[Wikimedia-l] Single User Login finalisation: some accounts will be renamed

[Peter Southwood]

Bear in mind that no matter how slowly and carefull it is done, the will 
still be users who will claim to be surprised when it happens, and blame WMF 
for not informing them, unless each one who will be affected is required to 
acknowledge receipt of a message explaining unambiguously what will happen 
and what they, personally can and must do, and to state that they understand 
their obligations and undertake to do what is required of them within the 
specified time. Even then there will be some drama - it is the nature of the 
beast.
Cheers,
Peter

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "MZMcBride" <z at mzmcbride.com>
To: "Wikimedia Mailing List" <wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 03, 2013 9:40 AM
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Single User Login finalisation: some accounts 
will be renamed


> Federico Leva (Nemo) wrote:
>>James Forrester, 12/05/2013 19:56:
>>> On 12 May 2013 10:40, Federico Leva (Nemo) wrote:
>>>> James Forrester, 12/05/2013 19:20:
>>>>>Sorry for the disruption to everyone's plans. If you have any
>>>>>questions, please do ask.
>>>>
>>>> Will you still make the lists and send out the notifications so that
>>>> people can start planning?
>>>
>>> Yes.
>>
>>We're in August, so the account unifications may happen any time soon,
>>but no notifications have been sent to users. Is the plan again to give
>>them only few days to fix their accounts before they are messed up with?
>
> It needs to be made explicit here and now that this change needs to be
> managed _incredibly carefully_ or it will result in very negative
> consequences for Wikimedia. As I understand it, many users will likely be
> forcibly renamed. Given that usernames are the primary source of identity
> on Wikimedia wikis, even if this process is carefully managed, it will
> still inevitably result in some users being incredibly upset at the loss
> of their preferred username on their home wiki.
>
> In my view, this process should move very slowly, with ample warning (six
> months to a year) given to any users affected. A long warning period will
> allow users to voluntarily rename themselves. Only after a sufficient
> warning period has been provided should there be any forcible renaming.
>
> The process outlined at <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/SUL_finalisation>
> is currently unacceptable and needs to be rewritten. We must not have a
> repeat of the recent VisualEditor deployment fiasco in which arbitrary
> deadlines and requirements lead to thousands of Wikimedians being angry.
>
> MZMcBride
>
>
>
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