[Wikimedia-l] Thoughts on Admin Rights on WMF Wiki (and other things)

[Nathan]

Pine says no one suggested firing Gayle or Philippe; I think it's
clear that whatever semantics are invoked, he did suggest just that.
That's beyond inappropriate, in my view, and an example of the toxic
environment that will lead to less fruitful communication from the WMF
and not more. It's not in Pine's remit as a volunteer to propose that
WMF employees be demoted, especially over something as picayune as
administrator rights on a wiki with minimal traffic and less
importance.

It's unfathomable that Pine thinks he should be writing to Gayle in
this way, as if he were her superior and she was obligated to justify
her continued employment to him personally. In multiple comments in
recent posts Pine has implied that he has real-world expertise in this
area... at this point, I find that implication unsupported by evidence
of communication skills or the ability to appropriately judge context
and audience reaction.

It's not traditional to so directly call out a commenter on this list
for posts that step over the line, particularly when they remain civil
despite being wildly inappropriate. But I think we need to understand
that the relationship between volunteers (especially those on the
mailing lists) and the WMF is a two way street. We can't expect them
to engage better with us if we permit, even by silence, this type of
haranguing to continue unchallenged.