On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 7:46 PM, Oliver Keyes ironholds@gmail.com wrote:
I believe (correct me if I'm wrong, somebody) that it'd be Philippe (a Director)
Yes, at the C-level, I'm probably the most active editor (1K+ edits on enwiki since 2007, plus probably several hundred more as an IP before that since c. 2003). How much cred my longer-than-Wikipedia-has-existed FOSS experience gets me is of course up for debate, but I'd like to think it demonstrates similar values and experiences.
More generally, Erik's departure is obviously a big loss in many ways; both his experience and his deep commitment to our values will be hard to replace. But overall I think we are continuing to mature in mostly healthy ways, and I hope we'll get a chance to show that over time.
Luis
On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 9:31 PM, Robert Rohde rarohde@gmail.com wrote:
Erik, thank you for everything you have contributed to Wikimedia over the years. It has made an immeasurable impact, and whatever future projects you turn to will be lucky to have you.
I have often thought that Erik held a somewhat special place in the WMF
as
the highest ranking staff member who began their career as a major editor on the projects themselves. Hence, I have tended to imagine that he
would
be there to provide the outside hires with valuable insights into the functioning and feelings of the editor community. Not a flawless process for sure, but still an important one.
Out of curiosity, with Erik's departure, who will be the highest ranking staff member(s) with extensive editing experience (say >5000 edits, or something like that)? I skimmed the WMF bios, and I don't think there is anyone left in a VP or C-level position that grew out of the community.
It
is the nature of the beast that many of the best talents will come to Wikimedia from outside of the community, and consequently they will have
to
learn what the community is all about. However, I am a little surprised that there aren't more identifiable community members among the top level staff. I would think that having that background and experience would be valuable for some of the roles.
With Erik's departure it feels like we've passed some sort of milestone
in
the evolution of Wikimedia. We've moved toward a more professional
staff,
but also a staff that is more distant from the roots of Wikimedia.
Anyway, best wishes Erik. Your contributions and eloquence will be
missed.
(Though I won't be shy in reminding you that you can still participate
in
the WMF projects as a volunteer, should you get that itch. ;-) )
-Robert Rohde
P.S. Some of the senior staff bios could really use some cleanup and expansion (e.g. Lisa Seitz-Gruwell).
On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 4:41 PM, Johan Jönsson brevlistor@gmail.com
wrote:
Thank you, Erik, for the time and effort you've spent on the Wikimedia projects (and will continue spending, I hope, in some capacity).
Best of luck in your future endeavours.
//Johan Jönsson
2015-04-13 20:12 GMT+02:00 Erik Moeller erik@wikimedia.org:
Hi all --
As Lila noted, since January 2008 I've worn many hats at the Wikimedia Foundation, and in the six years before that I was a Wikipedian, MediaWiki developer, and member of the WMF board of trustees. I became involved in Wikipedia when I was 22 years old. :) The Wikimedia movement has accomplished amazing things, but I believe it's time now for me to do something different and new.
It's been a long and incredible journey, and one I am privileged to have helped to shape. When I joined the Foundation in December 2007 we were a staff of a dozen people, with barely enough funds to keep the lights on. Since then, we've tackled challenges of a complexity and scale faced by few other organisations. In doing so, we’ve been generously supported by people all over the world who are grateful for the gift of free knowledge.
I’m proud of and happy with what we've achieved. Reaching people on mobile. Pioneering new approaches working with universities. Painstakingly building a visual editing experience on top of wikitext. :) I’m glad we’ve taken a stand when it matters (SOPA blackout, NSA lawsuit) and that we don’t shy away from complex issues such as community health and diversity.
I’m excited that Wikidata is growing in leaps and bounds with the help of Wikimedia Germany, and that more and more powerful tools and services are being built on the basis of Wikimedia APIs and data. I’ve always believed that Wikimedia chapter and affiliate organizations are key to the success of the movement, and I hope they are going to truly thrive in years to come.
But it's time. As the leadership team begins to coalesce under Lila, I want to open up space for the organization to learn and explore anew -- and I’d like to rediscover for myself what it means to tackle challenges outside of my areas of comfort and familiarity.
I’m very interested in the technical challenges of federated collaboration, and am looking forward to getting my hands dirty in that domain. I also want to explore how to make patterns of ethics, policy, and self-governance more accessible and re-usable for communities. In short, I’m itching to immerse myself in new problem spaces and new ideas.
Lila, Damon, Terry, myself and others in the org have been discussing how to organize product going forward to set the org up for success in the years to come, and we’ll have an update on that very soon. This is a very natural point for me to pursue something new.
What Wikimedia does in the world is wonderful & important. I’m sure I will continue to cross paths with many of you in future as I continue to move in free culture circles, and I very much look forward to it.
I’ll continue to be @ WMF full-time through April, and will make myself available as necessary afterwards, for when the org needs human institutional memory that surpasses digital archives. I wish you all success and joy :-)
Love,
Erik
Erik Möller VP of Product & Strategy, Wikimedia Foundation
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