I am really saddened by the incessant demands that the community needs public investigations, heads to roll, public apologies and so on. I am also saddened by repeated demands that specific community members state publicly whether they do or do not agree with something allegedly said by a third party, but restated shorn of all context.
One would have thought that we would all have learned from history that witch hunts never turn out well, but apparently not. It’s almost as if the community has a death wish and has far greater interest in internecine warfare than in actively attempting to work together to further our mission (which we all agree on, surely?).
I was not myself at the governance workshop, and have no idea who said that, if anyone, but I do find it odd that Fae would find it necessary to demand of a trustee whether he does or does not accept the alleged quote as a “philosophy”.
Would it help if I, as WMUK chair, said that such a “philosophy” would be anathema to us? No, that probably won’t help, as it is an entirely self-evident statement. Answering direct questions, unfortunately, does not make much difference to those who find witch hunts fun.
Michael
On 7 Apr 2014, at 12:27, Fæ faewik@gmail.com wrote:
Chris, rather than again[1] using school-boy politics by defaming people you don't like with personal attacks, please read Tomasz' request: "the idea that chapters can "fuck the community" is absolutely unacceptable and should by rejected by all chapters immediately".
Now, show some leadership and answer a simple direct question. Do you, or do you not as a trustee of Wikimedia UK and the person that was responsible for leading this costly workshop, reject the philosophy of "fuck the community"?
I have asked for the person that made this statement to come forward and explain themselves. If they cannot, then they must realise they can no longer claim to be accountable to the community and neither can their board.
Links:
Fae
On 7 April 2014 12:10, Chris Keating chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com wrote:
I'd certainly hope not. One of the ground rules for the workshop was that individual contributions were made on a confidential and non-attributable basis.
This was exactly because we wanted people to speak freely and not worry about a witch-hunt on an email list if a couple of trolls got hold of some out-of-context quotes.
Chris On 7 Apr 2014 11:56, "Fæ" faewik@gmail.com wrote:
Steffen, the Wikimedia movement expects board members on Wikimedia organizations to be fulfilling their role as representatives of our movement. If you misquoted please explain that this is the case.
As at a public workshop that cost the movement a significant amount of our donor's money to pay for, there is no reason for secrecy about this, everyone there is accountable for their time spent at that workshop. The quote has not been challenged. It would benefit us all to hear why this was said and to be open to questions about their leadership role, from the person that made this public statement.
Personally, if an elected or appointed board level member of a chapter is making public statements like this, I do not want them representing our movement if they are going to hide away in secret when asked about it. You know who they are, please ask them to speak for themselves rather than relying on you and your colleagues to run interference or take this story on tangents.
Fae
On 7 April 2014 11:42, Steffen Prößdorf steffen.proessdorf@wikimedia.de wrote:
Hi Folks,
please do not pick out that single point and overestimate it. I have not mentioned this to dupe anyone, but only to illustrate the conflict of alignment or the objective of the chapters. The opposing opinions are represented by several Wikimedians on both sides, please do not harp on this single quote.
Thanks, Steffen
2014-04-07 12:33 GMT+02:00 Fæ faewik@gmail.com:
If that is indeed the case, the comment to "fuck the community" would
fit
quite well in the divisions that /some/ people are alleging exist. Tomasz
Could whoever is being quoted as saying this please come forward publicly and explain what they meant?
If this was anything more than a bad joke, then I would expect someone who made views like this, while representing our community of volunteers to be asked by their Board to resign their elected or appointed position. I urge those who were at the meeting, to demonstrate appropriate community leadership and encourage the person they know to have expressed this viewpoint to come forward and explain themselves in their own words.
Fae
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