Please note that I have been requesting an urgent correction to this statement since 21:17 today (it is now 23:00), without receiving any response from the WMF.
Thanks, Mike On 28 Sep 2012, at 21:18, Jay Walsh <[email protected]> wrote: > Posted to the WMF and WM UK blogs a few moments ago. > > http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/09/28/joint-statement-from-wikimedia-foundation-and-wikimedia-uk/ > http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2012/09/joint-statement-from-wikimedia-foundation-and-wikimedia-uk/ > > --- > > Joint statement from Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia UK > > Over the past six months, a Wikimedia UK trustee led two Wikipedia-related > projects, Monmouthpedia and Gibraltarpedia, in a way that seemed to some > observers to blur his roles as a Wikimedia UK trustee, a paid consultant for > the projects’ government partners, and an editor of the English Wikipedia. > This raised questions in the Wikimedia community about whether a trustee was > able to balance appropriately the interests of his clients with his > responsibilities to Wikimedia UK, the values and editorial policies of > Wikipedia, and whether any conflict of interest that arose as a result was > effectively managed. > > To better understand the facts and details of these allegations and to ensure > that governance arrangements commensurate with the standing of the Wikimedia > Foundation, Wikimedia UK and the worldwide Wikimedia movement, Wikimedia UK’s > trustees and the Wikimedia Foundation will jointly appoint an independent > expert advisor to objectively review both Wikimedia UK’s governance > arrangements and its handling of the conflict of interest. > > The review will consider Wikimedia UK’s current governance arrangements, > current internal policies, such as the Trustee Code of Conduct, the Nolan > Committee Requirements, the Conflicts of Interest policy, the Representing > Wikimedia UK policy, any other relevant policies of Wikimedia UK, and best > ethical practices. > > Considering specifically the conflict of interest, we will ask the expert > advisor to identify any gaps between how the conflict of interest situation > within Wikimedia UK would ideally have been handled and how it actually was > handled, and to recommend how situations such as this should be managed in > the future. The review will also touch on any activities that may have > blurred work as a paid consultant with work as a Wikipedia editor, but > recommendations for changes to Wikipedia’s policies and practices will be > outside its scope: we leave the broader topic of reviewing Wikipedia’s > editorial policies to the community. > > Once the review is completed, it will be reviewed by both the Wikimedia > Foundation and Wikimedia UK and then published. > > At the same time, Wikimedia UK has agreed with the Wikimedia Foundation that > the Foundation shall process payments for the United Kingdom during this > year’s fundraiser. > > Wikimedia UK has the benefit of legal and professional advice to assist in > understanding and handling conflicts of interests. The goal of both > organizations in carrying out this review, and Wikimedia UK’s in deciding to > absent itself from the 2012 fundraising campaign as a payment processor, is > to demonstrate that we mutually recognize the importance of handling > conflicts well beyond simple requirements of the law. We understand our > responsibilities to you: the members of Wikimedia UK and the Wikimedia > movement, its donors, editors, and readers. > _______________________________________________ > Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately > directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia community. > For more information about Wikimedia-l: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > _______________________________________________ > WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-Blog mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-blog _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
