Anne, regarding:
"Since the Board must approve acceptance of any donations over $100,000 USD, it seems to be obvious that they should be consulted and possibly should actively approve any grant applications where the dollar value sought is higher than that amount."
I'm not sure that the board should be *consulted* ahead of such applications' or should prior-approve all such applications. That seems a bit like micromanagement. But it makes sense to me for the board to be *advised *of such applications and when they're being actively contemplated or prepared.
Anthony Cole
On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 9:11 PM, Risker risker.wp@gmail.com wrote:
I'm sorry to hear that you feel this way, Gerard. I personally would like to feel more assured that the WMF is looking into the longer future and actively plannning for the day that donations no longer support a large staff doing lots of things.
I am concerned today that the team specifically tasked to work closely with so many elements of the community has lost 7% of its staff, and 30% of its leaders, in a single week. This should be a concern in any organization.
With respect to the Knight grant - I know that many times grant applications are made for considerably more than is given, and I am interested to know how much the WMF requested in the first place. I would also like to know whether or not the Board was formally advised of the request before it was submitted. Since the Board must approve acceptance of any donations over $100,000 USD, it seems to be obvious that they should be consulted and possibly should actively approve any grant applications where the dollar value sought is higher than that amount. I don't believe the current policies require advance approval or even advance notification, though.
Risker/Anne
On 12 February 2016 at 03:54, Gerard Meijssen gerard.meijssen@gmail.com wrote:
Hoi, I am not complaining. I point out that all this huha does not get us anywhere. I am not afraid to give an opinion and I am not afraid to be a contrarian when I think it makes sense. Yes, things happened that were
not
beautiful. They are not what upset me. What upsets me is that people like Siko and Anna are leaving. Because they are part of "my" Wikimedia Foundation. What upsets me is that I routinely use Magnus's tool and process hundreds of thousands of records and am to understand that
official
query is stunted and does not allow for this "because it was not in the design" and it is then pointed out that it takes money to solve this...
My point is that baying for blood is not what helps us forward. What I do know is that when sheer negativity is not coupled with an ability to stop and move forward, we will get in a downward spiral. I fault Pine for not being able to stop. What I wish for is for people like Anna and Siko and money for our environment and not for an endowment. Thanks, GerardM
On 12 February 2016 at 09:35, Michel Vuijlsteke wikipedia@zog.org
wrote:
Gerard,
I was waiting for this mail. For me personally, your complaining is achieving exactly the opposite of what you think.
It sounds as if you'd much rather prefer to stick your head in the sand
and
hope things will blow over. "Move along, nothing to see here -- oh
look!
something positive over there!" is not going to solve anything.
Michel
On 12 February 2016 at 09:24, Gerard Meijssen <
gerard.meijssen@gmail.com
wrote:
Hoi, Pine as you are talking about "self inflicting wounds" I take it you
are
not talking in your personal capacity. When is it enough for you?
When
are
you going to talk about positive things, things that will move us
forward.
Why ask for blood and more blood? What is it that you hope to
achieve?
Who do you represent in this unending litany of negativity and what
have
you achieved in this way? When Lila was engaged in her role, she was
to
direct in a different direction and she is doing that. You may not
like
it
and that is ok. Thanks, GerardM
On 12 February 2016 at 08:43, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Dariusz, thanks for continuing to engage here. Besides the good
questions
that others have asked, I'll add a few:
- If the Knowledge Engine is such an important project, why is it
not
mentioned in
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2015-16
?
- I realize that as a percentage of the WMF budget, $250k is a
relatively
small number. As others have said, this is not a reason for opacity
about
it, nor a reason for not having a conversation with the community
about
something so strategically important as a decision to explore the
question
of "Would users go to Wikipedia if it were an open channel beyond
an
encyclopedia?" It's one thing to have a blue-sky exercise thinking
about
possibilities, and another thing to take a $250k step in that
direction,
especially without consulting the community.
- I am getting tired about seeing bad news in general about WMF
governance, planning, and turnover. I am curious how you plan to
address
those issues. Like you, I would rather that we be talking about our movement plans for the next 10 years. However, it's difficult to
have
those
conversations when WMF is making so many self-inflicted wounds. The
recent
round of resignations is of respectable people from the WMF staff
is
making
the situation that much more concerning and that much more
difficult
to
recover from. It seems to me that WMF leadership has lost control
of
this
situation, and I'd like to hear what the recovery plan is.
Personally,
I
feel that we need leadership that can build good relationships with
the
staff and community, is transparent by default, and is capable of
restoring
the credibility of the organization's planning, execution, and
goodwill.
I
think that we may need new leadership to make that happen. I am
interested
to hear your thoughts.
Pine
On Thu, Feb 11, 2016 at 7:32 PM, Dariusz Jemielniak <
darekj@alk.edu.pl
wrote:
11.02.2016 10:23 PM "SarahSV" sarahsv.wiki@gmail.com
napisał(a):
>
>> >> > Hi > Dariusz, > > T > he grant application doesn't restrict the search engine to
Wikimedia
projects. It says that the "Knowledge Engine by Wikipedia [is a]
system
for
discovering reliable and trustworthy public information on the
Internet.
My understanding is that the top range could potentially be all
open/public
resources, but this is the far stretched total goal, and still
not
a
general search engine of all content including commercial one.
And a rrasonable realistic outcome can be just improving our
searches
across projects.
I can't comment on the initial ideas or goals, as I was not on
the
Board
before August 2015, but this is what I understand we build now.
. > > The document says the "Search Engine by Wikipedia" budget for
2015–2016
($2.4 million) was approved by the board. Can you point us to
which
board
meeting approved it and what was discussed there? >
I dont recall this specifically, and I'm going to elude this
question
by
going to sleep (and hoping someone better informed may pick).
Good night!
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