Thanks, Nataliia. That seems a reasonable approach. As one of the people who gave feedback
on some areas of concern but find the document generally acceptable, I am pleased to know
that it is being improved, and used as a working document.
Regards, Peter
From: Nataliia Tymkiv [mailto:ntymkiv@wikimedia.org]
Sent: 05 January 2023 19:36
To: Wikimedia Mailing List
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Re: Upcoming vote on the revised Enforcement Guidelines for the
Universal Code of Conduct
Dear Chico, and Peter, dear all.
Speaking as the chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, I have a few
thoughts. First, the UCoC is being enforced now. Not only does it help guide the Wikimedia
Foundation in its current actions (and has since it was adopted by resolution [1]), but
multiple communities have referred to it in their own actions. The policy is in place
already, and its enforcement by communities is encouraged, there is no expectation that it
be delayed until the guidelines for globally approaching the enforcement of the policy are
agreed upon.
You do raise a valid question about the success of the last round of votes. At that point
in time, as at this time, staff had recommended that we, the Board, review any version
that passed a simple majority, but such a situation was never a guarantee of ratification.
We respected the results of the vote – if communities at large could not support the
outcome, we would not have evaluated it at all – but we were interested not only in
support numbers but in causes of concern. What we noticed last time was that concerns
coalesced around a few specific areas, so we felt the guidelines would benefit from deeper
discussion and exploration of those specific areas. We wanted to make sure the enforcement
guidelines were as widely understood and supported at their launch as they could be and
greatly appreciate the work the communities have done together with the volunteer-led
revisions drafting committee to explore those areas.
With this next round of voting, we hope to find that the further conversations have led to
alignment in these few challenging areas. Ideally, the guidelines will meet with even more
support than last time. If not, if the changes have actually reduced support, then it
might be worth considering whether those revisions were actually beneficial to the broader
community. If this version of the enforcement guidelines do not exceed the level of
support of the last, we may instead need to consider ratifying the last or some hybrid of
the two or even further reviewing with the community certain aspects for different
development.
No matter what happens with the enforcement guidelines vote, the UCoC is important to our
community health. While global alignment on how to approach issues is being sought, we
trust local communities are continuing to uphold this policy and other requirements of the
Terms of Use to the best of their abilities.
[1]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Approval_of_a_Universal_Co…
Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working hours/days, as I
usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You should not feel obligated to
answer it during your days off. Thank you in advance!
On Thu, Jan 5, 2023 at 5:23 PM Peter Southwood <peter.southwood(a)telkomsa.net>
wrote:
An interesting standoff. I don’t suppose anyone has analysed the potential losses and
gains associated with each option. If that is even possible, considering the number of
unknowns. I agree that it is taking an amazingly long time, and it is not obvious why.
Cheers,
Peter
From: Chico Venancio [mailto:chicocvenancio@gmail.com]
Sent: 05 January 2023 16:56
To: Wikimedia Mailing List
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Re: Upcoming vote on the revised Enforcement Guidelines for the
Universal Code of Conduct
The heart of the matter is why are we voting? What is the threshold that will enact the
UCoC?
Who it would be respected by.
WMF and the board. We've had 3 and a half years of discussion on the UCoC and a
majority vote to approve enforcement guidelines, and yet no functioning UCoC.
As volunteers, if a significant part of the community
sufficiently dislikes the proposed UCOC, we simply lose them, and some may become
vociferous opponents because reasonably fixable issues were ignored. Taking longer and
getting it closer to right is to me a better plan. You may not care about some of the
issues that needed to be fixed, but some of us do.
As volunteers, if a significant part of the community sufficiently dislikes the status quo
we simple lose them, and some may become vociferous opponents because reasonably fixable
issues were ignored. Taking over 3 years to implement an Universal Code of Conduct is to
me a bad plan. You may not care about some of the issues that needed to be fixed, but some
of us do.
Cheers,
Chico Venancio
Em qui., 5 de jan. de 2023 às 11:22, Peter Southwood <peter.southwood(a)telkomsa.net>
escreveu:
It seems that sorting out problems that are pointed out during an approval process is not
an unreasonable thing to do, as leaving them unchanged would be irresponsible and
extremely likely to cause other problems later. Asking whether a vote result will be
respected misses the issue of who it would be respected by. Can you clarify that? As
volunteers, if a significant part of the community sufficiently dislikes the proposed
UCOC, we simply lose them, and some may become vociferous opponents because reasonably
fixable issues were ignored. Taking longer and getting it closer to right is to me a
better plan. You may not care about some of the issues that needed to be fixed, but some
of us do.
Cheers, Peter
From: Chico Venancio [mailto:chicocvenancio@gmail.com]
Sent: 04 January 2023 20:48
To: Wikimedia Mailing List
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Re: Upcoming vote on the revised Enforcement Guidelines for the
Universal Code of Conduct
Hi Patrick,
Five months ago I wrote in the Movement Strategy forum:[1]
Could we have clear criteria for approval of the guidelines? I find it pretty frustrating
that a vote was taken and the majority is being ignored to review a few points that are
not even central to the functioning of the UCoC. Can we suspend these sections for further
review and enforce the UCoC now?
The first reference I find to UCoC is in june of 2019, and I fear any participation in
this now 3 year long process of creating a universal code of conduct is pointless, as
goalposts can always be shifted later.
Could we have an answer? What is the goalpost here? Will this vote result be respected?
Kind regards,
[1]
https://forum.movement-strategy.org/t/revisions-to-the-universal-code-of-co…
Chico Venancio
Em qua., 4 de jan. de 2023 às 15:41, Patrick Earley <pearley(a)wikimedia.org>
escreveu:
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Revised_enforcement_guidelines/Announcement/Voting_1>
You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki.
Hello all,
In mid-January 2023, the
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Revised_enforcement_guidelines>
Enforcement Guidelines for the
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct>
Universal Code of Conduct will undergo a second community-wide ratification vote. [1][2]
This follows
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Enforcement_guidelines/Voting/Results>
the March 2022 vote, which resulted in a majority of voters supporting the Enforcement
Guidelines. [3] During the vote, participants helped highlight important community
concerns. The Board’s
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee>
Community Affairs Committee requested that these areas of concern be reviewed. [4]
The volunteer-led
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Drafting_committee#Revisions_Committee_members>
Revisions Committee worked hard reviewing community input and making changes. [5] They
updated areas of concern, such as training and affirmation requirements, privacy and
transparency in the process, and readability and translatability of the document itself.
The revised Enforcement Guidelines can be viewed
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Revised_enforcement_guidelines>
here, and a comparison of changes can be found
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Revised_enforcement_guidelines/Comparison>
here. [6][7]
How to vote?
Beginning January 17, 2023, voting will be open.
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Revised_enforcement_guidelines/Voter_information>
This page on Meta-wiki outlines information on how to vote using SecurePoll.
Who can vote?
The
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Revised_enforcement_guidelines/Voter_information#Voting_eligibility>
eligibility requirements for this vote are the same as for the Wikimedia Board of Trustees
elections. See the voter information page for more details about voter eligibility. If you
are an eligible voter, you can use your Wikimedia account to access the voting server.
What happens after the vote?
Votes will be scrutinized by an independent group of volunteers, and the results will be
published on Wikimedia-l, the Movement Strategy Forum, Diff and on Meta-wiki. Voters will
again be able to vote and share concerns they have about the guidelines. The Board of
Trustees will look at the levels of support and concerns raised as they look at how the
Enforcement Guidelines should be ratified or developed further.
On behalf of the UCoC Project Team,
Patrick
-----
[1], [6] Revised Enforcement Guidelines:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Revised_enforceme…
[2] Universal Code of Conduct:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct
[3] March 2022 vote results:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Enforcement_guide…
[4] Community Affairs Committee:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…
[5] Revisions Committee:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Drafting_committe…
[7] Comparison page:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Revised_enforceme…
[8] Voter information:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Revised_enforceme…
[9] Voting eligibility:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Revised_enforceme…
--
Patrick Earley
Lead Trust & Safety Policy Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
pearley(a)wikimedia.org
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