Hoi, I am happy to make a distinction of what I do officially and what I say because I am personally of a particular opinion. This is very much my personal opinion.
There have been LOADS of opportunities where the community is asked, begged to be involved in what will be the way forward. The most obvious opportunity has been the Strategy project. At this time the Wikimedia Foundation is looking for all sorts of volunteers that are asked to help determine what future functionality will be like. Specifically I want to mention the need for "language support teams" and volunteers for our mobile development.
The position of the WMF as I know it is that it wants very much an involved community. To be effective, it is important for the community to be involved early in the process. Sadly many people want to be only involved at the end of the process. This does not help much and particularly not on issues that are not the bread and butter of working on content by the existing community.
I made points in my previous mail. They have not been addressed. We agree on the need for community involvement. The WMF has a strong tradition on involving its communities. My argument is that the programs that are discussed are very much monitored for their effect, based on the results the functionality will be tweaked. My argument is that these programs are the result of community consultation and therefore community involvement is the origin of the functionality we are discussing. Thanks, GerardM
On 29 October 2011 16:56, Fae fae@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
Hi Gerard,
Your email appears to argue that the WMF should introduce any features they find expedient and then deal with (or ignore) complaints from the community afterwards. This seems to miss the opportunity for user testing, feedback or even asking the users what they want as part of requirements gathering and analysis. Does your email represent the position of the WMF or the outreach team?
Personally, I find arguments that we should do away with community consensus because it is too hard disturbing and run counter to our agreed mission.
Thanks, Fae
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