Every once in a while something happens in our Wikimedia-verse -- this thread, for instance, or getting into a political discussion with someone at an event -- that reminds me that I can violently disagree on matters of politics with some of my dearest friends in Wikimedia. Of course Wikimedians are deeply and clearly political when it comes to free knowledge and copyright law -- but after that it's often a mystery to me how people feel about various issues, and sometimes a surprise to find that we agree or disagree.
And that is one of the things that I love about this community -- the fact that regardless of whether we would vote for different people or come down on different sides in almost anything else, we can agree about our love of getting an encyclopedia edited and sharing free knowledge. It's lovely :)
Now, let's get back to fighting about something that matters, like Oxford commas and reference formats!
-- phoebe
p.s. welcome, Damon!
On Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 8:54 AM, Ziko van Dijk zvandijk@gmail.com wrote:
Well said, Craig. Because "Che Guevara" means for me: I'm out. Ziko
Am Mittwoch, 8. Oktober 2014 schrieb Craig Franklin :
I think the first lesson here is: if you're going to talk about a harmonious community, don't quote divisive political figures in support of your argument :-)
That said, welcome Damon! Certainly, it's a pretty tough job that you've stepped into, but I'm optimistic that a fresh approach and fresh eyes will assist the engineering team in pushing through the present difficulties with software deployments.
Regards, Craig Franklin
On 7 October 2014 11:02, Nathan <nawrich@gmail.com javascript:;> wrote:
Hello and welcome, Damon.
One thing I've long appreciated about the Wikimedia movement is that it
is
not political, and indeed the flagship project is explicitly neutral.
This
distinction has become a little more nuanced as the movement has taken political positions that are congruent with the overall mission, but I think it remains the case that Wikimedians have been able to avoid entanglements with general political issues. This has been especially the case with most deeply controversial and current political debates.
So while I agree with your sentiment, that leaders must model values such as courage and integrity, I think it would have been better expressed without the ringing endorsement of Che Guevara. As you say, we should choose our words carefully and ensure that our language is positive and inclusive. This is obviously an area where we can all make progress.
~Nathan _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org javascript:; Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org javascript:;
?subject=unsubscribe>
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org javascript:; ?subject=unsubscribe>
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe