[Wikimedia-l] Go away, community (from WMF wiki at least)

[Peter Southwood]

Lets get a few things in perspective:
1. How many community members were abusive/unreasonable/whatever beyond what 
might be considered a startle reaction to an apparent attack without 
warning?
2 How many people constitute this community
Divide answer 1 by answer 2

Consider how much of the response was a snowball effect of frustration due 
to a distinct shortage of explanation and direct answers to what might be 
considered reasonable questions.

And yes, "Welcome to Wikipedia "

Cheers,
Peter

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Philippe Beaudette" <philippe at wikimedia.org>
To: "Wikimedia Mailing List" <wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2013 3:03 AM
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Go away, community (from WMF wiki at least)


> So, I took Florence's excellent advice and went for a walk (beautiful day
> in SF, by the way - absolutely perfect).
>
> And I reflected on what I've seen since "flipping the switch" on things
> last Friday.  Here's where I stand, and I haven't discussed this with
> anyone else at WMF, including Gayle.
>
> At the expense of sounding trite, I think I can safely say "Mistakes were
> made."  Gayle was trying to solve a real problem, and she got a lot of
> advice on how to do that.  But the principle role of a staff member in a
> role such as mine is "to advise", I think, and I'm afraid that I didn't
> offer good advice in this case.  I don't think I gave bad advice - rather,
> I didn't give as good of advice as I could have.  What our leadership
> should be able to expect from staff is that we look at things from a
> different perspective, and I think I failed to get as far out of my own
> head and into other peoples' to offer that varying perspective.  So when I
> say that mistakes were made, I include my role in that, through commission
> or omission, and I sincerely apologize for that.
>
> With that said: I'm afraid we're headed toward a precipice.  What I'm
> seeing scares me.  I see less and less good faith being offered toward the
> WMF.  One of the arguments that doesn't work for me is "seven years ago 
> the
> WMF didn't make these mistakes" - because seven years ago the WMF was
> paralyzed from lack of strategy and direction.  All of that has changed 
> and
> the WMF is out and aggressively trying things to arrest the editor decline
> and improve the user experience.  And yet, when our talented engineers try
> a data-driven tactic for something that needs to change, they're lambasted
> for forgetting the existing community.  And yet everyone here knows that 
> if
> we don't change some things, things will get very very ugly, very very
> quickly.
>
> One of the things that must continue to change is the tone on the wikis,
> and the tone (in IRC and by email) between staff and volunteers.  I know
> that volunteers are individual and - in addition to several frankly 
> abusive
> emails I've received this weekend, I've also received absolutely wonderful
> support from volunteers who reached out to make me smile, laugh, or just
> remind me why I love this community.  But the abusive ones absolutely
> *must*stop.  I have never once, in my entire time at WMF, sent an
> email that
> approaches the level of things that I see WMF staff subjected to 
> routinely,
> and I have to counsel over and over that "it's okay, they don't speak for
> the community", but I see the community tacitly support that behavior (or
> fail to condemn it), and it's hard to say with a straight face that the
> people sending abusive mail or making abusive statements in IRC don't 
> speak
> for the community.
>
> So my challenge and my promise:  I promise to reflect on the experiences 
> of
> this weekend and figure out how I could have offered Gayle better advice,
> given the circumstances, and given the fact that there are some things 
> that
> are not public about the decision, and unfortunately they can't be.  My
> challenge to the community:  think about the tone of what you see 
> happening
> around you.  And if you wouldn't want to see your grandmother asked a
> question like that, and if it would make you feel defensive to see her
> questioned in that tone, then step in and make it clear that the tone is
> unacceptable.  Staff members are people too.  How about finding one that
> has done something you appreciate (come on, there must be ONE) and tell
> them so?  You'd be shocked how much gratitude they'll feel, because you 
> may
> be the first community member EVER to tell them that.
>
> Best,
> pb
>
>
>
> ___________________
> Philippe Beaudette
> Director, Community Advocacy
> Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
>
> 415-839-6885, x 6643
>
> philippe at wikimedia.org
>
>
> On Sun, May 12, 2013 at 5:46 PM, Russavia 
> <russavia.wikipedia at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> On Mon, May 13, 2013 at 7:58 AM, Gayle Karen Young <gyoung at wikimedia.org>
>> wrote:
>> > This definitely feels like a bit of trial by fire.
>>
>> True dat. Now that you have received your initiation, there's nothing
>> left to say but WELCOME TO WIKIPEDIA :)
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Russavia
>>
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