Hi all,
just a moment ago I noticed, that Rob Lanphier seems to (silently) does not work for the WMF anymore? At least based on a comment on his WMF-account's talk page[1] and a commit in gerrit[2] it seems he doesn't work at the WMF anymore.
However: What happened? I haven't seen any public info about this? Can someone explain what happened? I'm really interested in it, as I really like RobLa, both as a person (at least from what I saw/read so far) and the professional /technical input and things he did. Would be nice, if someone could bring some light into the darkness :P
Best,
Florian
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:RobLa-WMF#Goodbye_and_thanks
Hello Florian,
RobLa has departed the Foundation. While people sometimes supply a message it is left to the individual to decide how they choose to do so. It’s inappropriate for me or any of his other colleagues to discuss them on his behalf. Rob has been with us for over six years, and he will be missed. I hope we will continue to see him in a volunteer capacity.
Regards, Wes
On Oct 29, 2016, at 5:34 PM, Florian Schmidt florian.schmidt.welzow@t-online.de wrote:
Hi all,
just a moment ago I noticed, that Rob Lanphier seems to (silently) does not work for the WMF anymore? At least based on a comment on his WMF-account's talk page[1] and a commit in gerrit[2] it seems he doesn't work at the WMF anymore.
However: What happened? I haven't seen any public info about this? Can someone explain what happened? I'm really interested in it, as I really like RobLa, both as a person (at least from what I saw/read so far) and the professional /technical input and things he did. Would be nice, if someone could bring some light into the darkness :P
Best,
Florian
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:RobLa-WMF#Goodbye_and_thanks
[2] https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/318656/2
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Wes Moran wrote:
RobLa has departed the Foundation. While people sometimes supply a message it is left to the individual to decide how they choose to do so. It’s inappropriate for me or any of his other colleagues to discuss them on his behalf. Rob has been with us for over six years, and he will be missed. I hope we will continue to see him in a volunteer capacity.
We will need to figure out what this change means for the Architecture committee: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Architecture_committee. There are likely specific areas, such as Maniphest tasks assignments, that will need attention. And for planning purposes, it would be helpful to know if RobLa will attend the upcoming developer summit in January 2017.
MZMcBride
Hi Wes!
Thanks for your answer :) I understand that, however, like MZMcBride explained, Rob was involved in so many things, and it would be nice, if the community get at least an information, that Rob doesn't work for the foundation anymore, so the community could react accordingly, if we're waiting for RobLa's response. And it would be even more interesting, as MZMcBride already asked, what happens to his position in co-organizing the developer summit, especially as he was (iirc) part of the "programs committee"? :)
Best, Florian
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Wikitech-l [mailto:wikitech-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] Im Auftrag von Wes Moran Gesendet: Sonntag, 30. Oktober 2016 04:25 An: Wikimedia developers wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org Betreff: Re: [Wikitech-l] What happened to RobLa?
Hello Florian,
RobLa has departed the Foundation. While people sometimes supply a message it is left to the individual to decide how they choose to do so. It’s inappropriate for me or any of his other colleagues to discuss them on his behalf. Rob has been with us for over six years, and he will be missed. I hope we will continue to see him in a volunteer capacity.
Regards, Wes
On Oct 29, 2016, at 5:34 PM, Florian Schmidt florian.schmidt.welzow@t-online.de wrote:
Hi all,
just a moment ago I noticed, that Rob Lanphier seems to (silently) does not work for the WMF anymore? At least based on a comment on his WMF-account's talk page[1] and a commit in gerrit[2] it seems he doesn't work at the WMF anymore.
However: What happened? I haven't seen any public info about this? Can someone explain what happened? I'm really interested in it, as I really like RobLa, both as a person (at least from what I saw/read so far) and the professional /technical input and things he did. Would be nice, if someone could bring some light into the darkness :P
Best,
Florian
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:RobLa-WMF#Goodbye_and_thanks
[2] https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/318656/2
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
_______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Hi,
On Sun, Oct 30, 2016 at 9:32 AM, Florian Schmidt < florian.schmidt.welzow@t-online.de> wrote:
what happens to his position in co-organizing the developer summit, especially as he was (iirc) part of the "programs committee"? :)
Robla has played a key role in the Wikimedia developer Summit and its previous incarnations. His involvement will be missed in the organization of the next edition. This year we created a Program Committee https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Developer_Summit/Program_committee, and responsibilities are a lot more distributed than before. For this reason, I am confident that we will be able to organize a good event.
As a reminder on goodbyes, WMF HR used to announce everyone's last day at https://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork (can't take more than a couple minutes); then the announcements became monthly, then quarterly; then we lost this courtesy as well https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_reports#Staff .
Nemo
On Tue, Nov 1, 2016 at 3:54 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) nemowiki@gmail.com wrote:
As a reminder on goodbyes, WMF HR used to announce everyone's last day at https://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork (can't take more than a couple minutes); then the announcements became monthly, then quarterly; then we lost this courtesy as well https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik i/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_reports#Staff .
As already noted higher up on that talk page, that's a misconception. Timely updates now happen on the WMF wiki instead, where RobLa's departure had already been recorded by HR before you sent this email: https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Staff_and_ contractors&action=history
Hello,
I don't like to sound like a bad guy, but I really find it quite inappropriate to discuss this sort of stuff on a public mailing list. This really is a personal matter. If he didn't post any dramatical announcement perhaps he wanted to "leave quietly"?
You know, people sometimes do this sort of stuff for very personal reasons, they just don't want to discuss with public, and who knows, maybe he would return back one day? He wouldn't be first to do that :) Or maybe he is going to stick around as a volunteer? Let's be optimistic!
If you really want to know the details, you can always ask him directly. Fortunately he is not dead, so no need to mourn him. As an employee of WMF, he was always very friendly and extremely useful, so indeed I /do/ hope he will stay with us, at least as a volunteer.
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 10:16 AM, Tilman Bayer tbayer@wikimedia.org wrote:
On Tue, Nov 1, 2016 at 3:54 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) nemowiki@gmail.com wrote:
As a reminder on goodbyes, WMF HR used to announce everyone's last day at https://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork (can't take more than a couple minutes); then the announcements became monthly, then quarterly; then we lost this courtesy as well https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik i/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_reports#Staff .
As already noted higher up on that talk page, that's a misconception. Timely updates now happen on the WMF wiki instead, where RobLa's departure had already been recorded by HR before you sent this email: https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Staff_and_ contractors&action=history
-- Tilman Bayer Senior Analyst Wikimedia Foundation IRC (Freenode): HaeB _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Thank you Petr. Well said! -Toby
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 2:39 AM, Petr Bena benapetr@gmail.com wrote:
Hello,
I don't like to sound like a bad guy, but I really find it quite inappropriate to discuss this sort of stuff on a public mailing list. This really is a personal matter. If he didn't post any dramatical announcement perhaps he wanted to "leave quietly"?
You know, people sometimes do this sort of stuff for very personal reasons, they just don't want to discuss with public, and who knows, maybe he would return back one day? He wouldn't be first to do that :) Or maybe he is going to stick around as a volunteer? Let's be optimistic!
If you really want to know the details, you can always ask him directly. Fortunately he is not dead, so no need to mourn him. As an employee of WMF, he was always very friendly and extremely useful, so indeed I /do/ hope he will stay with us, at least as a volunteer.
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 10:16 AM, Tilman Bayer tbayer@wikimedia.org wrote:
On Tue, Nov 1, 2016 at 3:54 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) <nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
As a reminder on goodbyes, WMF HR used to announce everyone's last day
at
https://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork (can't take more than a couple minutes); then the announcements became monthly, then quarterly; then we lost this courtesy as well https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik i/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_reports#Staff .
As already noted higher up on that talk page, that's a misconception. Timely updates now happen on the WMF wiki instead, where RobLa's
departure
had already been recorded by HR before you sent this email: https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Staff_and_ contractors&action=history
-- Tilman Bayer Senior Analyst Wikimedia Foundation IRC (Freenode): HaeB _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
+1 Petr. This thread makes me sad and uncomfortable.
- J
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 9:03 AM, Toby Negrin tnegrin@wikimedia.org wrote:
Thank you Petr. Well said! -Toby
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 2:39 AM, Petr Bena benapetr@gmail.com wrote:
Hello,
I don't like to sound like a bad guy, but I really find it quite inappropriate to discuss this sort of stuff on a public mailing list. This really is a personal matter. If he didn't post any dramatical announcement perhaps he wanted to "leave quietly"?
You know, people sometimes do this sort of stuff for very personal reasons, they just don't want to discuss with public, and who knows, maybe he would return back one day? He wouldn't be first to do that :) Or maybe he is going to stick around as a volunteer? Let's be optimistic!
If you really want to know the details, you can always ask him directly. Fortunately he is not dead, so no need to mourn him. As an employee of WMF, he was always very friendly and extremely useful, so indeed I /do/ hope he will stay with us, at least as a volunteer.
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 10:16 AM, Tilman Bayer tbayer@wikimedia.org wrote:
On Tue, Nov 1, 2016 at 3:54 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) <
nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
As a reminder on goodbyes, WMF HR used to announce everyone's last day
at
https://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork (can't take more than a couple minutes); then the announcements became monthly, then quarterly; then
we
lost this courtesy as well https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik i/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_reports#Staff .
As already noted higher up on that talk page, that's a misconception. Timely updates now happen on the WMF wiki instead, where RobLa's
departure
had already been recorded by HR before you sent this email: https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Staff_and_ contractors&action=history
-- Tilman Bayer Senior Analyst Wikimedia Foundation IRC (Freenode): HaeB _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Robla obviously deserves his privacy if he wants that. However I think its rather natural for people to wonder "What happened" when an employee who is as much in the public spotlight as robla is, suddenly and unexpectedly leaves.
Obviously just because it is "natural" doesn't mean we deserve answers. I think Wes's short email was sufficient in terms of answering the what happened question. However, simply putting a global lock on someone's account (Which was the state of things before this thread) is not good communication and bound to raise eyebrows.
There is also the more pragmatic question of how Robla's responsibilities will be transferred. Robla did a lot for MediaWiki, and transitions are scary. Transitions with no information are even scarier. How will Robla's initiatives be carried forward? Is the architecture committee mature enough to continue on purely its own steam without Robla pushing it forward? How does this affect the "vision" for MediaWiki (emphasis on MediaWiki, not Wikimedia)? Will development of Wikimedia's technology further devolve into independent fiefdoms without Robla balancing the architecture needs of different groups? All these concerns are in my mind, and I think the minds of others. It would be nice to get some reassurance about what is going to happen next.
-- Brian [To be 100% clear, posting with my volunteer hat firmly on]
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 4:17 PM, Jonathan Morgan jmorgan@wikimedia.org wrote:
+1 Petr. This thread makes me sad and uncomfortable.
- J
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 9:03 AM, Toby Negrin tnegrin@wikimedia.org wrote:
Thank you Petr. Well said! -Toby
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 2:39 AM, Petr Bena benapetr@gmail.com wrote:
Hello,
I don't like to sound like a bad guy, but I really find it quite inappropriate to discuss this sort of stuff on a public mailing list. This really is a personal matter. If he didn't post any dramatical announcement perhaps he wanted to "leave quietly"?
You know, people sometimes do this sort of stuff for very personal reasons, they just don't want to discuss with public, and who knows, maybe he would return back one day? He wouldn't be first to do that :) Or maybe he is going to stick around as a volunteer? Let's be optimistic!
If you really want to know the details, you can always ask him directly. Fortunately he is not dead, so no need to mourn him. As an employee of WMF, he was always very friendly and extremely useful, so indeed I /do/ hope he will stay with us, at least as a volunteer.
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 10:16 AM, Tilman Bayer tbayer@wikimedia.org wrote:
On Tue, Nov 1, 2016 at 3:54 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) <
nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
As a reminder on goodbyes, WMF HR used to announce everyone's last day
at
https://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork (can't take more than a couple minutes); then the announcements became monthly, then quarterly; then
we
lost this courtesy as well https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik i/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_reports#Staff .
As already noted higher up on that talk page, that's a misconception. Timely updates now happen on the WMF wiki instead, where RobLa's
departure
had already been recorded by HR before you sent this email: https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Staff_and_ contractors&action=history
-- Tilman Bayer Senior Analyst Wikimedia Foundation IRC (Freenode): HaeB _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
-- Jonathan T. Morgan Senior Design Researcher Wikimedia Foundation User:Jmorgan (WMF) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jmorgan_(WMF) _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
On Nov 3, 2016, at 4:07 PM, bawolff bawolff+wn@gmail.com wrote:
There is also the more pragmatic question of how Robla's responsibilities will be transferred.
In this light the conversation should be less about him personally and more about the fulfillment of the roles which were previously assigned to him.
Regards, James Hare
Thanks Brian!
That's exactly what this e-mail was for. I was also wondering, what happened to him personally, however, it's more than ok and his own decision to not say anything about it. However, like Brian wrote already, Robla had (as far as I know) a very good standing in the community and it would be a good communication about what happened (in any way), instead of "just" disabling his account.
However, this e-mail is (and wasn't at any time) to make anyone sad about anything, and it makes me sad, that the thread resulted in this feeling for some people :(
Best, Florian
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Wikitech-l [mailto:wikitech-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] Im Auftrag von bawolff Gesendet: Donnerstag, 3. November 2016 21:07 An: Wikimedia developers wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org Betreff: Re: [Wikitech-l] What happened to RobLa?
Robla obviously deserves his privacy if he wants that. However I think its rather natural for people to wonder "What happened" when an employee who is as much in the public spotlight as robla is, suddenly and unexpectedly leaves.
Obviously just because it is "natural" doesn't mean we deserve answers. I think Wes's short email was sufficient in terms of answering the what happened question. However, simply putting a global lock on someone's account (Which was the state of things before this thread) is not good communication and bound to raise eyebrows.
There is also the more pragmatic question of how Robla's responsibilities will be transferred. Robla did a lot for MediaWiki, and transitions are scary. Transitions with no information are even scarier. How will Robla's initiatives be carried forward? Is the architecture committee mature enough to continue on purely its own steam without Robla pushing it forward? How does this affect the "vision" for MediaWiki (emphasis on MediaWiki, not Wikimedia)? Will development of Wikimedia's technology further devolve into independent fiefdoms without Robla balancing the architecture needs of different groups? All these concerns are in my mind, and I think the minds of others. It would be nice to get some reassurance about what is going to happen next.
-- Brian [To be 100% clear, posting with my volunteer hat firmly on]
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 4:17 PM, Jonathan Morgan jmorgan@wikimedia.org wrote:
+1 Petr. This thread makes me sad and uncomfortable.
- J
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 9:03 AM, Toby Negrin tnegrin@wikimedia.org wrote:
Thank you Petr. Well said! -Toby
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 2:39 AM, Petr Bena benapetr@gmail.com wrote:
Hello,
I don't like to sound like a bad guy, but I really find it quite inappropriate to discuss this sort of stuff on a public mailing list. This really is a personal matter. If he didn't post any dramatical announcement perhaps he wanted to "leave quietly"?
You know, people sometimes do this sort of stuff for very personal reasons, they just don't want to discuss with public, and who knows, maybe he would return back one day? He wouldn't be first to do that :) Or maybe he is going to stick around as a volunteer? Let's be optimistic!
If you really want to know the details, you can always ask him directly. Fortunately he is not dead, so no need to mourn him. As an employee of WMF, he was always very friendly and extremely useful, so indeed I /do/ hope he will stay with us, at least as a volunteer.
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 10:16 AM, Tilman Bayer tbayer@wikimedia.org wrote:
On Tue, Nov 1, 2016 at 3:54 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) <
nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
As a reminder on goodbyes, WMF HR used to announce everyone's last day
at
https://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork (can't take more than a couple minutes); then the announcements became monthly, then quarterly; then
we
lost this courtesy as well https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik i/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_reports#Staff .
As already noted higher up on that talk page, that's a misconception. Timely updates now happen on the WMF wiki instead, where RobLa's
departure
had already been recorded by HR before you sent this email: https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Staff_ and_ contractors&action=history
-- Tilman Bayer Senior Analyst Wikimedia Foundation IRC (Freenode): HaeB _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
-- Jonathan T. Morgan Senior Design Researcher Wikimedia Foundation User:Jmorgan (WMF) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jmorgan_(WMF) _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
_______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Sorry, Florian, I should have clarified: I got sad because I saw a conversation about a private matter turning into a public indictment (of WMF).
Obviously there will need to be scrambling to fill Robla's big shoes. And lots of communication and coordination among relevant stakeholders. I understand if folks involved in ongoing initiatives are feeling out of the loop. Not everyone on staff feels in the loop either, FWIW, or knows what the next steps should be. That's not uncommon in this kind of situation.
Also, we should probably open new discussion on another thread.
- Jonathan
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 3:48 PM, Florian Schmidt < florian.schmidt.welzow@t-online.de> wrote:
Thanks Brian!
That's exactly what this e-mail was for. I was also wondering, what happened to him personally, however, it's more than ok and his own decision to not say anything about it. However, like Brian wrote already, Robla had (as far as I know) a very good standing in the community and it would be a good communication about what happened (in any way), instead of "just" disabling his account.
However, this e-mail is (and wasn't at any time) to make anyone sad about anything, and it makes me sad, that the thread resulted in this feeling for some people :(
Best, Florian
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Wikitech-l [mailto:wikitech-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] Im Auftrag von bawolff Gesendet: Donnerstag, 3. November 2016 21:07 An: Wikimedia developers wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org Betreff: Re: [Wikitech-l] What happened to RobLa?
Robla obviously deserves his privacy if he wants that. However I think its rather natural for people to wonder "What happened" when an employee who is as much in the public spotlight as robla is, suddenly and unexpectedly leaves.
Obviously just because it is "natural" doesn't mean we deserve answers. I think Wes's short email was sufficient in terms of answering the what happened question. However, simply putting a global lock on someone's account (Which was the state of things before this thread) is not good communication and bound to raise eyebrows.
There is also the more pragmatic question of how Robla's responsibilities will be transferred. Robla did a lot for MediaWiki, and transitions are scary. Transitions with no information are even scarier. How will Robla's initiatives be carried forward? Is the architecture committee mature enough to continue on purely its own steam without Robla pushing it forward? How does this affect the "vision" for MediaWiki (emphasis on MediaWiki, not Wikimedia)? Will development of Wikimedia's technology further devolve into independent fiefdoms without Robla balancing the architecture needs of different groups? All these concerns are in my mind, and I think the minds of others. It would be nice to get some reassurance about what is going to happen next.
-- Brian [To be 100% clear, posting with my volunteer hat firmly on]
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 4:17 PM, Jonathan Morgan jmorgan@wikimedia.org wrote:
+1 Petr. This thread makes me sad and uncomfortable.
- J
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 9:03 AM, Toby Negrin tnegrin@wikimedia.org
wrote:
Thank you Petr. Well said! -Toby
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 2:39 AM, Petr Bena benapetr@gmail.com wrote:
Hello,
I don't like to sound like a bad guy, but I really find it quite inappropriate to discuss this sort of stuff on a public mailing list. This really is a personal matter. If he didn't post any dramatical announcement perhaps he wanted to "leave quietly"?
You know, people sometimes do this sort of stuff for very personal reasons, they just don't want to discuss with public, and who knows, maybe he would return back one day? He wouldn't be first to do that :) Or maybe he is going to stick around as a volunteer? Let's be optimistic!
If you really want to know the details, you can always ask him directly. Fortunately he is not dead, so no need to mourn him. As an employee of WMF, he was always very friendly and extremely useful, so indeed I /do/ hope he will stay with us, at least as a
volunteer.
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 10:16 AM, Tilman Bayer tbayer@wikimedia.org wrote:
On Tue, Nov 1, 2016 at 3:54 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) <
nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
As a reminder on goodbyes, WMF HR used to announce everyone's last day
at
https://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork (can't take more than a couple minutes); then the announcements became monthly, then quarterly; then
we
lost this courtesy as well https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik i/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_reports#Staff .
As already noted higher up on that talk page, that's a
misconception.
Timely updates now happen on the WMF wiki instead, where RobLa's
departure
had already been recorded by HR before you sent this email: https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Staff_ and_ contractors&action=history
-- Tilman Bayer Senior Analyst Wikimedia Foundation IRC (Freenode): HaeB _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
-- Jonathan T. Morgan Senior Design Researcher Wikimedia Foundation User:Jmorgan (WMF) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jmorgan_(WMF) _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
It is my understanding that RobLa's departure was not entirely unexpected, so there were plans in place. He will be missed! But Brion and I are taking up some of his responsibilities for the dev summit, and I understand there are other folks stepping up to fill other gaps. I think those of us who know him well are trying to respect his desire for a bit of a wikibreak. If you see some task Rob's been maintaining which seems like it could use attention, I think the best thing to do right now is to pitch in and help out for a while. I strongly suspect he'll be back after a bit, and I'm hoping he'll find his gardens as well tended as we are able. --scott
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 6:48 PM, Florian Schmidt < florian.schmidt.welzow@t-online.de> wrote:
Thanks Brian!
That's exactly what this e-mail was for. I was also wondering, what happened to him personally, however, it's more than ok and his own decision to not say anything about it. However, like Brian wrote already, Robla had (as far as I know) a very good standing in the community and it would be a good communication about what happened (in any way), instead of "just" disabling his account.
However, this e-mail is (and wasn't at any time) to make anyone sad about anything, and it makes me sad, that the thread resulted in this feeling for some people :(
Best, Florian
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Wikitech-l [mailto:wikitech-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] Im Auftrag von bawolff Gesendet: Donnerstag, 3. November 2016 21:07 An: Wikimedia developers wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org Betreff: Re: [Wikitech-l] What happened to RobLa?
Robla obviously deserves his privacy if he wants that. However I think its rather natural for people to wonder "What happened" when an employee who is as much in the public spotlight as robla is, suddenly and unexpectedly leaves.
Obviously just because it is "natural" doesn't mean we deserve answers. I think Wes's short email was sufficient in terms of answering the what happened question. However, simply putting a global lock on someone's account (Which was the state of things before this thread) is not good communication and bound to raise eyebrows.
There is also the more pragmatic question of how Robla's responsibilities will be transferred. Robla did a lot for MediaWiki, and transitions are scary. Transitions with no information are even scarier. How will Robla's initiatives be carried forward? Is the architecture committee mature enough to continue on purely its own steam without Robla pushing it forward? How does this affect the "vision" for MediaWiki (emphasis on MediaWiki, not Wikimedia)? Will development of Wikimedia's technology further devolve into independent fiefdoms without Robla balancing the architecture needs of different groups? All these concerns are in my mind, and I think the minds of others. It would be nice to get some reassurance about what is going to happen next.
-- Brian [To be 100% clear, posting with my volunteer hat firmly on]
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 4:17 PM, Jonathan Morgan jmorgan@wikimedia.org wrote:
+1 Petr. This thread makes me sad and uncomfortable.
- J
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 9:03 AM, Toby Negrin tnegrin@wikimedia.org
wrote:
Thank you Petr. Well said! -Toby
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 2:39 AM, Petr Bena benapetr@gmail.com wrote:
Hello,
I don't like to sound like a bad guy, but I really find it quite inappropriate to discuss this sort of stuff on a public mailing list. This really is a personal matter. If he didn't post any dramatical announcement perhaps he wanted to "leave quietly"?
You know, people sometimes do this sort of stuff for very personal reasons, they just don't want to discuss with public, and who knows, maybe he would return back one day? He wouldn't be first to do that :) Or maybe he is going to stick around as a volunteer? Let's be optimistic!
If you really want to know the details, you can always ask him directly. Fortunately he is not dead, so no need to mourn him. As an employee of WMF, he was always very friendly and extremely useful, so indeed I /do/ hope he will stay with us, at least as a
volunteer.
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 10:16 AM, Tilman Bayer tbayer@wikimedia.org wrote:
On Tue, Nov 1, 2016 at 3:54 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) <
nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
As a reminder on goodbyes, WMF HR used to announce everyone's last day
at
https://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork (can't take more than a couple minutes); then the announcements became monthly, then quarterly; then
we
lost this courtesy as well https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik i/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_reports#Staff .
As already noted higher up on that talk page, that's a
misconception.
Timely updates now happen on the WMF wiki instead, where RobLa's
departure
had already been recorded by HR before you sent this email: https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Staff_ and_ contractors&action=history
-- Tilman Bayer Senior Analyst Wikimedia Foundation IRC (Freenode): HaeB _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
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