It is very sad to read this e-mail. I had the luck of meeting you several times. I wish you the best in your life.
Thank you for all these time working for free knowledge.
El 2019-06-20 17:59, Gerard Meijssen escribió:
Hoi Romaine, I am sad. It has been a pleasure to work with you. Your energy has been inspiring.
I hope that we will find each other whenever, wherever. Thank you Romaine :) Gerard
On Thu, 20 Jun 2019 at 13:15, Romaine Wiki romaine.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
Dear community,
First I need to mention that the message I sent a few days ago had too limited information regarding the context of the message. The e-mail was written by me personally alone, written from my perspective. The email contained an overview what has happened, written based on e-mails and eyewitnesses. So if anyone would say it is not true, please add {{Citation needed}} to that person's saying.
About a month ago I have decided that I will indefinitely no longer attend any WMF funded events as result of bullying, attempts to silence me, intimidation and treats against me. This has resulted in that I feel extremely unsafe as the result of the behaviour of only a few individuals.
This has lead that since the start of this occurring about 18 months ago I have been over a dozen of times very ill, while I was in the 10 years before only twice that ill.
I see no indication that the issues addressed are taken seriously, so I see no safe space for me to be present. In my childhood I was bullied for being different, I am not interested in a second episode now.
From my parents I have learned to lend others always a helping hand where I can. As such I was happy to be able to help the organisers of various conferences and I always tried to make it a comfortable place for everyone.
To my regret I have been informed that some people have indicated that I have given them an unpleasant feeling. You must know that I never ever had such intention (also still largely unsure what of me has given you this emotion) and I am feeling bad that I gave you such feeling. My apologies!
Some people have indicated with last year's conference that they had an impression of me while I never ever had intended as such. In the past period I have been thinking about it what would make some people think that I gave that impression. This includes that some people think that I was flirting or something with other people, while I actually had no interest in the other.
I suspect it might have something to do that I almost never really introduced myself as I always thought that widely diverse people in our movement would respect me in my diversity.
Perhaps it is good to create some clarity. Traditionally looking, I understand people expect me as "man" to fall on women, but I do not fall on the women present at the conferences, as well as that I have a different gender identification. In other words: LGBT+ Also I am autistic, having aspergers, having sensory overloads, being claustrophobic, having a hearing problem, avoiding touching, having an eidetic memory (photographic memory), etc, being divergent in comparison to many others, I am feeling a bit socially clumsy.
The first 8 years in the wiki world I was not feeling safe to meet anyone. In 2011 I visited the first wiki event when Wikipedia celebrated its 10th birthday. I felt more and more safe and joined more events. You might have seen me with my large enthusiasm as I feel by providing knowledge to the world, we make the world a better place for anyone. Now 8 years later I am leaving as I am not feeling safe again.
But please, do not get me wrong. I live in a country that would probably win the world championships in complaining. I believe everyone has the right to complain, as that I see as part of the basic rights of freedom of expression and thought. It matters however what happens next with complaints. Every complaint should be judged by independent individuals, with impartiality, without also any *appearance* of partiality, with taking into account *all* information, with care and respect to all individuals involved. (etc) Also anyone has the right to defend themselves against allegations *before* conclusions are drawn and before decisions are made. Among other things, three times a conclusion was drawn without talking with me, with as excuse "we know how he thinks", sorry, but that is a heavy insult to me.
Behind the scenes I have been trying to address the issues with dialogues, as well as various other people, who have indicated their concerns, offered help, offered (actual) solutions, tried to intermediate, etc etc, zero results, zero self reflection.
There is a limit of what a human being can bear, my limit is here.
In the world, people have been discriminated for their religion, political beliefs, the colour of their skin, because of their gender, because of a different gender identity, how they look like, ..., or just because they are considered to be "weird" when people do not understand the other. I would prefer that we do not copy that and instead organise a civilised complaint handling that works independently.
Many of you gave me a welcome feeling, independent from who/how I am. Thank you!
As I likely will not meet you again, the one thing that rests me to say is: thank you for collaborating, talking and sharing your thoughts, I wish you all the best!
Romaine _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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