+1 to "writing an encyclopedia is a political act" and +1 to the notion called "freedom of speech", and +1 to "refugee bans remind us of very dark memories", but mostly +1 to the point about bias on Wikipedia! So I can also only conclude "Bravo Katherine"!
On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 1:26 AM, Natacha Rault <n.ra...@me.com> wrote: > Had the WMF statement been issued on Wikipedia, now that would have > neutrality issues from a wikioedian point of view. > The WMF is not Wikipedia, and does have a political activity: being in > favour of sharing free knowledge is altogether a political statement, as > freedom of sharing knowledge is not something which is accepted by all > political regimes (please remember the globality of the movement, this is > not just an american issue, it is a planetary one). One only needs to think > about the influence of Diderot and the encyclopedists in the French > revolution to understand that an encyclopedia, albeit seemingly neutral, > has very concrete political influences in major political regime changes. > That the WMF which relies on the free movement of people and ideas to > fulfil its mission should be worried and issue a statement is quite normal > - not to say courageous. After all there is a notion called "freedom of > speech". > A foundation has actually no obligation to be fully transparent, and WMF > is making notable efforts in a context where advertising, non disclosed > paid editing and lobbying are representing (in my opinion) a much greater > threat to neutrality than a public statement on this particular matter. > I am personnallly pretty impressed from across the ocean: in the 30s had > some leaders shown more courage maybe Hitler would not have been able to > start a genocide. > This not only political, this is common sense, and living in Switzerland > might influence a very pragmatic and down to the roots approach. > We are watching from over the ocean, as europeans these refugee bans > remind us of very dark memories. > Katherine Maher did a statement and so what? That does not prevent > wikipedians from editing, and confronting opinions to approach NPOV > (actually there is no achieved NPOV on Wikipedia in what concerns the > gender biases as far as I see it) > Bravo Katherine this is what I say, Sandberg has not even uttered a tweet! > Neutrality should not mean surrending to the powerful by remaining silent. > > Nattes à chat / Natacha > > > > > > Le 3 févr. 2017 à 00:05, Leigh Thelmadatter <osama...@hotmail.com> a > écrit : > > > > I voiced my opposition to the statement on Facebook but Yair states the > case far more eloquently. Many acts by many countries could be a possible > threat to Wikimedia, where do we draw the line? > > Why was there no community discussion prior to the statement? > > Sent from my iPhone > > > >> On 02/02/2017, at 3:37 p.m., Yair Rand <yyairr...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > >> The Wikimedia movement is both global and very ideologically diverse, > and > >> has many contributors who have strong opinions in one direction or > another > >> on certain political issues facing their area of the world. Many of > these > >> contributors find it difficult to avoid using Wikimedia forums and > >> institutions to discuss or advocate for issues they feel very strongly > >> about. Recently, political advocacy on Wikimedia forums has risen > >> substantially, especially on this mailing list. > >> > >> While I sympathize with the difficulties these contributors face in > >> remaining silent, it is important to consider the substantial damage > such > >> actions can cause to the movement. We will be much worse off if half of > any > >> given country's political spectrum can no longer cooperate in our > mission > >> due to compunctions against supporting a community which hosts those who > >> use the community to advocate for positions that some may find > >> unacceptable. The issue of inadvertently alienating participants > because of > >> politics has a self-reinforcing element: As we lose contributors > >> representing ideological areas, we have fewer willing to advocate for an > >> environment which allows them to participate without being bombarded by > >> hostile political advocacy. We are precariously close to the point of no > >> return on this, but I am optimistic that the situation is recoverable. > >> > >> As an initial measure, I propose adding the names of a certain country's > >> top political leaders to this list's spam filter. More generally, I > think a > >> stricter stance on avoiding political advocacy on Wikimedia projects is > >> warranted. > >> > >> We face a somewhat more difficult situation with the Wikimedia > Foundation > >> itself. Partly as a result of being relatively localized within a > >> geographic area and further limited to several professions, I suspect > the > >> Foundation tends to be more politically/ideologically homogeneous. With > the > >> WMF, we risk much more than just alienating much of the world, we risk > our > >> Neutrality. > >> > >> How far we must go to maintain neutrality has been a contentious issue > over > >> the years. Existential threats have twice been responded to with major > >> community action, each with large prior discussion. (SOPA included an > >> extensive discussion and a poll with more than 500 respondents.) A > previous > >> ED committed to firing everyone but part of the Ops team rather than > accept > >> advertising, should lack of funds require it. (Whether to let the WMF > die > >> outright rather than accept ads is as of yet unresolved.) More recently, > >> the WMF has taken limited actions and stances on public policy that > >> directly relate to the mission. A careful balance has been established > >> between maintaining essential neutrality and dealing with direct > threats to > >> the projects. > >> > >> Three days ago, the WMF put out a statement on the Wikimedia blog > >> explicitly urging a specific country to modify its refugee policy, an > area > >> that does not relate to our goals. There was no movement-wide prior > >> discussion, or any discussion at all as far as I can tell. > >> > >> It is the responsibility of the Board at this point to set a policy to > >> place firm restrictions on which areas the WMF can take positions. > While we > >> value the important contributions of the staff, they should not be able > to > >> override our commitment to neutrality. Our donors, editors, and other > >> volunteers do not contribute so that resources and influence can be > spent > >> towards whatever political causes are popular within the WMF. > >> > >> It is the responsibility of the community to ensure that our projects > >> remain apolitical. A neutral point of view is impossible if > participating > >> requires a certain political position. > >> > >> It is the responsibility of the mailing list administration and > moderators > >> to act against this list's rapid slide into unreadability. > >> > >> Thank you. > >> > >> -- Yair Rand > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > >> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
