I look forward to "hug me" /
"don't touch me" stickers being issued next
year Q(^_^Q)
Indeed we do "don't photograph me" stickers already so "personal
space
needed" stickers sound like a natural extension.
Deryck
(multicultural / "hug me")
On 27 July 2018 at 15:31, Sam Oyeyele <samoye_(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
I believe the best way to avoid this kind of
situation in the future, is
to have tags specifically to indicate a need for personal space or
something.
From what I have read so far, Romaine has done nothing "out of the
ordinary" (based on my cultural perspective); and he doesn't deserve this
kind of treatment/sanction/punishment/etc.
I should also state that I have met Romaine a couple of times, and he is
indeed a very nice man, who always means the best.
Sam.
On 25 Jul 2018 16:41, Deryck Chan <deryckchan(a)gmail.com> wrote:
This is the second time I remember that the Friendly Space Policy was
invoked to remove a Wikimania attendee from a situation, presumably because
of in-person misconduct on their part, where the removal was made public
but the reason of removal was kept secret.
The problem with such secretive invocations of Friendly Space is that it
is very difficult, as Reem and others have pointed out, to not see this as
a punishment.
I understand that it is very difficult to balance the specific, personal
sensitivities and cultural preferences of several hundred people from
different cultures. But as this discussion has shown, it is
counter-productive to use Friendly Space this way, because other
Wikimaniacs are left worrying what the appropriate behaviour is supposed to
be.
I don't know the details of this incident because it wasn't public. But
from what I know of Romaine from previous Wikimanias, I'm disappointed that
this incident couldn't have been handled behind the scenes with T&S and the
people involved. The fact that Romaine felt the need to go public about his
removal as an organiser showed mis-handling of process.
Well, actually the previous time was 6 years ago, so maybe we're doing
well. We did try reforming the friendly space policy around 2013-14 but
couldn't agree on something better at the time... The doors of improvement
always stay open for the Wikimedia movement.
--Deryck
On 20 July 2018 at 11:28, James Alexander <jalexander(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
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
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