May 2016 - Wikimedia-l - lists.wikimedia.org

[Foundation-l] Improving search in Wikipedia through quality and concept discovery
by Brian J Mingus 10 Sep '22

10 Sep '22

This paper (first reference) is the result of a class project I was part of almost two years ago for CSCI 5417 Information Retrieval Systems. It builds on a class project I did in CSCI 5832 Natural Language Processing and which I presented at Wikimania '07. The project was very late as we didn't send the final paper in until the day before new years. This technical report was never really announced that I recall so I thought it would be interesting to look briefly at the results. The goal of this paper was to break articles down into surface features and latent features and then use those to study the rating system being used, predict article quality and rank results in a search engine. We used the [[random forests]] classifier which allowed us to analyze the contribution of each feature to performance by looking directly at the weights that were assigned. While the surface analysis was performed on the whole english wikipedia, the latent analysis was performed on the simple english wikipedia (it is more expensive to compute). = Surface features = * Readability measures are the single best predictor of quality that I have found, as defined by the Wikipedia Editorial Team (WET). The [[Automated Readability Index]], [[Gunning Fog Index]] and [[Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level]] were the strongest predictors, followed by length of article html, number of paragraphs, [[Flesh Reading Ease]], [[Smog Grading]], number of internal links, [[Laesbarhedsindex Readability Formula]], number of words and number of references. Weakly predictive were number of to be's, number of sentences, [[Coleman-Liau Index]], number of templates, PageRank, number of external links, number of relative links. Not predictive (overall - see the end of section 2 for the per-rating score breakdown): Number of h2 or h3's, number of conjunctions, number of images*, average word length, number of h4's, number of prepositions, number of pronouns, number of interlanguage links, average syllables per word, number of nominalizations, article age (based on page id), proportion of questions, average sentence length. :* Number of images was actually by far the single strongest predictor of any class, but only for Featured articles. Because it was so good at picking out featured articles and somewhat good at picking out A and G articles the classifier was confused in so many cases that the overall contribution of this feature to classification performance is zero. :* Number of external links is strongly predictive of Featured articles. :* The B class is highly distinctive. It has a strong "signature," with high predictive value assigned to many features. The Featured class is also very distinctive. F, B and S (Stop/Stub) contain the most information. :* A is the least distinct class, not being very different from F or G. = Latent features = The algorithm used for latent analysis, which is an analysis of the occurence of words in every document with respect to the link structure of the encyclopedia ("concepts"), is [[Latent Dirichlet Allocation]]. This part of the analysis was done by CS PhD student Praful Mangalath. An example of what can be done with the result of this analysis is that you provide a word (a search query) such as "hippie". You can then look at the weight of every article for the word hippie. You can pick the article with the largest weight, and then look at its link network. You can pick out the articles that this article links to and/or which link to this article that are also weighted strongly for the word hippie, while also contributing maximally to this articles "hippieness". We tried this query in our system (LDA), Google (site:en.wikipedia.org hippie), and the Simple English Wikipedia's Lucene search engine. The breakdown of articles occuring in the top ten search results for this word for those engines is: * LDA only: [[Acid rock]], [[Aldeburgh Festival]], [[Anne Murray]], [[Carl Radle]], [[Harry Nilsson]], [[Jack Kerouac]], [[Phil Spector]], [[Plastic Ono Band]], [[Rock and Roll]], [[Salvador Allende]], [[Smothers brothers]], [[Stanley Kubrick]]. * Google only: [[Glam Rock]], [[South Park]]. * Simple only: [[African Americans]], [[Charles Manson]], [[Counterculture]], [[Drug use]], [[Flower Power]], [[Nuclear weapons]], [[Phish]], [[Sexual liberation]], [[Summer of Love]] * LDA & Google & Simple: [[Hippie]], [[Human Be-in]], [[Students for a democratic society]], [[Woodstock festival]] * LDA & Google: [[Psychedelic Pop]] * Google & Simple: [[Lysergic acid diethylamide]], [[Summer of Love]] ( See the paper for the articles produced for the keywords philosophy and economics ) = Discussion / Conclusion = * The results of the latent analysis are totally up to your perception. But what is interesting is that the LDA features predict the WET ratings of quality just as well as the surface level features. Both feature sets (surface and latent) both pull out all almost of the information that the rating system bears. * The rating system devised by the WET is not distinctive. You can best tell the difference between, grouped together, Featured, A and Good articles vs B articles. Featured, A and Good articles are also quite distinctive (Figure 1). Note that in this study we didn't look at Start's and Stubs, but in earlier paper we did. :* This is interesting when compared to this recent entry on the YouTube blog. "Five Stars Dominate Ratings" http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2009/09/five-stars-dominate-ratings.html… I think a sane, well researched (with actual subjects) rating system is well within the purview of the Usability Initiative. Helping people find and create good content is what Wikipedia is all about. Having a solid rating system allows you to reorganized the user interface, the Wikipedia namespace, and the main namespace around good content and bad content as needed. If you don't have a solid, information bearing rating system you don't know what good content really is (really bad content is easy to spot). :* My Wikimania talk was all about gathering data from people about articles and using that to train machines to automatically pick out good content. You ask people questions along dimensions that make sense to people, and give the machine access to other surface features (such as a statistical measure of readability, or length) and latent features (such as can be derived from document word occurence and encyclopedia link structure). I referenced page 262 of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to give an example of the kind of qualitative features I would ask people. It really depends on what features end up bearing information, to be tested in "the lab". Each word is an example dimension of quality: We have "*unity, vividness, authority, economy, sensitivity, clarity, emphasis, flow, suspense, brilliance, precision, proportion, depth and so on.*" You then use surface and latent features to predict these values for all articles. You can also say, when a person rates this article as high on the x scale, they also mean that it has has this much of these surface and these latent features. = References = - DeHoust, C., Mangalath, P., Mingus., B. (2008). *Improving search in Wikipedia through quality and concept discovery*. Technical Report. PDF<http://grey.colorado.edu/mediawiki/sites/mingus/images/6/68/DeHoustMangalat…> - Rassbach, L., Mingus., B, Blackford, T. (2007). *Exploring the feasibility of automatically rating online article quality*. Technical Report. PDF<http://grey.colorado.edu/mediawiki/sites/mingus/images/d/d3/RassbachPincock…>

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[Foundation-l] Fwd: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers
by GerardM 09 Aug '22

09 Aug '22

Hoi, I have asked and received permission to forward to you all this most excellent bit of news. The linguist list, is a most excellent resource for people interested in the field of linguistics. As I mentioned some time ago they have had a funding drive and in that funding drive they asked for a certain amount of money in a given amount of days and they would then have a project on Wikipedia to learn what needs doing to get better coverage for the field of linguistics. What you will read in this mail that the total community of linguists are asked to cooperate. I am really thrilled as it will also get us more linguists interested in what we do. My hope is that a fraction will be interested in the languages that they care for and help it become more relevant. As a member of the "language prevention committee", I love to get more knowledgeable people involved in our smaller projects. If it means that we get more requests for more projects we will really feel embarrassed with all the new projects we will have to approve because of the quality of the Incubator content and the quality of the linguistic arguments why we should approve yet another language :) NB Is this not a really clever way of raising money; give us this much in this time frame and we will then do this as a bonus... Thanks, GerardM ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: LINGUIST Network <linguist(a)linguistlist.org> Date: Jun 18, 2007 6:53 PM Subject: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers To: LINGUIST(a)listserv.linguistlist.org LINGUIST List: Vol-18-1831. Mon Jun 18 2007. ISSN: 1068 - 4875. Subject: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Eastern Michigan U <aristar(a)linguistlist.org> Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry(a)linguistlist.org> Reviews: Laura Welcher, Rosetta Project <reviews(a)linguistlist.org> Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/ The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, and donations from subscribers and publishers. Editor for this issue: Ann Sawyer <sawyer(a)linguistlist.org> ================================================================ To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.html ===========================Directory============================== 1) Date: 18-Jun-2007 From: Hannah Morales < hannah(a)linguistlist.org > Subject: Wikipedia Volunteers -------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:49:35 From: Hannah Morales < hannah(a)linguistlist.org > Subject: Wikipedia Volunteers Dear subscribers, As you may recall, one of our Fund Drive 2007 campaigns was called the "Wikipedia Update Vote." We asked our viewers to consider earmarking their donations to organize an update project on linguistics entries in the English-language Wikipedia. You can find more background information on this at: http://linguistlist.org/donation/fund-drive2007/wikipedia/index.cfm. The speed with which we met our goal, thanks to the interest and generosity of our readers, was a sure sign that the linguistics community was enthusiastic about the idea. Now that summer is upon us, and some of you may have a bit more leisure time, we are hoping that you will be able to help us get started on the Wikipedia project. The LINGUIST List's role in this project is a purely organizational one. We will: *Help, with your input, to identify major gaps in the Wikipedia materials or pages that need improvement; *Compile a list of linguistics pages that Wikipedia editors have identified as "in need of attention from an expert on the subject" or " does not cite any references or sources," etc; *Send out periodical calls for volunteer contributors on specific topics or articles; *Provide simple instructions on how to upload your entries into Wikipedia; *Keep track of our project Wikipedians; *Keep track of revisions and new entries; *Work with Wikimedia Foundation to publicize the linguistics community's efforts. We hope you are as enthusiastic about this effort as we are. Just to help us all get started looking at Wikipedia more critically, and to easily identify an area needing improvement, we suggest that you take a look at the List of Linguists page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguists. M Many people are not listed there; others need to have more facts and information added. If you would like to participate in this exciting update effort, please respond by sending an email to LINGUIST Editor Hannah Morales at hannah(a)linguistlist.org, suggesting what your role might be or which linguistics entries you feel should be updated or added. Some linguists who saw our campaign on the Internet have already written us with specific suggestions, which we will share with you soon. This update project will take major time and effort on all our parts. The end result will be a much richer internet resource of information on the breadth and depth of the field of linguistics. Our efforts should also stimulate prospective students to consider studying linguistics and to educate a wider public on what we do. Please consider participating. Sincerely, Hannah Morales Editor, Wikipedia Update Project Linguistic Field(s): Not Applicable ----------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-18-1831

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Arbital, another Wikipedia competitor/complement
by David Gerard 02 Apr '17

02 Apr '17

Being put together by Eliezer Yudkowsky of LessWrong. Content is cc-by-sa 3.0, don't know about the software. https://arbital.com/p/arbital_ambitions/ Rather than the "encyclopedia" approach, it tries to be more pedagogical, teaching the reader at their level. Analysis from a sometime Yudkowsky critic on Tumblr: http://nostalgebraist.tumblr.com/post/140995096534/a-year-ago-i-remember-be… (there's a pile more comments linked from the notes on that post, mostly from quasi-fans; I have an acerbic comment in there, but you should look at the site yourself first.) No idea if this will go anywhere, but might be of interest; new approaches generally are. They started in December, first publicised it a week ago and have been scaling up. First day it collapsed due to load from a Facebook post announcement ... so maybe hold off before announcing it everywhere :-) - d.

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New tools: pronuncify and pronuncify.net
by Asaf Bartov 27 Jan '17

27 Jan '17

Hello, everyone. (this is an announcement in my capacity as a volunteer.) Inspired by a lightning talk at the recent CEE Meeting[1] by our colleague Lars Aronsson, I made a little command-line tool to automate batch recording of pronunciations of words by native speakers, for uploading to Commons and integration into Wiktionary etc. It is called *pronuncify*, is written in Ruby and uses the sox(1) tool, and should work on any modern Linux (and possibly OS X) machine. It is available here[2], with instructions. I was then asked about a Windows version, and agreed to attempt one. This version is called *pronuncify.net <http://pronuncify.net>*, and is a .NET gooey GUI version of the same tool, with slightly different functions. It is available here[3], with instructions. Both tools require word-list files in plaintext, with one word (or phrase) per line. Both tools name the files according to the standard established in [[commons:Category:Pronunciation]], and convert them to Ogg Vorbis for you, so they are ready to upload. In the future, I may add OAuth-based direct uploading to Commons. If you run into difficulties, please file issues on GitHub, for the appropriate tool. Feedback is welcome. A. [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Meeting_2015/Programme/Lightn… [2] https://github.com/abartov/pronuncify [3] https://github.com/abartov/Pronuncify.net -- Asaf Bartov

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Wikimedia Foundation Form 990 for FY 2014-2015 now on-wiki
by Jake Orlowitz 29 Jun '16

29 Jun '16

Seconding Lodewijk here. I can already count at least 5 phrases or statements that David Emrany has said which made me cringe and wonder why hasn't this been blocked/moderated already? Hostile, accusatory, and vulgar behavior degrades this entire forum (beyond its already damaged capacity for inclusion of multiple voices). Please do something. Jake Orlowitz (User:Ocaasi)

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Community Wishlist Survey: Status report #2
by Johan Jönsson 01 Jun '16

01 Jun '16

Hi everyone, The important part of this email is this link: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2015_Community_Wishlist_Survey/Status_repor… This is the second Community Wishlist Survey status report. In November and December, active contributors to Wikimedia projects proposed, discussed and voted on the features and fixes that they most want to see. The Wikimedia Foundation Community Tech team has been tasked with working on these. Additionally, Wikimedia Deutschland's Technical Wishes team has been working on wishes from the German-speaking community. There's overlap between the two wishlists, and the teams are collaborating on various wishes, so this report includes progress made by both teams as well as great work being done by volunteer developers and other WMF staff. So far, we (in the broad sense) have added support for: *) Migrating dead external links to archives (but there's more work to be done!) *) Pageview stats *) Global notifications *) A category watchlist We're currently working on: *) Improving the plagiarism detection bot *) Improving the diff compare screen *) Numerical sorting in categories *) The possibility to add an expiry date to watchlist items *) A revision slider to help editors navigate through diff pages For more information on these projects as well as upcoming tasks, see the full status report on Meta: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2015_Community_Wishlist_Survey/Status_repor… We're looking forward to talking and working with you as we go along. Thanks, //Johan Jönsson User:Johan (WMF) --

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Campaigns extension / ServerSideAccountCreation log - does anyone still use it?
by Brad Jorsch (Anomie) 31 May '16

31 May '16

Question 1: Would anyone care if we kill the "loginCTA" campaign, which tracks when people use the link at the bottom of Special:UserLogin to get to the account creation page? Question 2: Would anyone care if we remove the extension entirely from Wikimedia wikis? Wikiapiary seems to show only one user outside of Wikimedia. Background: The extension needs a rewrite for AuthManager, and in particular the "loginCTA" campaign will be a bit of a pain to keep working. If someone is making use of the extension that's fine, but if not we may as well not continue to spend development resources on it. -- Brad Jorsch (Anomie) Senior Software Engineer Wikimedia Foundation

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Participate in the Inspire Campaign on Addressing Harassment
by Chris "Jethro" Schilling 31 May '16

31 May '16

I am pleased to announce the launch of the third Inspire Campaign for IdeaLab, focused on addressing harassment of Wikimedia project contributors: <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Inspire> Harassment diminishes the experience of contributing and participation for a substantial number of individuals, even those who simply witness it. Current methods of dealing with harassment are considered unacceptable as they often do not lead to productive outcomes.[1] During the month-long campaign, you are invited to submit & review ideas on how to better address harassment. Consider joining a team to help make an idea happen. Ideas can be submitted in any language, and focus on research, building tools or software, outreach efforts, or something completely new. Grants are available from the Wikimedia Foundation to fund projects that are eligible for financial support.[2] Ideas focused on changes to community policies and guidelines are also welcome. Google Hangout sessions are also scheduled in June if you’d like to discuss your idea or have questions about WMF grants.[3] Questions about the campaign can be directed at the Inspire talk page.[4] An FAQ page about the campaign is also available.[5] If you want to help make your projects safer for everyone to participate in, I encourage you to participate in this Inspire Campaign. I believe we can work together to address this difficult and important issue. With thanks, Chris "Jethro" Schilling I JethroBT (WMF) <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:I_JethroBT_(WMF)> Community Organizer, Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home> [1] < https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harassment_Survey_2015_-_Results_Re… > [2] <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Start> [3] <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Events> [4] <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:IdeaLab/Inspire> [5] <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Inspire/FAQ>

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Letters of Intent for 2016-2017 Round 1 of the FDC process are due 1 July
by Winifred Olliff 31 May '16

31 May '16

Dear Wikimedia colleagues, The deadline for submitting a Letter of Intent for 2016-2017 Round 1 of the FDC process is 1 July. *Who should submit a letter of intent?* Organizations that plan to apply for funding in Round 1 of the FDC process should submit their Letters of Intent by 1 July. Proposal forms for Round 1 will be due by 1 October 2016 and most Round 1 grants will begin 1 January 2017. If you think you will apply for funding in this round, it's a good idea to submit a letter of intent. *How to submit a letter of intent.* Organizations may submit their Letters of Intent by creating a proposal hub page here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG. Please complete this step of creating a proposal hub page, from which you can access a button to create your letter of intent, rather than copy-pasting a letter of intent template from previous years. *Why submit a letter of intent for the FDC process?* You must complete this step to submit a proposal in the next round, for funding during the 2017 calendar year, so that your organization will be evaluated for eligibility to submit a proposal. If you're not sure whether or not you want to apply, it's a good idea to contact FDC staff at < fdcsupport(a)wikimedia.org> right away, so you can be sure and understand your status before the Letter of Intent deadline. In the letter of intent, you will write the amount of funding you expect to apply for, but you can change this at any time before your proposal form is submitted on 1 October. Learn more at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Information: *Letters of Intent due: 1 July 2016 *Eligibility confirmed: 15 September 2016 *Proposal forms due: 1 October 2016 *Community review: 1 October - 30 October 2016 *FDC recommendation: by 30 November 2016 *Board decision: by 1 January 2017 *Grants begin: 1 January 2017 - 1 February 2017 Best regards from FDC staff! -- Winifred Olliff Senior Program Officer Wikimedia Foundation

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Wikimedia Foundation Form 990 for FY 2014-2015 now on-wiki
by Gerard Meijssen 31 May '16

31 May '16

Hoi, For a bit of background form 990 is probably something everybody knows about as it is financial and important and that is why we mention this.. For all of you who do not know, we have a FAQ where you may find what is relevant about all this. Thanks, GerardM PS sorry Greg for pulling your leg. :) On 18 May 2016 at 20:55, Gregory Varnum <gvarnum(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: > Sent on behalf of Wikimedia Foundation's Finance Team: > > The Wikimedia Foundation Form 990 for FY 2014 - 2015 has been posted on the > Wikimedia Foundation Wiki's Financial Reports page: > https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Financial_reports > > A list of answers to frequently asked questions about this form has also > been posted on the same page. > > Please contact Jaime Villagomez or Tony Le with any questions: > jvillagomez(a)wikimedia.org or tle(a)wikimedia.org > > Thank you, > Finance Team > Wikimedia Foundation > > _______________________________________________ > Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately > directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia > community. For more information about Wikimedia-l: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > _______________________________________________ > WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list > WikimediaAnnounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l > >

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Wikimédia France board update
by Jean-Frédéric Berthelot 30 May '16

30 May '16

Dear fellow Wikimedians, As you may know Christophe Henner, the Chair of Wikimédia France, has resigned from the board, as he is moving on to his next challenge at the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation. We won't even try to summarise in a few sentences everything Christophe has brought to Wikimédia France in his 10 years stint as a board member ; let us just deeply thank him for his service! Our board of trustees had a meeting last week-end, during which we elected new officers of the board, following the resignation of Christophe. * Samuel Le Goff is our new Vice-chair, Samuel is 42 years old and lives in Paris. He works as a journalist, former parliamentary assistant for many years. He has been in the board since late 2014. He helps volunteers to deal with French governmental and public organization relationships, public consultations, and to expose Wikimedia positions in public debates. He will be in charge of internal organization and governance too. * Emeric Vallespi is our new Chair, Emeric is 29 years old and lives in Montpellier (south of France). He works as a Branch director in a bank. He has been at the board since late 2012, serving as Vice-chair since 2014. He's involved in internal organization, governance and international affairs and is interested in internal control, finance and strategy topics. Pierre-Selim Huard, our Secretary, will be in charge of the international affairs too. Other current officers are continuing in their functions. Our board is now structured as follow: * Emeric Vallespi, Chair * Samuel Le Goff, Vice-chair * Guillaume Goursat, Treasurer * Sébastien Beyou, Deputy treasurer * Pierre-Selim Huard, Secretary * Jean-Frédéric Berthelot, Deputy secretary * Edouard Hue, Board member * Benoît Prieur, Board member * Florian Pepellin, Board member Cheers, -- Jean-Frédéric Berthelot Secrétaire-adjoint | Wikimédia France jean-frederic.berthelot(a)wikimedia.fr

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Wikimedia Foundation Annual Plan FY2016-2017
by Samuel Klein 28 May '16

28 May '16

Awesome — thanks for the update and the work! On May 27, 2016 21:20, "Katherine Maher" <kmaher(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: > Hi everyone, > > I'm pleased to share that the Wikimedia Foundation has now posted a > revised version of our FY2016-2017 Annual Plan. [1] This revised version > has been updated based on feedback from community and affiliates, and in > response to FDC recommendations [2]. For convenience, we've summarized the > changes as an appendix, [3] and of course, you can also view the diff page > for detailed review. [4] > > The Foundation's responses to the FDC's comments are available on a > general and program-by-program basis on the FDC talk page. [5] > > I'd like to express my sincere thanks to everyone who provided feedback on > the WMF's Annual Plan throughout this process, and to Foundation staff for > their efforts responding to comments and updating the plan accordingly. > > Have a great weekend, > > Katherine > > > [1] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2016-2017/… > [2] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_recommendations/2015-2016_ro… > [3] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2016-2017/… > [4] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Pl… > [5] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/FDC_recommendations/2015-20… > > > On Fri, Apr 1, 2016 at 8:24 PM, Katherine Maher <kmaher(a)wikimedia.org> > wrote: > >> Hi everyone, >> >> >> The Foundation is pleased to announce that our Annual Plan is now on >> Meta.[1] This year's plan focuses on improving support for--and >> consultation with--community, responding effectively to changing user >> needs, and addressing strategic challenges facing our movement. We're >> investing in areas that we believe the Foundation is uniquely positioned to >> address, including readership and reach, volunteer retention and >> engagement, and support for knowledge creation. >> >> Thank you to everyone who contributed earlier this year to the strategy >> consultations, which helped guide our thinking. >> >> We look forward to your feedback! >> >> Warmly, >> >> Katherine >> >> >> [1] >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2016-2017/… >> >> -- >> Katherine Maher >> >> Wikimedia Foundation >> 149 New Montgomery Street >> San Francisco, CA 94105 >> >> +1 (415) 839-6885 ext. 6635 >> +1 (415) 712 4873 >> kmaher(a)wikimedia.org >> > > > > -- > Katherine Maher > > Wikimedia Foundation > 149 New Montgomery Street > San Francisco, CA 94105 > > +1 (415) 839-6885 ext. 6635 > +1 (415) 712 4873 > kmaher(a)wikimedia.org > > _______________________________________________ > Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately > directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia > community. For more information about Wikimedia-l: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > _______________________________________________ > WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list > WikimediaAnnounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l > >

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia-l Digest, Vol 146, Issue 90
by Stephen Philbrick 27 May '16

27 May '16

I've been surprised at the number of editors who watchlist my talk page, but the experiences invariably been positive. In some cases my talk page has been vandalized, and I don't think I've ever been the first to see the vandalism, I invariably see that the TPS has reverted it. More importantly, on several occasions I've been involved in a discussion with an editor and a TPS has volunteered very helpful advice. I have no idea whether it's technically possible to stop such behavior but I don't particularly care as I am adamantly opposed to stopping it. I get that some people might see the term "stalker" as negative, given that it is almost always a term self invoked, it doesn't make my list of the top 1000 things to worry about. Sphilbrick On Fri, May 27, 2016 at 8:00 AM, <wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org> wrote: > Send Wikimedia-l mailing list submissions to > wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > wikimedia-l-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Wikimedia-l digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Community Tech survey on watchlist use (Lodewijk) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 27 May 2016 10:06:26 +0200 > From: Lodewijk <lodewijk(a)effeietsanders.org> > To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community Tech survey on watchlist use > Message-ID: > < > CACf6BevoFfq8PzguiahyV7hG3dk52WGmgsA5V_L1+r4Ax9KrPw(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > Yeah, I don't guess this is a matter of whether it is technically possible, > but rather if the community would like to allow such functionality (what > would then stop a troll to selectively disable all admins to watch his/her > talkpage?) > > Lodewijk > > 2016-05-27 6:31 GMT+02:00 James Heilman <jmh649(a)gmail.com>: > > > Talk pages are for communication. If people were unable to watch these > > pages they would become less useful. > > > > J > > > > On Thu, May 26, 2016 at 10:30 AM, Newyorkbrad <newyorkbrad(a)gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > > > "Talkpage watcher" would do fine. > > > > > > Newyorkbrad/IBM > > > > > > On 5/26/16, David Goodman <dggenwp(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > talk-page stalker is not necessarily an unfriendly term. It's meant > as > > an > > > > explanation for why the person saw the question, and posted there. > But > > > > perhaps we could find a better term for this, as stalker does have > > > > unfortunate connotations. > > > > > > > > > > > > On Wed, May 25, 2016 at 2:40 PM, Trillium Corsage < > > > trillium2014(a)yandex.com> > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > >> My English Wikipedia talkpage is watchlisted by a surprising number > of > > > >> users that I have no cooperative or friendly editing relationship > > with. > > > >> Some of them refer to themselves as "talkpage stalkers." Might it be > > > >> possible for a user to prohibit such persons from watchlisting him > or > > > her? > > > >> If it's not possible to selectively prohibit, how about an on/off > > > switch, > > > >> i.e. *no-one* may watchlist an editor's individual talkpage. > > > >> > > > >> Trillium Corsage > > > >> > > > >> 21.05.2016, 02:20, "Johan Jönsson" <email clipped>: > > > >> > On Sat, Mar 26, 2016 at 1:06 AM, Danny Horn <dhorn(a)wikimedia.org> > > > wrote: > > > >> >> Hi everyone, > > > >> >> > > > >> >> WMF's Community Tech team is starting to work on a Cross-wiki > > > >> watchlist, > > > >> >> one of the top 10 wishes in the Community Wishlist Survey that > we > > > >> conducted > > > >> >> at the end of last year. [1] > > > >> >> > > > >> >> We're running a survey on how people use their watchlists, to > help > > > >> inform > > > >> >> our work. > > > >> > > > > >> > Hi everyone, > > > >> > > > > >> > A couple of months ago, the Community Tech team ran a survey to > > gather > > > >> > information on how Wikimedians use their watchlists. You can see > the > > > >> > results here: > > > >> > > > > >> > > > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Tech/Cross-wiki_watchlist#Survey_… > > > >> > > > > >> > If you're interested, there are also some very early and rough > > > >> > wireframes available on the project page: > > > >> > > > > >> > > > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Tech/Cross-wiki_watchlist#Current… > > > >> > > > > >> > //Johan Jönsson > > > >> > -- > > > >> > > > > >> > _______________________________________________ > > > >> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > > >> > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > > >> > Unsubscribe: > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > > > , > > > >> <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org > ?subject=unsubscribe> > > > >> > > > >> _______________________________________________ > > > >> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > > >> New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > > >> Unsubscribe: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > > , > > > >> <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org > ?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > David Goodman > > > > > > > > DGG at the enWP > > > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:DGG > > > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:DGG > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > > > Unsubscribe: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > James Heilman > > MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian > > > > The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine > > www.opentextbookofmedicine.com > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > > > ------------------------------ > > End of Wikimedia-l Digest, Vol 146, Issue 90 > ******************************************** >

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community Tech survey on watchlist use
by Johan Jönsson 27 May '16

27 May '16

On Sat, Mar 26, 2016 at 1:06 AM, Danny Horn <dhorn(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: > Hi everyone, > > WMF's Community Tech team is starting to work on a Cross-wiki watchlist, > one of the top 10 wishes in the Community Wishlist Survey that we conducted > at the end of last year. [1] > > We're running a survey on how people use their watchlists, to help inform > our work. Hi everyone, A couple of months ago, the Community Tech team ran a survey to gather information on how Wikimedians use their watchlists. You can see the results here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Tech/Cross-wiki_watchlist#Survey_… If you're interested, there are also some very early and rough wireframes available on the project page: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Tech/Cross-wiki_watchlist#Current… //Johan Jönsson --

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Museums of 100 masterpieces from Brussels
by Romaine Wiki 27 May '16

27 May '16

Hello all, In the past week the council of museums in Brussels started the project of 100 masterpieces in Brussels. Based on their list we have checked which museums have an article in Wikipedia and which not. On the Dutch Wikipedia we miss only one article at the moment, and someone started writing it. On the French Wikipedia we miss only 6 articles of the 40 museums with masterpieces: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Le_Bistro/25_mai_2016#100_chef… On the English Wikipedia we miss 18 articles of the 40 museums with masterpieces: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Romaine/100_masterpieces_from_Brussels We now try to get at least in these three languages an article about these museums with masterpieces from Brussels. An article in other languages are welcome as well. The next step will be talking to the museums to show our interest in them and we hope they want to donate images for usage in these and other articles. Thanks! Romaine

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Classical piano performances on Wikimedia Commons and WikiRadio
by Pine W 26 May '16

26 May '16

There is so much good content on Wikimedia that it's difficult to choose what to highlight, and I try to be mindful of my number of posts to email lists. I feel that this is worth a special mention because it's beautiful and unusual. Courtesy of User:La Pianista, we have good quality recordings of classical piano works: https://tools.wmflabs.org/wikiradio/index.php?channel=La_Pianista I particularly recommend her performance of Chopin's Scherzo No. 3: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chopin_-_Scherzo_No._3_%28re-recorded%… <javascript:void(0)>. Quote (admittedly opinionated!) from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scherzo_No._3_%28Chopin%29 <javascript:void(0)>: "The Scherzo No. 3, Op. 39, in C-sharp minor by Frédéric Chopin, completed in 1839, was written in the abandoned monastery of Valldemossa on the Balearic island of Majorca, Spain. This is the most terse, ironic, and tightly constructed of the four scherzos, with an almost Beethovenian grandeur." <javascript:void(0)> Hope you enjoy, Pine

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Reminder: WMF metrics meeting starting in a few minutes
by Pine W 26 May '16

26 May '16

WMF Metrics meeting starts in in a few minutes. See https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours#Upcoming_office_hours. Youtube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3Yjb144RaY. IRC conversation in #wikimedia-office. Office hour with Katherine follows at 12 PM Pacific. Pine

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WMF Blog post about new WMF affiliate-nominated trustees
by Pine W 26 May '16

26 May '16

WMF Blog post <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/05/24/affiliate-selected-board-trustees-ele…> with comments from WMF affiliate-selected trustees Christophe Henner <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Schiste> (Wikimedia France) and Nataliia Tymkiv <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Antanana> (Wikimedia Ukraine). Pine

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Inspire Campaign on Addressing Harassment to Begin on May 31st
by Chris "Jethro" Schilling 26 May '16

26 May '16

Hi everyone, We’ve had two Inspire Campaigns so far -- on the gender gap and on content curation & review -- to encourage ideas and grant proposals on challenging issues affecting the Wikimedia projects you work on. The third Inspire Campaign, starting on May 31st, will run for one month and focus on addressing harassment that occurs on Wikimedia projects: <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Inspire> The 2015 Harassment Survey[1] has shown evidence that harassment is pervasive; 38% of participants reported experiencing it, and 51% reported witnessing harassment. These include behaviors such as name calling, threats of violence, discrimination, stalking, and impersonation, among others. Furthermore, available methods and systems to deal with harassment are considered to be ineffective. These behaviors are clearly harmful, and in addition, many individuals who experience or witness harassment participate less in Wikimedia projects or stop contributing entirely. Starting May 31st, everyone is invited to submit and work together in developing ideas to prevent and handle cases of harassment. Ideas can include research, software, events, training programs, outreach efforts, etc. If you need funding, ideas can easily be submitted as a proposal for a WMF grant. Ideas can also encourage discussions to consider changes in policies, guidelines, or best practices on your local Wikimedia project(s). An FAQ page about this campaign and Inspire Campaigns generally is available.[2] An announcement e-mail will be sent out on the 31st. For folks who are interested in helping translate so we can reach a wide audience, I welcome your help on the FAQ page[2] and main landing page.[3] If you have an idea or want to help develop ideas to address harassment, I encourage you to join me so that we can work together in addressing this important and difficult issue. With thanks, Chris "Jethro" Schilling I JethroBT (WMF) <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:I_JethroBT_(WMF)> Community Organizer, Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home> -- [1] < https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harassment_Survey_2015_-_Results_Re… > [2] <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Inspire/FAQ> [3] <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Inspire>

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] April 2016 minutes for the Board of Trustees
by Ben Creasy 25 May '16

25 May '16

>Stephen LaPorte <slaporte@...> writes: > > Hi all, > > The Board of Trustees has published minutes from the Board meeting on April > 22, 2016. You can find the meeting minutes and accompanying documents on the > Foundation Wiki: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-04 So the confidentiality agreement which was passed seems like it will represent a regression in transparency. One of the things I pointed out in the last controversy is that it wasn't clear that the non-executive session portion of the board meeting was actually confidential. This closes that gap with 1.b. and 1.c defining as confidential "the Foundation’s nonpublic plans, strategies, budgets, or financial information;" and "nonpublic information shared in connection with Board meetings, deliberations, and discussions, including nonpublic communications on private mailing lists or private wikis". Why it is necessary to have a blanket everything as confidential rather than narrowly defining the scope to specifically documents and deliberations is unclear. This seems to run contrary to the suggestions which came out of discussions in https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_transparency_gap This effectively silences trustees from offering any information, lest they befall what happened to James (who didn't even give any information to his constituents, the community, only staff). Historically Samuel Klein and Phoebe spoke to the community to some limited degree about their board involvement, but I wonder how comfortable a trustee could feel in providing even such limited information with this confidentiality agreement in place. For an example of how this affects our conversations with our elected representatives: Last month, "Geoff and Stephen prepared a draft set of basic best-practice recommendations [on governance]". These weren't released publicly as far as I am aware. "Maria and Dariusz were tasked with preparing a proposal for a lightweight structure to increase transparency" but as far as I am aware we've received no color on what this proposal might end up looking like. Someone on this list asked Dariuszand he declined to offer details; if I recall correctly he said the boardshoulddo what it can internally first. I disagree with this: if you do a bunch of work without consulting your stakeholders, there's a good chance you'llhave to scrap all that work. In the software world we call early feedback from the stakeholders "Agile", and it is widely viewed as a superior process to long efforts without feedback. Would Maria and Dariusz even be able to share thoughts on their proposal if theyhad provided any initial information in the board room? The way this confidentiality agreement reads, once something is discussed in the boardroom, it becomes off-limits for public conversation until the Chair approves it. The presentation by Geoff and Stephen also seems off-limits, and it's hard to imagine why this should be treated as proprietary/secret. Or is it public since we know that such a draft exists? I really think we need to see the best-practices recommendation that Geoff and Stephen presented. Do we have a champion for transparency left on the board with James gone? I did like the PDF overview. And I was happy to see that the board ended the meeting with a no-staff executive session. That's a well-recognized best practice which really helps the board assert itself and form a more consistent voice.

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Commons Picture of the Year 2015 round 2 voting has started
by Pine W 22 May '16

22 May '16

Commons Picture of the Year 2015 round 2 voting has started: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Picture_of_the_Year/2015. There are many excellent finalists. Pine

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New GLAM-Wiki Role at Wikimedia Foundation
by Jake Orlowitz 22 May '16

22 May '16

Hi everyone, As you may have noticed in the Annual Plan, the Wikimedia Foundation has proposed more support of GLAM-Wiki. I want to happily announce that *Alex Stinson* will be expanding and transitioning his role as Wikipedia Library Coordinator to lead this new position as *GLAM-Wiki Strategist *within the Community Engagement department at WMF. He will continue to report and work closely with me in Wikipedia Library land, which I'm very happy about! I'll let Alex introduce himself and his thoughts on the position, why it matters, and what its goals are. Best, Jake Orlowitz User:Ocaasi (WMF) Head of the Wikipedia Library jorlowitz(a)wikimedia.org -- Hi all! I am particularly excited to be shifting towards helping with GLAM-Wiki support. I plan to bring my long history of working in Wikimedia outreach, first as a volunteer in GLAM and the Education program and then as an employee with the Wikipedia Library, to improve our global GLAM impact [1]. As we point out in the proposed annual plan, [2] GLAM-Wiki has a long history as a programmatic strategy for volunteers and affiliates. These programs have collected some of our best content, pushed our technologies beyond their limits, and created a considerable volume of contributions from both Wikimedians and experts for over 8 years. However, as these practices become more and more sophisticated and varied, volunteers from smaller communities without connections to the leaders of successful projects have found themselves unable to replicate this success, or replicating many of the mistakes from earlier projects. At the same time, larger initiatives have been hindered by a lack of investment in infrastructure and technology. WMF has been a great supporter of GLAM through grants and affiliate support, but we can do more. We haven’t provided consistent global connection, communication and support for GLAM-Wiki resources and tools. My goal is to help GLAM spread throughout our communities and potentially tens of thousands of organizations that - as folks like Liam Wyatt have been advocating from the beginning - share our same values: freely sharing knowledge with the world. Below I have outlined our approach for the GLAM-Wiki Strategist role [3]. I want to use the next few months to listen and evaluate the needs of the communities actively involved in GLAM-Wiki work to make sure that I prioritize projects correctly. I am also going to be at Wikimania, and have already talked to a number of GLAM-Wiki leaders at Wikimedia Conference. My role as strategist is to consult, collaborate, organize, and plan. So, please reach out to me with your questions, thoughts, needs or other feedback. Cheers, Alex Stinson GLAM-Wiki Strategist Wikimedia Foundation astinson(a)wikimedia.org [1] A little about me I have been working with the Wikipedia Library since May 2014, developing the Library’s publisher partnerships, building relationships with dozens of community and language leaders across our volunteer movement, crafting a broader strategy for engaging the largest libraries and international reference networks, and project managing tool and metrics improvements for our program. I also designed and deployed the successful #1Lib1Ref campaign (1lib1ref.org) that drew nearly 30,000 viewers, 5 million tweet-impressions, and hundreds of participants from the library world to Wikipedia in our first ever viral, global micro-contributions drive for quality improvement. In my volunteer, time I try to stay active as User:Sadads, where I am mostly active on English Wikipedia ( >98,000 edits). I have been actively writing content about literature and novels since 2008. I have always thought of our movement as a community with a lot of opportunities around partnerships and collaboration. I was also one of the early adopters of GLAM-Wiki in the US: While still in college, I approached the Smithsonian in 2010 about a partnership, establishing the dialogue which grew to one of our most successful long-term cultural partners within the movement. I have learned from those early attempts and have led GLAM-Wiki relationships with a handful of smaller organizations while in school and as a volunteer. I am also a long time supporter of the Education program: I was trained as part of the Public Policy Initiative's first round of "Campus Ambassadors", the project that became first the U.S. and then the Global Education Programs. I am based in Southern Vermont, where I enjoy hiking, the local and the local food culture. In my spare time, I try to produce sustainable food through my garden and homebrewing-- I just put in 4 rows of potatoes, and am about to start most of my summer crops. [2] *Annual Plan for GLAM* https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2016-2017/… [3] Some thoughts on the GLAM-Wiki Strategist Role What I hope to do: * Help lead efforts to evaluate and improve our GLAM-Wiki documentation, and develop resources that make GLAM-Wiki a more approachable strategy for volunteers, especially in communities which don't have much experience in partnerships with formal organizations. * Connect with and learn from the network of community leaders supporting partnerships with GLAM and other organizations * Help document and share the most successful, repeatable GLAM-Wiki project models coming from our communities. * Connect community leaders and outside organizations who approach Community Engagement and other Wikimedia Foundation departments about GLAM partnerships with the best volunteer leaders, resources, or learning materials. * Communicate GLAM and GLAM-Wiki needs with teams and departments within WMF, including Community Resources, Strategic Partnerships and Engineering teams. I have already started these conversations, and hope to be able to share what I have been working on in the next couple months. * Support strategic movement relationships with global organizations (IFLA, ICOM, UNESCO, OCLC, Internet Archive, etc ) which can expand opportunities for GLAM-Wiki programming and partnerships by local affiliates. What I won't be doing: * Creating partnerships with local cultural heritage organizations * "Coordinating" in any strong sense of the word -- It's not my role to be “in charge” of what others are doing in the GLAM-Wiki space -- instead my aim is to facilitate access to better tools and resources that help community leaders coordinate these partnerships more easily and effectively. What I would like to learn from the community and GLAM program leaders in the next few months: * Where does our community of GLAM-outreach leaders need the most support? * What are the greatest technology barriers preventing the creation of easy-to-create and scalable relationships with cultural heritage organizations? * What are the best opportunities for expanding GLAM-Wiki strategies to new or emerging communities with less partnership experience or affiliate support? * How can we help a greater range of Wikimedia volunteers participate in partnerships with our GLAM allies? I am very optimistic about the opportunities for GLAM-Wiki work, especially as Wikimedia becomes leaders of open and linked data, through projects like Wikidata -- and I want to make sure our communities have the tools and support to take advantage of that leading role in sharing cultural heritage knowledge around the world. -Alex

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How to get help (an essay)
by Jake Orlowitz 21 May '16

21 May '16

Hi, In light of yesterday's public call for help from one of our editors, I'd like to share something I wrote last winter. It's called, Journey of a Wikipedian. https://medium.com/@jakeorlowitz/journey-of-a-wikipedian-c2890e3a8d0c#.o2hy… <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JRXqb6IcsVi3nEpXnN1FBSVLveAJgazJxPJj1tl…> -- It reminds me of a few things worth stating: 1. We are a community of very real people with deep emotions and human complexities. 2. We are deeply invested in this project, so much so it hurts us at times even if it is also a passion or refuge for many. 3. You never know what someone has been through, or is going through. 4. We all need help at some point. There is no shame in needing help, asking for help, or receiving help. 5. If you are ever feeling completely hopeless: Wait. Things really can get better. Talk to someone about it. 6. Mental health carries a powerful stigma. The more we are open about it, the less that weighs all of us down. 7. If we listen, we can learn from each other. 8. We need to be kind. This is a higher calling than civility, and entirely compatible with rigorously sharing knowledge. 9. Our movement depends on its people. We are our most valuable resource. 10. We are not finished products. With time, space, support, and practice--people can, and do, grow and change. Hugs, Jake Orlowitz (Ocaasi) p.s. If you ever see someone in need of help, or are seeking it yourself, please contact emergency(a)wikimedia.org.

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David Emrany
by Austin Hair 20 May '16

20 May '16

Dear all, Several of you have made me aware that David Emrany has been copying messages he had hoped to see on this list to WMF staff and others, as well as forwarding private e-mails. Many more have asked him to be moderated. Although I hadn't yet stated this publicly (sorry, my error), he had already been moderated. (Hence his e-mailing people directly.) Naturally, I have no control over what he tells others off-list, but he's certainly not doing himself any favors if he ever wants to post freely again. Thanks for the concern, Austin

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] How to get help (an essay)
by Samuel Klein 19 May '16

19 May '16

David, the other elephant in the room is that we don't call out outrageous behavior when it is couched in a veneer of propriety or concern for others. Your posts to this thread were vicious, and beneath you. Stop. Sam On May 19, 2016 10:48, "David Emrany" <david.emrany(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Dear Nathan, > > Are you claiming Chris Sherwood's email "The End" was a hoax ? and > > Chris Sherwood didn't post "I've been bullied, and I'm having suicidal > thoughts" ? and > > Chris Sherwood didn't post "I've been called obsessive, someone who > attacks people " ? and > > Chris Sherwood didn't post these about his Salim Mehajer edits - "I > should have realised it was partisan, and it was a bad judgement call. > I write done more material, but it was far too negative. I guess o > didn't see it that way at the time. .. and the next day I was accused > of writing an attack article " > > Here's some more from Chris > "... I was gob smacked. ... So I did something inexcusable. I told > the editor who had been stalking me what I thought of them. I swore at > them and called them bad names. It was reverted." > > So "harassment" and "stalking" and "defamation" are explicitly covered > in Chris Sherwood's own post. Although I daresay he could plead > temporary (or permanent) insanity. > > Block me / Moderate me permanently/temporarily whatever. As far as I > am concerned you are just another lunatic at the asylum; And probably > getting your.meds for free [1] ?. > > Dave > [1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-awrich-1ba44422 > > On 5/19/16, Nathan <nawrich(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > On Thu, May 19, 2016 at 9:33 AM, David Emrany <david.emrany(a)gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > >> Dear Gerard > >> > >> >Our community consists for a large part of people who get their > >> >sense of self worth out of our projects > >> > >> Thanks for being bold enough to identify the elephant in the room. > >> > >> Larry Sanger said it best - the inmates are running the asylum [1] > >> and trolls have taken over Wikipedia (since at least as far back as > >> 2007). > >> > >> I am deeply disturbed by the haste displayed on this mailing list to > >> brush this incident under the carpet. > >> > >> Here we are, all freely discussing Chris Sherlock's real life issues, > >> but would we / WMF have disclosed Chris Sherlock's identity to Salim > >> Mehajer (the living person Chris was so busy and intent on defaming) > >> if Mr Mehajer applied to know the person behind the handle > >> "Letsbefriends" (a long term sockpuppet account if there ever was one) > >> > >> Would we/ WMF have disclosed the mental illness the user was suffering > >> from, and which was clearly known to Arbcom members like "Brad", had > >> Mr.Mehajer come asking. > >> > >> This "encyclopedia" clearly needs a mechanism whereby somebody takes > >> responsibility for the articles being written on living persons, and > >> verified identities for its users, instead of hiding behind Section > >> 230 of the CDA and the vast financial reserves now accumulated for > >> legal bashing. > >> > >> Dave > > > > > > On what basis do you use terms like "defaming" or "harassing" or > "stalking" > > as you did in your last two posts to this list? These seem like serious > > and unsupported legal accusations that, in an ideal world, would result > in > > you being permanently moderated. > > > >

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