Thank you, Asaf. On Tue, Jun 16, 2020 at 11:03 AM Asaf Bartov <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dear Wikimedia-l subscribers. > > I write to you in my volunteer capacity of list-admin, to inform you that > the entire Wikimedia-l mailing list is now under moderation, meaning all > posts will have to be manually reviewed and approved by one of the admins. > > Here's why: > > Comments on the thread titled (and seeking to remove) "Promotion of > scientific racism in Wikipedia articles" have upset a large number of > people, quite a few of whom wrote to the list-admins requesting that the > thread be shut down. > > Reviewing the thread, we see some comments that AT BEST (assuming good > faith) are ignorant, insensitive, and tone-deaf, especially in the current > moment. As always when ASSUMING good faith, the assumption may not be > correct, and some of the comments may be deliberate trolling, i.e. > calculated to upset people. > > Be that as it may, people are indeed upset, and the prospects of > constructive conversation about Fae's original topic -- which was > essentially an instance of a well-known systemic problem of Wikipedia, viz. > its susceptibility to relying on outdated or debunked sources, and the > difficulty to dislodge some such sources -- seem very poor. > > Shutting down a single thread is not technically possible on a plain > mailing list, so we have moderated the entire list as a stopgap measure. > > Our goal is to restore unmoderated list access AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. > Toward that end, we ask the following: > > ============================ > 1. Make no more responses AT ALL on that thread started by Fae. > > 2. Recognize that the list is for coordination and discussion of matters > related to our work as Wikimedians in service of the Wikimedia mission. It > is *not* the appropriate venue to debate content issues, including the > concept of "race", various racial theories, etc. > > 3. If you would like to pursue work around this systemic issue, I encourage > you to create an on-wiki task force or WikiProject, where you would be able > to clarify methodological questions and plan the on-wiki work. If you > start such a project, announcing it publicly on this list to let people > know it exists would be permitted. > > 4. Recognize that whether or not you are personally feeling anything > special is going on, *a lot* of people around the world are undergoing a > trying time right now -- over and beyond the already-trying pandemic > conditions -- specifically involving the diverse phenomena of racism and > bigotry. People experience it in many different ways, but quite a few are > hurting, quite a few are raging, quite a few are frustrated and upset, etc. > > Whatever your opinions about these complex and charged issues, it would be > an act of empathetic kindness and collegiality to your fellow Wikimedians > who *are* experiencing an exceptionally trying time if you *avoid* choosing > this time to air out those opinions. > ============================ > > We shall do our best to monitor the moderation queue at closer intervals, > to support regular list activity on all other topics. People who would not > heed our requests above will remain on moderation after the entire list is > unmoderated. (We will announce when that happens.) > > Your list moderators. > -- > Asaf Bartov <[email protected]> > _______________________________________________ > 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: [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> -- Samuel Klein @metasj w:user:sj +1 617 529 4266 _______________________________________________ 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: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
