I heartily endorse what Asaf has said here, but I'd add one thing:
When someone runs for the board, that introduces a standard that goes beyond Assume Good Faith. Ultimately, if appointed, a Trustee will need to disclose any Conflicts of Interest. But those disclosures, as I understand it, are not public; and waiting until the moment of appointment is less than ideal.
I believe all candidates should be asked tough questions about possible COI. This would have included me, when I ran last summer; I was asked some good questions in private, but the public questioning was not very substantive.[1] It should also apply to those appointed directly to the board -- hopefully, the board has processes to assess COI prior to appointment and required disclosure.
The traditional structure of the questioning on Meta Wiki is not especially conducive to this; because every candidate's situation is unique. I believe questions on COI should be tailored to each candidate's resume, not merely asked as an abstract question. This might be a good issue for the election committees to consider.
-Pete [[User:Peteforsyth]]
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/Board_electio...
On Wed, Mar 2, 2016 at 4:50 PM, Asaf Bartov abartov@wikimedia.org wrote:
On Wed, Mar 2, 2016 at 4:36 PM, Andreas Kolbe jayen466@gmail.com wrote:
Asaf,
I hear you. My apologies to Susanna and the list for anything I have said that cast aspersions on Susanna's character.
Thank you.
Nevertheless, I remain concerned. She is part of a state committee under the authority of the Armenian Minister of Education and Science, who
along
with other senior political figures has repeatedly been a featured
speaker
at Wikimedia Armenia events during her tenure as the President of
Wikimedia
Armenia.[1][2]
I do not consider that sort of government proximity healthy or advisable.
I think it's fair to say any contact with a government (or similarly powerful entity) is *potentially* concerning. But between potentially concerning and actually concerning, there is the all-too-crucial need for substantive evidence or cause for concern.
As has been pointed out, quite a few Wikipedians are or were part of the civil service or otherwise close to powerful people in their regimes. So long as there is no reason to suspect they are not managing their potential conflict of interest, we must assume good faith.
A.
Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org>Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! https://donate.wikimedia.org _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe