Hey all,
I am, as always, sorry, that this has spilled out into the public sphere
more I do not think that is ever a good thing as discussion of specific
situations like this only serves to increase discomfort, make people feel
even less safe and make victims of everyone.
Event Safety and Friendly Spaces is a top priority of any conference
whether big or small as well as one of the issues that can be most
difficult to deal with since it is always a balance of situations, feelings
and people who are frequently acting in good faith. I can confirm that
Trust & Safety was involved here and, like most people who are working on
Friendly Spaces, we never aim to take serious actions if we are able to
avoid it. Most issues are dealt with by local attendees or organizing
volunteers with only short reminders or chats and escalate from there only
as things become more serious or repetitive. The same is true for T&S who
generally doesn't even become involved until it is a larger situation. I
will admit that whenever a local organizer or volunteer is involved the
seriousness is increased some because they are, rightly or wrongly, seen as
in a position of influence and power which amplifies any and all issues
that arise. It does not, however, change the focus of trying to take the
least amount of actions possible.
I will be the first to admit (and did when talking to Romaine yesterday)
that he has done an enormous amount of great work for events and nothing we
did was meant to demean that even if it felt that way to Romaine. Like any
Friendly Spaces actions nothing we did was meant as a punishment (even
though, again, I understand it can feel that way) but was done because we
felt they were the best thing to do for event safety. I can certainly
guarantee that the decision was not taken lightly.
As many have noted the entire story is not out in the open and, honestly,
won't be. I know that won't make everyone happy but unfortunately is almost
always going to be the case for specific cases. If you want to speak about
process questions and the like, the team (including myself) is certainly
willing to do so. We have a table on the 2nd floor or you can grab one of
us around the conference.
James
*James Alexander*
Manager, Trust & Safety (Operations)
Wikimedia Foundation
On Fri, Jul 20, 2018 at 11:40 AM Andy Mabbett <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk>
wrote:
On 20 July 2018 at 09:23, Lodewijk
<lodewijk(a)effeietsanders.org> wrote:
I trust that [...] the Trust & Safety team
has the best intentions in
their implementation
I note that Romaine does not mention the team in his email, only that
there was a "demand" that he stand down; he did not say who made this
demand.
Indeed, the only mention of the T&S team before yours was my call for
them to support a member of the community who seems to feel he has
been discriminated against because of the effects of his hearing
issue.
--
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
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