On Mon, Sep 13, 2021 at 6:16 PM Maggie Dennis <mdennis(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Community “capture” is a real and present threat. For
years, the movement
has been widely aware of challenges in the Croatian Wikipedia, with
documentation going back nearly a decade. The Foundation recently set up a
disinformation team, which is still finding its footing and assessing the
problem, but which began by contracting an external researcher to review
that project and the challenges and help us understand potential causes and
solutions for such situations.[4]
Dear Maggie - thank you for writing this, but I fear it can be wrongly
interpreted *(already did to a few people who got in touch) as it was
worded in a non/explicit way. I would like to point that:
#1 both WMF and Wikimedians were aware of issues with HR Wikipedia and
nothing has been done for a decade, aside from handful last year to remove
4 of right-wing admins*(Wiktionary and Wikisource, are still with rightwing
admin control)...
WMF actions are sadly post-festum and with a very limited scope.
#2 HR was not abducted by some well organized and resourced entity, but by
handful of extreme rightwingers (one unmerried couple + their closest
neo-nazi friend and 3 submissive mediocrats...including 40+ proven but
likely 60+ sock puppets) with silent and passive conservative 'center'
majority of woters.
#3 an external researcher contractor was not really reviewing the full
project, but mainly content *(very little on social dynamics and
capacities) and in doing so failed to understand the challenges of
under-resourced and asocial 'community'... This is why solutions suggested
in findings included impossible language and project merges, rather than
anything that would enable self-governance, expansion of the pool of
contributors and sustainable and ambitious work *(like in Serbia for
example).
Hope with these distinctions it is more obvious the difference between the
two and if /how/when/where the learning is applicable or not...
Thank you for your professional work.
Best Z. Blace