On Mon, Sep 13, 2021 at 6:16 PM Maggie Dennis <mden...@wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Community “capture” is a real and present threat. For years, the movement > has been widely aware of challenges in the Croatian Wikipedia, with > documentation going back nearly a decade. The Foundation recently set up a > disinformation team, which is still finding its footing and assessing the > problem, but which began by contracting an external researcher to review > that project and the challenges and help us understand potential causes and > solutions for such situations.[4] > Dear Maggie - thank you for writing this, but I fear it can be wrongly interpreted *(already did to a few people who got in touch) as it was worded in a non/explicit way. I would like to point that: #1 both WMF and Wikimedians were aware of issues with HR Wikipedia and nothing has been done for a decade, aside from handful last year to remove 4 of right-wing admins*(Wiktionary and Wikisource, are still with rightwing admin control)... WMF actions are sadly post-festum and with a very limited scope. #2 HR was not abducted by some well organized and resourced entity, but by handful of extreme rightwingers (one unmerried couple + their closest neo-nazi friend and 3 submissive mediocrats...including 40+ proven but likely 60+ sock puppets) with silent and passive conservative 'center' majority of woters. #3 an external researcher contractor was not really reviewing the full project, but mainly content *(very little on social dynamics and capacities) and in doing so failed to understand the challenges of under-resourced and asocial 'community'... This is why solutions suggested in findings included impossible language and project merges, rather than anything that would enable self-governance, expansion of the pool of contributors and sustainable and ambitious work *(like in Serbia for example). Hope with these distinctions it is more obvious the difference between the two and if /how/when/where the learning is applicable or not... Thank you for your professional work. Best Z. Blace
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