On 01/22/2016 05:03 PM, Rob Lanphier wrote:
Hi everyone,
Those with a keen eye will notice that I filed T124255 https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T124255, which calls for renaming #MediaWIki-RfCs in Phab to "#ArchCom-RfC". This would be a boring Phab administrivia email if it was simply that.
The reason I want the rename: ArchCom is the mechanism we hope to ensure we build and deploy increasingly excellent software on the Wikimedia production cluster in a consensus-oriented manner. MediaWiki is at the center of this, but ArchCom's responsibility doesn't end with MediaWiki.
In my opinion, there needs to be a group leading development of MediaWiki itself, focusing on the product and the product roadmap (influenced by who uses it). WMF is a critically important user of MW, but not the only one.
There should also be a group employed by WMF responsible for keeping track of what ends up on the WMF cluster. Obviously, the WMF cluster group would have a heavy influence on the MW roadmap, and they should not be surprised by anything happening in MW.
Nevertheless, they are separate focuses, and I would suggest we might want them to be separate groups. The group in charge of MW's roadmap would not have to care about things like major operations/puppet restructuring, while the WMF cluster group would.
(Note, this is related to the discussions about MediaWiki Foundation, but doesn't need to wait on that).
Matt Flaschen