On Mon, Jun 23, 2014 at 11:26 AM, Risker <risker.wp@gmail.com> wrote:

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The focus on technology here is very important. Right now, there is no way for Wikimedians to control from whom they receive "email this user" emails, or pings through the notification system. We know that both have been, and continue to be, vectors for harassment and trolling. There's never, to my knowledge, been any consideration given to including these features. We keep being told we're going to get this wonderful new communication system called "Flow" to replace talk pages. Features that allow users to control who posts to their "page", or even to let non-admin users remove individual threads or posts from their "stream", aren't included - and I'm not sure they're even under consideration.

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Risker

This is an area where I'd really like to see Lila help out (is she subscribed to this list?). If there is some recognition at the top that the gender gap is one of the most important, fundamental problems facing the Wikimedia projects... Then addressing it should be built into literally every feature development process, including Flow. It should be tested against female user groups, scrutinized on whether it helps address the gender gap or not, and revamped to do so if its found it doesn't.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but every feature that doesn't address the gender gap is a missed opportunity - Flow in particular. Not exacerbating the problem isn't enough. WMF has limited resources, and is unlikely to make massively iterative attempts at rolling out such a major feature. Since it's clear that communication and interaction are at the core of the gap, any new tool in this area must make at least some progress.