On 10 January 2012 21:16, Michael Peel
<michael.peel@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
Hi all,
As a WMUK trustee, I'm finding this whole issue to be a serious dilemma. I'm deeply committed to the 'open to all to participate and contribute' philosophy for all of our activities, and find it very saddening that the WMUK board has been put in the position where we have to ban someone from the events we support in order for others to be able to attend them without having to be concerned about their privacy. I don't think this needs saying, but I'll say it anyway to make it absolutely clear: this was not an easy decision, nor was it a rushed one (or a 'panic measure' as was earlier suggested). A lot of thought and discussion went into this (and sadly, that thought and discussion would have otherwise been invested in our charitable activities).
As one of the moderators of this list, I am very reticent to block Edward from posting here, so long as Edward's posts remain civil, logical, and without malice. This is a public mailing list, so there are no privacy concerns here. If you don't want to engage in this discussion, then please simply don't reply to it.
In terms of the appeal procedure: if privacy concerns allow, then I would much prefer that if such a process takes place, that it takes place in public - either on this list or on the WMUK wiki (although Edward is banned from editing most of the WMUK wiki, he is not blocked from his user talk page so an appeal could take place there). If it can't be public due to those privacy concerns, then I would prefer if an uninvolved, neutral community member would step forward to be the adjudicator, to avoid any suggestion of prejudice.
Thanks,
Mike