[Foundation-l] Meta:MetaProject to Overhaul Meta

[Gregory Maxwell]

On 3/29/06, Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 3/29/06, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> [snip]
> > That's nice. Are you speaking for the Foundation here? I ask because
> > of opinions expressed by Aurevilly and Delphine on the Communications
> > Committee list regarding en: Wikipedia. Fairly problematic ones
> > considering Wikimedia France is the one local chapter that is actually
> > legally affiliated with the Foundation. I note that Aurevilly just
> > blanked his en: Wikipedia user page, coinciding with expressing his
> > contempt for en:wp openly. Just the thing for a Foundation person to
> > show their high regard for cross project issues.
> >
> > What on earth is going in in WMF France? Has en: wikipedia been
> > declared the enemy?
>
> Bringing this back on the topic of the meta cleanup,  this post/thread
> is obvious evidence that http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Dick is still
> needed and important and shouldn't be removed.
>
> ;)
>
> Just an observation.

Sort of a follow on to this, since it's something I said to other
folks and was told it was thoughtful enough to bear a public
repetition:

I think we need to do more to make everyone understand that we're
working for common goals even if we don't always agree on methods.  I
used to get far more upset with Angela, Florence, and Jimbo when I
disagreed with them.  ... After spending more time talking with them,
and more time talking to people who've spent time talking with them I
am far more willing and able to accept disagreements as just that,
disagreements. For a counter example, I was still a dick to Tim (on
the toolserver-list) today, largely because I've not reached a point
where I believe in my heart that he and I share common goals.

This is an issue common to all organizations, and I've seen this play
out many times within Wikimedia both for myself and for others. Even
when you are aware of it, it can be hard to escape.  I think this is
just one of those things which will always challenge us, and which we
will always have find ways to improve.