[Wikimedia-l] The new narrowed focus by WMF

[Dan Rosenthal]

I too have to say that while I agree with a narrowing focus, I disagree
with the tabling of Fellowships. Not only have they brought a lot of great
talent into the foundation (as I saw when I worked there, as well as
after), but more than anything the WMF is an agent of disruptive
innovation, and I feel strongly that encouraging Fellows to explore things
that might not be viable for the rest of the staff (whether due to
resources or interest) serves that innovation, and thus the foundation
itself. I believe at one point there was a Fellow working on studying ways
to improve en.wp's internal governance. After witnessing the utter debacle
that is going on in the clarifications on Malleus' ban, I'm more convinced
than ever that such a review is critical and that the WMF should actually
be devoting MORE resources to this. Editor engagement comes not just
through things like Visual Editor (which is awesome), but also creating a
conducive environment for new editors from a policy standpoint. I'm afraid
we're going to lose that in a narrowing focus.

Dan Rosenthal