Dear Erik,
Not sure where to begin :(
Because words cannot begin how important your contribution to Wikimedia so far has been.
When I started on the board in 2007 you were a little impatient with your new fellow board
member for simply “not getting it” (fair comment, some would argue that 8 years later I
still don’t get it so there). In the following months I learned to admire not just your
expertise but also your unwavering belief in our mission. You made clear what “being bold”
meant on several occasions. Sue could not have picked a better deputy to help her set up
the foundation in San Francisco and you deserve a large part of the credit for what we
have achieved (as it witnessed in this thread).
But there are two things that have always impressed me beyond all others:
1) Knowing what the “right thing” to do is in terms of our movement and mission. I have
sought you out many times for advice, and have not regretted it once. Even if I did not
agree your perspective always got me thinking and helped me form a better opinion.
2) Your ability to always be frank, but also take the time to reach out and spend the time
to explain things when needed (and take the criticism for it). Several emails to this
mailing list are proof of that.
But I can understand your decision that “the time has come”. I might not agree, but I am
not sure I will ever agree with it…. working with you has made me a better person and
hopefully we will have the chance to do so again somewhere in the future.
As a very small consolation: I am excited to find out what cause you will actively support
next, and I am sure that your path and that of our community will continue to cross
regularly.
From the bottom of my heart: THANK YOU!
Jan-Bart “your henchman” de Vreede
On 13 Apr 2015, at 20:12, Erik Moeller
<erik(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Hi all --
As Lila noted, since January 2008 I've worn many hats at the Wikimedia
Foundation, and in the six years before that I was a Wikipedian,
MediaWiki developer, and member of the WMF board of trustees. I became
involved in Wikipedia when I was 22 years old. :) The Wikimedia
movement has accomplished amazing things, but I believe it's time now
for me to do something different and new.
It's been a long and incredible journey, and one I am privileged to
have helped to shape. When I joined the Foundation in December 2007 we
were a staff of a dozen people, with barely enough funds to keep the
lights on. Since then, we've tackled challenges of a complexity and
scale faced by few other organisations. In doing so, we’ve been
generously supported by people all over the world who are grateful for
the gift of free knowledge.
I’m proud of and happy with what we've achieved. Reaching people on
mobile. Pioneering new approaches working with universities.
Painstakingly building a visual editing experience on top of wikitext.
:) I’m glad we’ve taken a stand when it matters (SOPA blackout, NSA
lawsuit) and that we don’t shy away from complex issues such as
community health and diversity.
I’m excited that Wikidata is growing in leaps and bounds with the help
of Wikimedia Germany, and that more and more powerful tools and
services are being built on the basis of Wikimedia APIs and data. I’ve
always believed that Wikimedia chapter and affiliate organizations are
key to the success of the movement, and I hope they are going to truly
thrive in years to come.
But it's time. As the leadership team begins to coalesce under Lila, I
want to open up space for the organization to learn and explore anew
-- and I’d like to rediscover for myself what it means to tackle
challenges outside of my areas of comfort and familiarity.
I’m very interested in the technical challenges of federated
collaboration, and am looking forward to getting my hands dirty in
that domain. I also want to explore how to make patterns of ethics,
policy, and self-governance more accessible and re-usable for
communities. In short, I’m itching to immerse myself in new problem
spaces and new ideas.
Lila, Damon, Terry, myself and others in the org have been discussing
how to organize product going forward to set the org up for success in
the years to come, and we’ll have an update on that very soon. This is
a very natural point for me to pursue something new.
What Wikimedia does in the world is wonderful & important. I’m sure I
will continue to cross paths with many of you in future as I continue
to move in free culture circles, and I very much look forward to it.
I’ll continue to be @ WMF full-time through April, and will make
myself available as necessary afterwards, for when the org needs human
institutional memory that surpasses digital archives. I wish you all
success and joy :-)
Love,
Erik
--
Erik Möller
VP of Product & Strategy, Wikimedia Foundation
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