No worries Lucy, I imagined that would be the case :)
As I said, I *really* don't want to be causing problems and I hope my email
reflects that..
Thank you for your attention to this, and please do reach out off-list
Kind regards,
*Sam*
User:TheresNoTime <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:TheresNoTime>
*English Wikipedia: CU/OS*
On Mon, 1 Nov 2021 at 22:30, Lucy Crompton-Reid <
lucy.crompton-reid(a)wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
Just as a quick PS, I feel I should mention that the
decisions you refer
to took place several years before I joined the organisation (as per the
phabricator thread) and so I will probably need to try to piece
together why certain things happened with imperfect knowledge...but I will
certainly do my best!
On Mon, 1 Nov 2021 at 21:39, Sam (TheresNoTime) <sam(a)theresnotime.co.uk>
wrote:
Hi all,
Me again, bear with me...
I emailed the list a while back about the IT Development pages, the
issues with the Wiki etc. - I've seen today a number of edits (e.g.
https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Special:Diff/82820) which attempt to
potentially explain the changes, but fall a bit short, as I initially
suggested here (
https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Special:Diff/82828).
I've attempted to fix some of the bigger issues with the wiki (
https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Engine_room#Recent_changes_to_MediaWiki_names…),
but a lot boils down to the fact you're using a very old, insecure version
of MediaWiki and PHP (
https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Engine_room#Installed_versions_of_MediaWiki_a…
).
In regards to my comments about approaching the WMF to host the Wiki, I
had this task pointed out to me (
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T58938)
which I found odd, especially some of the comments by your volunteers.
I do not understand why Wikimedia UK migrated from a free, secure,
managed MediaWiki installation to a VPS which I assume is either donated or
is costing the charity money, and which isn't kept up to date?
This doesn't strike me as an effective use of charity funds and volunteer
time, and has unfortunately resulted in a MediaWiki install which is
outdated and insecure (see CVE-2019-12468
<https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-12468> as just one example of
an exploit against the currently installed version).
As the UK chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation, running this MediaWiki
installation is likely to "negatively impact the work or image of the
Foundation" if exploited. Could someone please help me in understanding the
decisions which led to moving away from the WMF infrastructure? Was there a
conflict of mission?
I appreciate I am "causing waves" here, and I *honestly don't want to be*
- Wikimedia UK has been a charity I've supported for quite some time, you
do great work and I thank you for your commitment to open access to
knowledge!
How can we work together to resolve this? I'm fairly available this week
and would be more than happy to chat with someone about how we can fix this.
Kind regards,
*Sam*
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Lucy Crompton-Reid
Chief Executive
<https://donate.wikimedia.org.uk/>
Wikimedia UK <https://beta.wikimedia.org.uk/> is the national chapter for
the global Wikimedia open knowledge movement.
Wikimedia UK is a Registered Charity No.1144513.Company Limited by
Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827.
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.
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