[Foundation-l] Community consensus for software changes (Re: Show community consensus for Wikilove)

[Nathan]

On Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 1:34 PM, Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 6:54 AM, Nathan <nawrich at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I see Brandon replied to this thread several times; did anyone notice
>> if the question in the OP (if community consensus is required for
>> implementation, where was it demonstrated for en.wp) was answered?
>
> As a matter of general practice, the Wikimedia Foundation aims to be
> responsive to the community both before and after the deployment of
> software, but it doesn't obtain community consensus before deploying
> software which it would like to deploy on its sites and services, nor
> does it necessarily write or deploy software changes if a consensus to
> do so exists. That has always been the case; indeed, there was no
> explicit consensus ahead of time for the vast majority of major
> software changes in Wikimedia's history.
>

Hi Erik,

Thanks for clearing that up. It sounds like Brandon misunderstood the
criteria for deploying WikiLove on various projects. Can you give us
the correct description of how that is being handled? I don't want to
give the false impression that I feel strongly about WikiLove
itself... I don't. We just have conflicting accounts now of the method
for deploying the extension, and since they represent different
philosophical positions on the role of project communities, it's worth
clearing it up.

> The partnership between WMF and the community is founded on mutual
> trust. If you don't trust WMF, you can - and probably should -
> contribute your effort elsewhere, because WMF may - and probably will
> - do things you won't like.

That's a pretty bold statement for the WMF to make - "If you don't
trust the WMF, don't contribute to WMF projects." Are you sure that's
what you meant? It sounds like you're equating criticism over methods,
and some tension in organizational roles, with "distrusting" the
Foundation.

Nathan