Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation's support of OTRS

[DeltaQuad Wikipedia]

+1, the interface still confuses me at somepoints today.

But I have to ask, are we getting everything we need with an OTRS update to
the new version, or are we settling for a medioker (excuse my spelling, it
is late). Is it a better idea to have wikimedians (maybe through grants,
idk) build something open source and cc-whatever? That way fixes can be
made and we can get many devs (broad sense of the term) fixing bugs of a
new system.

DeltaQuad - Mobile phone
English Wikipedia Administrator and Checkuser
On Feb 20, 2013 11:35 PM, "Rjd0060"  wrote:

> On Wed, Feb 20, 2013 at 11:25 PM, MZMcBride  wrote:
>
> > Hi.
> >
> > OTRS () is a critical piece of
> Wikimedia's
> > infrastructure. It currently handles nearly all customer service
> inquiries
> > directed at Wikimedia. Trusted volunteers triage and respond to this
> > e-mail.
> >
> > Wikimedia is currently running OTRS version 2.4. The most recently
> > released OTRS version is 3.2. There's been an outstanding request to
> update
> > Wikimedia's OTRS installation for just shy of three years now:
> > . OTRS' inventor kindly offered to
> > donate his time to help with an upgrade, but due to a number of factors,
> > this has become an untenable solution.
> >
> > Given the bug's fast-approaching birthday, the security concerns of
> > running outdated software, the Wikimedia Foundation apparently being
> > overburdened and uninterested in maintaining this piece of software, and
> > mounting volunteer frustration, I'm wondering whether this is an area
> > where the Wikimedia chapters or some other group might be able to lend a
> > hand in supporting the maintenance of this piece of important
> > infrastructure. Broadly, the Wikimedia Foundation isn't acting on this
> > issue and it seems to have little interest in maintaining or supporting
> > this software any longer.
> >
> > Given recent discussion about various Wikimedia movement roles, I'm
> > wondering whether a Wikimedia chapter or a grant or some other movement
> > player could either take on supporting the existing OTRS installation (by
> > hiring a contractor), evaluating and implementing better/different
> > response software, and/or moving the response system elsewhere.
> >
> > MZMcBride
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> I've been working on OTRS since 2008 and have been an OTRS administrator
> for much of that time.  As somebody who devotes a lot of his time to
> OTRS-related work, I'm extremely disappointed in the lack of support the
> OTRS team has been dealing with.  As MZMcBride points out, there are a
> number of reasons why the software needs to be updated.
>
> Last year, we handled roughly 40,000 general inquiries in over 35
> languages.[1]  This alone should be a convincing reason as to why we should
> have at least somewhat up-to-date software, clean of security issues and
> other problems.[2]
>
> While I realize that there have been other priorities, I would have thought
> that with 3 years of waiting, eventually OTRS would be important enough for
> somebody to give some much needed attention to.
>
> [1] -
>
> https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/01/24/the-incredible-work-of-the-wikimedia-volunteer-response-team/
> [2] -
>
> https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&component=OTRS&product=Wikimedia
>
> --
>
> Ryan
> User:Rjd0060
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Luis Villa joins WMF as Deputy General Counsel

[DeltaQuad Wikipedia]

Sounds like a great choice for WMF Legal. Welcome :) Watch out for that guy
you'll probably see quite a bit of, Philippe, pure troublemaker ;) I
haven't seen the product of him and Geoff together, but you'll probably be
in for a double slam if they join forces. :P

DeltaQuad - Mobile phone
English Wikipedia Administrator and Checkuser
On Feb 20, 2013 11:15 AM, "Samuel Klein"  wrote:

> Hear, hear!  Welcome Luis, this is excellent news. I can't think of a
> better person to take on the role.
>
> Plus now you can wikilawyer while you lawyer...
> On Feb 19, 2013 6:51 PM, "Luis Villa"  wrote:
>
> > I subscribed while still interviewing, admittedly under a different
> > address. :) Thanks for the warm welcome, James- I look forward to working
> > with everyone.
> >
> > Luis
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 3:49 PM, James Alexander
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Responding to this to to make sure it gets to Wikimedia-l and to be the
> > > first to say on Wikimedia-l \o/ WELCOME!
> > >
> > > Luis seems like the perfect dGC for us with his experience and
> > background.
> > > Watch out for Geoff he's dangerous and crafty!
> > >
> > > James
> > >
> > > Copying in Luis since I'm not sure if he's on here yet or not :)
> > >
> > > James Alexander
> > > Manager, Merchandise
> > > Wikimedia Foundation
> > > (415) 839-6885 x6716 @jamesofur
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 3:37 PM, Geoff Brigham  > >wrote:
> > >
> > >> *Hi everyone, *
> > >>  * *
> > >> *I’m simply thrilled to welcome Luis Villa to the Foundation as our
> new
> > >> Deputy General Counsel.*
> > >> *
> > >> Thanks to Kat Walsh, I met Luis during my first months at the
> > >> Foundation.  Kat loves Luis, and it is no wonder why.  In addition to
> > >> being a superb lawyer, Luis is an open source developer, has worked
> with
> > >> leaders in our Internet legal circles, and has a great personality
> that
> > >> embraces our culture.
> > >> *
> > >> *
> > >> His most recent adventure took place at the Palo Alto office of
> > Greenberg
> > >> Traurig, one of the top  global law firms.  There he worked with
> > well-known
> > >> Internet lawyers like Ian Ballon and Heather Meeker.   Luis focused on
> > >> technology transactions, helping clients create solutions to licensing
> > >> problems, with a particular emphasis on open source and software
> > standards.
> > >> His clients included Mozilla, the Open Compute Project, and a variety
> of
> > >> clients large and small.  Luis successfully defended Google in the
> > >> Oracle-Google/Android lawsuit, primarily working on the question of
> API
> > >> copyrightability. I hired Luis as outside counsel to work on a tough
> > >> legal matter for us, and his answers were on point, clear, and
> > practical.
> > >> *
> > >> *
> > >> Luis’ first contact with free software came was when he was in college
> > >> at Duke University. There he studied political science and computer
> > >> science, began using Linux, and helped triage Mozilla's bugzilla. A
> > >> professor paid him to play with Lego, resulting in brief
> maintainership
> > of
> > >> the GPL’d LegOS operating system and co-authorship of the book
> "Extreme
> > >> Mindstorms".
> > >> *
> > >> *
> > >> After graduation, Luis worked at Ximian, a Linux desktop startup,
> doing
> > >> quality assurance and eventually managing the desktop team. As part of
> > >> that, he got heavily involved in the GNOME desktop project, becoming
> > >> bugmaster and then getting elected to the board of directors. After
> > Ximian
> > >> was acquired, Luis became "geek in residence" at Harvard Law School's
> > >> Berkman Center. At Berkman, he translated from lawyer to geek, and
> > managed,
> > >> maintained, and developed several software projects.
> > >> *
> > >> *
> > >> After Berkman, Luis started his legal ventures in life at Columbia Law
> > >> School, where he was Editor in Chief of the Science and Technology Law
> > >> Review, was awarded honors each year, and was co-recipient of the
> class
> > >> prize for excellence in intellectual property scholarship. His thesis
> > dealt
> > >> with the use of software standards as part of antitrust enforcement.
> > >> Outside of class, he participated in the GPL revision process, worked
> in
> > >> the General Counsel's office at Red Hat, and developed a surprisingly
> > >> strong attachment to New York City.
> > >> *
> > >> *
> > >> After law school, Luis worked in the legal department at Mozilla,
> where
> > >> his major project was revising the Mozilla Public License. The license
> > got
> > >> over a thousand words shorter, and gained stronger patent protections
> > and
> > >> compatibility with the Apache and GPL licenses. Luis also worked on
> > >> privacy, contracts, standards bodies, and other issues.
> > >> *
> > >> *
> > >> Outside of work, Luis is an invited expert to the World Wide Web
> > >> Consortium's Patents and Standards Interest Group, and a board member
> > and
> > >> chair of the Licensing Committee at the Ope

Re: [Wikimedia-l] The new narrowed focus by WMF: conflicts of interest

[DeltaQuad Wikipedia]

Of note though, she did freely invite comments on the proposal. Of course
its still her decision, but now we at least have the community view on it,
whether positive or negative. I also would like to thank Sue for making
this as open as it is.

---
DeltaQuad - Mobile Tablet
English Wikipedia Administrator and CheckUser
On Oct 27, 2012 2:11 PM, "Jan-Bart de Vreede" 
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> So just as a note from me personally (as a individual WMF Trustee member).
> What I think is the general idea is that
>
> 1) Sue formulates her thoughts on meta rather than privately
> 2) This is influenced by the public discussion on meta
> 3) She wraps up at a certain point
> 4) and sends her final proposition to the board
> 5) And the board takes her proposition, and the feedback on meta (which
> she will have included in her proposition) and makes a decision
>
> And in this case I think that all of that was done. Its not a
> "community-consensus" thing as far as I see. As your Board of Trustees
> (which also includes your representation) its our task to make that final
> decision. Having Sue prepare this decision in a public way is a great way
> of preparing for that decision.
>
> Jan-Bart
>
>
>
> On 27 Oct 2012, at 10:32, ENWP Pine  wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > I agree with Denny’s point about COIs in this discussion, and I believe
> that the same issue has been raised regarding the FDC.
> >
> > I find it helpful when people who have financial interests or other
> potential COIs disclose that information in their statements on that Meta
> page and/or in Wikimedia-l depending on where they make their comments, and
> I would be in favor of a policy requiring that potential conflicts of
> interest be disclosed in a situation like this. These potential COIs
> include being a staff member of WMF whose budget or employment would be
> affected positively or negatively by these proposed changes.
> >
> > In my own case, I'm not a fellow or aspiring fellow, chapter executive,
> paid researcher, or WMF staff person whose department would be affected by
> these proposed changes, so I believe that as far as my own comments are
> concerned, I can speak without a financial interest in the outcome of the
> discussion.
> >
> > If we operate by consensus instead of by mere vote-counting, and if
> editors and WMF staff participate in good faith, then hopefully there will
> be enough balancing and give-and-take negotiation among those with COIs for
> a supermajority consensus to solidify. The other option is to ask for
> people who don’t have potential COIs to make a decision based on the
> opinions and information provided by others. However, this may all be a
> moot issue since it appears to me that Sue, a few of her chosen associates,
> and the Board apparently intend to make decisions themselves, so the
> community discussion on that Meta talk page will be used for discussion but
> not for finalizing a decision. Someone please correct me if I’m mistaken.
> >
> > Pine
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