Yury, this is a very important example, but indeed off-topic. It deserves a separate thread, but not before addressing the current main crisis, which all others stem from.
At this point, it is inconceivable that there is still such a "disconnect" between what WMF employees & volunteers accross the movement are saying, and what the BoT is thinking, saying & doing.
There have been repeated requests for engagement & action from the BoT, both on and off this list. The first step in that direction has to be to openly admit something is wrong, as Asaf rightly noted on this list no so long ago. It takes courage to look the truth in the face and admit mistakes. And itcll be hard for a while. But it has to be done and it's worth the effort if we want to move forward positively.
Like others, I believe this is the biggest crisis, crossroad, challenge (call it what you will), we have ever faced as a movement. But as wise people said, crisis also offers new opportunities and gifts, if confronted.
We have to fix this disconnect before we go on "fixing the internet".
And I wonder -- what else has to happen for the BoT to realize what both community and employees are saying for months now, embrace it and act on it.
Respectfully, Shani. On 19 Feb 2016 01:46, "Yury Bulka" setthemfree@privacyrequired.com wrote:
There are certain things that affect many volunteers directly. A slightly off-topic example: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T59608#1637250
The fact that:
"the WMF education team has no engineering resources"
...affects volunteers.
Sincerely, Yury Bulka (Wikimedia Ukraine)
Craig Franklin cfranklin@halonetwork.net writes:
Yaroslav,
You're correct in that most volunteers don't care directly. The problem
is
that a lot of the BoT's recent difficulties have crossed the line from "angry encyclopedia people venting on a mailing list" to "serious and negative attention from the mainstream press". If there is too much of
the
latter, it may create a perception amongst the general public than even
if
Wikipedia is a useful resource, that it is incompetent with handling money. As a result, donations dry up, and difficult and unpleasant
choices
have to be made around budget.
So yes, this sort of thing can influence rank and file editors most seriously, albeit indirectly.
Cheers, Craig
On 19 February 2016 at 07:52, Yaroslav M. Blanter putevod@mccme.ru
wrote:
To be honest, most volunteers do not care. We understand of course that
if
things would go really wrong, for example, servers stop running, or
money
runs out and ads are introduced, or English Wikipedia admins continue resigning/being desysopped without proper replacement, so that we have
ten
active admins, then we are in serious trouble. But as far as things are running quasi-normal, we just continue. I was making 50 to 100 edits per day five years ago, I am making 50 to 100 edits per day now, I will probably still be making 50 to 100 edits per day in five years, unless I die or leave because of a serious demotivation - and this demotivation
is
unlikely to be related to WMF. I think staff are way more vulnerable to
all
kinds of events.
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