[Wikimedia-l] What community initiatives have made an impact on editor engagement?

[Lucas Teles]

Thankfully, this change was thought to be temporary. 
I wonder though how many fundamental violations is removing such an important feature without warning community. As mentioned on Erik's comment above, that was suddenly changed without any warning and preparation. Not providing proper community participation was a mistake that should have been acknowledged already. Sometimes Bugzilla is used in ways that it shouldn't. Community should be aware that CAPTCHA would be removed soon, but it wasn't. Most users were aware only when it was already removed. It is not that you needed permission to do it as it was mistakenly understood by some; it is just a heads up so community could prepare for it.
Teles

> Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 23:29:30 -0400
> From: z at mzmcbride.com
> To: wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] What community initiatives have made an impact on editor engagement?
> 
> Tim Starling wrote:
> >Note that CAPTCHAs have now been re-enabled on the Portuguese
> >Wikipedia. Erik made the decision, in response to on-wiki consensus. I
> >deployed the change just now.
> >
> ><https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=49860#c75>
> 
> Lest there be any confusion or doubt: this is a Bad Thing. We should take
> this time to explicitly state here (or even re-state here, it's important)
> that using CAPTCHAs in this way is a fundamental violation of our core
> principles, particularly site accessibility and openness.
> 
> As a compromise measure between wiki sovereignty and autonomy and our
> deeply held values, there's been a temporary reinstatement of the CAPTCHAs
> on the Portuguese Wikipedia for the remainder of 2013. After December 31,
> 2013, these CAPTCHAs will be re-disabled. Hopefully no other wiki will
> feel the need to invoke such a drastic measure ever again.
> 
> MZMcBride
> 
> 
> 
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