--- On Mon, 4/20/09, Samuel Klein meta.sj@gmail.com wrote:
From: Samuel Klein meta.sj@gmail.com Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Principle and pragmatism with nudity and sexual content To: "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List" foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Date: Monday, April 20, 2009, 3:39 AM
On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 1:19 AM, private musings thepmaccount@gmail.com wrote:
Here's a few questions about the foundation's role in ensuring the projects are responsible media hosts -
Can the foundation play
a role in discussing and establishing things like what
it means to be
'collegial' and 'collaborative' on the various
projects? Can the foundation
offer guidance, and dare I say it 'rules' for the
boundaries of behaviour?
Is there space, beyond limiting project activities to
legality, to offer
firm leadership and direction in project governance?
I'm hoping the answer to all of the above is a careful
'yes'.
I believe the answer to the above, as worded, may be a careful 'no'. These are important decisions, and should be made and improved over time, but I believe it is the community's role to make them
- and the
foundation's to help provide interface or infrastructure to support the community's resolutions. Feel free to elaborate if you disagree.
A strong and sustainable group within the community can absolutely work towards and establish the definitions and guidance you suggest. Past discussions have generally been useful, and not spiteful, but never pushed through to a resolution at least on meta and en:wp.
on 4/20/09 10:03 AM, Birgitte SB at birgitte_sb@yahoo.com wrote:
I second this. Does anyone really believe it is even possible to set one standard of what it means to be 'collegial' and 'collaborative' for all cultures? These things are not absolute values and each community needs to work out what standards are most pragmatic for it's members. There is no shortcut or appeal to authority that can solve this for en.WP. en.WP has to do the work and find these answers from within.
I agree with you, Brigitte, it is up to the en.WP Community to establish its own common-ground culture. However, this is no small task since you are dealing with a multitude of individuals who have established cultures of their own. I believe that common ground should lie in the simple question: How do you treat another human being?
Marc Riddell