On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 11:48 PM, Stuart West <stuwest(a)gmail.com> wrote:
A lot has happened since my email so here's a
quick follow-up. I hear the
concerns many of you have raised on this list and elsewhere. I feel awful
about them. As Kat said so well, I think there is a big difference between
the principles the Board agreed to in our statement and the actions taken by
Jimmy and others.
I supported the Board statement last week and still support it. I believe
the presence of materials unambiguously not relevant to our educational
mission is bad for us as it can alienate people (users, potential new
volunteers, educators, others) who we need on our side to accomplish our
mission. I know this is a complex issue. Many people have thought more
about the challenges than I have (please read Greg Maxwell's great email for
some of the history
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2010-May/058081.html). I
am trying to catch up. I hoped the Board statement would both encourage the
community to pursue a clean-up drive and also renew community efforts to
resolve the tough policy issues.
I do not support the degree of unilateral deleting that happened. I was
happy to see deletion of the really bad stuff that unambiguously lacked
educational and historical significance. I wasn't expecting and wasn't happy
to see how far things went without broader community involvement. Jimmy
acknowledged this wasn't right and I respect his apology.
What I didn't say in my earlier emails, and should have, is that I want the
leadership resolving this to come from the community. I feel passionately
the community is the heart and soul of our movement. Without you we have
nothing. I am in awe of your energy, commitment, and ability to change the
world. As Ting said, we as a Board can at times help focus energy. But I
believe the best solution is a community solution.
I'm really sorry about the way this played out. Commons editors should feel
they have more support and encouragement dealing with this tough issue, not
less.
I'll be on the IRC open meeting tomorrow if you want to discuss live.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_meetings#May_12.2C_2010.