[Foundation-l] Communication

[Keegan Peterzell]

On Sun, Jun 6, 2010 at 3:24 PM, phoebe ayers <phoebe.wiki at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Jun 6, 2010 at 12:51 AM, Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
> <cimonavaro at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Keegan Peterzell wrote:
> >> Okay, so from my perspective, here's where we are:
> >>
> >> The WMF staff cares about the projects and we respect the work that they
> do [snip] but this is what a thread
> >> like the ones we've had recently fosters: Damned if you do, damned if
> you
> >> don't.
>
> I think this is totally true and needs to be remembered. Working with
> the community shouldn't be a frustrating experience. [Or maybe it's
> just that long-term community members have gotten inured to a certain
> level of frustration and therefore don't even notice anymore? I can't
> tell].


Personally, I expect that the folks that work for the WMF understand this
concept and work within the confines of it.  In any environment in which you
invest your time, energy, and emotion this is just another run of the mill
thing.  On the other hand, internally while still collected your brain is
still screaming "I get it, shut up."  Naturally it is inappropriate to
actually say that, and you have to swallow that very bitter pill.  Doesn't
mean you can't explain or defend yourself, which they are expected to do as
part of the job (and by they, I mean any person with "advanced permissions"
on WMF projects and life in general).

>From my position, like the commons deletion debate, there is a time to act
and then discuss, and other times vice versa.  Doing this in the wrong order
will cause...well, this.  As Mike tried to point out in an earlier thread
about the commons deletions, sort out that first and THEN talk about Jimbo's
role and how the process was managed.  Something out of process occured, so
we need to rectify what the issue was first, and then move on to the
theoretical debate.

Again, speaking only for myself, the communications break-downs occur when
you want to talk about something while feeling passionately about it.  In
reality, damned if you do, damned if you don't.

--
Keegan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Keegan