Hi!
Thanks Matej for your input! It is appreciated!
As (too) much was already said, I am going to add nothing beyond where it
directly addresses me, to correct some statements.
To my best memory, the agreement to go for a mediation was done only about
half a year ago (but it is now buried in old messages, so I am not sure).
I do not recall that I agreed with AffCom that I will not "posting [my]
grievances in various places around the community".
I have agreed that I will not discuss WMSVK's violations with people who
have done them. And I have violated this once or twice early in the
process in instant messenger or similar and have apologized timely.
Because of the similarity of the two versions, I believe and hope that this
Matej's / WMSVK's belief is based on a rather free interpretation of
non-written communications between different parties (you know the
"telephone" game ;). I believe I have informed Matej about this several
hours ago.
Did my mindset not allowed to proceed a mediation? Well, I sincerely do not
know! I have never participated consciously in a formal mediation - so I do
not know what *precisely* (in details) to expect. Maybe yes, maybe not.
Based on my conceptual understanding of mediation, I generally tend to
believe that my mindset is ok about that and allow mediation. I am a
natural problem solver and if all parties want to find a common ground, I
am in! AffCom expressed that it considered the *topics* to be not
appropriate for mediation.
Is Matej well experienced in mediation, so he knows whether I would fit in
or not? If not, it would be nice If he would present more factual
statements.
Best regards!
KuboF Hromoslav (Michal Matúšov)
ut 26. 10. 2021 o 23:23 Matej Grochal <matej.grochal(a)wikimedia.sk>
napísal(a):
Dear all
this is Matej Grochal, chair of Wikimedians of Slovakia and one of the
parties in the conflict. I am just coming into the discussion as I was not
aware of it from the beginning and was not a member of this mailing list.
Let me offer you my input on this matter.
About a year ago, Mr Matúšov and I (representing WMSK) agreed on
mediation. AffCom was to be the mediator. We had an individual call in
December 2020 with AffCom but WMSK and I pushed for having a mediation call
of both parties and AffCom as the mediator. After some coordination during
spring 2021, AffCom called off the mediation just as it seemed that it was
going to go ahead. The reason given was that both sides do not agree to the
terms of mediation. We emailed back for clarification while restating our
commitment to proceed with it. Around the time I reached out to Mr Matúšov
who seemed perplexed that the mediation had been cancelled and committed
himself as well. Not having a clear understanding of the situation, I
contacted AffCom who replied that mediation would not proceed due to
differences already mentioned. Since our commitment was clear, we wanted to
know what happened. They informed us that Mr Matúšov was of a different
mind about mediation and so it could not go ahead. (Not very surprising
since there are two parties to the mediation). This was somewhat perplexing
still so I kept in touch with Mr Matúšov and made sure we are on the same
page about what mediation means. We were. However, I also came to
understand that he was indeed not ready for mediation. The same conclusion
was reached from further communication with him and AffCom during the fall
of 2021.
Even if AffCom did not state explicitly that it was Mr Matúšov who
cancelled the mediation, they would have every right to do so. His mind set
did not allow it to proceed and he effectively cancelled the process. The
matter was further complicated by the fact that despite waiting for
mediation, Mr Matúšov kept posting his grievances in various places around
the community after having agreed not to do so with AffCom. I will let you
judge whether this is acting in good faith.
To sum up: while AffCom could have been somewhat faster and more clear on
certain issues, I would not blame AffCom for providing false information. I
would also appreciate if accusations of providing false behaviour were less
lightly thrown.
Thank you
Matej Grochal