I'm sure that you're correct here Joseph, but this is another example I think where the Foundation should have notified the relevant chapter *before* taking the action, so that they would be ready when the questions started rolling in.
Unfortunately, I think we're getting back to the bad old days of chapter and user group press contacts being the last people to find out about potentially controversial issues like this.
Regards, Craig Franklin (personal view only)
On 13 November 2014 10:07, Joseph Seddon josephseddon@gmail.com wrote:
I would hate to preclude any answer from the foundation. However the laws that govern the foundation are that of the US. Given the previous and renewed ongoing palaver with Ukraine and the presence of economic sanctions and the increasing likelihood of on top of what is already present, I imagine this related to that.
Im not sure of what legal risks accepting such donations would expose the foundation to. However such precautions have been made in the past relating to unrest.
Its no slight on the country or its individuals, just a precautionary measure.
Seddon On 12 Nov 2014 19:48, "Federico Leva (Nemo)" nemowiki@gmail.com wrote:
rubin.happy, 12/11/2014 18:48:
We received some alerts from our users that donations are now blocked when user is from Russia: http://habrastorage.org/files/31b/b1f/ec9/31bb1fec9b9e45abb6ac4babcc2371 84.png
Thanks for the information. Everyone can see the same warning by clicking the "Russia" link in https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give Through what channels are donations blocked? Did anyone try sending a wire to the EU (SEPA) account (IBAN GB54CHAS60924241034640), or a PayPal donation?
Nemo
P.s.: ROTFLOL "Please email donate@wikimedia.org for more information on how to make a bank transfer to the Wikimedia Foundation." In case someone forgets there is an ocean between Europe and USA.
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
I'm presuming this is sanctions against Russia kicking in; all sorts of business has been stopped dead in its tracks, not just charity donations. There's even serious moves to kick Russia out of the SWIFT network: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-04/ultimate-sanction-barring-ru... It strikes me as quite unlikely that there's anything at all WMF can actually do about this. Possibly it could have been handled better, but that won't change the fact.
On 13 November 2014 00:12, Craig Franklin cfranklin@halonetwork.net wrote:
I'm sure that you're correct here Joseph, but this is another example I think where the Foundation should have notified the relevant chapter *before* taking the action, so that they would be ready when the questions started rolling in.
Unfortunately, I think we're getting back to the bad old days of chapter and user group press contacts being the last people to find out about potentially controversial issues like this.
Regards, Craig Franklin (personal view only)
On 13 November 2014 10:07, Joseph Seddon josephseddon@gmail.com wrote:
I would hate to preclude any answer from the foundation. However the laws that govern the foundation are that of the US. Given the previous and renewed ongoing palaver with Ukraine and the presence of economic sanctions and the increasing likelihood of on top of what is already present, I imagine this related to that.
Im not sure of what legal risks accepting such donations would expose the foundation to. However such precautions have been made in the past relating to unrest.
Its no slight on the country or its individuals, just a precautionary measure.
Seddon On 12 Nov 2014 19:48, "Federico Leva (Nemo)" nemowiki@gmail.com wrote:
rubin.happy, 12/11/2014 18:48:
We received some alerts from our users that donations are now blocked when user is from Russia: http://habrastorage.org/files/31b/b1f/ec9/31bb1fec9b9e45abb6ac4babcc2371 84.png
Thanks for the information. Everyone can see the same warning by clicking the "Russia" link in https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give Through what channels are donations blocked? Did anyone try sending a wire to the EU (SEPA) account (IBAN GB54CHAS60924241034640), or a PayPal donation?
Nemo
P.s.: ROTFLOL "Please email donate@wikimedia.org for more information on how to make a bank transfer to the Wikimedia Foundation." In case someone forgets there is an ocean between Europe and USA.
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
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I think that this is extremely important moment in the existence of Wikimedia and contemporary free content movement. The future of the concept of free knowledge could depend on how Wikimedia positions itself in relation to this issue and the future similar ones.
This is not about our personal political opinions, this is about very real consequences, which could define would we have united movement as we know or just fragments of once great idea. All the lamest Wikipedia edit wars could look like quite decent past.
Imagine any of our past conflicts. And that could look like a childish game.
This is also the question of how mature our particular and broader movements are. Are we really a global movement or we are just a sum of people with good will, strictly determined by our citizenship?
During the last six to seven years we lost few opportunities to become significant stakeholder on the global stage (cf. contemporary significance of Facebook). We lost the momentum few times and now we are absolutely irrelevant as the movement. And if we don't want to lose the movement itself, we have to be extremely pragmatic from now on.
One very good fact is that it is not anymore a heresy to talk about the movement instead of data. Yes, our movement is the most important thing to preserve. Capacity of hard disks and links improved that much, that preserving data is just a matter of decent organizational work.
Our movement is not just the most important thing to us. In my opinion, our movement is the best chance of our species to build the future. There were no and there is no comparable movements.
We have to take this moment extremely seriously and start to work together on solving numerous obstacles which we'll find in the future.
Our worst-case scenario is to disappear in irrelevance. It will start with inactive chapters. Formal organization is the most expensive thing to us. Our events will become less diverse.
Our declining editor community will become less diverse, as well. Eventually, one by one, Wikipedia in particular languages will become less important source of information than third party collaborative sums of knowledge. (Keep in mind that Chinese Wikipedia is not the biggest and the most useful encyclopedia in Chinese language.)
If we want to keep us as a movement, we have to fight hard for that. It's not about one challenge, it's about constant challenges which we'll have. This issue is just the first one.
Wikimedia Foundation's job is to do the best -- and I don't count conformist answers as valid ones, as the time of plenty is behind us -- to solve formal obstacles. If the servers have to go to Singapore, they should go there as soon as possible.
Chapters have to cooperate. That's especially important in relation to the chapters in the present and future conflict zones. I am aware that such things are far from an issue presently. However, it could be much harder in the future.
The rest of us have to take this moment seriously, as well, and do the best in our personal capacities. That means writing Wikipedia and contributing to other projects. That means introducing one friend per month into contributing to Wikimedia projects. That means having active friendships with people from the other parts of the world. On Nov 13, 2014 2:01 AM, "David Gerard" dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
I'm presuming this is sanctions against Russia kicking in; all sorts of business has been stopped dead in its tracks, not just charity donations. There's even serious moves to kick Russia out of the SWIFT network: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-04/ultimate-sanction-barring-ru... It strikes me as quite unlikely that there's anything at all WMF can actually do about this. Possibly it could have been handled better, but that won't change the fact.
On 13 November 2014 00:12, Craig Franklin cfranklin@halonetwork.net wrote:
I'm sure that you're correct here Joseph, but this is another example I think where the Foundation should have notified the relevant chapter *before* taking the action, so that they would be ready when the
questions
started rolling in.
Unfortunately, I think we're getting back to the bad old days of chapter and user group press contacts being the last people to find out about potentially controversial issues like this.
Regards, Craig Franklin (personal view only)
On 13 November 2014 10:07, Joseph Seddon josephseddon@gmail.com wrote:
I would hate to preclude any answer from the foundation. However the
laws
that govern the foundation are that of the US. Given the previous and renewed ongoing palaver with Ukraine and the presence of economic
sanctions
and the increasing likelihood of on top of what is already present, I imagine this related to that.
Im not sure of what legal risks accepting such donations would expose
the
foundation to. However such precautions have been made in the past
relating
to unrest.
Its no slight on the country or its individuals, just a precautionary measure.
Seddon On 12 Nov 2014 19:48, "Federico Leva (Nemo)" nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
rubin.happy, 12/11/2014 18:48:
We received some alerts from our users that donations are now blocked when user is from Russia:
http://habrastorage.org/files/31b/b1f/ec9/31bb1fec9b9e45abb6ac4babcc2371
84.png
Thanks for the information. Everyone can see the same warning by
clicking
the "Russia" link in https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give Through what channels are donations blocked? Did anyone try sending a wire to the EU (SEPA) account (IBAN GB54CHAS60924241034640), or a
PayPal
donation?
Nemo
P.s.: ROTFLOL "Please email donate@wikimedia.org for more information
on
how to make a bank transfer to the Wikimedia Foundation." In case
someone
forgets there is an ocean between Europe and USA.
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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There were no recent changes in sanctions and I don't understand why this turn off in donations happened just now.
Ideas about SWIFT kick out are not relevant here, as it was just a discussion some months ago but no such action happened.
Furthermore, the sanctions were placed on particular companies and individuals, there were no prohibitions against all financial relations. So, I could understand if donations weren't accepted when they were sent via a couple of banks under sanctions, but I want to repeat that there is, for example, no prohibition to receive money from Russians.
rubin16 13 нояб. 2014 г. 4:01 пользователь "David Gerard" dgerard@gmail.com написал:
I'm presuming this is sanctions against Russia kicking in; all sorts of business has been stopped dead in its tracks, not just charity donations. There's even serious moves to kick Russia out of the SWIFT network: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-04/ultimate-sanction-barring-ru... It strikes me as quite unlikely that there's anything at all WMF can actually do about this. Possibly it could have been handled better, but that won't change the fact.
On 13 November 2014 00:12, Craig Franklin cfranklin@halonetwork.net wrote:
I'm sure that you're correct here Joseph, but this is another example I think where the Foundation should have notified the relevant chapter *before* taking the action, so that they would be ready when the
questions
started rolling in.
Unfortunately, I think we're getting back to the bad old days of chapter and user group press contacts being the last people to find out about potentially controversial issues like this.
Regards, Craig Franklin (personal view only)
On 13 November 2014 10:07, Joseph Seddon josephseddon@gmail.com wrote:
I would hate to preclude any answer from the foundation. However the
laws
that govern the foundation are that of the US. Given the previous and renewed ongoing palaver with Ukraine and the presence of economic
sanctions
and the increasing likelihood of on top of what is already present, I imagine this related to that.
Im not sure of what legal risks accepting such donations would expose
the
foundation to. However such precautions have been made in the past
relating
to unrest.
Its no slight on the country or its individuals, just a precautionary measure.
Seddon On 12 Nov 2014 19:48, "Federico Leva (Nemo)" nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
rubin.happy, 12/11/2014 18:48:
We received some alerts from our users that donations are now blocked when user is from Russia:
http://habrastorage.org/files/31b/b1f/ec9/31bb1fec9b9e45abb6ac4babcc2371
84.png
Thanks for the information. Everyone can see the same warning by
clicking
the "Russia" link in https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give Through what channels are donations blocked? Did anyone try sending a wire to the EU (SEPA) account (IBAN GB54CHAS60924241034640), or a
PayPal
donation?
Nemo
P.s.: ROTFLOL "Please email donate@wikimedia.org for more information
on
how to make a bank transfer to the Wikimedia Foundation." In case
someone
forgets there is an ocean between Europe and USA.
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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Hello rubin16,
We are not running fundraising in Russia at this time, but I want to assure you that this was not a decision motivated by politics.
We take compliance with appropriate laws very seriously in everything we do. Out of an abundance of caution, we're not fundraising in Russia right now.
Of course, the fact that we are not fundraising in Russia does and will not have any impact at all on how the WMF continues to support the Russian language Wikipedia, its sister projects, and the Russian Wikimedian community.
Thank you, Lisa Gruwell
On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 7:44 PM, rubin.happy rubin.happy@gmail.com wrote:
There were no recent changes in sanctions and I don't understand why this turn off in donations happened just now.
Ideas about SWIFT kick out are not relevant here, as it was just a discussion some months ago but no such action happened.
Furthermore, the sanctions were placed on particular companies and individuals, there were no prohibitions against all financial relations. So, I could understand if donations weren't accepted when they were sent via a couple of banks under sanctions, but I want to repeat that there is, for example, no prohibition to receive money from Russians.
rubin16 13 нояб. 2014 г. 4:01 пользователь "David Gerard" dgerard@gmail.com написал:
I'm presuming this is sanctions against Russia kicking in; all sorts of business has been stopped dead in its tracks, not just charity donations. There's even serious moves to kick Russia out of the SWIFT network:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-04/ultimate-sanction-barring-ru...
It strikes me as quite unlikely that there's anything at all WMF can actually do about this. Possibly it could have been handled better, but that won't change the fact.
On 13 November 2014 00:12, Craig Franklin cfranklin@halonetwork.net wrote:
I'm sure that you're correct here Joseph, but this is another example I think where the Foundation should have notified the relevant chapter *before* taking the action, so that they would be ready when the
questions
started rolling in.
Unfortunately, I think we're getting back to the bad old days of
chapter
and user group press contacts being the last people to find out about potentially controversial issues like this.
Regards, Craig Franklin (personal view only)
On 13 November 2014 10:07, Joseph Seddon josephseddon@gmail.com
wrote:
I would hate to preclude any answer from the foundation. However the
laws
that govern the foundation are that of the US. Given the previous and renewed ongoing palaver with Ukraine and the presence of economic
sanctions
and the increasing likelihood of on top of what is already present, I imagine this related to that.
Im not sure of what legal risks accepting such donations would expose
the
foundation to. However such precautions have been made in the past
relating
to unrest.
Its no slight on the country or its individuals, just a precautionary measure.
Seddon On 12 Nov 2014 19:48, "Federico Leva (Nemo)" nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
rubin.happy, 12/11/2014 18:48:
We received some alerts from our users that donations are now
blocked
when user is from Russia:
http://habrastorage.org/files/31b/b1f/ec9/31bb1fec9b9e45abb6ac4babcc2371
84.png
Thanks for the information. Everyone can see the same warning by
clicking
the "Russia" link in
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give
Through what channels are donations blocked? Did anyone try sending a wire to the EU (SEPA) account (IBAN GB54CHAS60924241034640), or a
PayPal
donation?
Nemo
P.s.: ROTFLOL "Please email donate@wikimedia.org for more
information
on
how to make a bank transfer to the Wikimedia Foundation." In case
someone
forgets there is an ocean between Europe and USA.
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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What about a notice for users from Russia: "We are not able to process money from Russia now, but you are welcome to donate to Wikimedia Russia by using this bank account" -- if nothing more creative could be imagined? On Nov 13, 2014 4:46 AM, "Lisa Gruwell" lgruwell@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello rubin16,
We are not running fundraising in Russia at this time, but I want to assure you that this was not a decision motivated by politics.
We take compliance with appropriate laws very seriously in everything we do. Out of an abundance of caution, we're not fundraising in Russia right now.
Of course, the fact that we are not fundraising in Russia does and will not have any impact at all on how the WMF continues to support the Russian language Wikipedia, its sister projects, and the Russian Wikimedian community.
Thank you, Lisa Gruwell
On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 7:44 PM, rubin.happy rubin.happy@gmail.com wrote:
There were no recent changes in sanctions and I don't understand why this turn off in donations happened just now.
Ideas about SWIFT kick out are not relevant here, as it was just a discussion some months ago but no such action happened.
Furthermore, the sanctions were placed on particular companies and individuals, there were no prohibitions against all financial relations. So, I could understand if donations weren't accepted when they were sent via a couple of banks under sanctions, but I want to repeat that there
is,
for example, no prohibition to receive money from Russians.
rubin16 13 нояб. 2014 г. 4:01 пользователь "David Gerard" dgerard@gmail.com написал:
I'm presuming this is sanctions against Russia kicking in; all sorts of business has been stopped dead in its tracks, not just charity donations. There's even serious moves to kick Russia out of the SWIFT network:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-04/ultimate-sanction-barring-ru...
It strikes me as quite unlikely that there's anything at all WMF can actually do about this. Possibly it could have been handled better, but that won't change the fact.
On 13 November 2014 00:12, Craig Franklin cfranklin@halonetwork.net wrote:
I'm sure that you're correct here Joseph, but this is another
example I
think where the Foundation should have notified the relevant chapter *before* taking the action, so that they would be ready when the
questions
started rolling in.
Unfortunately, I think we're getting back to the bad old days of
chapter
and user group press contacts being the last people to find out about potentially controversial issues like this.
Regards, Craig Franklin (personal view only)
On 13 November 2014 10:07, Joseph Seddon josephseddon@gmail.com
wrote:
I would hate to preclude any answer from the foundation. However the
laws
that govern the foundation are that of the US. Given the previous
and
renewed ongoing palaver with Ukraine and the presence of economic
sanctions
and the increasing likelihood of on top of what is already present,
I
imagine this related to that.
Im not sure of what legal risks accepting such donations would
expose
the
foundation to. However such precautions have been made in the past
relating
to unrest.
Its no slight on the country or its individuals, just a
precautionary
measure.
Seddon On 12 Nov 2014 19:48, "Federico Leva (Nemo)" nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
rubin.happy, 12/11/2014 18:48:
> We received some alerts from our users that donations are now
blocked
> when user is from Russia: >
http://habrastorage.org/files/31b/b1f/ec9/31bb1fec9b9e45abb6ac4babcc2371
> 84.png >
Thanks for the information. Everyone can see the same warning by
clicking
the "Russia" link in
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give
Through what channels are donations blocked? Did anyone try
sending a
wire to the EU (SEPA) account (IBAN GB54CHAS60924241034640), or a
PayPal
donation?
Nemo
P.s.: ROTFLOL "Please email donate@wikimedia.org for more
information
on
how to make a bank transfer to the Wikimedia Foundation." In case
someone
forgets there is an ocean between Europe and USA.
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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Hello, Lisa.
Could you, please, provide us with more details?
- why did it happen just now though restrictions due to the US sanctions were I'mposed quite a long time ago? Probably, you have received some warning from authorities, haven't you?
- what is the exact problem and applicable legislative restriction? Have your bank stopped processing of payments from Russia or have something else happen?
- is it an indefinite stop of fundraising here (till the end of sanctions)?
You know, relations between Russia and the US are not in their perfect state and this a sensitive question where we need maximum of information to make readers believe that it is not a political campaign of US-based WMF .
rubin16 13 нояб. 2014 г. 6:46 пользователь "Lisa Gruwell" lgruwell@wikimedia.org написал:
Hello rubin16,
We are not running fundraising in Russia at this time, but I want to assure you that this was not a decision motivated by politics.
We take compliance with appropriate laws very seriously in everything we do. Out of an abundance of caution, we're not fundraising in Russia right now.
Of course, the fact that we are not fundraising in Russia does and will not have any impact at all on how the WMF continues to support the Russian language Wikipedia, its sister projects, and the Russian Wikimedian community.
Thank you, Lisa Gruwell
On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 7:44 PM, rubin.happy rubin.happy@gmail.com wrote:
There were no recent changes in sanctions and I don't understand why this turn off in donations happened just now.
Ideas about SWIFT kick out are not relevant here, as it was just a discussion some months ago but no such action happened.
Furthermore, the sanctions were placed on particular companies and individuals, there were no prohibitions against all financial relations. So, I could understand if donations weren't accepted when they were sent via a couple of banks under sanctions, but I want to repeat that there
is,
for example, no prohibition to receive money from Russians.
rubin16 13 нояб. 2014 г. 4:01 пользователь "David Gerard" dgerard@gmail.com написал:
I'm presuming this is sanctions against Russia kicking in; all sorts of business has been stopped dead in its tracks, not just charity donations. There's even serious moves to kick Russia out of the SWIFT network:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-04/ultimate-sanction-barring-ru...
It strikes me as quite unlikely that there's anything at all WMF can actually do about this. Possibly it could have been handled better, but that won't change the fact.
On 13 November 2014 00:12, Craig Franklin cfranklin@halonetwork.net wrote:
I'm sure that you're correct here Joseph, but this is another
example I
think where the Foundation should have notified the relevant chapter *before* taking the action, so that they would be ready when the
questions
started rolling in.
Unfortunately, I think we're getting back to the bad old days of
chapter
and user group press contacts being the last people to find out about potentially controversial issues like this.
Regards, Craig Franklin (personal view only)
On 13 November 2014 10:07, Joseph Seddon josephseddon@gmail.com
wrote:
I would hate to preclude any answer from the foundation. However the
laws
that govern the foundation are that of the US. Given the previous
and
renewed ongoing palaver with Ukraine and the presence of economic
sanctions
and the increasing likelihood of on top of what is already present,
I
imagine this related to that.
Im not sure of what legal risks accepting such donations would
expose
the
foundation to. However such precautions have been made in the past
relating
to unrest.
Its no slight on the country or its individuals, just a
precautionary
measure.
Seddon On 12 Nov 2014 19:48, "Federico Leva (Nemo)" nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
rubin.happy, 12/11/2014 18:48:
> We received some alerts from our users that donations are now
blocked
> when user is from Russia: >
http://habrastorage.org/files/31b/b1f/ec9/31bb1fec9b9e45abb6ac4babcc2371
> 84.png >
Thanks for the information. Everyone can see the same warning by
clicking
the "Russia" link in
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give
Through what channels are donations blocked? Did anyone try
sending a
wire to the EU (SEPA) account (IBAN GB54CHAS60924241034640), or a
PayPal
donation?
Nemo
P.s.: ROTFLOL "Please email donate@wikimedia.org for more
information
on
how to make a bank transfer to the Wikimedia Foundation." In case
someone
forgets there is an ocean between Europe and USA.
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe:
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Are you accepting donations from Russia at present?
Peter Southwood
-----Original Message----- From: wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Lisa Gruwell Sent: 13 November 2014 05:46 AM To: Wikimedia Mailing List Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Fundraiser] fundraising blocked in Russia
Hello rubin16,
We are not running fundraising in Russia at this time, but I want to assure you that this was not a decision motivated by politics.
We take compliance with appropriate laws very seriously in everything we do. Out of an abundance of caution, we're not fundraising in Russia right now.
Of course, the fact that we are not fundraising in Russia does and will not have any impact at all on how the WMF continues to support the Russian language Wikipedia, its sister projects, and the Russian Wikimedian community.
Thank you, Lisa Gruwell
On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 7:44 PM, rubin.happy rubin.happy@gmail.com wrote:
There were no recent changes in sanctions and I don't understand why this turn off in donations happened just now.
Ideas about SWIFT kick out are not relevant here, as it was just a discussion some months ago but no such action happened.
Furthermore, the sanctions were placed on particular companies and individuals, there were no prohibitions against all financial relations. So, I could understand if donations weren't accepted when they were sent via a couple of banks under sanctions, but I want to repeat that there is, for example, no prohibition to receive money from Russians.
rubin16 13 нояб. 2014 г. 4:01 пользователь "David Gerard" dgerard@gmail.com написал:
I'm presuming this is sanctions against Russia kicking in; all sorts of business has been stopped dead in its tracks, not just charity donations. There's even serious moves to kick Russia out of the SWIFT network:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-04/ultimate-sanction-barr ing-russian-banks-from-swift-money-system
It strikes me as quite unlikely that there's anything at all WMF can actually do about this. Possibly it could have been handled better, but that won't change the fact.
On 13 November 2014 00:12, Craig Franklin cfranklin@halonetwork.net wrote:
I'm sure that you're correct here Joseph, but this is another example I think where the Foundation should have notified the relevant chapter *before* taking the action, so that they would be ready when the
questions
started rolling in.
Unfortunately, I think we're getting back to the bad old days of
chapter
and user group press contacts being the last people to find out about potentially controversial issues like this.
Regards, Craig Franklin (personal view only)
On 13 November 2014 10:07, Joseph Seddon josephseddon@gmail.com
wrote:
I would hate to preclude any answer from the foundation. However the
laws
that govern the foundation are that of the US. Given the previous and renewed ongoing palaver with Ukraine and the presence of economic
sanctions
and the increasing likelihood of on top of what is already present, I imagine this related to that.
Im not sure of what legal risks accepting such donations would expose
the
foundation to. However such precautions have been made in the past
relating
to unrest.
Its no slight on the country or its individuals, just a precautionary measure.
Seddon On 12 Nov 2014 19:48, "Federico Leva (Nemo)" nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
rubin.happy, 12/11/2014 18:48:
We received some alerts from our users that donations are now
blocked
when user is from Russia:
http://habrastorage.org/files/31b/b1f/ec9/31bb1fec9b9e45abb6ac4babcc 2371
84.png
Thanks for the information. Everyone can see the same warning by
clicking
the "Russia" link in
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give
Through what channels are donations blocked? Did anyone try sending a wire to the EU (SEPA) account (IBAN GB54CHAS60924241034640), or a
PayPal
donation?
Nemo
P.s.: ROTFLOL "Please email donate@wikimedia.org for more
information
on
how to make a bank transfer to the Wikimedia Foundation." In case
someone
forgets there is an ocean between Europe and USA.
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
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To follow up on Peter's comment:
Does "we're not fundraising in Russia right now" mean that the WMF isn't proactively seeking donations with a fundraising campaign visible on the Russian language Wikipedia, or, does it mean that the WMF is disallowing/refusing donations coming from Russia/in Roubles?
IF it is the first option, then that's the WMF's choice :-) IF it is the second option, then why wasn't the local community/chapter informed or some Russian-language documentation prepared in advance?
-Liam
On Thursday, 13 November 2014, Peter Southwood peter.southwood@telkomsa.net wrote:
Are you accepting donations from Russia at present?
Peter Southwood
-----Original Message----- From: wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org javascript:; [mailto: wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org javascript:;] On Behalf Of Lisa Gruwell Sent: 13 November 2014 05:46 AM To: Wikimedia Mailing List Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Fundraiser] fundraising blocked in Russia
Hello rubin16,
We are not running fundraising in Russia at this time, but I want to assure you that this was not a decision motivated by politics.
We take compliance with appropriate laws very seriously in everything we do. Out of an abundance of caution, we're not fundraising in Russia right now.
Of course, the fact that we are not fundraising in Russia does and will not have any impact at all on how the WMF continues to support the Russian language Wikipedia, its sister projects, and the Russian Wikimedian community.
Thank you, Lisa Gruwell
On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 7:44 PM, rubin.happy <rubin.happy@gmail.com javascript:;> wrote:
There were no recent changes in sanctions and I don't understand why this turn off in donations happened just now.
Ideas about SWIFT kick out are not relevant here, as it was just a discussion some months ago but no such action happened.
Furthermore, the sanctions were placed on particular companies and individuals, there were no prohibitions against all financial relations. So, I could understand if donations weren't accepted when they were sent via a couple of banks under sanctions, but I want to repeat that there is, for example, no prohibition to receive money from Russians.
rubin16 13 нояб. 2014 г. 4:01 пользователь "David Gerard" <dgerard@gmail.com
написал:
I'm presuming this is sanctions against Russia kicking in; all sorts of business has been stopped dead in its tracks, not just charity donations. There's even serious moves to kick Russia out of the SWIFT network:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-04/ultimate-sanction-barr ing-russian-banks-from-swift-money-system
It strikes me as quite unlikely that there's anything at all WMF can actually do about this. Possibly it could have been handled better, but that won't change the fact.
On 13 November 2014 00:12, Craig Franklin <cfranklin@halonetwork.net javascript:;> wrote:
I'm sure that you're correct here Joseph, but this is another example I think where the Foundation should have notified the relevant chapter *before* taking the action, so that they would be ready when the
questions
started rolling in.
Unfortunately, I think we're getting back to the bad old days of
chapter
and user group press contacts being the last people to find out about potentially controversial issues like this.
Regards, Craig Franklin (personal view only)
On 13 November 2014 10:07, Joseph Seddon <josephseddon@gmail.com
wrote:
I would hate to preclude any answer from the foundation. However the
laws
that govern the foundation are that of the US. Given the previous and renewed ongoing palaver with Ukraine and the presence of economic
sanctions
and the increasing likelihood of on top of what is already present, I imagine this related to that.
Im not sure of what legal risks accepting such donations would expose
the
foundation to. However such precautions have been made in the past
relating
to unrest.
Its no slight on the country or its individuals, just a precautionary measure.
Seddon On 12 Nov 2014 19:48, "Federico Leva (Nemo)" <nemowiki@gmail.com javascript:;>
wrote:
rubin.happy, 12/11/2014 18:48:
> We received some alerts from our users that donations are now
blocked
> when user is from Russia: >
http://habrastorage.org/files/31b/b1f/ec9/31bb1fec9b9e45abb6ac4babcc 2371
> 84.png >
Thanks for the information. Everyone can see the same warning by
clicking
the "Russia" link in
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give
Through what channels are donations blocked? Did anyone try sending a wire to the EU (SEPA) account (IBAN GB54CHAS60924241034640), or a
PayPal
donation?
Nemo
P.s.: ROTFLOL "Please email donate@wikimedia.org javascript:;
for more
information
on
how to make a bank transfer to the Wikimedia Foundation." In case
someone
forgets there is an ocean between Europe and USA.
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org javascript:; https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
Fundraiser mailing list Fundraiser@lists.wikimedia.org javascript:; https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fundraiser
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| -----Original Message----- | From: wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimedia-l- | bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Lisa Gruwell | Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2014 4:46 AM / | We are not running fundraising in Russia at this time, but I want to assure you | that this was not a decision motivated by politics.
Hi Lisa!
Well, it's clear - now foundation is not running fundraising in Russia. But, at what time foundation halted this one, if it ever was carried out? Could you kindly give us the exact date?
Regards, Janusz "Ency" Dorożyński
wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org