On Mon, May 13, 2013 at 9:39 AM, Dariusz Jemielniak <[email protected]> wrote:
> I think I'm quite neutral to the decision itself. If it is a WMF wiki, and > if indeed there were some problems with staff being overridden by > volunteers, I think it may perhaps make some sense to leave it to WMF. > However, the way this change was introduced was definitely poorly planned, > badly communicated (and not announced ahead of time), occasionally harsh, > quite insensitive. Also, clearly, some discussion ahead of time would be > good - both to let people know, but also to let the community think about > addressing the problems related to it, too. > > I believe that especially Gayle, but also Philippe, have expressed their > sincere apologies for the way things turned out, and for their > unthoughtfulness prior to going through with the plan. Gayle also promised > to reflect more on the issue once she gets back to the office. I think that > this is quite a good way to deal with the problem. Thanks, Dariusz. Yes, Gayle has indeed apologized - both here on the list and individually on the talk pages of the affected users [1] - for the rash way in which this was done. She's also in touch by direct email with people who've reached out to her. I think we're all in agreement that when such clarifications in governance are made, we need to be extra careful to not make long-time volunteers feel like their work isn't recognized or appreciated. We do owe that to folks like Casey and Thehelpfulone but also early Wikimedia veterans like Daniel Mayer (Wikimedia's volunteer CFO in the early years) and everyone else who's helped maintain WMF wiki over the years. In turn, the staff of WMF also appreciates patience and forgiveness when things like this happen. When conflict occurs, abusive language is sometimes directed at staff, and we also appreciate when such language is called out and not tolerated. Thanks, Erik [1] e.g. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User_talk:Thehelpfulone#Apology_for_removal_of_admin_rights ; some of her notes are on Meta as well -- Erik Möller VP of Engineering and Product Development, Wikimedia Foundation _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
