Hi Anna,
Thanks for offering your thoughts on this (and I mean that sincerely). Lord knows that sometimes the temperature on this list and in other venues rises to a point where no communication of substance can occur, and all that is achieved is that everyone walks away with bruised egos and hurt feelings. Obviously this is not good.
But, let me turn around your email; it's also pretty demoralising for us on the other side of the equation when we're described as a bunch who 'wants great talent to walk' because we see 'no point to the foundation anyway'. Especially in this particular thread where I see naught but respectful yet widespread criticism of the tone of some of the annual report. I *know* you're not trying to shut down the discussion here, or retreat into a defensive position with your fingers stick in your ears, but that is what it *felt* like reading your email, and that is just as much a problem.
I concur with you that the way that the community communicates with the Foundation needs to improve. But from the Foundation's side, you need to make it easier for us to communicate in a constructive way. That includes not having discussions around things like values sequestered away on some corner at Meta in a densely written essay that might be difficult for non-English speakers or those not familiar with the philosophical issues around values and corporate ethics to engage fully.
To make this email not all doom-and-gloom, I want to agree with something that SJ said; the actual visual presentation and layout of the report is fantastic. Very striking, easy to read, minimalist without being sparse. My hat is off to whomever in the Communication team was involved with that side of things.
Cheers, Craig
On 2 March 2017 at 17:46, Anna Stillwell astillwell@wikimedia.org wrote:
We (people who work and volunteer at the WMF) need a way to get feedback. We need a way to be accountable and responsive. We all want that. And I actually believe that we are all working in good faith toward that. *And* the cumulative impact of the way people at the Foundation get this feedback begins to feel like public, collective punishment. And that dynamic, one that we all tend to participate in, is driving talented people away from the foundation.