

More information, and instructions for how to join the meetup, are at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Café.

Nosotros hablaremos pronto,**

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

* "Hello" in Chinese
** "We'll talk soon" in Spanish

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Trust and safety on Wikimedia projects

[Pine W]

Hello,

I share the Board's interest in many of these matters. However, I remind
the WMF Board that it exists to serve the Wikimedia community, not the
other way around. Also, I recommend that the Board take great care in
approaching these matters diplomatically and with appreciation for the
volunteers who spend considerable amounts of personal time developing and
protecting the Wikimedia projects, and who are not WMF's employees or
servants. I suggest to the WMF Board that a self-righteous tone is likely
to be counterproductive for its intended outcomes.

There have been enormous amounts of volunteer time already spent
considering and deliberating regarding civility and related complex issues.

I suggest to the Board that while being appropriately mindful of where
there are problems, the Board should also spend at least as much time
considering what is going well and expressing gratitude to the thousands of
volunteers who strive to protect Wikipedia and the sister projects.

I remind the Board that it is not the governing entity for the Wikimedia
community. The WMF Board governs the Wikimedia Foundation corporate entity.
The corporate entity exists to serve the community, not the other way
around.

I also remind the Board that ill-considered interventions may do more harm
than good. Goodwill is easy to destroy.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] Preventing conflicts of interest in Wikimedia organizations' employment and financial relationships

[Pine W]

Awhile back I saw a joke that when reading a newspaper someone had
difficulty distinguishing between the business section and the crime
section. These days, the politics section could cause similar
confusion. Recently I have wondered about the extent to which WMF and
the affiliates take steps to prevent conflicts of interest in
financial decisions.

I am not aware of any evidence of recent financial conflicts of
interest, but I think that taking steps to prevent and detect any
problems would be prudent.

For example, is there any monitoring of the bank accounts of board
members and executives to ensure that they are not receiving kickbacks
from companies that have contracts with the organizations? Also, are
there "cooling off periods" which contractually require that
executives and board members of WMF and Wikimedia affiliates not
become employees of companies that have had financial relationships
with their organizations until at least a few years after their
employment or board membership with the Wikimedia organization?

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Commons

[Pine W]

For what it's worth, I think that devoting WMF staff time and/or consultant
time to developing a strategy for Commons and possibly another sister media
project would be well worth considering.

I would likely support redirecting resources from the branding project to
such a strategy project.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Commons

[Pine W]

If memory serves me correctly, as Steinsplitter said, there has been
pushback on Commons regarding allowing NC-licensed images on Commons,
but I can't recall if there was a consensus regarding having a site
that is an alternative to Commons and allow images with NC licenses.
I'm not sure how much discussion there was regarding setting up a new
sister project for this purpose. I can imagine that one argument
against it would be that it could cause confusion, but I think that
with a good UI design that could be fixed. However, I'm not sure that
the community has enough human resources to monitor and sustain
another project. We already have problems with maintaining what we
have.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Commons

[Pine W]

Personally, I wish that Commons permitted images with licenses that
restricted the images to noncommercial use only. There are some media
files that I would have uploaded to Commons if this was the case.

I have seen at least previous discussion about this but I can't
remember what happened to it. My guess is that the proposal died for
lack of consensus or lack of energy. I remember that one proposed
solution was to set up another website for media files that would
allow media with NC restrictions.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

On Sun, May 17, 2020 at 3:05 AM Benjamin Ikuta  wrote:
>
>
>
> Anecdotally, it seems people sometimes don't upload their photos to Commons 
> because they don't realize that the scope of Commons is much broader than 
> that of Wikipedia.
>
> Has there been, or should there be, any research into this, or why people 
> don't contribute more broadly?
>
> ~Benjamin
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Café online meeting for May 2020

[Pine W]

I remembered to adjust US Pacific time for DST but forgot to do the
same for US Eastern time. The US Eastern time will be 12:30. Sorry
about that.

As you may have noticed, we are holding the UTC constant regardless of
DST changes.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Café online meeting for May 2020

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,


== Announcements for this month ==

The next Wikimedia Café meetup will occur on 30 May 2020 at 9:30 AM
Pacific / 11:30 AM Eastern / 4:30 PM UTC / 10 PM IST.

This month's meetup will focus on the recently announced 2030 strategy
recommendations. See
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recommendations.

The organizers of the Café have not finalized the format for this
month, but this is likely to be a two hour meetup with time for
discussions regarding each of the strategy recommendations.

The Café has been well attended during the past few months. There have
been multiple requests for an alternate meetup time for the Café. This
subject is being discussed on the Café talk page, and is also on the
agenda for May's meetup. One possibility under consideration is
offering an additional Café meetup on a different day of the week and
a different time of day. Please feel free to join the discussion on
the talk page if you cannot attend the Café in its current time slot
and would like to comment regarding this issue.


== General information about the Café ==

More information regarding the agenda and links to strategy documents
are available at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Café.

As usual, the meeting style for the Café will emphasize discussion
rather than presentation. People are welcome to participate as
listeners only if they prefer.

Please see the page on Meta for more information about the Café.
Please watch the page for any updates, particularly to the schedule or
the agenda. Signing up for the meeting is optional, but is helpful to
the organizers so that we can estimate how many people will attend.
Signing up for the meeting also informs us who we should notify
individually if there are significant changes.

If there are any problems with connecting to the meeting or if you
have any questions or comments, then please write on the Meta talk
page or send me an email.


Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia-l] "What's making you happy this week?" emails paused

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,

I am pausing "What's making you happy this week?" emails; however,
other people are welcome to start threads. More detailed information
follows.

I hope to resume publishing emails but I do not know when this will
happen. I might send emails on alternating weeks. Also, I am
considering changing the subject line from "What's making you happy
this week?" to "For what are you grateful this week?"

Clovermoss is currently away.

The pause is due to three reasons: a shortage of available time for
volunteering; a preponderance of bad news; and concerns regarding
governance issues in the Wikiverse that are difficult to resolve and
push aside other tasks on which I would like to spend my Wikimedia
time.

As I mentioned above, while I am not starting these threads,other
people are welcome to do so.

I would appreciate comments regarding the possible subject line change
to from "What's making you happy this week?" to "For what are you
grateful this week?". You can email me on list or off list, or put
comments on my Meta user talk page at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Pine.

Thanks,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Updates from Wikimedia Foundation Board

[Pine W]

I mostly agree with Risker up until her last paragraph.

It is true that Wikipedia has received a some positive  coverage in
the press recently. I think that this is largely due to the good work
of employees in WMF's Technology and Audiences departments, and
volunteers who participate in subjects that are related to Covid-19.
Although there has been some recent and probably justified criticism
on this list of WMF's fundraising, I ask us to remember that this
fundraising brings financial support for Technology and Audiences
employees.

I am not a fan of the WMF Board making surprise decisions, nor of the
WMF Board unilaterally deciding to change the timing for elections for
what should be community-appointed seats. I wish that WMF would get
out of the habit of making unilateral decisions that pertain to
community governance.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Updates from Wikimedia Foundation Board

[Pine W]

Andy, I was going off of this statement: "In order to ensure sustained
community representation on the Board, we are extending the terms of
the three community-selected trustees currently occupying those seats
(María, Dariusz, and James) for up to a year until we are all ready to
run the postponed process"

That is different from saying that the Board will ask the community if
the community wants to postpone elections. I would understand and
support the latter, but not the former. I don't want the WMF Board to
start down the path of deciding if and when the community will hold
elections for community-nominated seats. This should be a decision for
the community, and the community alone, to decide.

By the way, has the Elections Committee been consulted regarding any of this?

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia-l] Passings of Users Tsirel, Muidlatif, Dmitrismirnov, and Ronhjones

[Pine W]

Hello Wikimedia-l colleagues,

It has come to my attention that the following four contributors have passed on.

The obituaries here are adapted from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deceased_Wikipedians/2020,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deceased_Wikipedians/2019, and
https://ru.wikinews.org/wiki/%D0%92_%D0%92%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B8_%D0%BE%D1%82_COVID-19_%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%80_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80_%D0%B8_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%B5%D1%86_%D0%94%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%A1%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2;
see those pages for the original texts and attribution.


== Boris Tsirelson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Tsirel) ==

On 21 January 2020, Boris Semyonovich Tsirelson, a mathematician and
professor of mathematics at Tel Aviv University, Israel, as well as a
Wikipedian, passed away due to being voluntarily euthanized following
a terminal battle with cancer. He was 69. During his lifetime, he made
notable contributions to probability theory and functional analysis,
such as "Tsirelson's bound" and "Tsirelson space". On Wikipedia, he
made 8,857 edits, including the creation of pages such as
"Conditioning (probability)" and "Standard probability space", among
others. It is currently unknown if he is survived by anyone, but his
legacy will not be forgotten.


== Muid Latif (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Muidlatif) ==

On 11 April 2020, Muid Latif, a former project lead of Creative
Commons in Malaysia who had been promoting free-culture movement and
open collaboration, passed away as announced by his brother at Latif's
official Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/muidlatif/).

In addition to his user pages, there are articles about him in Malay
Wikipedia (https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muid_Latif) and English
Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muid_Latif).


== Dmitri Smirnov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dmitrismirnov) ==

A Russian émigré to the UK, composer and teacher, and a Wikimedian,
Dmitri passed away on 9 April from COVID-19. I will quote portions of
the page from Russian Wikinews.

В четверг, 9 апреля 2020 года, в больнице города Уотфорд
(Великобритания) от осложнений, вызванных коронавирусной инфекцией
COVID-19, умер советский и британский композитор, поэт, викимедиец,
администратор Русской и Английской Викитеки Дмитрий Смирнов. В ноябре
прошлого года ему исполнился 71 год.

Дмитрий Николаевич Смирнов родился 2 ноября 1948 года в Минске в семье
оперных певцов Николая Трофимовича Сенькина (сценический псевдоним
Садовский, 1914—1999) и Евгении Александровны Смирновой (1914—2003).

В 1967 году окончил музыкальное училище в городе Фрунзе (ныне Бишкек),
а затем, в 1972 году, Московскую консерваторию. Среди его учителей
Эдисон Денисов, Николай Сидельников, Юрий Холопов, Филипп Гершкович.

Был женат на композиторе Елене Фирсовой.

В 1991 году Смирнов эмигрировал в Великобританию. Преподавал в
Кембридже (Сент-Джонс колледж, 1992), в Дартингтоне (графство
Девоншир, 1992), в 1993—1997 профессор композиции в Килском
университете (графство Стаффордшир), в Голдсмитс-колледже (Лондон,
2002).

Смирнов — один из активнейших участников вики-проектов Викимедиа с
псевдонимом Dmitrismirnov. Начиная с 18 апреля 2006 года он сделал 242
896 правок. Основным его проектом стала Русская Викитека, где Дмитрий
был администратором и внёс 212 513 изминений. Как наиболее
продуктивный участник этого проекта он шесть раз удостаивался
Вики-премии в 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 и 2019 годов. Также он внёс
заметный вклад в Английской Викитеке, где так же был администратором,
в Викисклад, в Русскую и Английскую Википедии, в Викиданные.

Он вносил изменения в вики-проекты практически каждый день. Последние
его правки датируются 12 марта.

3 апреля он размещает в Facebook первые фотографии из госпиталя в
кислородной маске. Потом он выкладывает ещё несколько фоторепортажей
из клиники: 3 и 4 апреля, шутит. Между ними воспоминания — фотография
с Еленой Фирсовой.

В 17:31 9 апреля на его стене в Facebook появляется первый некролог.

Примечательно, что ещё 2 апреля Дмитрий Смирнов оставил в Facebook запись:
«Я счастлив что побывал на этой земле»


== Ron Jones (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ronhjones) ==

We learned in May 2020 of Ron's death in early April 2019. He was a
retired physical chemist from England, and he died on April 7, 2019,
the day he made his last edit, in a tragic house fire that also
claimed the life of his wife Sue and their beloved pets. On Wikipedia
he was an administrator who helped out with WikiProject Chemistry, did
anti-vandalism work, and also ran RonBot, which among other things
performed maintenance on non-free images. He had been a contributor
for over 11 years, making over 400,000 edits, as well as being a
prolific editor on Wikimedia Commons, where he made over 100,000 edits
as an administrator. He was a member of 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Brand Project: Preparing for feedback on naming convention proposals

[Pine W]

I would like to hear from the WMF Board what their thoughts are
regarding what is happening here. In particular, I would like to hear
the Board's explanation for why they think that this a good use of
donated money and everyone's time.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia-l] Passing of User:Kattenkruid

[Pine W]

Dear Wikimedia-l colleagues,

I am writing to share the news of the passing of User:Kattenkruid. He
was an administrator on Dutch Wikipedia who made over 73,000
contributions.

His final edit to Dutch Wikipedia placed a welcome template on another
user's talk page.

His user talk page on Dutch Wikipedia,
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overleg_gebruiker:Kattenkruid, holds
more information regarding his passing. Many comments have been left
there.

May he rest in peace.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Wikimedia Café - Sat 25 April 2020...

[Pine W]

Hi RhonosF1,

Thanks for the comment. I like the idea too.

Coincidentally, a subject for discussion at the upcoming Café is
obtaining non-WMF funding for community projects. A constant problem
is that the community has a limited supply of people and time, and an
extensive list of tasks and projects that we cannot complete with our
current human resources capacity.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia-l] คุณมีความสุขกับอะไรในสัปดาห์นี้? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 19 April 2020)

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,

Continued sympathies to those who are in challenging situations. Some
changes are under consideration for these emails for the purpose of
making them be more relatable to people who are in a wide variety of
circumstances. More information regarding possible changes may be
published in the next few weeks.


-- Quotes from Dinah Maria Craik --

* The English Wikiquote of the Day for 19 April 2020 was from English
author Dinah Maria Craik: "There never was night that had no morn."

* Related image of a sunrise at Akumal, Mexico:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunrise_Akumal.png

* A portrait of Craik:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dinah_Maria_Craik_(n%C3%A9e_Mulock)_by_Sir_Hubert_von_Herkomer.jpg

* Another quote from Craik: "I think, at any day throughout his long
reign, the King would sooner have lost his crown than have lost sight
of the Beautiful Mountains."

* Related image: the painting _Krishna. Spring in Kulu_, by Russian
artist and lawyer Nicholas Roerich (Никола́й Константи́нович Ре́рих),
circa 1930): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nicholas_Roerich_008.jpg.


-- Visiting the Thai Wikipedia and Thailand --

In the interest of featuring languages which have not previously
appeared in "What's making you happy this week?", I decided to visit
the Thai language Wikipedia. There I learned that Thailand has two
calendar systems. [1] [2] Also, I found images from
อุทยานแห่งชาติภูซาง, known in English as Phu Sang National Park [3]
[4] , which appears to be a place that I would enjoy visiting. One of
the photos of a waterfall was a finalist for Commons Picture of the
Year in 2017.

* Picture of a hot waterfall that is in the park, Namtok Phu Sang:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phayao_phu_sang_waterfall.jpg

* Picture of a boy in a waterfall at the park. This photo was a
finalist for Commons Picture of the Year in 2017:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PhuSangWTF_01.jpg

* The animals that are depicted below are members of species that are
found in Phu Sang National Park *

* Video of a black giant squirrel:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_giant_squirrel_(Malayan_giant_squirrel)%2C_Ratufa_bicolor_-_Kaeng_Krachan_National_Park.webm

* Picture of a red muntjac:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_Muntjac_(Muntiacus_muntjak_curvostylis)_(7109809349).jpg

* Picture of a Siamese hare:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Siamese_Hare,_Lepus_peguensis,_in_Kui_Buri_national_park.jpg

* Picture of a jungle cat:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jungle_Cat_on_tree_at_Sundarban,_West_Bengal,_India.jpg


-- Closing comments --

Translations of the subject line of this email would be appreciated on
Meta. [5] Thanks to User:Patsagorn Y. [6] for the Thai translation.

What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.


Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_calendar

[2] 
https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%8F%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A2

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phu_Sang_National_Park

[4] 
https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%AB%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%A0%E0%B8%B9%E0%B8%8B%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%87

[5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine/WMYHTW_translations

[6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Patsagorn_Y.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Early thoughts regarding a global code of conduct and a GCC committee

[Pine W]

Hi,

Thanks for the comments here. I'm busy with off-wiki activities today
and can't respond with as much specificity as I would wish. I request
that you copy these comments to the talk page on Meta for discussion
there.

Please keep in mind that this process is in the early stages. There
are probably months of discussions ahead regarding this and any
alternative proposals, and it is possible that in the end nothing will
change, but I think that there could be some benefits from my draft
proposal or one that is similar to it.

I'm aware that positions of power often attract the wrong kinds of
people, and I'm interested in proposals for how to make it likely that
any people who end up in power will have a public service mindset, not
be authoritarian or power-hungry, and will be competent.

Thanks,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Wikimedia Café - Sat 25 April 2020...

[Pine W]

Hi RhinosF1,

The Café previously has been held on weekday mornings (US Pacific
time). The schedule was moved to its current time after a suggestion
that more people from India would attend at the new time. The average
attendance has been significantly higher at the new time slot, so I
think that the current time is likely to remain constant. (The
majority of the participants have been from Europe and North America,
and we have had some participants from Africa and Asia, primarily
India.) I've suggested having an additional time slot for the Café
that is offset by 12 hours from the current time slot so that people
from other time zones can more participate and so that there would be
two Café meetups per month.

So far we are having one meetup per month, and I would want
Bluerasberry to agree to to two meetups per month before moving ahead
with that. Two possibilities are that Bluerasberry and I would not
both attend every Café session but at least one of us would be present
for each Café, and/or we would find someone who is experienced with
the Café's format to host a meetup without us. How does that sound to
you?

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 11:29 AM RhinosF1 -  wrote:
>
> Would it be possible to run one at an alternative time?
>
> Maybe on a weekday morning?
>
> Samuel
>
> On Wed, 22 Apr 2020 at 10:29, Lane Rasberry  wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > I am writing to invite anyone to join the next online meeting of Wikimedia
> > Café on Saturday 25 April 2020 4:30 PM UTC. Details for joining are at
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Café
> > > (video room open at that time) https://virginia.zoom.us/my/wikilgbt
> >
> > The agenda for this month includes discussing maps on Wikipedia and
> > Wikimedia community fundraising outside the Wikimedia Foundation.
> >
> > Wikimedia Café is a modest, one-hour, monthly online meeting which for the
> > past few months has had fewer than 10 attendees. At these meetings anyone
> > can propose to discuss any topic of broad Wikimedia community interest, as
> > if we all were able to meet in person over coffee. The meetings themselves
> > are an experiment in small group Wikimedia community conversation with
> > video chat, phone access options, and online shared notetaking. Please see
> > WikiProject Remote Event Participation for more information about this
> > general style of online event.
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiProject_remote_event_participation
> >
> >- Anyone interested in joining may do so.
> >- Anyone interested in reading notes of past meetings can find them on
> >the meta page.
> >- If there is anyone who wants to get their ideas published in the wiki
> >world, consider looking at how this Café works, because voice chat with
> >notetaking could be a way to organize your own wiki community.
> >
> > Thanks Pine for performing as host in this and thanks to anyone who submits
> > topics for discussion or who is able to join.
> >
> > --
> > Lane Rasberry
> > user:bluerasberry on Wikipedia
> > 206.801.0814
> > l...@bluerasberry.com
> > ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Early thoughts regarding a global code of conduct and a GCC committee

[Pine W]

Hello,

I have published a draft proposal at the bottom of
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct. Discussion
is welcome.

A difficult issue is how to support diversity of expressions and
opinions, even when those expressions or opinions may offend others,
while also supporting civility. At this point, I think that civility
policies are best left to local communities. However, I welcome
others' opinions, including alternate proposals.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Brand Project: Who are we as a movement?

[Pine W]

Hmm. As Deskana has pointed out in the past, painting everyone at WMF
with the same brush is problematic. It can demoralize people who do
good work.

At the same time, it's difficult to escape the conclusion that the
same problems occur at WMF year after year. As the saying goes, "The
more things change, the more they stay the same." I think that the WMF
Board is a part of the problem. In the meantime, the best that the
rest of us can do is to continue to make our opinions known and try to
be productive.

I'm reluctant to call for changes of individually identifiable staff
without knowing more about the facts of this situation. I simply don't
have enough information.

I'm not aware of any large organization which doesn't have recurring
problems. WMF is not unique in this regard. That's not an excuse, but
I think that it's also important to be realistic.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia-l] Що робить вас щасливими цього тижня? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 5 April 2020)

[Pine W]

* Preface *

Hello,

I regret that I need to start this email by communicating that
Clovermoss is on an unplanned absence. [1] I hoped that she would
return by now and that she would send this email.

I think that one WMYHTW thread is enough for one week, so I will not
start a thread for the week of 12 April.

The main content for this email is adapted from Clovermoss, and the
text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
Unported License. [2]


* Main content *

I realize that this week has been difficult for many around the world.
I have mentioned this in previous weeks, but I think it's vital to
express my sympathies each and every time. A pandemic like this has
global ramifications, and I think it's important to recognize that for
a lot of people, this week could have been one filled with hardship.
There are people who have been laid off from their jobs, parents who
are doing their best to take care of their children, students who have
had to start taking classes online, and an endless amount of other
unique situations.

This week, some important milestones have been reached across the
Wikimedia Movement. The Ukrainian Wikipedia [3] has reached the 1
million article milestone. That's a huge milestone to reach, so I wish
to congratulate everyone who contributes there! I asked Ата, an active
contributor to the Ukrainian Wikipedia, about how this milestone
affects the project. [4] I found her response insightful, and I am
thankful for it.

In addition, the The Wikimedia Community of the Kazakh language User
Group has officially been recognized by the Affiliations Commitee. For
more information, see [5] and [6].

I have also discovered inspiring off-wiki initiatives, such as the
Mozilla Open Source Support Team (abbreviated as MOSS) launching a
COVID-19 Solutions Fund. Awards of up to $50,000 are being offered to
open source technology projects. [7]


* Closing comments *

Translations of the subject line of this email would be appreciated on
Meta. [8] Thanks to User:Ата [9] for the Ukranian translation.

What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.


Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Clovermoss
[2] 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License
[3] https://uk.wikipedia.org/
[4] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:%D0%90%D1%82%D0%B0=prev=19952931
[5] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Resolutions/Recognition_of_Wikimedia_Community_of_Kazakh_language_User_Group
[6] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_of_Kazakh_language_User_Group
[7] 
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2020/03/31/moss-launches-covid-19-solutions-fund/
[8] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine/WMYHTW_translations
[9] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:%D0%90%D1%82%D0%B0

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[Wikimedia-l] Early thoughts regarding a global code of conduct and a GCC committee

[Pine W]

Hello,

This topic has been in the back of my mind for awhile. Occasionally it
comes up in conversations, and it has been discussed as part of the
2030 strategy process (see
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20).
I have a few early thoughts that I'd like to share.

I think that a global code of conduct, and a way to enforce it, could
be good in some limited but important circumstances:

(1) Where the governance of a Wikimedia project or another WMF conduct
review organization has allegedly been compromised so extensively that
removal of all of its administrators, functionaries, and/or other
authorities should be considered for the purpose of providing a
relatively "clean start" for reforming the affected domain's
governance, or a domain is allegedly becoming so anarchic that
peacekeeping from outsiders is necessary to restore order.

In none of these cases am I suggesting that outsiders should attempt
to get involved in content disputes or allegations of misconduct by a
small proportion of a site's administrators or functionaries.

By default, a global code of conduct committee should assume good
faith regarding local consensus and/or the actions of a local
arbitration committee, if they exist, and a global code of conduct
committee should by default assume that any local consensus decisions
and the decisions of a local arbitration committee are legitimate.
These default positions may be changed if there is significant
evidence suggesting that there should be a review of the situation by
outsiders.

(2) Where a steward, global sysop, Meta administrator, or other person
in a similarly "meta" online position has allegedly misused their
position, and other options have been exhausted or would involve
publicly revealing evidence for which there is a very strong reason
for privacy.

(3) Where the current Ombudsman Commission (see
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ombudsman_commission) has found fault
with actions that are under its authority to review and recommends
that individuals be sanctioned.

(4) In the circumstances where, presently, WMF asserts a global ban.

I would oppose the use of a global code of conduct or a global code of
conduct committee for:

(1) disputes which focus on one or a relatively small number of
individuals. A global code of conduct committee could easily be
overwhelmed by the number of cases, and I think that local
administrators and functionaries who have good knowledge of a
project's policies, guidelines, and language(s) are best placed to
address these disputes.

(2) content disputes.

(3) functioning as a thin layer of cover for WMF-driven actions or
acting as an extension of WMF.

(4) silencing debates or unwelcome opinions for the purpose of making
people feel safe. The Internet is not a safe place, and no amount of
heavy policing will effectively guarantee safety on a large scale.
Also, heavy policing can have the effects of stifling uncomfortable
debates and providing cover for incompetence and corruption. This is
not to say that we should accept people trying to bully newcomers or
publish political propaganda on content pages, but I think that these
issues are best resolved locally and the norms for them are best
created locally. In some cases, problems with content may be resolved
as a secondary effect of resolving problems with conduct.

Thoughts?

Ever onward,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia-l] 这个星期让您感到开心的是什么? / What’s making you happy this week (Week of 29 March 2020)

[Pine W]

* From Pine *

I would like to express gratitude to people who, instead of running
away from the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic [1], are "running toward
the fire", especially people who voluntarily accept personal risks.
This includes many health care workers and people who have other
public service roles including civil protection volunteers,
journalists, firefighters, security personnel, and people who provide
other essential services such as in food banks, homeless shelters,
nursery schools, public utilities, and transportation. I am thankful
for their courage and sacrifices. Also, I am thankful for the many
people who are sharing and publishing information for public benefit,
including on Wikimedia projects, the Internet Archive [2], and
OpenStreetMap [3].

Special thanks to User:Bdgzczy [4], who started the article on English
Wikipedia regarding the pandemic [5]; to User:Universehk [6], who
started the article on Chinese Wikipedia [7]; and to Chinese doctors
Ai Fen (艾芬) [8] and Li Wenliang (李文亮) [9], who gave other doctors
early warnings about the virus.


* Gallery of people helping people in the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic *
(Some of the descriptions are whole or partial copies or translations
of text or filenames on the description pages on Commons; please see
the Commons pages for the original descriptions and filenames.)

* A nurse measuring the body temperature of an outpatient in Hubei TCM
Hospital, Wuhan, China [10]
* A doctor wearing special protective suit for the Wuhan coronavirus
outbreak treats a patient in Hubei TCM Hospital, Wuhan, China [11]
* A Civil Protection volunteer measures the temperatures of people
before they enter Guglielmo Marconi Airport in Italy [12]
* New York National Guard Soldiers hand groceries to members of the
community at a food distribution point at Hope Community Services in
New Rochelle, United States [13]
* A worker disinfects an ambulance in Daegu, South Korea [14]
* A supply fence for the needy in Kiel during the COVID-19 pandemic in
Schleswig-Holstein, Germany [15]
* A sign that says "Keep Calm and Edit" with the Wikipedia logo [16]


* From Clovermoss *

Once again, I would like to express my sympathies. There are so many
people going through so much right now. It's difficult to write words
that can even begin to describe it all.

COVID-19 has impacted so many aspects of everyday life. Many people
are relying on Wikipedia for reliable and accurate information, and
the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic article receives more than a million
pageviews daily. As of the time of writing this, there are 597
articles within the scope of WikiProject COVID-19 [17]. There is an
article about the outbreak in 110 languages, which collectively have
received more than 34.9 million pageviews. [18] Editors from across
the world are collaborating together to make Wikipedia a better place,
and that is something I am incredibly thankful for.

I'm also thankful for all the people who are supporting others. The
everyday heroes of our world: healthcare workers, parents, caregivers,
volunteers, and countless others. Thank you for making the world a
better place.


* Concluding comments *

What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.

Additional translations of the subject line of this email would be
appreciated on Meta [19]. Thanks to User:94rain [20] for the Chinese
translation.

Clovermoss (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Clovermoss) and
Pine ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


* Links *

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_coronavirus_pandemic
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Archive
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenStreetMap
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Bdgzczy
[5] 
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2019%E2%80%9320_coronavirus_pandemic=934259284
[6] https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Universehk
[7] 
https://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2019%E5%86%A0%E7%8A%B6%E7%97%85%E6%AF%92%E7%97%85%E7%96%AB%E6%83%85=57527709
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai_Fen
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Wenliang
[10] 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_nurse_measuring_the_body_temperature_for_outpatients_in_Hubei_TCM_Hospital.jpg
[11] 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_doctor_wearing_special_protective_suit_for_the_Wuhan_coronavirus_outbreak_treat_patient_in_Hubei_TCM_Hospital,_Wuhan.jpg
[12] 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emergenza_coronavirus_(49496308758).jpg
[13] 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_York_National_Guard_(49675777971).jpg
[14] 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Brand Project: Who are we as a movement?

[Pine W]

Hello,

I heard indirectly that the rebranding work is being paused due to the
issues with COVID-19. Is anyone able to confirm this? I would be
relieved if WMF is pausing and will reconsider what it's doing with
regards to rebranding.

To reiterate a comment that I made previously, I am OK in principle
with having discussions about branding.

However, there are multiple reasons that I am unhappy with the current process.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Launch of Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal

[Pine W]

Hi Dumisani,

Thank you for the response.

My concern is mainly regarding the idea of WMF unilaterally making a
decision to implement protection of information or assets on Meta. The
distinction that I am making is between a request and a unilateral
action. If WMF thinks that there is a reason for protection of an
asset on Meta, and WMF makes a request to the Meta community or to a
Meta admin for that protection, and the request is granted by the
community or the Meta admin, then I'm likely to support both the
process and the outcome.

There have been some other inquiries and suggestions raised in this
thread by Tito Dutta, Lodewijk, and Mike Peel. I am hoping that you
will respond to them as well.

I took a brief look at the page
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Affiliates_Data_Portal and a
couple of the subpages, and at first glance I think that the design is
good. My guess is that as affiliates gain experience with using the
portal that there will be some detailed feedback. Perhaps you could
create a brief survey to ask affiliates what they think of the portal
and for any suggestions.

Thanks,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Launch of Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal

[Pine W]

Hello Dumisani ,

I would like to remind you of the questions in this thread, although I
understand that there may be some delays in getting responses due to
the issues with Covid-19.

I have not looked into the new portal and I don't have an opinion
about it, but I hope that affiliates will find it to be an
improvement.

I have one point that I would like to make. Protection of a page is an
administrative action, and I do not believe that any WMF staff should
make content administrative actions on Meta unless under exceptional
circumstances such as a legal mandate. If WMF wants a page on Meta to
be protected, then WMF should make a request to a community
administrator for page protection, which the administrator may
independently decide whether to grant. If WMF wants more control over
content, then a more appropriate venue for affiliate reports would be
one of the WMF wikis instead of a (mostly) community wiki. I feel that
it is important that WMF staff not encroach on the jurisdiction of the
community such as by making administrative actions, however small,
that can and should be done instead by community administrators.

Thanks,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Places for cross-project and multilingual coordination for Covoid-19 related topics

[Pine W]

* Covid-19. It helps if I'm not trying to do multiple things at once.
Sorry about that.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 8:37 PM Pine W  wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I'd like to suggest a few places where people can do cross-project and
> multilingual coordination for Covoid-19 related topics.
>
> * The Wikimedia Medicine mailing list:
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-medicine
>
> * On Meta: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/COVID-19. This page appears
> to be a work in progress that was started by WMF. Both the "main page"
> and the talk page could be useful there, and people can set up
> subpages.
>
> * There may also be some discussions on Commons on Wikidata which will
> affect multiple projects, such as for maps.
>
> Some people may have additional suggestions.
>
> Ever onward,
>
> Pine
> ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia-l] Places for cross-project and multilingual coordination for Covoid-19 related topics

[Pine W]

Hello,

I'd like to suggest a few places where people can do cross-project and
multilingual coordination for Covoid-19 related topics.

* The Wikimedia Medicine mailing list:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-medicine

* On Meta: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/COVID-19. This page appears
to be a work in progress that was started by WMF. Both the "main page"
and the talk page could be useful there, and people can set up
subpages.

* There may also be some discussions on Commons on Wikidata which will
affect multiple projects, such as for maps.

Some people may have additional suggestions.

Ever onward,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia-l] Waar word jij blij van deze week? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 15 March 2020)

[Pine W]

== Preface ==

Mindful of the ongoing 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic [1], the tone of
this week's email is more somber than some emails of the past. Let us
hope that public health actions being taken in many places throughout
the world are effective at "flattening the curve" [2], so that health
care systems are able to manage the peak number of people who are
simultaneously in need of health services.


Images:

* [3] World Health Organization representatives meet with Tehran city
administrators
* [4] "The goals of community mitigation: (1) delay outbreak peak; (2)
decompress peak burden on healthcare, known as flattening the curve;
and (3) diminish overall cases and health impact." [5]


== Project milestone ==

Dutch Wikipedia has reached the 2,000,000 article milestone. [6]


== More good press for English Wikipedia from "Wired" ==

* "On Wikipedia, a fight is raging over coronavirus disinformation",
published on 9 February 2020 [7]
* "How Wikipedia Prevents the Spread of Coronavirus Misinformation",
published on 15 March 2020 [8]

A couple of quotes from the latter article:

"Heilman noted that Wikipedia has a structural advantage over the big
social networks: 'It takes more time and effort to disrupt Wikipedia
than it does to restore Wikipedia to a reliable level. It’s the exact
opposite on Twitter and Facebook, where it takes a second to spread
false news,' while getting those lies removed will take a lot of time
and effort."

"I spoke this week with the Wikipedia editor who guided the article
about the new coronavirus from a one-sentence item in early January to
a substantial article with charts of infections around the world. She
goes by the handle Whispyhistory, and is a doctor in South London...
The picture she paints of the project’s contributors is akin to the
staff of a demanding teaching hospital."


== Recognitions from the Affiliations Committee ==

* Myanmar Wikimedia Community User Group [9]
* Wikigrannies User Group [10]
* Wikimedia Community User Group CEE Spring [11]
* Wikimedians for Sustainable Development [12]
* Wikimedians of Turkic Languages User Group [13]
* Wikimedians of United Arab Emirates User Group [14]


== Closing comments ==
What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any language.
You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.

Additional translations of the subject line of this email would be
appreciated on Meta at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine/WMYHTW_translations. Thanks
to User:Ciell [15] for the Dutch translation.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


== Links ==
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_coronavirus_pandemic
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic#Management
[3] 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:13981214000744637189356214810969_%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B3%D8%AA_%D9%85%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%B1%DB%8C_%D8%A8%D8%A7_%D9%86%D9%85%D8%A7%DB%8C%D9%86%D8%AF%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%B2%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B4%D8%AA_%D8%AC%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C.jpg
[4] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Community_mitigation_(cropped).jpg
[5] Caption copied from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_coronavirus_pandemic;
see that page's history for attribution
[6] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoofdpagina
[7] https://www.wired.co.uk/article/wikipedia-coronavirus
[8] 
https://www.wired.com/story/how-wikipedia-prevents-spread-coronavirus-misinformation/
[9] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Myanmar_Wikimedia_Community_User_Group
[10] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikigrannies_User_Group
[11] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_CEE_Spring
[12] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_for_Sustainable_Development
[13] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Turkic_Languages_User_Group
[14] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Turkic_Languages_User_Group
[15] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ciell

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] WikiProject COVID-19 (English Wikipedia) is started

[Pine W]

Hello,

May I suggest that the discussion regarding the name take place
somewhere other than Wikimedia-l? I think that a talk page of one of
the relevant articles on English Wikipedia, a WikiProject Medicine
talk page, or the WikiProject Medicine Mailing List, would all be
reasonable venues.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Brand Project: Who are we as a movement?

[Pine W]

Although Mike and I have differences of opinion about centralizing on
the "Wikipedia" brand, one way in which I agree with Mike is that
there are ways to have branding discussions that are not themselves
controversial. Even if consensus was not reached, I for one would be
more accepting of the process.

Some departments in WMF seem to be more on board with regards to
process than others. In particular, I think that Audiences these days
generally does a good job, and also I like Tech News.

Outside of WMF, the Wikidata team at WMDE produces very informative
newsletters each week. They seem to do good work without spending
money on outside consultants.

So, why all of these issues in WMF Communications? I don't get it.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Brand Project: Who are we as a movement?

[Pine W]

Hello,

First, a disclaimer that these comments aren't directed personally at
you, Essie.

Even if money was unlimited, I thought that Snøhetta deserved the
community's trust, and I felt that WMF was a good steward of resources
(all of which are questionable), I don't think that this project is a
good idea. Wikidata is an increasingly important component of the
Wikiverse, and there are a some problems with WMF rebranding itself as
the Wikipedia Foundation including the risk to the communities and
affiliates from WMF's political adventures, governance problems, and
occasional high profile clashes with the community. I don't think that
the costs or the risks here make sense, I wouldn't involve Snøhetta
given its apparent block evasion on English Wikipedia, and I've been
unimpressed with WMF's handling of this process during the past few
months.

I am fine with discussions about branding, but not with this program
in its current form.

Given the choice, I would freeze this project and spending associated
with it pending a Meta RfC regarding the community's view on whether
this project should continue. If the community wants a branding
project to continue, I would let the community decide on the project's
parameters and budget, and what if any consultant should be involved.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia-l] Catalog of Wikimedia video or interactive tutorials

[Pine W]

Hello,

Some time ago, I started to gather information regarding existing and
planned tutorials for Wikimedia which are in a video or interactive format.
Initially this information was on Meta in a place which was difficult to
find. I moved the content to
https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/NavWiki/External_Resources. I hope that
this will be a helpful starting place for anyone who is looking for
existing or planned tutorial resources. Also, if someone creates or updates
a tutorial, I hope that they will update the information on that page.

The tutorials may cover topics for Wikipedia, Wikidata, and other Wikimedia
projects.

Currently, resources are listed which are in German, Spanish, Serbian,
Hebrew, and English. Also, I believe that the Arabic language tutorials
which are currently listed in the section for unfinished resources have
been completed, and I am planning to reach out to request an update
regarding the status of those resources.

Ever onward,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] ¿Qué te está haciendo feliz esta semana? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 1 March 2020)

[Pine W]

Hello,

* Preface *

"What's making you happy this week?" is returning after an unplanned
pause that was due to off-wiki events. User:Clovermoss and I agreed
that we will try to alternate weeks writing this publication.

I hope that this email, now in plain text format, is easier to read
than previous WMYHTW emails were.

* Main content *

The Commons Picture of the Day for 1 March 2020 is of a hermitage [1],
named "Ermita del Santo Cristo de Miranda" [2][3], which is located in
Spain. I think that everyone should sometimes get a break for personal
refreshment, such as by curling up in a chair with a book, going on a
vacation or retreat, or pursuing a hobby.

A hobby that I enjoy is music. Here is a video clip from "Star Trek:
Voyager" in which the ship's doctor and the character Seven of Nine
sing a duet. This happens during a story line in which the Doctor
gives Seven advice regarding romance. They sing an American English
folk song, "You are my Sunshine":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGpLrGOEI3Y.

* Closing comments *

What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.

Additional translations of the subject line of this email would be
appreciated on Meta at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine/WMYHTW_translations. Thanks
to User:Superzerocool [4] for the Spanish translation.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

[1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hermitage
[2] 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ermita_de_Santo_Cristo_de_Miranda,_Santa_Mar%C3%ADa_de_las_Hoyas,_Soria,_Espa%C3%B1a,_2017-05-26,_DD_65.jpg
[3] https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ermita_del_Santo_Cristo_de_Miranda
[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Superzerocool

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Treatment of newbies with mild CoI

[Pine W]

Perhaps of interest to participants in this discussion:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-03-01/Opinion,
titled "Wikipedia is another country", by User:Gog the Mild
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Gog_the_Mild).

I'll quote two paragraph of this essay here. (For the license for this
text, see 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License.)

"Which brings me back to psychological preparedness. I was not
accustomed to being the new member of an established group and the
slow kid at the back of the class at the same time. Relying on the
charity of others to metaphorically tie my shoelaces. It grated. This
was entirely my own, fairly reasonable (I think), issue. Nor was I
prepared for the casual offhandedness which is fairly common. Recently
I suffered a mass revert with the edit summary "Learn some
intellectual property law". This bluntness rankled. It was my issue
rather than the reverting editor's, but that didn't help reduce the
rankle. Since discovering MilHist I have stumbled around in this small
corner of Wikipedia, occasionally bumping into helpful tools which I
endeavour to clutch close.

"The near complete lack of usable guides – IMO – to the basics is
heavily compensated by the, usually, enormous willingness of complete
strangers to spend time and effort correcting my idiocies, reducing my
ignorance and remembering that they too were newbies once. Members of
the Military History Project have collegially made the project a
comfortable place to work in such a natural, even graceful, way that
what they have achieved seems normal."

My guess is that many good novice users quit after encountering
interpersonal, procedural, or technical problems which they don't know
how to resolve, or exceed their tolerances. I think that English
Wikipedia's Teahouse has been successful with addressing some of these
issues, but as Gog the Mild notes, we could do more.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] SEEKING A WIKIPEDIAN IN RESIDENCE! (U.S.)

[Pine W]

Community norms here include not using all caps in subject lines.
There isn't a rule that says not to use them, but I can't recall ever
seeing them here, and I don't want anyone to start. This is not CNN,
Fox News, or Facebook.

I'm accepting of people sending emails here that are somewhat
subject-specific or location-specific when the volume of those emails
is modest and people seem to understand that many such emails are
often more appropriate for lists with more specific focuses, such as
WikimediaUS-l or the GLAM list. If there becomes a problem with this
list being used too extensively for emails with specific focuses that
are not of wide interest to the subscribers of this list, we can
address that when the time comes.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

On Thu, Feb 27, 2020 at 11:28 PM Robert Fernandez
 wrote:
>
> As a long time on and off subscriber to this list for many years, I want to
> say that I do find posts about jobs like this very useful, unlike posts
> complaining about capitalization and geography.  It is informative and
> exciting to find out where Wikipedia projects are making in-roads, and what
> better place to find an experienced job candidate who will respect
> community norms and policies while editing on behalf of an employer.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 26, 2020 at 12:40 PM Jake Orlowitz  wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Annual Reviews, an independent, nonprofit scholarly research publisher,
> > seeks an enthusiastic Wikipedian-in-Residence (WIR).
> >
> > The aim of this role is to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of the sciences by
> > citing expert articles from Annual Reviews’ journals. The WIR will engage
> > with Wikipedia editors across life, biomedical, physical, and social
> > science articles and WikiProjects to help ensure responsible and valuable
> > expansion of content.
> >
> > This is a temporary position for 10 hours/week, paid at $30/hour USD, and
> > is anticipated to last for up to 1 year. This position can only be based
> > remotely from the following states: CA, OR, OH, NV, NC, WA, WI, CO, MA, PA,
> > NY, HI, or MT.
> >
> > PLEASE APPLY!
> > https://annualreviewsnews.org/2020/02/25/seeking-a-wikipedian-in-residence/
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Jake Orlowitz
> > *Founder of The Wikipedia Library*
> > *Seeker of well people and sane societies*
> >   kickstarter: bit.ly/CircleKickstarter
> >   me: jakeorlowitz.com
> >   mail: jorlow...@gmail.com
> >   media: @jakeorlowitz 
> >   book: welcometothecircle.net
> > ___
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> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > 
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> 

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Update on Wikimedia site and system outages

[Pine W]

Hello,

A gentle reminder that four months have passed since the last update
to this thread from WMF regarding the September DDoS incident. When
will an incident report be published, or has a decision been made not
to publish a report?

Thanks,
Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )



On Mon, Oct 28, 2019 at 3:20 AM Heather Walls  wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> We hope to have something for you in the next few weeks.
>
> Regards,
> Heather
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 21, 2019 at 2:13 PM Benjamin Ikuta 
> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > I am also curious about this.
> >
> >
> >
> > > On Oct 20, 2019, at 2:55 PM, RhinosF1 -  wrote:
> > >
> > > Any idea of when an incident report may come out?
> > >
> > > RhinosF1
> > > Wikimedia User & Incident Reporter
> > >
> > > On Fri, 20 Sep 2019 at 00:29, Heather Walls 
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Hello again,
> > >>
> > >> As a follow-up to my last note on the September 6th DDoS attack, we
> > wanted
> > >> to provide you with an update. There have been no further attacks in the
> > >> last week and our sites are now running normally. Our SRE team is
> > >> continuing to monitor the situation.
> > >>
> > >> Based on what we learned in this attack, our security and engineering
> > teams
> > >> are researching and putting together plans for more protection of our
> > >> infrastructure to address any potential attacks in the future.
> > >>
> > >> We appreciate everyone’s support, particularly the folks on the SRE
> > team,
> > >> in helping to restore access.
> > >>
> > >> Yours,
> > >> Heather
> > >>
> > >> On Sat, Sep 7, 2019 at 4:25 PM Heather Walls 
> > wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> Hello everyone,
> > >>>
> > >>> By now you are likely aware that the Wikimedia sites suffered from a
> > >>> relatively significant botnet driven DDOS attack on September 6th,
> > taking
> > >>> them offline in several countries throughout the day. This primarily
> > >>> affected Wikipedia access in Europe and the Middle East. We posted a
> > >> short
> > >>> update of the event on our website.[1]
> > >>>
> > >>> I would like to thank everyone who stepped up to support the
> > restoration
> > >>> of our projects, including the fast reporting of community members
> > >>> throughout the world and our security and engineering teams who worked
> > >> long
> > >>> hours to address many complex issues surrounding the attack and our
> > >>> response—the Site Reliability Engineering team in particular.
> > >>>
> > >>> The Wikimedia Foundation leadership team is proud to work with such
> > >>> talented and dedicated staff and supporters.
> > >>>
> > >>> Yours,
> > >>> Heather
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> 1.
> > >>>
> > >>
> > https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2019/09/07/malicious-attack-on-wikipedia-what-we-know-and-what-were-doing/
> > >>>
> > >>> "Today, Wikipedia was hit with a malicious attack that has taken it
> > >>> offline in several countries for intermittent periods. The attack is
> > >>> ongoing and our Site Reliability Engineering team is working hard to
> > stop
> > >>> it and restore access to the site.
> > >>>
> > >>> As one of the world’s most popular sites, Wikipedia sometimes attracts
> > >>> “bad faith” actors. Along with the rest of the web, we operate in an
> > >>> increasingly sophisticated and complex environment where threats are
> > >>> continuously evolving. Because of this, the Wikimedia communities and
> > >>> Wikimedia Foundation have created dedicated systems and staff to
> > >> regularly
> > >>> monitor and address risks. If a problem occurs, we learn, we improve,
> > and
> > >>> we prepare to be better for next time.
> > >>>
> > >>> We condemn these sorts of attacks. They’re not just about taking
> > >> Wikipedia
> > >>> offline. Takedown attacks threaten everyone’s fundamental rights to
> > >> freely
> > >>> access and share information. We in the Wikimedia movement and
> > Foundation
> > >>> are committed to protecting these rights for everyone.
> > >>>
> > >>> Right now, we’re continuing to work to restore access wherever you
> > might
> > >>> be reading Wikipedia in the world. We’ll keep you posted."
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> --
> > >>>
> > >>> Heather Walls (she/her)
> > >>>
> > >>> Chief Creative Officer
> > >>> Wikimedia Foundation
> > >>> https://wikimediafoundation.org
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >>
> > >> Heather Walls (she/her)
> > >>
> > >> Chief Creative Officer
> > >>
> > >> Wikimedia Foundation 
> > >> ___
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> > >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > >> 
> > > ___
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> > 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] SEEKING A WIKIPEDIAN IN RESIDENCE! (U.S.)

[Pine W]

Hi Jake,

Thanks for the news. I am glad that there will be another opportunity
for a Wikimedian in Residence.

However, I request that none of us use all caps in subjects on the
mailing lists, and that we be very limited in our use of tags such as
"important". There is a large volume of information that comes through
email, and threads that seem important to one subset of people may not
be important to other subsets of people. Two tags that I'm somewhat
okay with are (1) "time sensitive", although in practice what I often
find that "time sensitive" means is "I, the sender, am late in sending
this email and am requesting that other people hurry because I am
late", and (2) "breaking change", which I occasionally see on
technical mailing lists.

I hope that this makes sense.

Thank you,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Treatment of newbies with mild CoI

[Pine W]

I have a more nuanced view.

The community benefits from new editors who are acting in good faith
and willing to learn.

I agree that treatment of new editors can be problematic.

On the other hand, having become one of the "insiders", I now
understand how English Wikipedia has a limited supply of skilled labor
from volunteers who are trying to defend Wikipedia against vandals,
conflict of interest editors, copyright violations, and other
problems.

There is a WMF team working to improve the onboarding experience. I'm
cc'ing Marshal Miller (WMF) here in case he would like to comment.

Pine
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[Wikimedia-l] Fwd: [Wikitech-l] [Wikimedia Technical Talks] Data and Decision Science at Wikimedia with Kate Zimmerman, 26 February 2020 @ 6PM UTC

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,

I'm forwarding this announcement to additional email lists.

Most public WMF meetings that are livestreamed on Youtube remain
available for replay after the meeting, and I'm guessing that this one
will be also.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


-- Forwarded message -
From: Srishti Sethi 
Date: Mon, Feb 24, 2020 at 8:59 PM
Subject: Re: [Wikitech-l] [Wikimedia Technical Talks] Data and
Decision Science at Wikimedia with Kate Zimmerman, 26 February 2020 @
6PM UTC
To: Wikimedia developers 


Hello folks,

Just a reminder that this talk will take place Wednesday 26 February 2020
at 6 PM UTC.

Hope to see you there!

Cheers,
Srishti
*Srishti Sethi*
Developer Advocate
Wikimedia Foundation 



On Tue, Feb 18, 2020 at 2:57 PM Sarah R  wrote:

> Hello Everyone,
>
> It's time for Wikimedia Tech Talks 2020 Episode 1! This talk will take
> place on *26 February 2020 at 6 PM UTC*.
>
> This month's talk will be in an interview format. You are invited to send
> questions ahead of time by replying to this email, or you can ask during Q
> & A section of the live talk by asking through IRC or the Youtube
> Livestream.
>
> Title: Data and Decision Science at Wikimedia
>
> Speaker:  Kate Zimmerman,  Head of Product Analytics at Wikimedia
>
> Summary:
>
> How do teams at the Foundation use data to inform decisions?
>
> Sarah R. Rodlund talks with Kate Zimmerman, Head of Product Analytics at
> Wikimedia, about what sorts of data her team uses and how insights from
> their analysis have shaped product decisions.
>
> Kate Zimmerman holds an MS in Psychology & Behavioral Decision Research
> from Carnegie Mellon University and has over 15 years of experience in
> quantitative and experimental methods. Before joining Wikimedia, she built
> data teams from scratch at ModCloth and SmugMug, evolving their data
> capabilities from basic reports to strategic analysis, automated
> dashboards, and advanced modeling.
>
> The link to the Youtube Livestream can be found here:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-CRsiwYM9w
>
> During the live talk, you are invited to join the discussion on IRC at
> #wikimedia-office
>
> You can watch past Tech Talks here:
> https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Tech_talks
>
> If you are interested in giving your own tech talk, you can learn more
> here:
>
> https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Project:Calendar/How_to_schedule_an_event#Tech_talks
>
> Note: This is a public talk. Feel free to distribute through appropriate
> email and social channels!
>
> Many kindnesses,
>
> Sarah R. Rodlund
> Technical Writer, Developer Advocacy
> srodl...@wikimedia.org
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: Last chance to review the recommendations, next steps

[Pine W]

I'm fine with people having some private discussions. The more formal
the discussion is, and the more public the implications of the
discussions are, then the more I think that the discussions should be
public with the exception of discussions involving information which
there is a strong reason to keep confidential such as certain types of
banking information or information which would de-anonymize an
individual good faith contributor to the Wikimedia projects who has
not consented to having their identity published. Binding policy
decisions which are mare through RfCs should have the final RfCs be
public, although private discussions about the RfCs are fine so long
as they don't involve canvassing or meatpuppetry.

I'm fine with what Nicole's publication of the video in its current
form, and I'm thankful that we got the video at all. She wasn't
required to publish any of it, although I think that publishing it was
a good idea and is beneficial.

There are legal issues involved with recording people without their
knowledge, and these laws vary by jurisdiction. I generally don't
encourage people to record video and/or audio of meetings without the
knowledge of everyone who is participating, especially if they have
not researched the relevant local laws. As a courtesy, even if
recording video and/or audio of people without their knowledge is
legally allowed, I usually encourage notification of people who will
be recorded and giving them a chance to opt out.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: Last chance to review the recommendations, next steps

[Pine W]

Hello,

A brief note to say thanks to Mehrdad and Rupika for their support of
the January and/or February Wikimedia Café events. Also, thanks to
volunteers who have been involved in the strategy process for their
participation, thanks to User:Fuzheado for the one page summary of the
strategy recommendations, and thanks to Nicole for the updates in the
February 14th email.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia-l] Reminder: Wikimedia Café online meeting for February 2020 with focus on the 2030 strategy

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,

This is a reminder that this month's Wikimedia Café will start
approximately 48 hours from now.

--

Hello colleagues,

The February 2020 Wikimedia Café meetup will occur on 15 February 2020
at 8:30 AM PST / 11:30 AM EST / 4:30 PM UTC / 10 PM IST. The date is
earlier than usual in the month due to scheduling constraints.

This month's meetup will focus on the 2030 strategy recommendations,
and will be divided into two discussions of one hour each.

More information regarding the agenda and links to strategy documents
are available at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Café.

As usual, the meeting style for the Café will emphasize discussion
rather than presentation. People are welcome to participate as
listeners only if they prefer.

Please see the page on Meta for more information about the Café.
Please watch the page for any updates, particularly to the schedule or
the agenda. Signing up for the meeting is optional, but is helpful to
the organizers so that we can estimate how many people will attend.
Signing up for the meeting also informs us who we should notify
individually if there are significant changes.

If there are any problems with connecting to the meeting or if you
have any questions or comments then please write on the Meta talk
page.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: Recommendations and community conversations launching next week

[Pine W]

I've been reading sections of the strategy document with a couple of
thoughts in mind.

* The relatively decentralized nature of the community makes
negotiations challenging, both within the community and between the
community and WMF.

* Clashes between the community and WMF are usually lose-lose
situations. Even for the side that eventually comes out on top, I
think that there is a lot of stress, a lot of time lost, a lot of
damage to assumptions of good faith, and a lot of unhappiness.

In my brief search of the strategy document:

* I think that the quality of the strategy document is more uniform
than the quality of the working group draft recommendations, and the
document is generally readable. Thanks very much to the people who
contributed time and effort to produce a generally coherent document
that can be used as a basis for discussions.

* I have seen some descriptions of problems that I think are generally good.

* I have not seen proposals that I think are likely to result in
significantly improved relations between the community and WMF. There
is some discussion of improving the efficiency of global discussions,
but that would be difficult to do and is a separate issue from
improving relations between the community and WMF.

* There are multiple calls for changes that would cost many thousands
of hours of volunteers' time to design, even assuming that there was
consensus that the changes should be made. I think that the ambition
here is unwise.

* There are some proposals which are unlikely to get consensus. Even
assuming that there is consensus in principle, getting consensus on
implementation would be difficult.

The best way forward, I think, would be to have the community as a
whole and individual wiki communities adopt portions of the
recommendations as they think best. There may be a few proposals which
the community is willing to adopt globally through requests for
comment on Meta. Proposals which are not adopted globally may be
adopted by local consensus so long as they do not conflict with global
policy.

The WMF Board may want to adopt portions of the document for WMF's
use. At this point, I would encourage WMF instead to wait to see what
the community does with the recommendations. When the community
decides to move forward with portions of the recommendations globally
and/or locally, WMF can then offer to support those initiatives in
ways that have community consensus. Patience will be required, but I
think that this path will lead to the most harmonious and sustained
progress. The alternatives involve more opportunities for chaos,
frustration, and WMF-community conflict; please, let's not go there.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Café online meeting for January 2020 with focus on the 2030 strategy

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,

The February 2020 Wikimedia Café meetup will occur on 15 February 2020
at 8:30 AM PST / 11:30 AM EST / 4:30 PM UTC / 10 PM IST. The date is
earlier than usual in the month due to scheduling constraints.

This month's meetup will focus on the 2030 strategy recommendations,
and will be divided into two discussions of one hour each.

More information regarding the agenda and links to strategy documents
are available at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Café.

As usual, the meeting style for the Café will emphasize discussion
rather than presentation. People are welcome to participate as
listeners only if they prefer.

Please see the page on Meta for more information about the Café.
Please watch the page for any updates, particularly to the schedule or
the agenda. Signing up for the meeting is optional, but is helpful to
the organizers so that we can estimate how many people will attend.
Signing up for the meeting also informs us who we should notify
individually if there are significant changes.

If there are any problems with connecting to the meeting or if you
have any questions or comments then please write on the Meta talk
page.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: Recommendations and community conversations launching next week

[Pine W]

Hi Dan,

I think that there are a couple of lines of thought here. I think that
we should make a distinction between individuals and the institution
of WMF.

For the former, I think that you make a good point. Along the same
lines, there were probably people who worked at WMF at the time and
had no involvement in the decisions regarding Superprotect, or may
have done internal advocacy against it.

For the latter, the institution of WMF remains, and so does the
loosely defined organization which I call "the community". WMF's
actions in 2019 with regards to English Wikipedia's governance had
some disturbing parallels with Superprotect.

An issue to which I've been giving increasing thought recently is the
distinction between an individual WMF employee/contractor and WMF as
an institution. I especially try to be mindful of this distinction
when employees communicate in public and say that they are
communicating individually, that is, not in a WMF role. They take some
personal risk in doing this, and I usually think that their comments
which are made in their personal capacities are constructive and made
in good faith. The same goes for WMF employees who volunteer for
projects such as Commons photo campaigns or in the strategy process
outside of their work hours. Where the situation becomes more complex
is when WMF employees are participating in what appear to be their
normal staff roles. Sometimes a decision that is made by one person in
the organization in their staff role will not be a decision that other
people in the organization would have made in the same way, but when
someone uses a staff account then I generally attribute their actions
to their employer.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Snøhetta and Wikimedia

[Pine W]

Hello,

I have waited to return to this thread until I could clear enough
space in my mind to try to address it thoroughly. Apologies for the
delay. I will try to address multiple topics in one email.

I think that the Wikipedia brand is, in a way, the brand of the
community. WMF is the steward of the brand, and should not use the
brand in ways which the community has not authorized by consensus.

There was a previous mailing discussion on Wikimedia-l in September
2019. I would have expected an update after that discussion if WMF was
considering moving ahead with rebranding itself. An email announcing
that the matter was being reviewed by the Board, and/or that WMF was
starting an RfC, would have been fine. Community consultations or an
RfC could have taken place at that time without using outside
contractor.

I don't appreciate being surprised. Given that the focus of this
effort in WMF is inside of its Communications Department, I think that
staff should be especially proactive in communicating what they are
doing with regards to major initiatives, and prior to engaging in a
contracting process with donors' funds.

Staff appear not to have addressed, at least in public on English
Wikipedia, the sockpuppeting allegations with regards to Snøhetta. [1]
[2].

Also worth noting is the RfC, which was previously mentioned in this
thread: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/Should_the_Foundation_call_itself_Wikipedia.
The current count as of the time of my writing this email is 26
support and 292 oppose.

This series of events should have been handled differently. Nobody is
perfect, but there are problems here that appear to be more
significant than a simple one time failure to communicate on an issue
of moderate importance.

One oversight that I made in my earlier email, and which I will
correct with an apology for not stating this earlier (I too can be
wrong), is that problems in this series of events could include
decisions that were made by the WMF Board. However, without access to
WMF's internal communications, it is impossible to know how this
series of events happened.

I am not advocating adding stress to people who do good work, or
people who have so much work that they can't realistically handle
everything that they're told to do. It is possible that staff are
simply overworked. However, while I don't enjoy writing about this
topic, sometimes changing personnel is for the best. This happens in
government organizations and companies, and I imagine happens on
occasion in WMF, although often in private. Also, in WMF and in
affiliate boards, sometimes board members are replaced as a result of
elections. In the community, we occasionally revoke people's
permissions or block people in public, and here too people sometimes
are replaced as a result of elections. I realize that this is a topic
that can be stressful, but I think that candor is appropriate. I feel
rooted in the English Wikipedia community and I think that what I say
in this paragraph is consistent with how our community works, and is
consistent with how I see government agencies sometimes work in the
United States. At the same time (and I wish that I said this in my
previous email) the point isn't to have a culture where people should
be fearful on a daily basis. I would hope that generally things go OK
for people, and that one time mistakes which are easily reversed don't
result in someone feeling fearful. What is more concerning is a
pattern of problems, or an error that results in a single major
problem that is difficult to reverse.

I personally have made considerable efforts during my personal time to
try to address what I heard was widespread fear among WMF staff about
communicating in public, and that interest continues. A "culture of
fear" can limit communication and erodes trust. At the same time, I
think that the WMF Board and staff should communicate proactively
about initiatives and decisions with significant implications.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Sn%C3%B8hettaAS
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Leilaoes

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcement of the 2020 Ombuds Commission

[Pine W]

Hello Aron,

First, a few disclaimers. I don't speak for Karen or the Ombuds, but
I've briefly looked at your case. I don't have access to the
information that ENWP Arbcom has, and I generally assume that ENWP
Arbcom is competent and acts in good faith.

In general, there is a problem with backlogs. The community does not
have sufficient human resources to keep up with needs and wants for
numerous services. Also, volunteers can come and go as we wish,
although many of us try to be somewhat reliable. There have also been
backlogs at WMF, such as for requests in the Rapid Grants program and
requests for fixes to technical issues.

My impression from the public reports is that the Ombuds Commission
often moves slowly. I understand why you raise the issue here, and I
think some additional transparency from the Ombuds Commission
regarding the status of cases would be good when updates can be
provided in a way that preserves confidentiality of nonpublic
information. Two things that the Ombuds Commission could do are
publish monthly status updates that give a high level overview of its
activities, and provide individual monthly status updates in private
to everyone who has referred a case to them.

If the Ombuds Commission eventually decides in your favor, there may
need to be some other issues resolved before your ENWP block would be
lifted.

I encourage you to focus your time elsewhere while your case slowly
moves along. If you have a track record of constructive editing on
non-ENWP wikis, I think that this would be beneficial to your case if
ENWP Arbcom or other people on ENWP decide to reconsider the block
there. Also, you might find that focusing elsewhere decreases your
stress level.

I hope that this information is helpful.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia-l] HTML formatting of emails for Wikimedia-l

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,

I didn't think about this, but apparently Wikimedia-l removes HTML
formatting from emails. For a long time, probably years, emails that I
thought were being forwarded from Wikimedia-l to your email accounts
with HTML formatting were not. This includes the WMYHTW emails. I
apologize for this. I hope that this explains why you may have
received some emails that were difficult to read. I am discussing with
Clovermoss how we can do formatting for WMYHTW emails in plain text
from now on.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Cross-project promotion of Nordicism and white supremacist racial myths

[Pine W]

I hope that Wikiverse projects don't accidentally or intentionally promote
unscientific theories, including those regarding race. I would like to
think that we know better.

However, there is a history in our world of people experiencing prejudice
or being persecuted for race. This is a sad element of history and an
ongoing problem in the world. Regrettably, it would be surprising if there
were not some problems with these issues in the Wikiverse.

There has been at least one arbitration case on English Wikipedia regarding
issues of race, and there have been issues raised on Meta and on this
mailing list regarding what sound like well-founded allegations of bias (in
more than one form) on a few smaller wikis. I think that one of these cases
resulted in at least one local administrator being demoted. I don't have
time now to look into the current and historical details of these cases,
but I know that they've happened.

I don't know what next steps to recommend, but I think that it's important
to acknowledge the issues. I think that the scientific mindset that many
Wikimedians have is helpful in limiting bias. In a regrettable circumstance
where one or more of our colleagues show signs of racial prejudice, that is
an issue that I hope would be addressed, whether through informal
conversations (a person may have said something that came across as having
a meaning that was different than what they intended), or more formally by
local communities or if necessary on Meta. I hope that these incidents are
rare, but they do happen.

Pine
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: Recommendations and community conversations launching next week

[Pine W]

Hi Aron,

I should be careful not to paint everyone with the same brush.

I have great respect for WMF's mission. It would be difficult to have
adequate legal support and technical infrastructure for Wikimedia projects
without one or more organizations providing formal and ongoing support.

WMF as an institution is something that I should distinguish from
individuals who work for WMF, or individuals who are on the WMF Board. I
think that there are some people at WMF who do excellent work. While I
don't want to name them here, there are numerous employees who I think go
above and beyond the call of duty to support the community and WMF's
mission.

Also, I should point out that Leila is a different from Lila. (In the past,
I owed Leila money for misspelling her name.)

However, all is not well. I don't enjoy the periodic clashes that happen
between the community and WMF.

Here are a couple of arguments from WMF in favor of SuperProtect, which was
implemented to prevent local users from removing MediaViewer. I don't know
that these same arguments would be made today, but WMF's statements
regarding its unwelcome intervention in English Wikipedia's governance in
2019 give me a lot of reason to question how much respect WMF has for the
English Wikipedia community and how well WMF knows English Wikipedia.

1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:Media_Viewer/June_2014_RfC=616518543#Response_to_the_Media_Viewer_RfC

2. https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2014-August/073927.html

I hope that this background information is helpful.

Pine
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: Recommendations and community conversations launching next week

[Pine W]

Hi Aron,

Some of your comments remind me of arguments that I heard from WMF around
the time that the WMF Board decided to let Lila have her way with
Superprotect. WMF's solution to various question about who should make
decisions and whether diverse needs were being adequately addressed was to
put itself in charge.

I'm curious. How do you think that all-Wikiverse governance should be done?
This is a complex topic. You partially addressed this in your previous
email, and I would like to hear more, particularly regarding governance
structures, representation, and methods for creating all-Wikiverse policies
and budgets.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: Recommendations and community conversations launching next week

[Pine W]

 Hi Leila and Todd, thanks for the constructive comments.

I think that global consensus is possible, but it's challenging.

I remain concerned about the current timeline for this strategy process. I
think that after initial community discussions, a phased approach over a
period of years for !votes and implementation might be best.

Perhaps an early phase could focus on reviewing our current mechanisms for
all-Wikiverse governance and considering some changes to those mechanisms.
However, that might be contentious and time consuming, and I think that we
should be careful about what we wish for.

Perhaps the strategy process organizers will have some recommendations for
us to consider regarding governance.

Pine
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: Recommendations and community conversations launching next week

[Pine W]

Hi Nicole and Kaarel,

Thank you for sharing your comments.

A few points:

* I realize that a lot of time and money has been spent in the strategy
process to this point. I hope that there will be consensus on at least some
of the recommendations.

* Hopefully the discussions in the next few weeks will be informative. Even
if some recommendations are not adopted, that is *not* necessarily a
failure, and I hope that the strategy organizers and volunteers will not be
discouraged if only a minority of recommendations are adopted.
Recommendations which are not adopted may become fruitful seeds for future
conversations.

* At this stage in the strategy process, changes are not prescribed
. The community and WMF are free
to adopt or decline them without lengthy discussions and speculation about
what impacts recommendations would have if adopted. Volunteers are not
obligated to spend their time engaging with this process, or to their time
justifying their decisions to the organizers of the strategy process.
However, there is likely to be discussion about the strategy
recommendations, and hopefully those discussions will provide a sense of
areas where there may be grounds for a formal consensus later this year.

* I believe that the formal process for adopting strategy recommendations
by the community could take one or both of these forms. (My impression,
which may be incorrect, is that you intend for this adoption process to
take place after the "community conversations" in the next few months.)
1. A global request for comment on Meta, with each recommendation set for
an individual !vote so that individual recommendations may be accepted or
not.
2. Local requests for comment, according to what participants on each wiki
decide. This may be practical for some recommendations more than others.

I hope that these comments are helpful.

Pine
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Snøhetta and Wikimedia

[Pine W]

There are ways that Wikimedia rebranding consultations could be done
collaboratively, politely, and with careful stewardship of donor's money.
This is not one of them.

I think that it's time for some people in WMF to move on. Without having
access to WMF internal discussions, I don't know exactly who I would
remove, but I've had enough of poor coordination, questionable financial
decisions, and discourtesy, and I hope that the donors and the Board have
too. These problems are not isolated to the rebranding effort, but I think
that this is as good a place as any to start replacing employees who aren't
working out.

Pine
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Snøhetta and Wikimedia

[Pine W]

Umm.

Looking at https://brandingwikipedia.org/, I wonder if this refers to WMF's
ill-fated effort to rebrand Wikimedia as Wikipedia that I hope has been
abandoned. I hope that WMF did not, without consulting the community or
even having the courtesy to notify us, decide to launch another rebranding
effort

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


On Fri, Jan 17, 2020 at 11:27 PM John Erling Blad  wrote:

> Note that "Dagens næringsliv" printed the story Thursday, so they must
> have had information about it before WMF left the meeting with
> Snøhetta. This is no longer a breaking story.
>
> On Sat, Jan 18, 2020 at 12:04 AM John Erling Blad 
> wrote:
> >
> > This is out in several newspapers now.
> >
> > "Snøhetta shall create new visual profile for Wikipedia-owner" [1]
> >
> > A quick Google Translate dump
> >
> > The mission is the largest in the field of graphic design ever, writes
> > Dagens Næringsliv.
> >
> > - For me personally, this is very big, but you see it in a larger
> > perspective - Norway, Norwegian design and graphic design - then this
> > is one of the largest international customers who have come to Norway
> > and chosen a Norwegian design agency. So it's very big, says strategic
> > advisor Sanda Zahirovic in the design department in Snøhetta to the
> > newspaper.
> >
> > Eight companies were in the competition for the assignment. Creative
> > director Heather Walls at Wikimedia will not go out with Dagens
> > Næringsliv with what other companies were talking about, but says that
> > Snøhetta was the obvious choice.
> >
> > Snow hood founder and partner Kjetil Trædal Thorsen cannot say how
> > much the contract is worth, but emphasizes that the work is devoting a
> > good deal of resources during the project period, which is half a
> > year.
> >
> > [1]
> https://www.aftenposten.no/kultur/i/mRd1pp/snoehetta-skal-skape-en-ny-visuell-profil-for-wikipedia-eier
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: Recommendations and community conversations launching next week

[Pine W]

Hi Anders,

I think that the original hope was that there would be community consensus
around the recommendations from the strategy process. However, what I have
heard so far leads me to think that the reception to the recommendations
has been mixed.

Neither the WMF Board nor the community are required to accept
recommendations from the strategy organizers. I'm not trying to say this in
a combative or demoralizing way. As much as anyone, I had hoped that there
would be consensus around the recommendations, but so far I do not get the
sense that there widespread optimism about this process or the
recommendations from it.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: Recommendations and community conversations launching next week

[Pine W]

Hi Nicole,

After reading this email, and taking into consideration a discussion that
happened during the January online meeting of United States Wikimedians, I
feel that the timeline here is aggressive and likely to result in problems.
In particular, giving the core team one week to review feedback and giving
the community one week to review the core team's summary seem risky at
best, even if everyone is communicating in English. When taking into
account the need for translations,my guess is that one week is an
impossibly short timeframe for quality work in these phases of the strategy
process.

I suggesting adding at least one more week to the timeframe for the core
team to review feedback including translations of comments, and at least
three more weeks for conversations with the community regarding the core
team's summary.

I am concerned that this process may be heading toward a rushed and chaotic
finish.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation elections committee: Call for volunteers

[Pine W]

Risker makes some good points.

An issue for which no one seems to have a solution is the gap between need
and availability for reliable and skilled non-WMF people in numerous areas
of the Wikiverse. These people can continue to shuffle between various
roles and projects, but I think that having regular outbreaks of stress and
problems which are partially attributable to human resources constraints is
not good.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation elections committee: Call for volunteers

[Pine W]

Hello,

As far as I know, there has been no functioning Elections Committee in
awhile. I think that there should be one, and I am glad to see the interest
in reviving it. So, thanks for the message, Joe.

In the long term, similar to my opinion about separating the Ombudsman
Commission from WMF, I would like to have the Elections Committee be
independent from WMF. However, as far as I know, there is no other
organization that is able and willing to host community authorities which
would not be under WMF's control or substantial influence. (WMF can
exercise significant influence over Wikimedia affiliates by restricting
their use of Wikimedia trademarks and/or their grant funding.) I hope that
the possibility of having one or more such legally and financially
independent organizations is being considered as a part of the 2030
strategy process.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] Passing of User:Brianboulton

[Pine W]

Dear colleagues,

The English Wikipedia community received news that User:Brianboulton
 passed. Quoting
User:Schrocat : "I have just
received an email from Brian's daughter to say that he died peacefully on 9
December, following a long illness. Requiescat in pace. 106 FAs, 2 FLs,
gawd knows how many source and prose reviews at FA, and countless numbers
of editors helped, encouraged and improved over the years. A good friend to
all who met him, and this place is a little less appealing now he won't be
here anymore."

Comments may be left on his talk page .

Regards,
Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] Passing of User:Angusmclellan

[Pine W]

Dear colleagues,

I am writing to share the news of the passing

of User:Angusmclellan .
He made more than 64,000 contributions to English Wikipedia and more than
8,000 contributions to Wikimedia Commons. He became an administrator on
English Wikipedia in 2007, and he was noted for work on topics related to
Scotland and the Middle Ages.

Comments may be left on his talk page
.

Regards,
Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Café online meeting for January 2020. Note the schedule change.

[Pine W]

 Hello colleagues,

The Wikimedia Café meetings have generally been well received. We had
approximately seven people in the December meeting. In an attempt to make
the meetings be accessible to more people, in January 2020 the Café is
tentatively scheduled for a Saturday, and the Café will be earlier in the
day. The meeting will be on 25 January 2020 at the following time: 11:30 AM
EST, 4:30 PM UTC, and 10 PM ITC.

During the most recent Café we had an extensive discussion about
documentation for Wikitext and templates. We ran out of time to discuss
NavWiki . For the January
meeting the only non-introductory agenda item so far is NavWiki. You are
welcome to add more items to the agenda

.

As usual, the meeting style for the Café will emphasize discussion rather
than presentation. People are welcome to participate as listeners only if
they prefer.

Please see the page on Meta
 for more information
about the Café. Please watch the page for any updates, particularly to the
schedule or the agenda. Signing up for the meeting is optional, but is
helpful to the organizers so that we can estimate how many people will
attend. Signing up for the meeting also informs us who we should notify
individually if there are significant changes, such as changes to the
schedule.

If there are any problems with connecting to the meeting or if you have any
questions or comments then please write on the Meta talk page.

Best wishes for the new year,
Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikipedia was edited from the ISS

[Pine W]

I saw that user creation log and that does seem to me to be persuasive
evidence, but persuasive evidence may not be conclusive proof. Carl Sagan
said that "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence
", and I understand if people
would like evidence that is more verifiable to the public than a CU's
testimony, especially keeping in mind that hoaxes have been a problem on
English Wikipedia
.
However, I also think that "assume good faith
" applies here,
and I am mindful of another user who said that people made demands for
proof of their authenticity in a way that sounded to me like the
interrogators' primary motivation was harassment. Perhaps "Trust, but verify
" fits how I'm thinking
about this. The currently available evidence wouldn't be enough for me to
feel comfortable with sending out a press release, but internally (in
Wikimedia spaces) I would be happy to celebrate good news if this person is
able and willing to publicly associate the Wikipedia account with their
identity as an astronaut.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] Was macht dich diese Woche glücklich? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 29 Dec 2019)

[Pine W]

 Hello colleagues,

Please allow me to introduce User:Clovermoss
. She volunteered to
collaborate with me on writing this and future issues of *What's Making You
Happy this Week?* and *The Signpost*'s "On the bright side".

Clovermoss is from Canada. She registered on English Wikipedia in September
2018, and she is a graduate of User:Nick Moyes
' adoption program
. She recently made
her 4,000th contribution.

Please treat Clovermoss as you would like to have been treated when you
were new here.


*From Clovermoss*:

This week, I'm thankful that I am going to start collaborating with Pine
 for *On The Bright Side*. I have
been a fan of this *Signpost* feature for a long time and I'm excited to
help make it happen. I'm also thankful for this photo
.
I find that photographs of nature have a tendency to appeal to me, and I
think that this one is stunning. I like moss for its unique texture and
just for being something that exists. I adore the leaves that can be seen
every autumn where I live, and I miss seeing them everywhere I go. However,
I'm also thankful for the comforting aspects of winter: hot chocolate,
candy canes, and the warmth at home.


*From Pine*:

I am grateful to Clovermoss for agreeing to collaborate. I think that
readers will appreciate seeing a new perspective and a new writing style.
Also, because I will spend less time writing *WMYHTW*, I think that I will
be able to spend a little more time on the pilot phase of NavWiki
. NavWiki is progressing
slowly but well.

The topic of writing reminds me of a video clip from *Star Trek: The Next
Generation *.
In this scene, Captain Jean-Luc Picard
 receives a visit from the
alien "Q". Q is powerful and unpredictable. Here, he offers to help Picard
with drafting a speech (Youtube link)
.

Finally, some thoughts about listening
. Listening can be done casually,
aggressively, carefully, poorly, well, and any number of other ways.
Clovermoss appears to invest a lot of time and effort in listening. Captain
Picard did too. The actor who portrayed Picard, Patrick Stewart
, stated:


"One of the things that I’ve come to understand is that as I talk a lot
about Picard, what I find is I’m talking about myself. There was a sort of
double action that occurred. In one sense Picard was expanding like this
and at the same time he was also growing closer and closer to me as well
and in some respect I suppose even had some influence on me. I became a
better listener than I ever had been as a result of playing Jean-Luc Picard
because it was one of the things that he does terrifically well."


*Closing comments*

What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.

Additional translations of the subject line of this email would be
appreciated on Meta
. Thanks to
User:Lucas_Werkmeister
 for the German
translation.


Best wishes,
Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikipedia was edited from the ISS

[Pine W]

Hi Yury,

I saw some excitement from people regarding this edit. However, I for one
have been hesitant to make wider announcements about this. My personal
concern is that, although I have every reason to believe that the
contributor is who others claim that she is, the contributor did not self
publish information that unambiguously communicated her identity in a
public space in the Wikiverse.

ENWP can be highly protective of contributors' off wiki identities when
contributors have not self published that information. ENWP can be so
protective that there is friction within the community about whether paid
conflict of interest editors are getting an unreasonable degree of
protection. In this case, the contributor's username is highly suggestive
of her identity. I regret if the caution seems to be excessive, but there
are reasons to be cautious about announcing information about other
Wikimedia contributors who have implied and not outright stated information
about their identities.

I hope that in the near future this contributor will provide a small amount
of further self disclosure about her off wiki identity, such as by simply
writing her name on her userpage, and at that time I would be much more
comfortable celebrating this edit. Again, I regret if this approach feels
excessively cautious.

Respectfully,
Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] Co sprawia, że jesteś szczęśliwy w tym tygodniu? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 22 December 2019)

[Pine W]

For those who celebrate these occasions, I wish you a merry Christmas and a
happy new year.

I am happy to learn about holidays from diverse origins, and I would
welcome people sharing information about holidays that they celebrate.

Wikimedia Commons hosts several audio recordings of Christmas carols that
have Polish or German associations. Here are a few selections. Any
corrections to English translations would be appreciated.
** "El desembre congelat II"* / "December Frozen II"; organ solo
performance by User:Metzner


* "O Tannenbaum" / "O Christmas Tree", sung in German and English. The
lyrics to the modern version of the carol were written in 1824, and the
history of the lyrics can be traced to a 16th century folk song.
 [1]

* "Wśród nocnej ciszy"/ "The Silence of the Night"; produced in association
with Wikimedia Polska (the Wikimedia Poland chapter). The original authors
of the lyrics and tune are unknown; the carol was first published in the
year 1853.
 [2]


What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.



Additional translations of the subject line of this email would be
appreciated on Meta
.

Best wishes,
Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Tannenbaum
[2] https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wśród nocnej ciszy

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[Wikimedia-l] 这个星期让您感到开心的是什么？ / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 15 Dec 2019)

[Pine W]

I recently visited the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
.
The museum opened a new building this year. Although I wish that the
exhibits were larger, I enjoyed seeing the museum staff at work and talking
with them.

Also, I happened to see a piece of art that I liked English Wikipedia
called *Early Autumn
*.
The piece was made in the 13th century by 钱选
 (on English Wikipedia: Qian
Xuan ).

What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.


(Additional translations of the subject line of this email would be
appreciated on Meta
. Thanks to
User:94rain  for the Chinese
translation.)

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Café online meeting for December 2019

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,

This is a reminder that the December 2019 Wikimedia Café meeting will start
approximately one hour from now.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


On Fri, Nov 29, 2019 at 10:50 PM Pine W  wrote:

> Hello colleagues,
>
> For the next Wikimedia Café online video meeting, agenda items include:
> * Documentation for Wikitext <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Wikitext>
> * The NavWiki <https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/NavWiki> project
>
> Last month's Wikimedia Café had a problem with an inaccurate time
> conversion from USA Eastern time to UTC. People attempted to join the
> meeting at different times based on whether they referred to UTC or to US
> Eastern time. I apologize for the error, and I think that it has been
> corrected for December.
>
> The meeting style for the Café will emphasize discussion rather than
> presentation. People are welcome to participate as listeners only if they
> prefer.
>
> Please see the page on Meta
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Caf%C3%A9> for more
> information about the Café. Please watch the page for any updates,
> particularly to the schedule or the agenda. Signing up for the meeting is
> optional, but is helpful to the organizers so that we can estimate how many
> people will attend. Signing up for the meeting also informs us who we
> should notify individually if there are significant changes, such as to the
> schedule.
>
> If there are any problems with connecting to the meeting or if you have
> any questions or comments then please write on the Meta talk page.
>
> Regards,
> Pine
> ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Leadership change at Wikimedia Israel

[Pine W]

Michal, many thanks for your service. I remember when we talked online
several years ago. Best wishes for your next steps, and I hope that you
will keep in touch.

Itzik, thank you for sharing this news.

שָׁלוֹם

Pine
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] The wikisites looks like 1996

[Pine W]

Regarding Timeless, folks may want to read
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Timeless/Post-deployment_support/Final
.

I'm cross-posting this thread to the public Design mailing list. That's
usually a quiet list, but I think that if people want to have an extensive
discussion that is focused on design issues then that list would be a good
venue.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


On Sun, Dec 15, 2019 at 8:01 PM Aron Manning  wrote:

> On Sun, 15 Dec 2019 at 18:53, Chris Gates via Wikimedia-l <
> wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
> > Is this the right time to plug Timeless?
> > It is, well, timeless. Looks modern too.
>
>
> Should be the default imho by now.
> Then the wikimania design features could be added to it, to make it almost
> up-to-date.
>
> Aron
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] The wikisites looks like 1996

[Pine W]

I'm thinking out loud here. Are there any estimates of would be required in
terms of time (both staff time and community time) and money to make
templates and other tools be much easier to globalize across wikis and
across skins? I'm looking for an answer that is more specific than "a lot",
but isn't a promise or a detailed estimate.

Pine
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[Wikimedia-l] Что вас радует на этой неделе? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 8 Dec 2019)

[Pine W]

Hello,

In the light of recent suggestions that these emails become shorter, this
week I will share only two comments of my own.

* I am thankful for useful feedback regarding these emails.

* I am thankful to someone who did a random act of kindness for me. Their
action felt like gentle sunshine amidst many challenges.


*Regarding translations*

* Additional translations of the subject line of this email would be
appreciated on Meta
. Thanks to
Amire80  for the Russian
translation.



*Your turn*


* What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.



Pine
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Brief request for advice about "What's making you happy this week?"

[Pine W]

Hi Diane,

Thanks for the comments. I started to write a longer reply before deciding
that, given the general message that I'm hearing of (paraphrasing), "this
is fine but a shorter form would be better if you want people to
participate", I'll skip writing a longer explanation of how I'm thinking.
Thanks for taking the time to write.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


On Sat, Nov 30, 2019 at 9:44 AM Diane Ranville 
wrote:

> " having a shorter list of subjects could lead to criticism about the
> content being [...] too reflective of one person's preferences"
> => well, as Amir said, the content is *already* reflective of just one
> person's preferences.
> Also, as Cornelius said, the idea of "what makes you happy" implies a very
> subjective feeling.
>
> So it will always be just *your* view of what makes you happy, your bias.
> But: making your email shorter (even going down to just 1 item per week)
> would make room for others to share *their *views, creating a balance.
> I hope you try the short version on this list (as I barely have time to go
> through the Signpost!).
>
> Best,
>
> On Sat, Nov 30, 2019 at 12:53 AM Pine W  wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > Thanks to everyone for the feedback.
> >
> > One point of some agreement among commenters is that they would prefer
> > WMYHTW emails to be shorter. Those would be faster for me to write, but
> > some problems with having a shorter list of subjects each week are that
> it
> > could more easily lead to criticism about the content being
> > unrepresentative of Wikiverse activities and too reflective of one
> person's
> > preferences.
> >
> > I had hoped that having a variety of people participate in these threads
> > would add diversity to the content, but participation from others has
> been
> > rare.
> >
> > I will need more time to process this feedback and think about what to
> do.
> > I don't think that any one option will satisfy everyone. One possibility
> is
> > that I will stop sending these emails to Wikimedia-l, but will continue
> to
> > write the version that appears in *The Signpost*. Another possibility is
> > that I could write the shorter version for a few weeks and see what
> people
> > think about it, but I worry about this option creating new problems, so
> at
> > the moment I a leaning toward the previous option.
> >
> > If anyone has additional feedback to share then please let me know.
> >
> > Thank you,
> >
> > Pine
> > ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
> > ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Brief request for advice about "What's making you happy this week?"

[Pine W]

Hello,

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

One point of some agreement among commenters is that they would prefer
WMYHTW emails to be shorter. Those would be faster for me to write, but
some problems with having a shorter list of subjects each week are that it
could more easily lead to criticism about the content being
unrepresentative of Wikiverse activities and too reflective of one person's
preferences.

I had hoped that having a variety of people participate in these threads
would add diversity to the content, but participation from others has been
rare.

I will need more time to process this feedback and think about what to do.
I don't think that any one option will satisfy everyone. One possibility is
that I will stop sending these emails to Wikimedia-l, but will continue to
write the version that appears in *The Signpost*. Another possibility is
that I could write the shorter version for a few weeks and see what people
think about it, but I worry about this option creating new problems, so at
the moment I a leaning toward the previous option.

If anyone has additional feedback to share then please let me know.

Thank you,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Café online meeting for December 2019

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,

For the next Wikimedia Café online video meeting, agenda items include:
* Documentation for Wikitext 
* The NavWiki  project

Last month's Wikimedia Café had a problem with an inaccurate time
conversion from USA Eastern time to UTC. People attempted to join the
meeting at different times based on whether they referred to UTC or to US
Eastern time. I apologize for the error, and I think that it has been
corrected for December.

The meeting style for the Café will emphasize discussion rather than
presentation. People are welcome to participate as listeners only if they
prefer.

Please see the page on Meta
 for more information
about the Café. Please watch the page for any updates, particularly to the
schedule or the agenda. Signing up for the meeting is optional, but is
helpful to the organizers so that we can estimate how many people will
attend. Signing up for the meeting also informs us who we should notify
individually if there are significant changes, such as to the schedule.

If there are any problems with connecting to the meeting or if you have any
questions or comments then please write on the Meta talk page.

Regards,
Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] Brief request for advice about "What's making you happy this week?"

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,

I would like to ask for your advice about one issue with the "What's making
you happy this week?" emails.

I was hoping that people would frequently comment in the email threads
and/or on the talk pages of WMYHTW publications in *The Signpost* to share
what is making them happy, in the Wikiverse or elsewhere. However, comments
are somewhat rare.

I am concerned that some people may feel too intimidated to comment.

I understand that communicating in public requires courage, but I believe
that people who try to be respectful will have their comments received well
by the community if they comment in these threads. Perfection is not a
requirement for WMYHTW.

Also, I think that public communication becomes easier with practice, and
these threads would be good places for people who want to become more
experienced with public communication on Wikimedia-l to practice.

Is there something else that you think could be done to facilitate
participation in WMYHTW? I would appreciate your advice and input.

Thank you,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] What's making you happy this week? (Week of 24 November 2019) / ما الذي يجعلك تشعر بالسعادة هذا الأسبوع؟

[Pine W]

 *Milestone for Arabic Wikipedia*

Arabic Wikipedia surpassed 1 million articles.


*Wikimedia Technical Conference reports*

   - Daily reports by User:DTankersley (WMF)
   


   -
   https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2019-November/092746.html
   -
   https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2019-November/092748.html
   -
   https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2019-November/092755.html
   -
   https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2019-November/092765.html


   - Math report by User:physikerwelt
   


   -
   https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2019-November/092771.html



*English Wikiquote of the day for 10 November 2019*

"All writers … have an obligation to our readers: it's the obligation to
write true things, especially important when we are creating tales of
people who do not exist in places that never were — to understand that
truth is not in what happens but what it tells us about who we are. Fiction
is the lie that tells the truth, after all."
— Science fiction and fantasy author Neil Gaiman
 of England


*Recent featured media on English Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons*

* Image 1 :
Replica of a compass rose  from
a chart of Portuguese cartographer Jorge de Aguiar
 that was made in the year 1492
* Image 2
:
*Two Lovers Beneath an Umbrella in the Snow*, by Suzuki Harunobu
, color woodblock print in
the Ukiyo-e  style, circa 1767 * Image
3
:
The Roman Baths (*Thermae* ) of Bath
Spa, England . Buildings
on the site have been created and modified several times from circa 60–70
A.D. onward.
* Image 4
:
Hippopotamus statuette
 from circa
1961–1878 B.C., during the reigns of Senwosret I
 to Senwosret II
, in Egypt
. (Credit to the authors of this
article 
for the description of the statuette which is the basis for the following
text, which I adapted from their original; I presume that the text is
licensed according to Wikipedia's normal text license
):
"According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's
 *Bulletin*...
this statuette is a "particularly fine example of a type found... among the
funerary furnishings of tombs of the Middle Kingdom" and also an exemplary
piece of Egyptian faience ."
* Image 5
:
Video taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle
 of the Bahá'í House
of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, United States

* Image 6
:
Arabic
description : العربية: أربع
مشتريات هائلة تدور حول النجم HR 8799 (في المنتصف) خِلال فترةٍ زمنيَّةٍ
تتراوح بين عُقُودٍ إلى قُرُونٍ. استُخدمت تقنيَّة إقحام الحركة على 7 صُور
لِلنجم HR 8799 المُلتقة بِواسطة مقراب كك على مدار 7 سنوات في سبيل صنع هذه
الصُورة.‎. English description: HR 8799
 harbors four super-Jupiters
orbiting with periods that range from decades to centuries. Motion
interpolate was used on 7 images of HR 8799 taken from the Keck Telescope
 over 7 years to create this
image.  (Arabic description provided by User:باسم
; English
description provided by User:Hunster
; text licensed under
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/.)


Closing comments

* Additional translations of the 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Join us at the Wikimedia Summit in Berlin on 3-5 April 2020

[Pine W]

Hello Abraham and Katherine,

Thank you for the announcement. I hope that people find the conference to
be enjoyable and productive.

The community has a highly distributed and non-pyramidal structure, and
having "all the right people at the table to design the implementation" is
unlikely. I caution against setting expectations for the conference that
are too high.

I hope that the conference is successful.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] Ce te face fericit săptămâna asta? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 17 November 2019)

[Pine W]

*"The Wait"*

This is a short film 
regarding wildlife
photography . The film
has scenes of European bison 
in Romania . The narration is in
French, and English subtitles are available. I think that wildlife
photographers for Wikimedia Commons will find this film to be relatable.
https://vimeo.com/180080686



*Related images*

Image 1
:
A drawing of a European bison 
in the Cave of Altamira ,
Spain. The cave is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
. In 1879,
amateur archaeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola
 was led by his
daughter María to discover the cave's drawings. One study estimates that
the oldest drawings were made approximately 36,000 years ago.

Image 2 :* Bison
bonasus* sparring in a nursery of the Russian Academy of Sciences
 in Shebalinsky
District , Republic of
Altai , Russia.

Closing comments

* Additional translations of the subject line of this email would be
appreciated on Meta
. Thanks to
User:Jmabel  for the
Romanian  translation.


* What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Chief of Community Engagement to leave the Foundation

[Pine W]

Paul raises an interesting point about the placement of T that I hadn't
considered, although I am thinking about this from a different angle.

After the departure of Michelle Paulson, I've found WMF Legal to be
considerably less responsive to emails that I've sent to legal@, and it
would be disappointing if T adopted the apparent mentality in WMF Legal
that ignoring messages is okay. Once in awhile something will slip through
the cracks (I'm aware of my seemingly endless Wikimedia email backlog), but
given the number of lawyers on WMF"s staff and how much more responsive the
department was to my communications when Michelle Paulson was in charge, I
think that some changes should be considered for that department if they
haven't already been implemented by the new General Counsel.

Returning focus to T, I agree that legalistic minimalism would be
disappointing, but I hope that T has decided after a wasteful,
unnecessary, and high profile conflict earlier this year

that overreach is a bad idea. There is room for a middle ground of T
supporting research into ways that community administrators can be more
effective and skillful, and collaborating with the community to design
features that promote collaboration, while avoiding both legal minimalism
or arrogant overreach. I think that the placement of T in Legal is a
manageable risk, but I hope that WMF will think carefully about how to
manage the cultures and priorities for the merged department.

Paul, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


On Sat, Nov 16, 2019 at 6:29 AM Paul J. Weiss  wrote:

> I find the disbanding of the Community Engagement department at WMF to be
> quite concerning. I will go so far as to say that I view it as a mistake
> that will have negative impacts well into the future.
>
> For one thing, the structure of an organization is in some sense a
> statement of priorities. I believe this move does indeed say to employees,
> the community, allied organization, and the rest of the world that the WMF
> is now placing less value on engaging the community. Given that many in the
> community have been feeling this already, this is not an opportune time to
> make this transition, even if it were a good idea for other reasons.
>
> Another issue is the specific placement of individual teams. For example,
> you say that returning the Trust & Safety team to the Legal department is
> intuitive. It certainly is not to me, and that move in particular is
> concerning. The team's homepage on Meta states that it "identifies, builds
> and – as appropriate – staffs processes which keep our users safe; design,
> develop, and execute on a strategy that integrates legal, product,
> research, and learning & evaluation to proactively mitigate risk as well as
> manage the overall safety of our online and offline communities when
> incidents happen." The legal aspect is only one of many in the team's
> purview, and hopefully not a large one.
>
> In my experience, units within legal departments take a very legalistic
> view of their work. As one example, many colleges and universities have an
> office for students with disabilities. In the US, those that are in legal
> or policy departments tend to focus very much on doing the minimum they
> have to do under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), rather than
> being student-centered. (This is the case here at the University of
> Washington.) Compare this to the focus of units for women, students of
> color, etc., often hierarchically under student services, who are much more
> proactive and supportive.
>
> I definitely do not want Trust & Safety to narrow its focus to ensuring
> enforcement & reducing liability. As you know, legal but negative behavior
> is a significant threat to the future of Wikipedia and sister projects. The
> team needs to be organizationally placed to maximize, not minimize, its
> access to resources, the community, and other staff as well as its impact.
> Placing it in Legal could, for example, decrease significantly contact and
> trust from our community members whose experience with laws is that they
> are used as weapons and tools to oppress rather than engendering fairness
> and cooperation.
>
> Please, please carefully consider the all ramifications of this
> reorganization before it is implemented.
>
> Thank you,
> Paul Weiss
> Libcub on en.wp
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Update regarding Wikipedia video tutorial project ("NavWiki")

[Pine W]

Hi James,

Thanks for the suggestion. I remember looking at VideoWiki awhile ago and
deciding that it wouldn't be a good fit for what I have in mind, but I'll
take another look, possibly after I'm finished with the pilot videos. I
have a lot on my agenda at the moment, and I'm trying not to add more
complexity in the short term.

Regards,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


On Tue, Nov 12, 2019 at 4:08 AM James Heilman  wrote:

> Are you going to use VideoWiki to create them? Will make them easier
> to collaboratively edit.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Videowiki
>
> J
>
> On Tue, Nov 12, 2019 at 4:25 AM Pine W  wrote:
> >
> > Hello colleagues,
> >
> > I have resumed work on my video tutorial project for Wikipedia and the
> > sister sites. I am hoping that eventually there will be video tutorials
> > and/or interactive tutorials in multiple languages, but for now I am
> > focusing on producing a small number of videos for English Wikipedia to
> > test the process and to get feedback from the community. These videos
> will
> > be designed for "organic" new users who become active on Wikipedia
> without
> > first being involved in a formal program that provides guidance for new
> > contributors, but I think that the videos may also be useful for formal
> > Wikimedia program organizers to share with their participants.
> >
> > A project space is live on Outreach Wiki:
> > https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/NavWiki. I invite you to look at the
> > organization of the space and let me know if you have any feedback.
> > Comments and questions may be left on the project talk page
> > <https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:NavWiki>.
> >
> > I am hoping to publish two videos for English Wikipedia by the end of
> 2019,
> > and to collect feedback on them until at least January 2020 before
> deciding
> > on significant next steps. If the feedback is positive then then I hope
> to
> > produce more videos in the future and/or to adapt the videos for
> additional
> > languages.
> >
> > If you would like to sign up for the project newsletter, you can do that
> at
> >
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_message_delivery/Targets/Tutorials_Newsletter
> .
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> > Pine
> > ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
> > ___
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>
>
>
> --
> James Heilman
> MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Chief of Community Engagement to leave the Foundation

[Pine W]

Thanks very much for the thorough explanation, Katherine.

I'll share a few comments below. These aren't directed to anyone in
particular.

I have no opinion one way or another about the change of structure, but I
hope that for everyone's sake this will be okay, perhaps even a net
positive in the medium term. My guess is that some of the team changes will
be fine with minor adjustments while others will have more issues to work
through.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is a Community Engagement Department again
in the future.

Have a good weekend,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] Update regarding Wikipedia video tutorial project ("NavWiki")

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,

I have resumed work on my video tutorial project for Wikipedia and the
sister sites. I am hoping that eventually there will be video tutorials
and/or interactive tutorials in multiple languages, but for now I am
focusing on producing a small number of videos for English Wikipedia to
test the process and to get feedback from the community. These videos will
be designed for "organic" new users who become active on Wikipedia without
first being involved in a formal program that provides guidance for new
contributors, but I think that the videos may also be useful for formal
Wikimedia program organizers to share with their participants.

A project space is live on Outreach Wiki:
https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/NavWiki. I invite you to look at the
organization of the space and let me know if you have any feedback.
Comments and questions may be left on the project talk page
.

I am hoping to publish two videos for English Wikipedia by the end of 2019,
and to collect feedback on them until at least January 2020 before deciding
on significant next steps. If the feedback is positive then then I hope to
produce more videos in the future and/or to adapt the videos for additional
languages.

If you would like to sign up for the project newsletter, you can do that at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_message_delivery/Targets/Tutorials_Newsletter.


Regards,
Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] What's making you happy this week? (Week of 10 November 2019) / ߡߎ߲߬ ߞߵߌ ߟߊ߫ ߛߍߥߊ߫ ߞߎ߲߬ߢߐ߮ ߣߌ߲߬ ߞߘߐ߫؟

[Pine W]

I thought that I had checked everything enough times, but my attempt to
copy the N'Ko language translation didn't work as intended. N'Ko appears to
be a right-to-left language, and Google Mail has problems when I try to
write both RTL and LTR languages in the same email subject line or same
email paragraph. (See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing_system#Directionality.) Sorry about
that. Let's see if this comes across correctly: "ߡߎ߲߬ ߞߵߌ ߟߊ߫ ߛߍߥߊ߫ ߞߎ߲߬ߢߐ߮
ߣߌ߲߬ ߞߘߐ߫؟".

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


On Mon, Nov 11, 2019 at 3:52 PM Pine W  wrote:

> *New Wikimedia affiliates*
>
> * Wikipedians of North Caucasus User Group
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedians_of_North_Caucasus_User_Group>
> * Wikimedians of Mali User Group
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Mali_User_Group>
>
>
> *Wiki Loves Monuments national winners*
>
> Some of the national winners of the annual Wiki Loves Monuments
> competition that have been added to this page
> <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2019_winners>.
> More will be coming.
>
> 1. Albania:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kalaja_e_Gjirokastr%C3%AB_s.jpg
> 2. Armenia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IMG_-Areni2.jpg
> 3. Australia:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heavy_Machine_Shop.jpg
> 4. Azerbaijan:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KalahanaMausoleums_004_2801.jpg
> 5. Bangladesh:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paharpur_Buddhist_Bihar.jpg
> 6. Bolivia:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cerro_Rico_con_un_nevado.jpg
> 7. Brazil:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beautiful_Sunset_in_Lapa_1.jpg
> 8. Canada:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cape_Tryon_Lighthouse.jpg
> 9. Croatia:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dvor_Veliki_Tabor_full.jpg
> 10. Denmark:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Langdyssen_ved_Toftebjerg.jpg
> 11. France:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anciennes_Glaci%C3%A8res_de_Strasbourg_5712.jpg
> 12. Germany:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wendeltreppe_im_Deutschordensschloss_Bad_Mergentheim.jpg
> 13. Greece:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%CE%91%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B4%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%AF%CE%B1_%CE%91%CE%B8%CE%B7%CE%BD%CF%8E%CE%BD,%CF%80%CF%81%CF%8C%CF%80%CF%85%CE%BB%CE%BF.jpg
> 14. India:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aguada_Fort_Top_View,_North_Goa.jpg
> 15. Ireland:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:County_Meath_-_Tower_of_Lloyd_-_20190805034141.jpg
> 16. Kosovo:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Katedrala_Arben_Llapashtica.jpg
> 17. Malta:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Panorama_of_Valletta.jpg
> 18. Morocco:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bahia_Palace_large_court.jpg
> 19. Nepal:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Patan_Durbar_Suqare_Scene.jpg
> 20. Nigeria:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Night-view-of-lekki-link-bridge.jpg
> 21. Peru: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ayacucho54719.jpg
> 22. The Philippines:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allan_Jay_Quesada_-_Intramuros_001.jpg
> 23. Portugal:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Padr%C3%A3o_dos_Descobrimentos_por_Rodrigo_Tetsuo_Argenton.jpg
> 24. Romania:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palatul_Vulturul_Negru,_iarna.jpg
> 25. Slovakia:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cintor%C3%ADnJel%C5%A1ava1.jpg
> 26. Slovenia:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_impressive_Bled_Island.jpg
> 27. Spain:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MONASTERIO_DE_PIEDRA_2.jpg
> 28. Sweden:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Norsholmen_July_2019_05.jpg
> 29. Thailand:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DemocracyMonument.jpg
> 30. United Kingdom:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kilchurn_Castle_at_sunrise.jpg
>
>
> *Humor*
>
> Even those of us who often make public communications worry about making
> big mistakes. This video (YouTube link)
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyU28D1C1-4>, from the British political
> satire "Yes, Prime Minister
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yes,_Prime_Minister>", shows
> what happened when the Prime Minister learned that Sir Humphrey
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey_Appleby>, who is the head of the
> British Home Civil Service
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Service_(United_Kingdom)#Head_of_the_Home_Civil_Service>,
> made an indiscreet <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/indiscreet> comment
> that was recorded by a BBC microphone. I feel some sympathy for Humphrey
> because occasionally I too say something t

[Wikimedia-l] What's making you happy this week? (Week of 10 November 2019) / ߡߎ߲߬ ߞߵߌ ߟߊ߫ ߛߍߥߊ߫ ߞߎ߲߬ߢߐ߮ ߣߌ߲߬ ߞߘߐ߫؟

[Pine W]

*New Wikimedia affiliates*

* Wikipedians of North Caucasus User Group

* Wikimedians of Mali User Group



*Wiki Loves Monuments national winners*

Some of the national winners of the annual Wiki Loves Monuments competition
that have been added to this page
.
More will be coming.

1. Albania:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kalaja_e_Gjirokastr%C3%AB_s.jpg
2. Armenia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IMG_-Areni2.jpg
3. Australia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heavy_Machine_Shop.jpg
4. Azerbaijan:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KalahanaMausoleums_004_2801.jpg
5. Bangladesh:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paharpur_Buddhist_Bihar.jpg
6. Bolivia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cerro_Rico_con_un_nevado.jpg
7. Brazil:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beautiful_Sunset_in_Lapa_1.jpg
8. Canada: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cape_Tryon_Lighthouse.jpg
9. Croatia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dvor_Veliki_Tabor_full.jpg
10. Denmark:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Langdyssen_ved_Toftebjerg.jpg
11. France:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anciennes_Glaci%C3%A8res_de_Strasbourg_5712.jpg
12. Germany:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wendeltreppe_im_Deutschordensschloss_Bad_Mergentheim.jpg
13. Greece:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%CE%91%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B4%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%AF%CE%B1_%CE%91%CE%B8%CE%B7%CE%BD%CF%8E%CE%BD,%CF%80%CF%81%CF%8C%CF%80%CF%85%CE%BB%CE%BF.jpg
14. India:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aguada_Fort_Top_View,_North_Goa.jpg
15. Ireland:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:County_Meath_-_Tower_of_Lloyd_-_20190805034141.jpg
16. Kosovo:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Katedrala_Arben_Llapashtica.jpg
17. Malta: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Panorama_of_Valletta.jpg
18. Morocco:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bahia_Palace_large_court.jpg
19. Nepal:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Patan_Durbar_Suqare_Scene.jpg
20. Nigeria:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Night-view-of-lekki-link-bridge.jpg
21. Peru: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ayacucho54719.jpg
22. The Philippines:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allan_Jay_Quesada_-_Intramuros_001.jpg
23. Portugal:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Padr%C3%A3o_dos_Descobrimentos_por_Rodrigo_Tetsuo_Argenton.jpg
24. Romania:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palatul_Vulturul_Negru,_iarna.jpg
25. Slovakia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cintor%C3%ADnJel%C5%A1ava1.jpg
26. Slovenia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_impressive_Bled_Island.jpg
27. Spain:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MONASTERIO_DE_PIEDRA_2.jpg
28. Sweden:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Norsholmen_July_2019_05.jpg
29. Thailand: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DemocracyMonument.jpg
30. United Kingdom:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kilchurn_Castle_at_sunrise.jpg


*Humor*

Even those of us who often make public communications worry about making
big mistakes. This video (YouTube link)
, from the British political
satire "Yes, Prime Minister
", shows
what happened when the Prime Minister learned that Sir Humphrey
, who is the head of the
British Home Civil Service
,
made an indiscreet  comment that
was recorded by a BBC microphone. I feel some sympathy for Humphrey because
occasionally I too say something that I wish that I hadn't!


Closing comments

* Additional translations of the subject line of this email would be
appreciated on Meta
. Thanks to
User:Lancine.koufantoh.fofana

and User:Aboubacar.banamoridou.toure

for the N'Ko  translation.


* What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Café online meeting for November 2019

[Pine W]

 Hello colleagues,

For this month's Wikimedia Café online video meeting we will continue last
month's discussion regarding Wikimedia activities and organizations in
India. Additional topics may be added to the agenda.

Please see the page on Meta
 for more information,
and watch the page for any updates particularly to the schedule or the
agenda. Signing up for the meeting is optional, but is helpful to the
organizers so that we can estimate how many people will attend. Signing up
for the meeting also informs us who we should notify individually if there
are significant changes, such as to the schedule for the meeting.

The meeting style will emphasize discussion rather than presentation.
People are welcome to participate as listeners only if they prefer.

If there are any problems with connecting to the meeting or if you have any
questions or comments then please write on the Meta talk page.

Regards,

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] Kva gjer deg glad denne veka? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 3 November 2019)

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,

Welcome to a new "lightweight" version of WMYHTW. I hope that this version
is nearly as enjoyable as the "heavyweight" versions from previous months.

*Job openings*
* Shared by Lydia Pintscher (WMDE): Product Manager for Wikibase

.
* Shared by Nemo: Biodiversity Heritage Library Program Manager for the
Smithsonian Libraries

.

*For your listening enjoyment*
* Performed by *User:La Pianista
*:
 *Albéniz - Rondeña from
Iberia, Book II

*


*Images from Norway*
* From the main page of Norsk
 Wikipedia: a house
martin (*Delichon urbicum*).



* From the main page of Nynorsk 
Wikipedia: the rural area of Folkestad, Volda, Norway


*Wikipedia for public good*
* Today's English Wikipedia Article of the Day: "Digital media use and
mental health
"


*Approaching a milestone*
* English Wikipedia is approaching a total of 6 million articles
.

Closing comments
* Additional translations of the subject line of this email would be
appreciated on Meta
.
Thanks to User:Jon Harald Søby
 for the Nynorsk
 translation.

* What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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[Wikimedia-l] ഈ ആഴ്ച താങ്കളെ സന്തോഷിപ്പിച്ച വാർത്ത എന്താണ്? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 27 October 2019)

[Pine W]

Halloween fun

* Image 1
:
A walking plant was seen at the Anime North
 2019 convention. 31 October is
Halloween , and the primary author
of this publication  generally
likes plants.

* Image 2
:
Cast members of the television show Mission: Impossible for the production
season that started in 1970. A Halloween-ish music video that features Lindsey
Sterling  and The Piano Guys
 playing the theme music from
the show is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p0BqUcQ7i0. I like the
video with the exception of the ending.

Donation of 2000 medical images

User:Netha Hussain 
announced

that Dr. Yale Rosen, a pathologist ,
agreed to donate his entire collection of approximately 2000 pathology
images to Wikimedia Commons
.

New affiliate recognition from the Affiliations Committee

Community Wikimedia User Group Haïti


Project milestone for Italian Wiktionary

Italian Wiktionary  has passed 500,000 entries.
Also, see this page on stats.wikimedia.org

which shows a significant increase in Italian Wiktionary content pages
during the year 2019.

English Wiktionary Word of the Day for October 14

"Woozle effect : The
phenomenon whereby frequent citation of earlier publications leads to a
mistaken public belief in something for which there is no evidence, giving
rise to an urban myth." Regarding the etymology for this term, Wiktionary
says in part: "A reference to the book Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)
 by English author A.
A. Milne  (1882–1956), in which
the characters Winnie-the-Pooh
 and Piglet
 follow their own tracks in the snow,
believing them to be the tracks of the imaginary "Woozle"."

Survival and adventure in Watership Down


As described in the English Wikipedia article for the book Watership Down
, it "is a survival
 and adventure novel
 by English author Richard
Adams , published by Rex
Collings Ltd  of London in
1972. Set in southern England, around Hampshire
, the story features a small group
of rabbits. Although they live in their natural wild environment, with
burrows , they are anthropomorphised
, possessing their own
culture , language
, proverbs
, poetry
, and mythology
. Evoking epic
 themes, the novel follows the
rabbits as they escape the destruction of their warren
 and seek a place to establish a new
home (the hill of Watership Down
), encountering
perils and temptations along the way."

I first learned of these Watership Down quotes from User:OohBunnies!
:

"All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies. And
whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch
you; digger, listener, runner, Prince with the swift warning. Be cunning,
and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed."

"Look. Look. That's the place for us. High, lonely hills, where the wind
and the sound carry, and the ground's as dry as straw in a barn. That's
where we ought to be. That's where we have to get to."

"The Sound of Her Voice"

Many relationships in the Wikiverse involve remote communication. Someone
who influenced my early days in the Wikiverse was User:Sonia
, who graciously took me under
her wing. I remember her as being 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Café online meeting for October 2019

[Pine W]

Hello,

Reminder that this meeting will start in approximately two hours. (If you
receive this email late then please see
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T235983.)


Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


On Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 18:57 Pine W  wrote:

> Hello colleagues,
>
> The tentative plan for month's Wikimedia Café online video meeting is to
> discuss Wikimedia activities and organizations in India, and to start the
> meeting one hour earlier in the day than the previous Café meeting started.
>
> Please see the page on Meta
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Caf%C3%A9> for more
> information, and watch the page for any updates particularly to the
> schedule or the agenda. Signing up for the meeting is optional, but is
> helpful to the organizers so that we can estimate how many people will
> attend. Signing up for the meeting also informs us who we should notifiy
> individually if there are significant changes, such as to the schedule for
> the meeting.
>
> The meeting style will emphasize discussion rather than presentation.
> People are welcome to participate as listeners only if they prefer.
>
> If there are any problems with connecting to the meeting or if you have
> any questions or comments then please write on the Meta talk page.
>
> Regards,
>
> Pine
> ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
>
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[Wikimedia-l] በዚህ ሳምንት እያስደሰቶት ያለው ምንድን ነው? / What’s making you happy this week? (Week of 20 October 2019)

[Pine W]

*Preface*

User:Lucas Werkmeister
 started last
week's WMYHTW email thread on Wikimedia-l and I was waiting for an Amharic
 translation, so I decided
to delay this content from the week of 13 October to the week of 20
October. The Amharic translation was kindly provided by User:ክርስቶስሰምራ

.

*English Wikiquote of the Day for 30 September*

"Silence is an ocean. Speech is a river. When the ocean is searching for
you, don't walk into the language-river. Listen to the ocean, and bring
your talky business to an end. Traditional words are just babbling in that
presence, and babbling is a substitute for sight."
— Rumi 

*New affiliate recognitions from the Affiliations Committee*

   - North-West Russia Wiki-Historians User Group
   

   - Wikimedians of Saint Petersburg User Group
   
   - Wikimedians of Santali Language User Group
   
   - Wikimedia Stewards User Group
   


*English Wiktionary Words of the Day*

"pleach" :
(transitive) To unite by interweaving, as (horticulture) branches of
shrubs, trees, etc., to create a hedge; to interlock, to plash.

"dojo" :
1. (martial arts) A training facility, usually led by one or more sensei; a
hall or room used for such training.
2. (by extension) A room or other facility used for other activities, such
as meditation or software development.
3. The dojo loach, Japanese weather loach, or pond loach (*Misgurnus
anguillicaudatus*), a freshwater fish native to East Asia.

"orient" :
1. (transitive) To build or place (something) so as to face eastward.
2. (transitive, by extension) To align or place (a person or object) so
that his, her, or its east side, north side, etc., is positioned toward the
corresponding points of the compass; (specifically, surveying) to rotate (a
map attached to a plane table) until the line of direction between any two
of its points is parallel to the corresponding direction in nature.
3. (transitive) To direct towards or point at a particular direction.
4. (transitive, reflexive) To determine which direction one is facing.
5. (transitive, often reflexive, figuratively) To familiarize (oneself or
someone) with a circumstance or situation.
6. (transitive, figuratively) To set the focus of (something) so as to
appeal or relate to a certain group. 7. (intransitive) To change direction
to face a certain way.


*Images from Commons*

   - Image 1
   
:
   Sunset in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park
   
   (Scottish Gaelic :
   *Pàirc Nàiseanta Loch Laomainn is nan Tròisichean*), Scotland
   . Photo by User:Podzemnik
   .
   - Image 2
   
:
   Knapweed fritillary
 (*Melitaea
   phoebe*) butterfly, seen in Bulgaria
   . Bulgaria declared independence
   on 5 October 1908. Photo by User:Charlesjsharp
   .
   - Image 3
   
:
   The dome of the Spanish Synagogue (Hebrew
   : בית הכנסת הספרדי, Czech
   : *Španělská synagoga*,
   German : *Spanische
   Synagoge*) in Josefov , Prague
   , Czech Republic
   . Photo by User:Uoaei1
   .
   - Image 4
   
:
   Another view of the synagogue. Photo by User:Stefan Fadinger
   .


*Product and Technology news*

   - Desktop Improvements Project Information at mw:Reading/Web/Desktop
   Improvements
   .
   - Documentation regarding using Docker 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Was macht dich diese Woche glücklich? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 13 October 2019)

[Pine W]

Thank you for starting the thread, Lucas. I was glad to read that technical
work is going well.

I am hoping to get an Amharic translation from a human translator for the
subject line of my next WMYHTW email. I made some requests for the
translation a few days ago. When I looked earlier today there was no
Amharic translation, so I might need to use an automated translation or to
choose a different language. Given that the thread has already started for
this week, I'll wait until next week to email my next round of substantive
contributions with the hope that someone will create an Amharic translation
by the end of this week.

Thanks again for starting the thread.

Pine
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Café online meeting for October 2019

[Pine W]

 Hello colleagues,

The tentative plan for month's Wikimedia Café online video meeting is to
discuss Wikimedia activities and organizations in India, and to start the
meeting one hour earlier in the day than the previous Café meeting started.

Please see the page on Meta
 for more information,
and watch the page for any updates particularly to the schedule or the
agenda. Signing up for the meeting is optional, but is helpful to the
organizers so that we can estimate how many people will attend. Signing up
for the meeting also informs us who we should notifiy individually if there
are significant changes, such as to the schedule for the meeting.

The meeting style will emphasize discussion rather than presentation.
People are welcome to participate as listeners only if they prefer.

If there are any problems with connecting to the meeting or if you have any
questions or comments then please write on the Meta talk page.

Regards,

Pine
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Ombuds Commission now accepting nominations for 2020

[Pine W]

Hello,

Sorry that I'm late replying to this thread. I have been very busy in the
past few weeks.

I have a proposal that likely will not affect the current round of
appointments because implementation would require some time and careful
deliberation. This proposal isn't intended as a personal critique.

I would like to see the selection process for OC be done by the community
with WMF consent, similar to how stewards are appointed. I think it's
important that community members not be viewed as agents of WMF, and the
current system for OC appointments seems to imply that WMF has authority to
oversee or to control the use of advanced permissions and the OC as an
organization. I think that this should be flipped, with WMF supporting
community institutions and not the other way around. I'm okay with WMF
being involved in the selection process for OC candidates by conducting
background checks on candidates and having some limited veto authority, but
WMF's role should primarily be one of providing support to community
members and institutions such as the OC.

Thank you for listening.

Pine
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[Wikimedia-l] WMF work environment

[Pine W]

Hello,

Something I am sensing from multiple sources, sometimes more through
implication than specific statements, is that there is a sense of turmoil
in WMF. I think that some amounts of internal politics and staff turnover
are normal, but over the past few months I am sensing an increase in
internal turmoil. I am noticing the departures of some staff people that I
personally like and respect. I am wondering if WMF Talent and Culture or
maybe someone on the ED's office would be willing to comment regarding
these issues. I'm not intending to add additional stress to people who are
generally competent and are trying to do good work. I would like to better
understand the degree of turmoil (perhaps my impressions are incorrect),
what might be causing the turmoil, and whether the turmoil is good or bad.
Hopefully any increase in turmoil is temporary, but I am somewhat
concerned. If staff are focused too much on internal WMF issues then this
may affect their productivity on projects that support the community, and
having highly stressed or discouraged staff would be a problem.


Thank you,
Pine
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: Outcomes of the Harmonization Sprint in Tunis

[Pine W]

Hello,

I hope that we can be candid about problems without becoming deeply
cynical. I think that there are many problems in WMF, but I also don't want
to demoralize good WMF board members, staff, or contractors (imagine what
would happen if the good ones all quit) or any strategy working group
contributors who consistently make sincere and competent efforts to support
the community. I'm willing to criticize, to ban, or to fire people, and to
cut budgets, but I try not to be excessively harsh or to have unrealistic
expectations. The strategy process is complicated and messy, and I am
hoping that some good comes from it regardless of the problems.

Regarding conference travel, while I don't know what happened at this
particular conference, when I attended the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin a
few years ago it was not a vacation. I paid for an extra day before the
conference began for tourist activities and to adjust to the time zone, and
I'm glad that I had the extra day. The conference itself overall was very
interesting, and I think that the vast majority of us who were there tried
to make good use of the time. My guess is that there were some serious
discussions at the strategy meeting.


Pine
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[Wikimedia-l] Vad glädjer dig den här veckan? / What’s making you happy this week? (Week of 29 September 2019)

[Pine W]

*"A Wikilibrarian's story"*


(The text in this section was copied from *Books & Bytes*, Issue 35,
July–August 2019
;
see the page history on Meta for attribution.)


One's advent into the world of Wikimedia projects is almost always a
noteworthy account. Here we share one such account of a librarian who was
introduced to Wikipedia in an unusual way and began their adventure trying
to better understand Wikipedia and now helps others understand it too!


*Laurie Bridges is an Instruction and Outreach Librarian at Oregon State
University in the US. She was introduced to Wikipedia by her son: at age 9,
he was assigned a class project to research and present about a species of
frog, and was told to only use Wikipedia for his research. When he related
this to her, she thought, "If 9-year-olds are being introduced to research
using Wikipedia, I better learn more about Wikipedia". So she got involved
because she wanted to better understand the resource her son, and the
students at her university, use. She explains:*
Students and faculty are familiar with [Wikipedia] because many use it
daily, although they do not cite it in their papers. As a librarian I teach
about information literacy and help students and faculty with their
research. Wikipedia is a familiar website that I can use to teach
information literacy and afterwards students and faculty leave equipped
with a better understanding of how the information source works. Students
are used to teachers and professors saying, "Don't use Wikipedia." However,
this dismissive statement doesn't teach the students how, why, or when they
can use Wikipedia or other online resources. We are living in a time of
misinformation and I want students to understand the information they are
using and become critical consumers of that information. Using Wikipedia to
teach students about information literacy is fun! In addition, it's
fulfilling because I can see students' excitement as they learn more about
Wikipedia, a website they use on a daily basis. I've found teaching with
Wikipedia to be so rewarding that I want to spread the word.

Finally, if librarians don't teach students about Wikipedia and what it is
(or isn't), who is going to teach them? I'd like to see more activity and
interest from librarians related to Wikipedia. This is why whenever I get a
chance, I will introduce other librarians to … the Wikimedia Movement. Last
year I received a scholarship to attend Wikimedia + Education in San
Sebastián, Spain. I was only one of two librarians in attendance (in
addition to Basque librarians who were volunteering at the event). It was a
great learning opportunity and I connected with so many enthusiastic
educators. I'd love to see enough interest from librarians to host a
Wikimedia + Libraries conference! That would be a great conference!



*The change of seasons*

There are a variety of ways to define seasons
, including meteorologically and
culturally. For those in the northern hemisphere, the autumnal equinox was
on 23 September this year; the autumnal equinox marks the transition from
astronomical summer to astronomical autumn. For those in the southern
hemisphere, 23 September was the spring equinox, which marked the
transition from astronomical winter to astronomical spring.

Awhile back I learned of a Scandinavian practice called kulning
, which involves using songs to call
herds of cattle over long distances. Here is a video (YouTube link)
 that shows cattle being
summoned out of the field with a kulning call for the last time of the year
in September 2017.

Here are a few music selections for the transition from summer to fall:

* "Summer End | Chill & Jazzhop", by Fantastic Music (YouTube link)


* "Summer's Gone", by Bob Bradley & Thomas Balmforth (YouTube link)


And for the transition from winter to spring:


(The performances linked below feature John Harrison on the violin,
and the Wichita
State University 
Chamber Players. The conductor was Robert Turizziani. The performance
rights release was received by Wikimedia Commons via OTRS
.)


* Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, "*La primavera*" (Spring) —
Movement 1: Allegro from *The Four Seasons*, composed by Antonio Vivaldi

* Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, "*La primavera*" (Spring) —
Movement 2: Largo from *The Four Seasons, *composed by Antonio Vivaldi

* Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV