I would like to apologise to SMcCandlish and Barbara (WVS), and more generally to the Wikipedia community, for any possible implication given in my previous email to this list, that authors of the problematic Signpost "Pronouns beware" essay, might in any way be thought to be transphobic. This was an important matter to word precisely and accurately. I take responsibility and apologise, it was stupid of me to fail to ensure that there could be no way that my words might appear to be intended as an attack on the person, rather than criticism of the judgement used when writing this essay, and the choice to publish it on Wikipedia.
I refrained from correcting this email previously, as it was thought to be better to avoid stirring up any further drama, however this was being interpreted by one of the authors as deliberately avoiding making any correction.[1] I apologise for that misjudgement, and my failure to understand how a delay would appear. My thanks go to SMcCandlish for raising their complaint that a correction was needed. The rest of this email runs on the long side, if you have been following the deletion discussion, there is probably nothing new here. :-) My action in acting transparently as a whistleblower, was to criticise the editorial judgement of creating an essay which made jokes about pronoun usage which would, and has, been read as making a bad joke that mocks genderqueer and transgender people. This problem of how the article could be read, was raised by others before publication. Overwhelmingly the deletion discussion created for the essay has had feedback from many long term and experienced Wikipedians who were alarmed and upset that the article was published without this problem being acted on, and either halting publication, or ensuring a resubmission so there could be no confusion that the article appeared abusive or a failure to respect genderqueer and nonbinary people.[0] Many deletion comments have called the article "transphobic". Nobody as far as I have seen, has mistakenly called the authors transphobes. There is a good faith presumption that cause is an error of judgement. It has been explained several times by myself and others in related Wikipedia discussions that objecting to a published joke being offensive to a minority group, in no way implies or presumes that the author(s) deliberately intended to cause offense to that minority group. Thankfully the Signpost essay has been hidden from view while the deletion discussion continues, an action that resolves the immediate issue, and removes any need for me to be involved. I have not made a complaint to the Technical Spaces Code of Conduct Committee, and decided to let a thread on meta stay closed with regard to use of a unpaid volunteer WMF related title that requires compliance with the Code of Conduct. I sent a friendly confidential email to the Wikimedia Wiki Education project for comment, as Barbara chose to publish the essay using the unpaid volunteer account that specifically represented Wiki Education, though again, this was not a formal complaint. I had one informal reply back saying they were looking into it. I have not emailed anyone else with regard to the authors or their actions. Explicitly, I have not contacted anyone's employer nor anyone else not directly part of Wikimedia projects. Barbara has thoughtfully stated in a personal email to me, and on her Wikipedia talk page, that she is preparing a formal apology as one of the coauthors. Thankfully SMcCandlish has agreed with the article being hidden from view, and continues to debate the article deletion. They chose to raised an ANI request against me for "canvassing and incivility/aspersions in gender-related disputes", which was closed without action today.[3] At the time of writing this email, there are claims by SMcCandlish that they are "accused of being a transphobe", it is unclear who is doing this.[4] The WMF have taken the unusual step of refusing an email promoting the Signpost on the announcements list, due to "multiple reports of concerns related to potentially harmful content in the February 2019 edition of the Signpost". I made no formal email complaint to the WMF about Signpost, or anything else. The multiple reports were from other concerned people that are unknown to me. Sadly the immediate personal response to the WMF by the Signpost Production Manager has been "I find your rejection of my email to be an empty political gesture bowing to political pressure from braying sheeple."[5] No other Signpost contributor has made any other reply, either personally or on behalf of Signpost. I have seen no plans or proposals to change or improve the review process or policies for the Signpost. Thank you for those sending private messages of encouragement, support and information. Should anything similar happen on Wikipedia in the future, this experience has taught me to run as fast as possible in the opposite direction, rather than putting my head above the parapet. Becoming a figure of hatred is not worth the stress, or having to read targeted mockery wrapped as "jokes", published on the project you love and support. Throughout our Wikimedia projects, there remains huge room for improvement in how best to ensure correct, friendly and respectful treatment of minorities, especially us queers. Thanks,I would like to apologise to SMcCandlish and Barbara (WVS), and more generally to the Wikipedia community, for any possibly implication given in my previous email to this list, that authors of the problematic Signpost "Pronouns beware" essay, might in any way be thought to be transphobic. This was an important matter to word precisely and accurately. I take responsibility and apologise, it was stupid of me to fail to ensure that there could be no way that my words might appear to be intended as an attack on the person, rather than criticism of the judgement used when writing this essay, and the choice to publish it on Wikipedia. I refrained from correcting this email previously, as it was thought to be better to avoid stirring up any further drama, however this was being interpreted by one of the authors as deliberately avoiding making any correction.[1] I apologise for that misjudgement, and my failure to understand how a delay would appear. My thanks go to SMcCandlish for raising their complaint that a correction was needed. My action in acting transparently as a whistleblower, was to criticise the editorial judgement of creating an essay which made jokes about pronoun usage which would, and has, been read as making a bad joke that mocks genderqueer and transgender people. This problem of how the article could be read, was raised by others before publication. Overwhelmingly the deletion discussion created for the essay has had feedback from many long term and experienced Wikipedians who were alarmed and upset that the article was published without this problem being acted on, and either halting publication, or ensuring a resubmission so there could be no confusion that the article appeared abusive or a failure to respect genderqueer and nonbinary people.[0] Many deletion comments have called the article "transphobic". Nobody as far as I have seen, has mistakenly called the authors transphobes. There is a good faith presumption that cause is an error of judgement. It has been explained several times by myself and others in related Wikipedia discussions that objecting to a published joke being offensive to a minority group, in no way implies or presumes that the author(s) deliberately intended to cause offense to that minority group. Thankfully the Signpost essay has been hidden from view while the deletion discussion continues, an action that in my opinion resolves the immediate issue, and removes any need for me to be involved. I have not made a complaint to the Technical Spaces Code of Conduct Committee, and decided to let a thread on meta stay closed with regard to use of a unpaid volunteer WMF related title that requires compliance with the Code of Conduct. I sent a friendly confidential email to the Wikimedia Wiki Education project for comment, as Barbara chose to publish the essay using the unpaid volunteer account that specifically represented Wiki Education, though again, this was not a formal complaint. I had one informal reply back saying they were looking into it. I have not emailed anyone else with regard to the authors or their actions. Explicitly, I have not contacted anyone's employer nor anyone else not directly part of Wikimedia projects. Barbara has thoughtfully stated in a personal email to me, and on her Wikipedia talk page, that she is preparing a formal apology as one of the coauthors. SMcCandlish has agreed with the article being hidden from view, and continues to debate the article deletion. They chose to raised an ANI request against me for "canvassing and incivility/aspersions in gender-related disputes", which was closed without action today.[3] At the time of writing this email, there are claims by SMcCandlish that they are "accused of being a transphobe", it is unclear who is doing this.[4] The WMF have taken the unusual step of refusing an email promoting the Signpost on the announcements list, due to "multiple reports of concerns related to potentially harmful content in the February 2019 edition of the Signpost". I made no formal email complaint to the WMF about Signpost, or anything else. The multiple reports were from other concerned people that are unknown to me. The immediate personal response to the WMF by the Signpost Production Manager has been "I find your rejection of my email to be an empty political gesture bowing to political pressure from braying sheeple."[5] No other Signpost contributor has made any other reply, either personally or on behalf of Signpost. I have seen no plans or proposals to change or improve the review process or policies for the Signpost. Thank you to those sending private messages of encouragement, support and information. :-D Should anything similar happen on Wikipedia in the future, this experience has taught me to run for cover, rather than putting my head above the parapet. Becoming a figure of hatred is not worth the stress, or having to read targeted mockery wrapped as "jokes", published on the project you love and support. Throughout our Wikimedia projects, I am certain that the majority of our contributors agree, there remains huge room for improvement in how best to ensure correct, friendly and respectful treatment of minority groups, rather than doing the minimum possible. Links 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Miscellany_for_deletion/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-02-28/Humour 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AAdministrators%27_noticeboard%2FIncidents&type=revision&diff=885937612&oldid=885936723 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-02-28 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AAdministrators%27_noticeboard%2FIncidents&type=revision&diff=885954601&oldid=885953822 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Miscellany_for_deletion/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-02-28/Humour&curid=60098422&diff=885957940&oldid=885957573 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-02-28 Thanks, Fae -- fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae Wikimedia LGBT+ https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_LGBT+ On Thu, 28 Feb 2019 at 16:39, Fæ <fae...@gmail.com> wrote:either > > It is sad to see that two well established Wikipedians, Barbara (WVS) > and SMcCandlish have misused Wikipedia Signpost to publish a "humour" > article which derides the use of nonbinary pronouns. It will be clear > for any reader that not only is this a joke in bad taste, but the > article is a misuse of the Wikipedia project and brand, to deride and > marginalise transgender, genderqueer and nonbinary people. A deletion > discussion has been created, everyone is welcome to express theithereir > opinions, should they wish to read the Signpost op-ed.[1][4][5] > > As part of the Wikipedia Visiting Scholars program, Barbara Page has > been granted special status at the University of Pittsburgh, and in > this capacity is seen to represent Wikimedia and Wikipedia, even if > not in a paid capacity. Given their coauthorship of the defamatory > essay, I do not see how it would be ethical for Page to retain any > recognition or relationship, and ask that a representative of Wiki > Education provide an official response.[2][6] > > Stanton McCandlish is named as a WMF Tech Ambassador, and I have > requested on Meta that this formal recognition is immediately removed > by the WMF, as their views are directly antithetical to the WMF > supported Technical Spaces Code of Conduct.[3] -- fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae > > Links: > 1. > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Miscellany_for_deletion/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-02-28/Humour > 2. https://wikiedu.org/blog/2015/09/25/upitt-visiting-scholars/ > 3. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tech/Ambassadors#Stanton_McCandlish > 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Barbara_(WVS) > 5. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:SMcCandlish > 6. https://wikiedu.org/contact-us/ > > Thanks, > Fae > -- > fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae > Wikimedia LGBT+ https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_LGBT+ Fae 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Miscellany_for_deletion/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-02-28/Humour 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AAdministrators%27_noticeboard%2FIncidents&type=revision&diff=885937612&oldid=885936723 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-02-28 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AAdministrators%27_noticeboard%2FIncidents&type=revision&diff=885954601&oldid=885953822 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Miscellany_for_deletion/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-02-28/Humour&curid=60098422&diff=885957940&oldid=885957573 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-02-28 fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae Wikimedia LGBT+ https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_LGBT+ On Thu, 28 Feb 2019 at 16:39, Fæ <fae...@gmail.com> wrote:either > > It is sad to see that two well established Wikipedians, Barbara (WVS) > and SMcCandlish have misused Wikipedia Signpost to publish a "humour" > article which derides the use of nonbinary pronouns. It will be clear > for any reader that not only is this a joke in bad taste, but the > article is a misuse of the Wikipedia project and brand, to deride and > marginalise transgender, genderqueer and nonbinary people. A deletion > discussion has been created, everyone is welcome to express theithereir > opinions, should they wish to read the Signpost op-ed.[1][4][5] > > As part of the Wikipedia Visiting Scholars program, Barbara Page has > been granted special status at the University of Pittsburgh, and in > this capacity is seen to represent Wikimedia and Wikipedia, even if > not in a paid capacity. Given their coauthorship of the defamatory > essay, I do not see how it would be ethical for Page to retain any > recognition or relationship, and ask that a representative of Wiki > Education provide an official response.[2][6] > > Stanton McCandlish is named as a WMF Tech Ambassador, and I have > requested on Meta that this formal recognition is immediately removed > by the WMF, as their views are directly antithetical to the WMF > supported Technical Spaces Code of Conduct.[3] -- fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae > > Links: > 1. > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Miscellany_for_deletion/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-02-28/Humour > 2. https://wikiedu.org/blog/2015/09/25/upitt-visiting-scholars/ > 3. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tech/Ambassadors#Stanton_McCandlish > 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Barbara_(WVS) > 5. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:SMcCandlish > 6. https://wikiedu.org/contact-us/ > > Thanks, > Fae > -- > fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae > Wikimedia LGBT+ https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_LGBT+ _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l 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>
