Look, I have no problem with the open letters from WM Venezuela, España or Israel. I might not agree 100% with everything in them, but they are generally on top of the issues, and they focus on the problems they law poses for us and our need for better solutions - all worth bringing to a wider audience.
But the letter from WM Argentina is very different. It condemns the actions of "certain Wikimedia Commons administrators" who have deleted URAA-affected files (without naming them or linking to any of the relevant deletions), and makes various claims about how Commons policy and practice has changed and is inconsistent with statements by the WMF Board and Legal team.
If you want to make these sorts of claims in an open letter, you should be ready to back them up. But WM Argentina cannot do so IMO, because many of their claims are untrue. Our practice is consistent with the WMF Board and Legal team statements, and it isn't true that the "burden of proof has been inverted" - the burden of proof has always been on those who want us to keep hosting a file. These sorts of mistakes could easily have been avoided if they had talked directly to experienced Commons editors first.
I'm a Commons admin, but I'm fairly inactive these days and I don't believe I have deleted any URAA-affected files, so I don't think I am one of the "certain" Commons admins they refer to. But I do find defamation of hard-working members of my community offensive. If WM Argentina wants to "respectfully call the Wikimedia Commons community to reflect" on something, that does not seem the best way to start.
On Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 6:03 AM, Carlos M. Colina maorx@wikimedia.org.vewrote:
Wait, aren't the chapters composed from people from the wikimedia community?
Also, didn't you guys stop by a second to think the chapter thoroughly discussed the contents of the letter with its members, which may vote in favor or against publishing it?
And if it is on Meta, is open to discussion, no?
Finally, in Venezuela we say "el que se pica es porque ají come". No need to take it personally if you are not among those "certain" Commons admins, right?
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