On Thu, Jan 7, 2016 at 7:08 PM, Pete Forsyth peteforsyth@gmail.com wrote:
The English Wikipedia Signpost just published data from a recent staff survey that shows extraordinarily low confidence in senior WMF leadership;[1] and the WMF and Knight Foundations just published information about a restricted grant, which apparently signals a shift in strategy taking place behind closed doors.[2]
As a Trustee, Doc James would surely have been aware of both issues, weeks or months ago. Various recent discussions suggest that he believed that both issues should be brought to the attention of the Wikimedia community. And yet, HE DID NOT PUBLISH THEM.
Doc James James has just said[1] on Talk:Jimbo Wales,
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Documents concerning long term strategy were not kept from me in the end. Others were. And yes I was asked to keep the long term strategy documents secret after suggesting they be made more widely known and discussed. I have kept the documents secret.
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This underscores Pete's point. James is still keeping those documents secret -- even now that he has left the board.
So, dear Trustees, can *you* please walk the transparency walk, rather than pulling up the drawbridge, and show the community the long-term strategy documents that James was asked to keep – and still is keeping – secret, in line with your wishes?
Or do we have to wait until the singularity arrives and machines tell us because human beings don't have the *guts*?
Please present to the community a full and open account of
- the long-term strategy, including the Knowledge Engine, - what underlies it, - the related grant applications and grant agreements, and - the discussions with industry partners that preceded this project?
Or are there any non-disclosure agreements with third parties that limit what you can say in public? Then at least tell us that.
Lastly, do you have any idea what damage – hour by hour – you are doing to this movement with your secrecy?
Please do not *dare* to speak of the Wikimedia Foundation's "transparency" until you have demonstrated it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=69...