[WikiEN-l] A modest proposal - a recap of resolution-l

[stevertigo]

On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 12:09 PM, Cary Bass<cary at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> I did give it proper consideration.

Um, no. You didn't.  'Proper consideration' requires sending signals
out to people and getting some signals back - responsiveness.

>  I apologize for treating you special and not having responded to you directly.

Ah, the special treatment.

> Most people give bugzilla's requests as well as emails to the respondent some time to
> respond before they post allegations about the person responsible to
> foundation-l.

Ah, yes the timeliness issue. Next time don't make people wait a month
for a simple straightforward email response: a simple 'people whom
I've talked in private say its a bad idea' would have been a quite
ample response, if given in timely fashion.

> Apparently you felt this had a higher priority than I did

Yes, that is the nature of other people's ideas - they naturally will
consider such more important, urgent, or resonant than some official
might do.

> although you could not find anyone to agree with you

Actually not true. Fred and George I can think of off-hand. And
Thomas, after we worked through most of his critiques, probably is in
90-95 in agreement with my exact concept. And this is not to say the
concept can't be amended, streamlined, or altered a bit via
intelligent criticism of a similar kind.

> which is why you posted to foundaiton-l, and you could not find anyone to agree with you there either

The issue with posting to foundation-l was just to get your attention.
You are the sole person in charge of creating new lists, aren't you?
Perhaps this is a mistake. Perhaps your duties in the real world do
not permit you to give due consideration to on-wiki matters anymore.

> and further got yourself banned from that list for perpetually bringing it up.

Yes, I know about the "banning." Still in effect, actually.

> I would suggest you stop creating a controversy where there is none

The only thing controversial here is that you are supposedly the go-to
guy for creating new lists, and yet you didn't bother to respond to
the 100 message wikien-l thread, a mediazilla request, and a private
email, for almost a month.  You are obviously capable and qualified in
a great many areas, but are likewise just to overworked and busy to
give sufficient attention to that particular matter.

> by posting unsubstantiated insinuations about me

I made no insinuations. I made it clear that you just weren't doing your job.

> on a public mailing list which is archived and googled by using poisonous language

We all once had reasonably thick skins here on wikien-l. What happened?

> such as "And he recently did, though there was little substance in it,"

True. You decried my singling you out, decried my criticizing of your
inaction, claimed there was zero support for it, noted that certain
invisible people on functionaries-l disliked the idea, and stated only
that you would close the thread after just one more day.

> inherently fail to endear me to your cause any further.

I understand that by criticizing your inaction and unresponsiveness, I
have singled you out, and thus have made you less than eager to start
being helpful. The point here of course, is that you should have been
eager and helpful from the get-go, and not entirely silent and
unresponsive.

I have made my criticism broader than just you though, to include all
privatized communication, as I know how these work over time to erode
general openness, transparency and other core principles and values.

With that out of the way, I greatly appreciate the apology, Cary.  I
know you mean it.  Likewise please accept my apology for singling you
out, when I know others are just as responsible. We can get on now
with discussing the substance of the proposal, and I would greatly
appreciate your participation.

-Stevertigo