Wikimedia-l August 2020

wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org

79 participants
51 discussions

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikitech-l] Wikimedia Chat
by RhinosF1 - 31 Aug '20

31 Aug '20

For the privacy policy question, that box is standard for anything hosted with Cloud Services. I'd trust Amir wouldn't do that but it reduces the responsibility of WMCS. Thanks. On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 at 08:56, Count Count <countvoncount123456(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hi! > > > > Thanks for providing another communication tool. > > > > Some questions: > > > > - Is there a reason why we are not using Wikimedia account SSO for the > > chat? > > - The Terms link leads directly to the Tech Code of Conduct. Shouldn't > > it link to https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_Use/en > instead? > > After all terms are usually more than just a Code of Conduct. > > - The linked privacy policy > > <https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Nova_Resource:Chat/Privacy_Policy> > is > > a bit scary. It states that there is no expectation of privacy as my > chats > > could be published at any time and that the administrators might have > > access to my username/password combination, which should not at all be > > necessary. Is that really the intent here? > > > > > > Best regards, > > > > Count Count > > > > On Sun, Aug 30, 2020 at 2:00 AM Amir Sarabadani <ladsgroup(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > > > > > Hello, > > > Due to the current situation, there are more and more collaborations > > > happening online instead. and now you can see Wikimedia-related > discussion > > > groups in Slack, Discord, Telegram, Facebook, and many more. Besides > being > > > scattered and inaccessible to people who don't have accounts in those > > > platforms (for privacy reasons for example), these platforms use > > > proprietary and closed-source software, are outside Wikimedia > > > infrastructure and some harvest our personal data for profit. > > > > > > IRC on freenode is a good alternative but it lacks basic functionalities > of > > > a modern chat platform. So we created Wikimedia Chat, a mattermost > instance > > > in Wikimedia Cloud. Compared to IRC, you have: > > > * Ability to scrollback and read messages when you were offline > > > * Push notification and email notification > > > * You don't need to get a cloak to hide your IP from others > > > * Proper support for sharing media > > > * Two factor authentication > > > * A proper mobile app support > > > * Ability to add custom emojis (yes, it's extremely important) > > > * Profile pictures > > > * Ability to ping everyone with @here > > > * much much more. > > > > > > You can use Wikimedia Chat by going to https://chat.wmcloud.org, anyone > > > can > > > make an account. This is part of Wikimedia Social suite [1], the oher > > > similar project is "Wikimedia Meet". [2] > > > > > > Some notes: > > > * This is done in my volunteer capacity and has been maintained by a > group > > > of volunteers. If you're willing to join the team (either technical or > > > enforcing CoC, kicking out spammers, other daily work), drop me a > message. > > > * Privacy policy of Wikimedia Cloud applies: https://w.wiki/aQW > > > * As a result, all messages older than 90 days get automatically deleted. > > > * As a Wikimedia Cloud project, all of discussions, private and public > are > > > covered by Code of conduct in technical spaces: https://w.wiki/AK$ > > > > > > Hope that would be useful for you, if you encounter any technical issues, > > > file a bug in the phabricator. > > > > > > [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Social_Suite > > > [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Meet > > > > > > Best > > > -- > > > Amir (he/him) > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Wikitech-l mailing list > > > Wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikitech-l mailing list > > Wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l > > -- Thanks, Samuel

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Wikimedia Chat
by Amir Sarabadani 31 Aug '20

31 Aug '20

Hello, Due to the current situation, there are more and more collaborations happening online instead. and now you can see Wikimedia-related discussion groups in Slack, Discord, Telegram, Facebook, and many more. Besides being scattered and inaccessible to people who don't have accounts in those platforms (for privacy reasons for example), these platforms use proprietary and closed-source software, are outside Wikimedia infrastructure and some harvest our personal data for profit. IRC on freenode is a good alternative but it lacks basic functionalities of a modern chat platform. So we created Wikimedia Chat, a mattermost instance in Wikimedia Cloud. Compared to IRC, you have: * Ability to scrollback and read messages when you were offline * Push notification and email notification * You don't need to get a cloak to hide your IP from others * Proper support for sharing media * Two factor authentication * A proper mobile app support * Ability to add custom emojis (yes, it's extremely important) * Profile pictures * Ability to ping everyone with @here * much much more. You can use Wikimedia Chat by going to https://chat.wmcloud.org, anyone can make an account. This is part of Wikimedia Social suite [1], the oher similar project is "Wikimedia Meet". [2] Some notes: * This is done in my volunteer capacity and has been maintained by a group of volunteers. If you're willing to join the team (either technical or enforcing CoC, kicking out spammers, other daily work), drop me a message. * Privacy policy of Wikimedia Cloud applies: https://w.wiki/aQW * As a result, all messages older than 90 days get automatically deleted. * As a Wikimedia Cloud project, all of discussions, private and public are covered by Code of conduct in technical spaces: https://w.wiki/AK$ Hope that would be useful for you, if you encounter any technical issues, file a bug in the phabricator. [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Social_Suite [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Meet Best -- Amir (he/him)

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[Wikimedia Announcements] The Signpost – Volume 16, Issue 8 – 30 August 2020
by Wikipedia Signpost 30 Aug '20

30 Aug '20

News and notes: The high road and the low road http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/News_a… <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/News_…> In the media: Storytelling large and small http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/In_the… <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/In_th…> Featured content: Going for the goal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Featur… <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Featu…> Special report: Wikipedia's not so little sister is finding its own way http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Specia… <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Speci…> Op-Ed: The longest-running hoax http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Op-Ed <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Op-Ed> Traffic report: Heart, soul, umbrellas, and politics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Traffi… <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Traff…> News from the WMF: Fourteen things we’ve learned by moving Polish Wikimedia conference online http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/News_f… <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/News_…> Recent research: Detecting spam, and pages to protect; non-anonymous editors signal their intelligence with high-quality articles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Recent… <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Recen…> Arbitration report: A slow couple of months http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Arbitr… <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Arbit…> >From the archives: Wikipedia for promotional purposes? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/From_t… <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/From_…> Obituaries: Marcus Sherman, Jerome West, and Pauline van Till http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Obitua… <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-08-30/Obitu…> Single-page view https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signpost/Single https://facebook.com/wikisignpost https://twitter.com/wikisignpost -- *Signpost* team http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signpost <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost> _______________________________________________ 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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Institutional memory @ WMF
by Strainu 29 Aug '20

29 Aug '20

Hi, It seems the WMF is going through another crisis of institutional memory, with the T&S team taking center stage. It's not really important what they did wrong, it's minor compared with other faux-pas they did in the past. I was wondering though if the organization as a whole has learned anything from major crisis in the past and if there is a formal way of passing to newcomers information such as when and how to contact communities, what's the difference between a wiki, a community and an affiliate etc.? Strainu

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Wikimedia Foundation Form 990 for FY 2018-2019 now on-wiki
by Jaime Villagomez 28 Aug '20

28 Aug '20

Hello everyone, The Wikimedia Foundation has submitted our annual Form 990 for the Fiscal Year 2018-19 to the US Internal Revenue Service <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Revenue_Service> (IRS) and posted on-wiki[1]. The Form 990 is the annual financial reporting, known as an “information return,” which the IRS requires nonprofit organizations in the United States to file. In addition to posting the Form 990 on-wiki, we have also posted an accompanying page with answers to frequently asked questions related to the form and information we reported.[2] Here are a few key highlights on this year’s Form 990: - The Wikimedia Foundation's total revenue for fiscal year 2018-2019 was US $118.6 million. Our total expenses during this period were US $90.1 million and our total net assets at the end of the fiscal year were US $165.6 million. - At the end of our fiscal year 2018-2019, our revenue exceeded our expenses by US $28.5 million, which increased our operating reserve to $166.5 million, or the equivalent of 17-18 months of expenses per the fiscal year 2019-2020 annual plan <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Medium-term_plan_2019/…>. As reported under our prior Form 990, we have been maintaining the operating reserve at 17-18 months. Our goal is to have sufficient reserve funds to conservatively provide at least 12-18 months of operating expenses in order to mitigate against unforeseen risk, secure operational stability, and ensure the overall financial health of the organization. This principle is consistent with many other financially stable, non-profit organizations that are rated by Charity Navigator <https://www.charitynavigator.org/>. With a stable and secure reserve, we have the ability to fund specific Wikimedia Movement investment opportunities that may arise. - During the fiscal year 2018-2019, we continued to experience growth in our fundraising revenue and success that was attributed to our fundraising campaigns. - We continue to invest in programmatic activities and evaluate to ensure that our allocation percentage is at or above the standard benchmark of 65%. During the fiscal year 2018-2019, we invested 74% in programmatic activities, 14% in Management & General activities, and 12% in fundraising activities. For fiscal year 2019-2020, we continued to maintain our commitment to our programmatic activities and invested approximately 76% of our total spending. - Our expenses increased due to the investment to support our strategic direction with the focus on knowledge equity and knowledge as a service, that is outlined in the Annual Plan <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2018-2019/…>. The major programmatic areas are to evolve our systems and structures and to grow new contributors and content. - Our Governance, Management, and Disclosure practices are committed to maintaining best practices for non-profit charitable organizations, we’ve achieved a score of 100% from Charity Navigator for our accountability and transparency and meet the IRS requirements as applicable. Through reports and discussions like these, the Wikimedia Foundation will continue to strive to provide a responsible level of transparency and accountability. I imagine there are other questions, and I invite you to review the on-wiki FAQ[2], or post your questions on the discussion page should you have any. Thank you to the Foundation's Audit Committee for their oversight and our Staff for their work in developing this year's Form 990 and related communications for filing and public disclosure. Best Regards and Be Well, Jaime [1] - https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/financial-reports/ [2] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRS_tax_related_information/2018_Wikimedia_… Jaime Villagomez Chief Financial Officer Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/> *Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment.Donate. <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>*

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Mentor a data science and engineering project in Outreachy Round 21–call for projects now open!
by Srishti Sethi 27 Aug '20

27 Aug '20

Hello everyone, Wikimedia is participating in the winter edition of this year's Outreachy < https://www.outreachy.org/> [1] (December 2020–February 2021) and plans to mentor ~6 interns! The deadline to submit projects on the Outreachy website is September 24th, 2020. This round will be a bit different for Wikimedia–we are considering keeping the focus of projects on data science and engineering. We hope that with a particular theme, interns will have more opportunities to interact with and support each other, and in turn, they will have a more fulfilling experience! For example, a project could be to analyze publicly available Wikimedia datasets to create valuable tools that can help perform vital tasks or generate insights that help make data-informed decisions. A project's nature could be coding or non-coding (documentation, design, research, outreach, translation, etc.). Though we plan to prefer the projects related to the theme, we still encourage you to reach out if you have other ideas. If you would like to share an idea for a project that you would like to mentor or you are not familiar with the program and want to learn anything more about it, feel free to reply to this email or leave a note on < https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T258524> [2]. About the Outreachy program: Outreachy offers three-month internships to work remotely in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), coding and non-coding projects with experienced mentors. These internships run twice a year–from May to August and December to March. Interns are paid a stipend of USD 5,500 for the three months of work. They also have a USD 500 stipend to travel to conferences and events. Interns often find employment after their internship with Outreachy sponsors or jobs that use the skills they learned during their internship. This program is open to both students and non-students. Outreachy expressly invites the following people to apply: - Women (both cis and trans), trans men, and genderqueer people. - Anyone who faces under-representation, systematic bias, or discrimination in the technology industry in their country of residence. - Residents and nationals of the United States of any gender who are Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American/American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander. See a blog post highlighting one of our intern's experience participating in Outreachy program with Wikimedia < https://techblog.wikimedia.org/2020/08/26/lalithas-story-an-outreachy-inter…> [3] Some tips for mentors for proposing projects: - Follow this task description template when you propose a project in Phabricator: < https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/outreach-programs-projects/> [4]. Add #Outreachy (Round 21) tag to it. - Remember, the project should require an experienced developer ~15 days to complete and a newcomer ~3 months. - Each project should have at least two mentors, and one of them should hold a technical background. - When it comes to picking a project, you could propose one that is: - Relevant for your language community or brings impact to the Wikimedia ecosystem in the future. - Welcoming and newcomer-friendly and has a moderate learning curve. - A new idea you are passionate about, there are no deadlines attached to it; you always wanted to see it happen but couldn't due to lack of resources help! - About developing a standalone tool (possibly hosted on Wikimedia Toolforge), with fewer dependencies on Wikimedia's core infrastructure, it doesn't necessarily require a specific programming language. - See roles and responsibilities of an Outreachy mentor < https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Mentors> [5]. We look forward to your participation! Cheers, Wikimedia organization admins for Outreachy (Pavithra, Gopa, and Srishti) [1] https://www.outreachy.org/ [2] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T258524 [3] https://techblog.wikimedia.org/2020/08/26/lalithas-story-an-outreachy-inter… [4] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/outreach-programs-projects/ [5] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Mentors *Srishti Sethi* Senior Developer Advocate Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

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Language showcase, September 2, 2020
by Amir E. Aharoni 26 Aug '20

26 Aug '20

Hello, This is an announcement about a new installment of the Language Showcase, a series of presentations about various aspects of language diversity and its connection to Wikimedia Projects. This next installment will deal with the Translatable modules project—a proposal to make a framework that will make the localization of Scribunto Lua modules as convenient as the localization of MediaWiki and extensions. Everyone is welcome, especially developers of modules and templates in all wikis! This session is going to be broadcast over Zoom, and a recording will be published for later viewing. Please read below for the event details, including local time, joining links and do let us know if you have any questions. Past Language showcases: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Language_engineering/Showcase Thank you! Amir == Details == # Event: Language Showcase #7 # When: September 2, 2020 (Wednesday) at 02:00 PM UTC check local time: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20200902T1400 <https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20200826T1200> # Where: Join Zoom Meeting https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/95167235390 <https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/96185098382> Meeting ID: 951 6723 5390 # Agenda: Translatable modules project—a proposal to make a framework that will make the localization of Scribunto Lua modules as convenient as the localization of MediaWiki and extensions. -- Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי http://aharoni.wordpress.com ‪“We're living in pieces, I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore‬

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Language showcase, August 2020
by Amir E. Aharoni 26 Aug '20

26 Aug '20

Hello, This is an announcement about a new installment of the Language Showcase, a series of presentations about various aspects of language diversity and its connection to Wikimedia Projects. This next installment will deal with the Translatable modules project—a proposal to make a framework that will make the localization of Scribunto Lua modules as convenient as the localization of MediaWiki and extensions. Everyone is welcome, especially developers of modules and templates in all wikis! This session is going to be broadcast over Zoom, and a recording will be published for later viewing. Please read below for the event details, including local time, joining links and do let us know if you have any questions. Past Language showcases: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Language_engineering/Showcase Thank you! Amir == Details == # Event: Language Showcase #7 # When: August 26, 2020 (Wednesday) at 12:00 UTC check local time: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20200826T1200 # Where: Join Zoom Meeting https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/96185098382 Meeting ID: 961 8509 8382 # Agenda: Translatable modules project—a proposal to make a framework that will make the localization of Scribunto Lua modules as convenient as the localization of MediaWiki and extensions.

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Let's discuss first features of Desktop Improvements coming to Vector
by Vira Motorko 25 Aug '20

25 Aug '20

Hi all, I don't see any messages about the Desktop Improvements to wikimedia-l, so I've decided to forward one from wikitech-l. If I understand correctly, Desktop Improvements are changes to the desktop version of the Vector skin, which are to be built throughout the next year, features being added one by one. Several wikis already enjoy them by default, and users of other wikis can find a respective tick in their preferences to make new Vector visible. Current features are said to not be permanent anyway but wouldn't it be good for more people to see them while they are still work in progress? See email text and links below. *--* *Vira Motorko // Віра Моторко* mobile: +380667740499 | facebook: vira.motorko <https://www.facebook.com/vira.motorko> | wikipedia: Ата <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ата> ---------- Forwarded message --------- Від: Olga Vasileva <ovasileva(a)wikimedia.org> Date: ср, 5 серп. 2020 о 15:33 Subject: [Wikitech-l] First desktop improvements features now available on early adopter wikis ---- Hi all, We’re happy to announce that the first two of many changes focused on improving the desktop experience of the Vector skin [1] have been released as a user preference to all projects and as default on a set of early adopter wikis: Basque, Farsi, French, and Hebrew Wikipedias, French Wiktionary, and Portuguese Wikiversity. Since its introduction in 2009, the Vector skin has changed little, while the needs of our readers and editors have shifted significantly, as have their expectations for a quality reading experience that focuses on the content itself. Over the next year, the readers web team [2] will be researching and building out improvements to the desktop experience based on research and existing tools built by our communities. Our goal is to create a more welcoming reading and editing experience - something that feels familiar yet makes it easier and quicker to read, edit, and perform common functionality. Our first change, a collapsible sidebar, allows users to collapse the lengthy menu on the left side of the page. We believe this change improves usability by allowing people to focus on the content itself - on reading, editing, or moderating. Our second change introduces a maximum line width to our content on pages such as article pages and discussion pages. Studies have shown that limiting the width can lead to better retention of content, as well as a decrease in eye strain You can opt into these features by unchecking “legacy vector” from the appearance tab of your user preferences. We’d also like to note that these are the first of a series of changes and, as such, their visual characteristics are not permanent. Also - there might be bugs. If you notice an issue or would like to learn more about the project itself - please head to our project page [3]. Thank you! Olga [1] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Skin:Vector [2] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Readers/Web/Team [3] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Web/Desktop_Improvements -- *Olga Vasileva* // Senior Product Manager // Web https://wikimediafoundation.org/ *Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. Donate <http://donate.wikimedia.org/>. * _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l

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Sexual harassment
by Chris Sherlock 25 Aug '20

25 Aug '20

Hello all, I have been advised by the WMF that if anyone is concerned about being sexually harassed they must report this to AN/I and there are no private mechanisms to report this sort of thing. Is this for real? Chris Sherlock Sent from my iPhone

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Wikimedia-l August 2020