Hi all, after talking to community members at the London meetup yesterday,
I want to suggest that we start running a monthly skillshare after work at
the Wikimedia UK office. It would be good to organise a 12 month programme
with skillshares on things like 'getting an article to featured article
status', AWB, Wikidata infoboxes, something on commons or photography
perhaps.
Would anybody like to suggest other subjects which it would be good to have
a workshop on? We need a list of 12 which would have some broad appeal to
the community and chapter members.
I would suggest Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, maybe first week of the
month. How does that sound to everyone?
Recently I spent some time on Commons, and I came across two things that I
especially appreciated.
The first is a story on Yann's user page
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Yann>. While I think that
experience with participating on public Wikimedia projects is an important
qualification for many roles in the Wikimedia universe, this story reminds
the reader to place edit count into a wider perspective.
---
*A novice was once curious about the nature of the Edit Count. He
approached the Zen master and asked, "Zen master, what is the nature of the
Edit Count?""The Edit Count is as a road," replied the Zen master. "You
must travel the road to reach your destination, and some may travel longer
roads than others. But do not judge the person at your door by the length
of the road he has travelled to reach you."*
*And the novice was Enlightened.*
*---*
The second thing that I especially liked on Commons is this photo
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flooded_Albizia_Saman_(rain_tree)_i…>
that was taken in Laos by Basile Morin. As you can guess, I generally like
trees.
On a different subject, Markus Kroetzsch wrote
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikidata/2018-October/012536.html>
to the Wikidata list that he is "happy to report that we" (Stanislav
Malyshev, Markus Krötzsch, Larry González, Julius Gonsior, and Adrian
Bielefeldt) "have just won the Best Paper Award of the In-Use track of this
year's International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC), for our description of
the SPARQL/RDF technology use on Wikidata. I keep telling people here that
the general awesomeness of Wikidata is the work of many, and in particular
of this great community of editors."
In older news, some time ago I was told about this video on Commons
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BareBonesSearch.webm> by Trey
Jones that provides an introduction to full-text search. I thought that
presentation was very interesting.
What's making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language.
Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
Personally, and as a member of WMPT, I would like to state my appreciation
for the positive tone of those last (Maor) AffCom messages, and the
confidence that everything will be resolved for the best.
Nevertheless, I would like stress that as far as I know, the only person in
conflict in the chapter is Vasconcelos who, over the time, and specially in
these last months, has engaged in a series on insults, offenses and menaces
to almost all Wikimedia Portugal associates.
I would like to know as well what kind of evidence exists of a General
Assembly taking place in December 2017 as, as far as I know, there is no
minute, the supposed elected bodies were never updated on the legally
required institutions, among other several basic legal requirements.
Anyway, that's just archaeology, as those situations are long gone in the
distant past.
Regards,
Paulo
Maor Malul <maor_x(a)zoho.com> escreveu no dia domingo, 14/10/2018 à(s) 15:44:
> *Hello,*
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> * As AffCom, we appreciate the interest in the situation with Wikimedia
> Portugal that you have expressed on this thread. Our current focus is on
> working to understand and resolve the conflicts and issues related to
> Wikimedia Portugal, as well as attend to our other duties. However, we did
> want to send a message to this list to clarify some points. First, we would
> like to caution readers of this list against making conclusions regarding
> this particular situation based solely on the information that has been
> shared here. This thread does not present a complete and accurate picture
> of the situation in Portugal (or the situation in Brazil, for that matter).
> Though not comprehensive, we would like to provide a brief summary of the
> situation, based on the information AffCom has received. As has mostly been
> outlined previously in this thread, after WMPT’s years of inactivity,
> recently, multiple individuals have become involved trying to create
> activity and revitalize the chapter. However, those individuals have
> conflicted with each other. Things escalated quickly, with various
> accusations and threats being made. Earlier this year, AffCom was informed
> of the conflict by the parties and began communicating with the individuals
> involved. Despite AffCom's efforts to de-escalate the situation, certain
> individual actions have kept intensifying it. As the conflict was
> preventing the chapter from being able to engage in productive activity,
> AffCom took the step of suspension, with clear requirements for the chapter
> to meet to lift the suspension and avoid de-recognition. One of the larger
> issues that WMPT has had to address is the lack of clear leadership of the
> chapter following its two previous general assemblies. As detailed in the
> suspension notice, there were issues reported to AffCom related to both IX
> General Assembly (held on December 14, 2017) as well as X General Assembly
> (held on April 15, 2018). In both cases, the best information available to
> AffCom suggests that the meetings did not comply with the relevant portions
> of the Chapter's bylaws and may not have complied with applicable local
> laws. Wikimedia organizations are expected to fulfill all of their legal
> and organizational governance requirements. These issues prompted the
> requirement that WMPT convene a new assembly and elections process (held on
> September 1, 2018), with the goal of holding an assembly which clearly
> follows the relevant procedural requirements. Along with convening the
> assembly, WMPT has currently met the requirements based on the timeline set
> in the suspension notice from AffCom in July. They submitted their required
> materials on time, and now AffCom is reviewing them. However, AffCom has
> also received other information relating to the chapter's compliance with
> particular governance requirements. AffCom is currently evaluating this
> information along with the materials submitted by the chapter. AffCom will
> be in touch with the chapter regarding any additional information we need.
> We want to emphasize that Wikimedia Portugal is not being held to a
> different or higher standard compared to other chapters, but is being held
> to the standard expectations for chapter status. While we understand that
> monitoring of compliance with those expectations may have been less
> consistent in the past, we have been working in recent years to ensure that
> all chapters are meeting the same basic standards. When a chapter is not in
> compliance, there are several reminders and opportunities for correction in
> advance of suspension. We suspend a chapter only if it does not
> self-correct in response to the repeated reminders and/or warnings. Once a
> chapter is suspended, we strive to provide a reasonable window for
> remediation. Wikimedia Portugal has been on the committee’s radar due to
> its years of minimal activity. As further conflict issues have surfaced,
> concerns over the group’s capacity have grown. The committee however has no
> wish to “kill” the community, but to ensure they are able to operate in a
> way that upholds Wikimedia movement values and expectations for affiliate
> organizations. A community cannot work effectively if its members are
> spending all their energy on an internal conflict. Significant internal
> conflict can also reflect poorly on the movement as a whole. We have
> responded to this thread because we felt we should weigh in. However, we
> cannot commit to continuing to participate in this conversation on
> wikimedia-l. The committee needs to focus our time and energy on trying to
> find and work toward the outcome in Portugal that is best for the Wikimedia
> movement. That said, we will do our best to monitor responses on this
> thread and take note of the questions, concerns, and criticisms expressed
> here. We encourage you also to share your thoughts and ideas relating to
> questions of movement governance and organization in the relevant movement
> strategy conversations:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20>
> Regards, Maor On Behalf of the Affiliations Committee *
>
> On 10/10/2018 8:31 p.m., Samuel Klein wrote:
>
> Gonçalo, Goethe, and all: Thank you for your work, which I appreciate
> dearly, and for the public discussion. I can also imagine this was a very
> hard letter to write.
>
> Paulo, to your concerns:
> > for a Foundation-run committee[3] that apparently wants to kill us at
> all costs.
>
> Euh... surely not .v_v.
> These troubles can come up in good faith, when two groups work intently
> and separately on the same issue, ando d not talk openly to one another for
> reasons of imagined duty + propriety. Tossing insults back and forth just
> makes it easier for people to shut down communication.
>
> Somehow I suspect that invocations of The Law and the intervention of
> legal anxieties (with their preoccupations with secrecy) has led to much of
> the trouble here. So Pine, to your point: /more/ legal counsel reporting
> to only one of the parties involved might not help. On the other hand, we
> as a movement deciding to share more openly our internal discussions around
> legal concerns — even if this means taking on slightly more legal risk —
> would reduce some of these evident social risks.
>
> Warmly,
> SJ
>
> On Wed, Oct 10, 2018 at 8:47 AM Paulo Santos Perneta <
> paulosperneta(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Some time ago, a Wikimedian friend told me AffCom is like the physician
>> that comes to help with the cure when an Affiliate is ill. But that's
>> really what they were in this WMPT case? This is a very bizarre situation,
>> of which I'm personally having a lot of difficulties finding rational
>> answers to it, let alone any conclusion. All I can offer is a personal
>> account of the situation, to those who would be kind enough to have an
>> interest on this case.
>>
>> Last May we at WMPT were really not expecting seeing AffCom bursting
>> through the room in an emergency intervention, fixing what didn't need to
>> be fixed, and willing to moderate what didn't need any moderation. As in
>> the proverbial Monty Phyton scene[1], they quickly became the problem
>> themselves.
>>
>> Many of us at WMPT are long-term Wikimedian volunteers, some of us for
>> more
>> than a decade already, in perfect good standing in our communities, where
>> we hold and held responsibility roles. It includes current and former
>> bureaucrats, sysops, ArbCom members, very active contributors to a number
>> of Wikimedia projects. Most of us are founding members or directly
>> connected to WMPT since its inception in 2009.
>>
>> Last March, when we took on ourselves this mission of fix and rebuild
>> Wikimedia Portugal, who had been dormant for about 5 years, we were not
>> expecting to face such a mighty and impenetrable adversary as AffCom has
>> proven to be.
>> For six months already we have been embroiled by AffCom in this Kafkian
>> suspension process, where we are generally not told what the accusations
>> are, and much less who is accusing us. It has been extremely painful,
>> exhausting, and frustrating for everyone involved.
>>
>> We reached our limit. A number of us are now seriously considering
>> abandoning not only the chapter, but the Wikimedia projects entirely, if
>> we
>> continue not being treated with the fairness and transparency we deserve.
>> It truly begs the existential question of what are we all doing here,
>> dedicating countless and very valuable hours of our lives for a Movement
>> that lets this happen, for a Foundation-run committee[3] that apparently
>> wants to kill us at all costs.
>>
>> Personally, I'm still confident that we'll successfully pass through this
>> probation, and everything will become again the very optimistic scenario
>> we
>> all had last April, when we successfully elected a working board, and
>> started working with great dedication in the many projects we have now
>> running here in Portugal. I can only imagine how painful it was and is
>> being for Gonçalo, to came here making this situation public and sharing
>> it
>> with everybody. We all have our dignity, nobody at WMPT likes this at all.
>> For many months we tried to cope with this discreet and silently. But
>> everything has a limit.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Paulo
>>
>> [1] -
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spanish_Inquisition_(Monty_Python)
>> [2] - As AffCom seems to be, despite what is written in their Meta page(
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee)
>>
>> GoEthe.wiki <goethe.wiki(a)gmail.com> escreveu no dia terça, 9/10/2018 à(s)
>> 11:13:
>>
>> > The original message was rejected due to a filter rule match, but you
>> can
>> > access it here:
>> >
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediapt/2018-October/002698.html
>> > I am sending it below without the links. Please access the link above
>> for
>> > the full version.
>> > __________
>> >
>> > Sorry in advance for the lengthy email – the tl;dr version is: Wikimedia
>> > Portugal has done all it was asked to do, so the suspension that was
>> held
>> > conditional to performing those steps must be lifted accordingly. For
>> the
>> > sake of transparency, we are sending this out to not only the AffCom
>> > mailing list, but also Wikimedia-l and WikimediaPT-l.
>> > _________
>> >
>> > Dear members of AffCom,
>> >
>> > (cc to the Wikimedia Portugal mailing list, Wikimedia mailing list)
>> >
>> > Last 5th October we were again surprised by the content of your email
>> > (quoted below) in response to us completing the roadmap we had agreed
>> upon
>> > in order to remove the suspension of Wikimedia Portugal. On that
>> message,
>> > you say you have once more received information whose substantiation is
>> not
>> > mentioned, from sources that are not disclosed. And still you seem to
>> > accept it as the truth without even providing us with the opportunity to
>> > get properly acquainted with it, let alone rebate or contradict it.
>> While
>> > you speak of transparency, that message is unsettlingly opaque, as have
>> > been multiple such messages relayed to us in the course of this whole
>> > process.
>> >
>> > As you are well aware, Wikimedia Portugal was faced in March with a
>> > situation where the president of the Board, João Vasconcelos, became
>> > demissionary without any previous warning [1]. It should be noted that
>> when
>> > Vasconcelos was elected as president of the Board back in 2015, he
>> wasn’t
>> > elected based on any background as a Wikimedia editor, as he has no
>> history
>> > of contribution to any of the Wikimedia projects, but rather on his self
>> > proclaimed merits on organisational and conflict management (!). Despite
>> > the best efforts of several people from Wikimedia Portugal over the
>> years,
>> > Vasconcelos sadly never really integrated well neither on Wikimedia
>> > Portugal, nor in the Portuguese Wikimedia community.
>> >
>> > So, in light of what looked like an existential threat for WMPT, I and a
>> > number of other WMPT members have publicly and transparently mobilized
>> > ourselves to organize an extraordinary General Election to elect the new
>> > Board. Vasconcelos was probably expecting/hoping that we would ask him
>> to
>> > stay. But we have seen this sort of behavior elsewhere [a].We didn't.
>> > Instead, we handled the situation cooperatively, as a group, openly.
>> > Vasconcelos never voiced any desire to take part on this collective
>> > solution-building, as evidenced by his silence from the discussion on
>> the
>> > Wikimedia Portugal mailing list in March [2] and April [3]. He was
>> welcome
>> > to do so. His only message to the mailing list was two days (13 April)
>> > before the 15 April General Assembly, announcing that he considered the
>> > planned General Assembly null [4]. Given the lack of legal standing for
>> > that claim, we carried on with the General Assembly (the transparent,
>> > inclusive, democratic governing body of associations), summoned
>> according
>> > to our by-laws. This General Assembly successfully elected new governing
>> > bodies, including the Board of Directors.
>> >
>> > In May we were surprised by a message from AffCom demanding that we stop
>> > taking part in a conflict, and "refrain from representing ourselves as
>> > representatives of Wikimedia Portugal" (see quoted message in [5]
>> > <https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediapt/2018-May/002621.html
>> > >).This
>> > was the very first time the Committee contacted Wikimedia Portugal about
>> > this case. The message provided no legal precedent or framework for this
>> > demand, no indication of what this conflict was, or why AffCom thought
>> the
>> > Board was a part of it.
>> >
>> > From what we understood, Vasconcelos went to the Wikimedia Conference in
>> > Berlin, where he seems to have convinced AffCom that our General
>> Assembly
>> > of 15 April was legally void.
>> >
>> > We have repeatedly provided concrete evidence that t it was not the
>> case,
>> > including quoting relevant court decisions backing this [6]
>> > <
>> >
>> https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/(https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/priva…
>> > >.
>> > In response, AffCom reported having no time to read through legal texts,
>> > and therefore not being able to assess the validity of our declarations,
>> > but that is beyond our control. And yet AffCom accepted Vasconcelos’
>> > version without question. It is a legal imperative to be held innocent
>> > until proven guilty, and until it is legally proven there was some
>> > wrongdoing, General Assemblies are valid and binding.
>> >
>> > After the April General Assembly we were working, in addition to our
>> > activities and programs, to put the association in order in terms of
>> > obligations to the Portuguese state and the tax authorities, providing
>> > access to WMPT’s bank account to the persons designated on the 15 April
>> GA,
>> > and so on. Things were getting on track...
>> >
>> > We were surprised again in July by a message from AffCom temporarily
>> > suspending Wikimedia Portugal’s recognition as a Wikimedia chapter [7].
>> In
>> > that message for the first time you laid out a concrete roadmap that, if
>> > followed (as we understood), would lead to lifting the suspension. The
>> > roadmap set out a list of demands from AffCom which we diligently
>> > fulfilled, even well ahead of the required deadlines. We organized and
>> held
>> > a new General Assembly in September, summoned according to the
>> > interpretation of the Portuguese Civil Code that AffCom relayed to us
>> (with
>> > the exception of anything we believed would make the proceeding illegal,
>> > which was communicated in due time to AffCom). This General Assembly had
>> > the same result as before [8]. The Assembly was normally held, despite
>> > severe attempts of sabotage from Vasconcelos, reported in due time to
>> > AffCom, Legal and the Safety team. In addition to the minutes [9], an
>> audio
>> > recording of the assembly is available in Commons [10] ; video
>> recording is
>> > also available on request.
>> >
>> > We then submitted our overdue Financial Report [11], demonstrated
>> support
>> > from the community to the continuation of the chapter [12], and wrote a
>> > plan for improved chapter capacity [13]. All should be good now...
>> >
>> > Having done all this, despite our disagreement that a new Assembly was
>> > needed in the first place, we are now again surprised by the reception
>> of
>> > the opaque message I mention in the beginning, sent by AffCom to my
>> email
>> > (quoted below) affirming that the Committee had received reports from
>> > unstated persons with unspecified concerns about the General Assembly
>> and
>> > the capacity of Wikimedia Portugal to run as a chapter. The message
>> claims
>> > that "there were a number of issues with lack of transparency [as well
>> as
>> > with] providing an opportunity to participate in an open, organizational
>> > process" while not specifying these issues at all. Your message
>> questions
>> > whether we are "prepared as an Affiliate to prevent disruption in [our]
>> > organization's collective pursuit of the movement’s mission", even
>> though
>> > we have so far been able to handle every attempt at disruption from
>> > Vasconcelos.
>> >
>> > If we rolled up our sleeves to activate the scattered energies of a
>> stale
>> > organization in order to prepare and execute April’s General Assembly,
>> it
>> > was because we were convinced that Wikimedia Portugal had a viable
>> future
>> > ahead, and was of value to the Wikimedia movement. At the time, the
>> actions
>> > of Vasconcelos were so absurd that the reaction to them even spurred
>> some
>> > founders and (by then) inactive members of WMPT to offer their help in
>> > reestablishing a functional organization. Along with the help of a
>> number
>> > of historic as well as new members who have been steadily returning and
>> > joining our ranks, that’s precisely what we are achieving.
>> >
>> > That’s why we’ve been working on fulfilling the AffCom roadmap requests,
>> > even if we didn’t like or agree with some aspects of it. All things
>> > considered, it was a clear path to resolving our situation, and we found
>> > that parts of it could be useful to the chapter. But AffCom’s
>> validation of
>> > Vasconcelos’ actions and claims, even if unintentional, have real
>> > consequences for the mental state and safety of our members.
>> >
>> > Back in March, when Vasconcelos claimed he had requested our bank to
>> lock
>> > the chapter’s bank account, started a process at the Public Prosecution
>> > Service, and he had talked with an attorney on that subject, can you
>> > imagine what André, our treasurer, felt waiting in line in the bank
>> until
>> > he found what really happened? In the end, the bank account had not been
>> > locked because of any court order or legal reason as Vasconcelos
>> implied,
>> > but rather because someone had tried to access the bank account without
>> the
>> > proper credentials, and the system automatically locked the account.
>> >
>> > Before the General Assembly in September, Vasconcelos sent out legal
>> > threats and even menaces of police intervention to anyone
>> participating. We
>> > still went through with it, but can you imagine how we felt, the
>> pressure
>> > that was under some of us? It was all a bluff in the end, but this is
>> what
>> > you put us through.
>> >
>> > Notwithstanding, WMPT activities were happening in parallel. They are
>> > listed on our activities plan for anyone to see [14], and more are
>> planned.
>> > After several years of inactivity, we are happy to be on a sustainable
>> > growth path, gradually building capacity and doing the best we can with
>> the
>> > resources available to us. We’ve also been using our personal contacts
>> with
>> > other movements in order to increase our organization’s capacity. Ana,
>> > newly appointed to the Board, has just returned from Wiki Takes Zamora,
>> > where she was learning from Wikimedia Spain, relaunching the
>> collaboration
>> > between both chapters. Two of the events we have planned for November
>> are
>> > using this paradigm. We’ll celebrate Wikidata’s sixth anniversary with a
>> > local group of data enthusiasts in Porto, and near Lisbon we’re helping
>> > with the organization and will participate in a FOSS event, so in both
>> > cases we’ll also acquire event organization skills. This growth path is
>> in
>> > peril if you continue to undermine our efforts.
>> >
>> > Over the last half year we’ve been attacked, offended, insulted,
>> received
>> > multiple threats of judicial action by Vasconcelos, and even an actual
>> > intimidatory letter from a lawyer working for him (but purportedly on
>> > behalf of WMPT); and during this entire time we’ve tried not to escalate
>> > the situation, not to engage with such attempts at direct confrontation,
>> > nor make them public. You force us now to disclose this in order to
>> clear
>> > our name and set the record straight. With the help and support of the
>> > legal and security departments of the Wikimedia Foundation, we have
>> dealt
>> > with the actions of Vasconcelos so far. And we will follow the
>> disciplinary
>> > procedures foreseen for these situations in our bylaws which may result
>> in
>> > his removal from the chapter.
>> >
>> > We’ve repeatedly complied in unusually strict terms with legal
>> > requirements, and with AffCom’s roadmap, while dealing with Vasconcelos’
>> > actions as privately as we could in order not to affect the public
>> image of
>> > the Wikimedia movement, nor its community – but honestly, we’re reaching
>> > the point of exhaustion in light of AffCom’s puzzling behavior along
>> this
>> > process. We understand that AffCom may have reserves regarding our
>> future,
>> > but the way it is dealing with the situation is clearly
>> counterproductive.
>> > How can AffCom keep making new accusations without at least asking us
>> for
>> > information or confirmations?
>> >
>> > Currently, our major source of disruption, distress and anxiety is each
>> new
>> > message we receive from AffCom, as they repeatedly defy our
>> expectations of
>> > a partner claiming to be attempting to help us getting back on our
>> feet. We
>> > are actually wary that the next address could be an announcement that
>> > Wikimedia Portugal has been de-recognized, even after we have passed our
>> > “road of trials”, due to the ever moving goalposts. Several of our key
>> > people have reported insomnia, including myself, after receiving your
>> > communications. We’re reaching our physical, psychological, and
>> > motivational limit, in great part due to AffCom’s actions and
>> inexplicable
>> > lack of support and transparency.
>> >
>> > It is time to stop this! Despite what we still believe were your best
>> > intentions, AffCom has inadvertently caused significant destabilization
>> for
>> > Wikimedia Portugal.
>> >
>> > Please honor your part of the compromise, lift this suspension and let
>> us
>> > proceed in the productive pursuit of our collective mission.
>> >
>> > Regards,
>> >
>> > Gonçalo
>> > Gonçalo Themudo
>> >
>> > *Presidente*
>> > *Wikimedia Portugal*
>> > *Email: *goethe.wiki(a)gmail.com
>> > *Website: *http://pt.wikimedia.org <
>> https://sites.google.com/view/themudo>
>> > *Imagine um mundo onde cada ser humano pode partilhar livremente a soma
>> de
>> > todo o conhecimento, na sua própria língua.*
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > 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: 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 and
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
>> 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>
>
>
>
> --
> Samuel Klein @metasj w:user:sj +1 617 529 4266
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Affiliations Committee mailing listAffCom@lists.wikimedia.orghttps://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affcom
>
>
> --
> *"Jülüjain wane mmakat ein kapülain tü alijunakalirua jee wayuukanairua
> junain ekerolaa alümüin supüshuwayale etijaanaka. Ayatashi waya junain."*
> Maor Malul
> Socio, A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela | RIF J-40129321-2 | www.wikimedia.org.ve
> Member, Wikimedia Israel | www.wikimedia.org.il
> Member, Wikimedia Foundation Affiliations Committee
> Phone: +972-52-4869915
> Twitter: @maor_x
>
>
> <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> Libre
> de virus. www.avast.com
> <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…>
> <#m_-1718460188376910913_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
> _______________________________________________
> Affiliates mailing list
> Affiliates(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affiliates
>
With another misleading public statement from Maor regarding the Brazilian
situation I would like to publicly ask Affcom to clarify what was
inaccurate in my report.
It would also be a good idea to have responses on the page Affcom created
over 2 months ago asking for questions and has abandoned without responses.
[1]
Chico Venancio
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Affiliations_Committee/Brazil_Next_Ste…
Em dom, 14 de out de 2018 11:44, Maor Malul <maor_x(a)zoho.com> escreveu:
> *Hello,*
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> * As AffCom, we appreciate the interest in the situation with Wikimedia
> Portugal that you have expressed on this thread. Our current focus is on
> working to understand and resolve the conflicts and issues related to
> Wikimedia Portugal, as well as attend to our other duties. However, we did
> want to send a message to this list to clarify some points. First, we would
> like to caution readers of this list against making conclusions regarding
> this particular situation based solely on the information that has been
> shared here. This thread does not present a complete and accurate picture
> of the situation in Portugal (or the situation in Brazil, for that matter).
> Though not comprehensive, we would like to provide a brief summary of the
> situation, based on the information AffCom has received. As has mostly been
> outlined previously in this thread, after WMPT’s years of inactivity,
> recently, multiple individuals have become involved trying to create
> activity and revitalize the chapter. However, those individuals have
> conflicted with each other. Things escalated quickly, with various
> accusations and threats being made. Earlier this year, AffCom was informed
> of the conflict by the parties and began communicating with the individuals
> involved. Despite AffCom's efforts to de-escalate the situation, certain
> individual actions have kept intensifying it. As the conflict was
> preventing the chapter from being able to engage in productive activity,
> AffCom took the step of suspension, with clear requirements for the chapter
> to meet to lift the suspension and avoid de-recognition. One of the larger
> issues that WMPT has had to address is the lack of clear leadership of the
> chapter following its two previous general assemblies. As detailed in the
> suspension notice, there were issues reported to AffCom related to both IX
> General Assembly (held on December 14, 2017) as well as X General Assembly
> (held on April 15, 2018). In both cases, the best information available to
> AffCom suggests that the meetings did not comply with the relevant portions
> of the Chapter's bylaws and may not have complied with applicable local
> laws. Wikimedia organizations are expected to fulfill all of their legal
> and organizational governance requirements. These issues prompted the
> requirement that WMPT convene a new assembly and elections process (held on
> September 1, 2018), with the goal of holding an assembly which clearly
> follows the relevant procedural requirements. Along with convening the
> assembly, WMPT has currently met the requirements based on the timeline set
> in the suspension notice from AffCom in July. They submitted their required
> materials on time, and now AffCom is reviewing them. However, AffCom has
> also received other information relating to the chapter's compliance with
> particular governance requirements. AffCom is currently evaluating this
> information along with the materials submitted by the chapter. AffCom will
> be in touch with the chapter regarding any additional information we need.
> We want to emphasize that Wikimedia Portugal is not being held to a
> different or higher standard compared to other chapters, but is being held
> to the standard expectations for chapter status. While we understand that
> monitoring of compliance with those expectations may have been less
> consistent in the past, we have been working in recent years to ensure that
> all chapters are meeting the same basic standards. When a chapter is not in
> compliance, there are several reminders and opportunities for correction in
> advance of suspension. We suspend a chapter only if it does not
> self-correct in response to the repeated reminders and/or warnings. Once a
> chapter is suspended, we strive to provide a reasonable window for
> remediation. Wikimedia Portugal has been on the committee’s radar due to
> its years of minimal activity. As further conflict issues have surfaced,
> concerns over the group’s capacity have grown. The committee however has no
> wish to “kill” the community, but to ensure they are able to operate in a
> way that upholds Wikimedia movement values and expectations for affiliate
> organizations. A community cannot work effectively if its members are
> spending all their energy on an internal conflict. Significant internal
> conflict can also reflect poorly on the movement as a whole. We have
> responded to this thread because we felt we should weigh in. However, we
> cannot commit to continuing to participate in this conversation on
> wikimedia-l. The committee needs to focus our time and energy on trying to
> find and work toward the outcome in Portugal that is best for the Wikimedia
> movement. That said, we will do our best to monitor responses on this
> thread and take note of the questions, concerns, and criticisms expressed
> here. We encourage you also to share your thoughts and ideas relating to
> questions of movement governance and organization in the relevant movement
> strategy conversations:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20>
> Regards, Maor On Behalf of the Affiliations Committee *
>
> On 10/10/2018 8:31 p.m., Samuel Klein wrote:
>
> Gonçalo, Goethe, and all: Thank you for your work, which I appreciate
> dearly, and for the public discussion. I can also imagine this was a very
> hard letter to write.
>
> Paulo, to your concerns:
> > for a Foundation-run committee[3] that apparently wants to kill us at
> all costs.
>
> Euh... surely not .v_v.
> These troubles can come up in good faith, when two groups work intently
> and separately on the same issue, ando d not talk openly to one another for
> reasons of imagined duty + propriety. Tossing insults back and forth just
> makes it easier for people to shut down communication.
>
> Somehow I suspect that invocations of The Law and the intervention of
> legal anxieties (with their preoccupations with secrecy) has led to much of
> the trouble here. So Pine, to your point: /more/ legal counsel reporting
> to only one of the parties involved might not help. On the other hand, we
> as a movement deciding to share more openly our internal discussions around
> legal concerns — even if this means taking on slightly more legal risk —
> would reduce some of these evident social risks.
>
> Warmly,
> SJ
>
> On Wed, Oct 10, 2018 at 8:47 AM Paulo Santos Perneta <
> paulosperneta(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Some time ago, a Wikimedian friend told me AffCom is like the physician
>> that comes to help with the cure when an Affiliate is ill. But that's
>> really what they were in this WMPT case? This is a very bizarre situation,
>> of which I'm personally having a lot of difficulties finding rational
>> answers to it, let alone any conclusion. All I can offer is a personal
>> account of the situation, to those who would be kind enough to have an
>> interest on this case.
>>
>> Last May we at WMPT were really not expecting seeing AffCom bursting
>> through the room in an emergency intervention, fixing what didn't need to
>> be fixed, and willing to moderate what didn't need any moderation. As in
>> the proverbial Monty Phyton scene[1], they quickly became the problem
>> themselves.
>>
>> Many of us at WMPT are long-term Wikimedian volunteers, some of us for
>> more
>> than a decade already, in perfect good standing in our communities, where
>> we hold and held responsibility roles. It includes current and former
>> bureaucrats, sysops, ArbCom members, very active contributors to a number
>> of Wikimedia projects. Most of us are founding members or directly
>> connected to WMPT since its inception in 2009.
>>
>> Last March, when we took on ourselves this mission of fix and rebuild
>> Wikimedia Portugal, who had been dormant for about 5 years, we were not
>> expecting to face such a mighty and impenetrable adversary as AffCom has
>> proven to be.
>> For six months already we have been embroiled by AffCom in this Kafkian
>> suspension process, where we are generally not told what the accusations
>> are, and much less who is accusing us. It has been extremely painful,
>> exhausting, and frustrating for everyone involved.
>>
>> We reached our limit. A number of us are now seriously considering
>> abandoning not only the chapter, but the Wikimedia projects entirely, if
>> we
>> continue not being treated with the fairness and transparency we deserve.
>> It truly begs the existential question of what are we all doing here,
>> dedicating countless and very valuable hours of our lives for a Movement
>> that lets this happen, for a Foundation-run committee[3] that apparently
>> wants to kill us at all costs.
>>
>> Personally, I'm still confident that we'll successfully pass through this
>> probation, and everything will become again the very optimistic scenario
>> we
>> all had last April, when we successfully elected a working board, and
>> started working with great dedication in the many projects we have now
>> running here in Portugal. I can only imagine how painful it was and is
>> being for Gonçalo, to came here making this situation public and sharing
>> it
>> with everybody. We all have our dignity, nobody at WMPT likes this at all.
>> For many months we tried to cope with this discreet and silently. But
>> everything has a limit.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Paulo
>>
>> [1] -
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spanish_Inquisition_(Monty_Python)
>> [2] - As AffCom seems to be, despite what is written in their Meta page(
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee)
>>
>> GoEthe.wiki <goethe.wiki(a)gmail.com> escreveu no dia terça, 9/10/2018 à(s)
>> 11:13:
>>
>> > The original message was rejected due to a filter rule match, but you
>> can
>> > access it here:
>> >
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediapt/2018-October/002698.html
>> > I am sending it below without the links. Please access the link above
>> for
>> > the full version.
>> > __________
>> >
>> > Sorry in advance for the lengthy email – the tl;dr version is: Wikimedia
>> > Portugal has done all it was asked to do, so the suspension that was
>> held
>> > conditional to performing those steps must be lifted accordingly. For
>> the
>> > sake of transparency, we are sending this out to not only the AffCom
>> > mailing list, but also Wikimedia-l and WikimediaPT-l.
>> > _________
>> >
>> > Dear members of AffCom,
>> >
>> > (cc to the Wikimedia Portugal mailing list, Wikimedia mailing list)
>> >
>> > Last 5th October we were again surprised by the content of your email
>> > (quoted below) in response to us completing the roadmap we had agreed
>> upon
>> > in order to remove the suspension of Wikimedia Portugal. On that
>> message,
>> > you say you have once more received information whose substantiation is
>> not
>> > mentioned, from sources that are not disclosed. And still you seem to
>> > accept it as the truth without even providing us with the opportunity to
>> > get properly acquainted with it, let alone rebate or contradict it.
>> While
>> > you speak of transparency, that message is unsettlingly opaque, as have
>> > been multiple such messages relayed to us in the course of this whole
>> > process.
>> >
>> > As you are well aware, Wikimedia Portugal was faced in March with a
>> > situation where the president of the Board, João Vasconcelos, became
>> > demissionary without any previous warning [1]. It should be noted that
>> when
>> > Vasconcelos was elected as president of the Board back in 2015, he
>> wasn’t
>> > elected based on any background as a Wikimedia editor, as he has no
>> history
>> > of contribution to any of the Wikimedia projects, but rather on his self
>> > proclaimed merits on organisational and conflict management (!). Despite
>> > the best efforts of several people from Wikimedia Portugal over the
>> years,
>> > Vasconcelos sadly never really integrated well neither on Wikimedia
>> > Portugal, nor in the Portuguese Wikimedia community.
>> >
>> > So, in light of what looked like an existential threat for WMPT, I and a
>> > number of other WMPT members have publicly and transparently mobilized
>> > ourselves to organize an extraordinary General Election to elect the new
>> > Board. Vasconcelos was probably expecting/hoping that we would ask him
>> to
>> > stay. But we have seen this sort of behavior elsewhere [a].We didn't.
>> > Instead, we handled the situation cooperatively, as a group, openly.
>> > Vasconcelos never voiced any desire to take part on this collective
>> > solution-building, as evidenced by his silence from the discussion on
>> the
>> > Wikimedia Portugal mailing list in March [2] and April [3]. He was
>> welcome
>> > to do so. His only message to the mailing list was two days (13 April)
>> > before the 15 April General Assembly, announcing that he considered the
>> > planned General Assembly null [4]. Given the lack of legal standing for
>> > that claim, we carried on with the General Assembly (the transparent,
>> > inclusive, democratic governing body of associations), summoned
>> according
>> > to our by-laws. This General Assembly successfully elected new governing
>> > bodies, including the Board of Directors.
>> >
>> > In May we were surprised by a message from AffCom demanding that we stop
>> > taking part in a conflict, and "refrain from representing ourselves as
>> > representatives of Wikimedia Portugal" (see quoted message in [5]
>> > <https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediapt/2018-May/002621.html
>> > >).This
>> > was the very first time the Committee contacted Wikimedia Portugal about
>> > this case. The message provided no legal precedent or framework for this
>> > demand, no indication of what this conflict was, or why AffCom thought
>> the
>> > Board was a part of it.
>> >
>> > From what we understood, Vasconcelos went to the Wikimedia Conference in
>> > Berlin, where he seems to have convinced AffCom that our General
>> Assembly
>> > of 15 April was legally void.
>> >
>> > We have repeatedly provided concrete evidence that t it was not the
>> case,
>> > including quoting relevant court decisions backing this [6]
>> > <
>> >
>> https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/(https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/priva…
>> > >.
>> > In response, AffCom reported having no time to read through legal texts,
>> > and therefore not being able to assess the validity of our declarations,
>> > but that is beyond our control. And yet AffCom accepted Vasconcelos’
>> > version without question. It is a legal imperative to be held innocent
>> > until proven guilty, and until it is legally proven there was some
>> > wrongdoing, General Assemblies are valid and binding.
>> >
>> > After the April General Assembly we were working, in addition to our
>> > activities and programs, to put the association in order in terms of
>> > obligations to the Portuguese state and the tax authorities, providing
>> > access to WMPT’s bank account to the persons designated on the 15 April
>> GA,
>> > and so on. Things were getting on track...
>> >
>> > We were surprised again in July by a message from AffCom temporarily
>> > suspending Wikimedia Portugal’s recognition as a Wikimedia chapter [7].
>> In
>> > that message for the first time you laid out a concrete roadmap that, if
>> > followed (as we understood), would lead to lifting the suspension. The
>> > roadmap set out a list of demands from AffCom which we diligently
>> > fulfilled, even well ahead of the required deadlines. We organized and
>> held
>> > a new General Assembly in September, summoned according to the
>> > interpretation of the Portuguese Civil Code that AffCom relayed to us
>> (with
>> > the exception of anything we believed would make the proceeding illegal,
>> > which was communicated in due time to AffCom). This General Assembly had
>> > the same result as before [8]. The Assembly was normally held, despite
>> > severe attempts of sabotage from Vasconcelos, reported in due time to
>> > AffCom, Legal and the Safety team. In addition to the minutes [9], an
>> audio
>> > recording of the assembly is available in Commons [10] ; video
>> recording is
>> > also available on request.
>> >
>> > We then submitted our overdue Financial Report [11], demonstrated
>> support
>> > from the community to the continuation of the chapter [12], and wrote a
>> > plan for improved chapter capacity [13]. All should be good now...
>> >
>> > Having done all this, despite our disagreement that a new Assembly was
>> > needed in the first place, we are now again surprised by the reception
>> of
>> > the opaque message I mention in the beginning, sent by AffCom to my
>> email
>> > (quoted below) affirming that the Committee had received reports from
>> > unstated persons with unspecified concerns about the General Assembly
>> and
>> > the capacity of Wikimedia Portugal to run as a chapter. The message
>> claims
>> > that "there were a number of issues with lack of transparency [as well
>> as
>> > with] providing an opportunity to participate in an open, organizational
>> > process" while not specifying these issues at all. Your message
>> questions
>> > whether we are "prepared as an Affiliate to prevent disruption in [our]
>> > organization's collective pursuit of the movement’s mission", even
>> though
>> > we have so far been able to handle every attempt at disruption from
>> > Vasconcelos.
>> >
>> > If we rolled up our sleeves to activate the scattered energies of a
>> stale
>> > organization in order to prepare and execute April’s General Assembly,
>> it
>> > was because we were convinced that Wikimedia Portugal had a viable
>> future
>> > ahead, and was of value to the Wikimedia movement. At the time, the
>> actions
>> > of Vasconcelos were so absurd that the reaction to them even spurred
>> some
>> > founders and (by then) inactive members of WMPT to offer their help in
>> > reestablishing a functional organization. Along with the help of a
>> number
>> > of historic as well as new members who have been steadily returning and
>> > joining our ranks, that’s precisely what we are achieving.
>> >
>> > That’s why we’ve been working on fulfilling the AffCom roadmap requests,
>> > even if we didn’t like or agree with some aspects of it. All things
>> > considered, it was a clear path to resolving our situation, and we found
>> > that parts of it could be useful to the chapter. But AffCom’s
>> validation of
>> > Vasconcelos’ actions and claims, even if unintentional, have real
>> > consequences for the mental state and safety of our members.
>> >
>> > Back in March, when Vasconcelos claimed he had requested our bank to
>> lock
>> > the chapter’s bank account, started a process at the Public Prosecution
>> > Service, and he had talked with an attorney on that subject, can you
>> > imagine what André, our treasurer, felt waiting in line in the bank
>> until
>> > he found what really happened? In the end, the bank account had not been
>> > locked because of any court order or legal reason as Vasconcelos
>> implied,
>> > but rather because someone had tried to access the bank account without
>> the
>> > proper credentials, and the system automatically locked the account.
>> >
>> > Before the General Assembly in September, Vasconcelos sent out legal
>> > threats and even menaces of police intervention to anyone
>> participating. We
>> > still went through with it, but can you imagine how we felt, the
>> pressure
>> > that was under some of us? It was all a bluff in the end, but this is
>> what
>> > you put us through.
>> >
>> > Notwithstanding, WMPT activities were happening in parallel. They are
>> > listed on our activities plan for anyone to see [14], and more are
>> planned.
>> > After several years of inactivity, we are happy to be on a sustainable
>> > growth path, gradually building capacity and doing the best we can with
>> the
>> > resources available to us. We’ve also been using our personal contacts
>> with
>> > other movements in order to increase our organization’s capacity. Ana,
>> > newly appointed to the Board, has just returned from Wiki Takes Zamora,
>> > where she was learning from Wikimedia Spain, relaunching the
>> collaboration
>> > between both chapters. Two of the events we have planned for November
>> are
>> > using this paradigm. We’ll celebrate Wikidata’s sixth anniversary with a
>> > local group of data enthusiasts in Porto, and near Lisbon we’re helping
>> > with the organization and will participate in a FOSS event, so in both
>> > cases we’ll also acquire event organization skills. This growth path is
>> in
>> > peril if you continue to undermine our efforts.
>> >
>> > Over the last half year we’ve been attacked, offended, insulted,
>> received
>> > multiple threats of judicial action by Vasconcelos, and even an actual
>> > intimidatory letter from a lawyer working for him (but purportedly on
>> > behalf of WMPT); and during this entire time we’ve tried not to escalate
>> > the situation, not to engage with such attempts at direct confrontation,
>> > nor make them public. You force us now to disclose this in order to
>> clear
>> > our name and set the record straight. With the help and support of the
>> > legal and security departments of the Wikimedia Foundation, we have
>> dealt
>> > with the actions of Vasconcelos so far. And we will follow the
>> disciplinary
>> > procedures foreseen for these situations in our bylaws which may result
>> in
>> > his removal from the chapter.
>> >
>> > We’ve repeatedly complied in unusually strict terms with legal
>> > requirements, and with AffCom’s roadmap, while dealing with Vasconcelos’
>> > actions as privately as we could in order not to affect the public
>> image of
>> > the Wikimedia movement, nor its community – but honestly, we’re reaching
>> > the point of exhaustion in light of AffCom’s puzzling behavior along
>> this
>> > process. We understand that AffCom may have reserves regarding our
>> future,
>> > but the way it is dealing with the situation is clearly
>> counterproductive.
>> > How can AffCom keep making new accusations without at least asking us
>> for
>> > information or confirmations?
>> >
>> > Currently, our major source of disruption, distress and anxiety is each
>> new
>> > message we receive from AffCom, as they repeatedly defy our
>> expectations of
>> > a partner claiming to be attempting to help us getting back on our
>> feet. We
>> > are actually wary that the next address could be an announcement that
>> > Wikimedia Portugal has been de-recognized, even after we have passed our
>> > “road of trials”, due to the ever moving goalposts. Several of our key
>> > people have reported insomnia, including myself, after receiving your
>> > communications. We’re reaching our physical, psychological, and
>> > motivational limit, in great part due to AffCom’s actions and
>> inexplicable
>> > lack of support and transparency.
>> >
>> > It is time to stop this! Despite what we still believe were your best
>> > intentions, AffCom has inadvertently caused significant destabilization
>> for
>> > Wikimedia Portugal.
>> >
>> > Please honor your part of the compromise, lift this suspension and let
>> us
>> > proceed in the productive pursuit of our collective mission.
>> >
>> > Regards,
>> >
>> > Gonçalo
>> > Gonçalo Themudo
>> >
>> > *Presidente*
>> > *Wikimedia Portugal*
>> > *Email: *goethe.wiki(a)gmail.com
>> > *Website: *http://pt.wikimedia.org <
>> https://sites.google.com/view/themudo>
>> > *Imagine um mundo onde cada ser humano pode partilhar livremente a soma
>> de
>> > todo o conhecimento, na sua própria língua.*
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > 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: 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 and
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
>> 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>
>
>
>
> --
> Samuel Klein @metasj w:user:sj +1 617 529 4266
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Affiliations Committee mailing listAffCom@lists.wikimedia.orghttps://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affcom
>
>
> --
> *"Jülüjain wane mmakat ein kapülain tü alijunakalirua jee wayuukanairua
> junain ekerolaa alümüin supüshuwayale etijaanaka. Ayatashi waya junain."*
> Maor Malul
> Socio, A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela | RIF J-40129321-2 | www.wikimedia.org.ve
> Member, Wikimedia Israel | www.wikimedia.org.il
> Member, Wikimedia Foundation Affiliations Committee
> Phone: +972-52-4869915
> Twitter: @maor_x
>
>
> <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> Libre
> de virus. www.avast.com
> <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…>
> <#m_-7902173747765467380_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
> _______________________________________________
> Affiliates mailing list
> Affiliates(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affiliates
>
Hi everyone!
I'm very happy to announce that the Affiliations Committee has recognized
[1] the Gender Diversity Visibility Community User Group [2] as a Wikimedia
User Group. The group aims to promote, expand, and facilitate the gender
diversity visibility work being done by all language Wikipedias, Commons
and Wikidata, directing the research and development for the project's
unique needs by managing delivery of materials and technology, planning,
and organizing systems to support their production of content.
Please join me in congratulating the members of this new user group!
Regards,
Kirill Lokshin
Chair, Affiliations Committee
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Resolutions/Recognit…
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_Diversity_Visibility_Community_User_…
Hi everyone!
I'm very happy to announce that the Affiliations Committee has recognized
[1] the Wikipedia Asian Month User Group [2] as a Wikimedia User Group. The
group aims to support Asian-language Wikipedia communities around the
world, to increase cooperation among Wikimedia communities and affiliates
in Asia, and to enrich Asia-rrelated culture and content on Wikimedia
projects.
Please join me in congratulating the members of this new user group!
Regards,
Kirill Lokshin
Chair, Affiliations Committee
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Resolutions/Recognit…
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Asian_Month_User_Group
Hi everyone!
I'm very happy to announce that the Affiliations Committee has recognized
[1] Wikimedia Community User Group Hong Kong [2] as a Wikimedia User Group.
The group aims to raise awareness of free culture and the Wikimedia
movement among Hong Kong citizens, and to support Hong Kong Wikimedian
communities in English, Chinese, Cantonese and other Wikimedia projects.
Please join me in congratulating the members of this new user group!
Regards,
Kirill Lokshin
Chair, Affiliations Committee
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Resolutions/Recognit…
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Hong_Kong
Hi Illario,
Apologies, I probably explained myself poorly. I never said that a chapter
is a representative of the Wikimedia community, rather I was trying to
explain that João’s claimed experience (emphasis on claimed) in management
and conflict resolution was a major factor in him being elected to the
Board. At the time, WMPT thought that that could be very valuable to the
chapter. So, we agree, a heterogeneous board is absolutely an advantage,
but in this case the issue was not one of diversity, but rather of
competence and alignment to the movement goals and principles.
In practice, he did not contribute to the management of the chapter, and he
was not prepared to an increase of the chapter activities. He very quickly
started demonstrating uneasiness with any procedural decision he did not
personally vet (which are imperative in volunteer-based, collaborative
projects), and soon after, without any previous warning, started sending
legal threats going as far as using a lawyer to intimidate one of our most
active members on behalf of WMPT (without discussing it with anyone
beforehand), and resigned.
We have no intention to expose João even more in this public mailing list,
so we will not provide a comprehensive list of the problems we found with
his term on the board. But to make it clear, when this whole issue began to
be addressed, even though we did not ask him to stay on the Board, we did
invite him to continue on the chapter, working with us, as AffCom can
confirm. Just not in any role with legal responsibilities.
Cheers,
Gonçalo Themudo
*Presidente*
*Wikimedia Portugal*
*Email: *goethe.wiki(a)gmail.com
*Website: *http://pt.wikimedia.org <https://sites.google.com/view/themudo>
*Imagine um mundo onde cada ser humano pode partilhar livremente a soma de
todo o conhecimento, na sua própria língua.*
_in_the_Mekong.jpg){kind=link}