[Wikimedia-l] Feedback for the Wikimedia Foundation

[MZMcBride]

Erik Moeller wrote:
>We're not going to solve these challenges if we lock away VisualEditor
>into some kind of laboratory and work in waterfall mode for another
>year. We have to make improvements every day, and get them into
>production every week, in order to find solutions that make sense.
>
>That's why it's the right decision to get VisualEditor out there now,
>and to continue to improve it, and that's why I would encourage
>everyone to not take the easy way out and hide it from their
>experience, but to keep hammering at it, keep reporting issues, and
>help us make it the best editing experience it can be.
>
>VisualEditor is emphatically *not* intended to simply be a "nice way
>for newbies to edit articles". It's intended to become the best
>collaborative editor for the web, for new users and power users alike.
>We've still got a long way to go, but we're not turning back.

I wonder what it will take for you to stop digging in your heels. You can
continue to unconditionally treat Wikimedia editors as lab rats, but
you're doing serious harm to the Wikimedia Foundation's standing (and your
own) with the Wikimedia community. I hope you've carefully weighed the
costs and consequences of the choice that you and James F. are making here.

This particular ongoing saga (refusing to provide an opt-out mechanism for
VisualEditor) seems to largely echo past issues with treating Wikimedia
editors as customers instead of colleagues. It's a disgusting
paternalistic attitude ("we know best, just suffer our new toys") that
shows only disrespect for the hardworking volunteers who, on a daily
basis, help make Wikimedia wikis great.

MZMcBride