Just a quick follow-up on this thread. On the Wikimedia Foundation's Board I currently serve as the Chair of the Audit Committee ( http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Audit_committee). One of the Audit Committee's duties is to ensure appropriate review of fraud, abuse, waste, or other wrongdoing. I encourage anyone with specific concerns to reach out to me directly. I would of course respect the wishes of anyone who wants to remain anonymous. Thanks.
-s ================== Stu West User:Stu stu <at> wikimedia.org On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 3:30 PM, Milos Rancic <mill...@gmail.com> wrote: > Besides having a great time on Wikimania, I've heard a number of > complains which put a shadow on a really great event. At some point of > time I was even a bit depressed. > > I was thinking a lot about should I raise this issue or not; and if > yes, then how. After the first issue I thought not to talk about it at > all. After the second, I thought that it is better not to talk. After > the third, I thought that I should contact some people privately. > After the fourth I've realized that I should talk about it publicly. > Then a couple of more issues came which convinced me that I have to > talk about that publicly. We are open community and serious issues, > those which affect many people, should be discussed publicly. > > I will talk without mentioning names, but I will try to be precise > enough. In other words, I don't want to talk about people and > organizations, but about problems. Taking care about problems is much > more important than making witch hunts. > > It also should be noted that all of those problems are "natural" and I > don't see that any of them is able to hurt Wikimedia movement, if we > put it under control. It also should be noted that there are many > successful corrupted organizations, like FIFA and OIC are. However, I > hope that we won't go that way. > > I've heard about two serious corruption issues among chapters. And as > I am living in a deeply corrupted country, I am personally very upset > with this. However, those two cases are too obvious not to be > recognized and fixing is in ongoing phase. However, I am very deeply > concerned about what is going with the rest of 20+ chapters. And what > will happen with them when they are able to become corrupted. We need > an audit system for checking how things are going on in all chapters. > In this case I am much more concerned about chapters than about WMF, > but it would be good to have a common international body which would > audit all of the important issues among chapters and WMF. > > What I am able to realize a couple of months earlier, everybody are > able to realize when those things become public. I've already > mentioned privately that I am deeply concerned with the connection > with US business interests and present WMF strategy (not to be > confused with whole Strategic Planning, but partially yes). It is now > a public issue, although my concern has been seen by very limited > number of people. And I am quite sure that it was not about spreading > my concern via informal channels, but about recognizing the problem by > a number of Wikimedians separately. I hope that Strategy Planning will > fix those problems -- if properly implemented. > > There is a split between those who are coming from rich and poor > countries. Wikimania social networking was about various groups. I am > lucky that I am connected well and that I know where should I ask and > what should I ask. However, there are Wikimedians who are not well > connected and who don't know where to ask and what to ask. I am also > from a country similar to Poland and I had a feeling like I am just in > a little bit weird city of my own country. But, many Wikimedians came > from very different parts of the world, as well as they were not able > to buy their confidence. If we want to be a global movement, we have > to think about them. It is not just about Wikimanias, it is about > every social interaction in which Wikimedia is involved. Thus, I fully > support Wikimedia Israel initiative for helping spreading Wikimedia > projects into developing world. And if organizations from Israel are > not welcomed everywhere, there are many other Wikimedia chapter which > could help. > > Wikimedia is now a global movement and global culture. It is not > anymore a site with cool content, but an organization and movement > with worldwide impact. *All* decisions of WMF, chapters and their > bodies are now political decisions in the international sense. So, > *before* making *any* decision, please consider political impact of > your decision. If you need help, you can ask various Wikimedians or > hire a professional in international relations. > > WMF and chapters have enough money now to be attracted by careerists. > Persons who try to put themselves as "mid-players", between Wikimedia > organizations and people and organizations who are working with WM > organizations. WMF and chapters should be explicit in noting to > everybody that such behavior is not acceptable and to Wikimedians that > they are safe of it. > > Closely connected with the previous previous is the fact that many > Wikimedians feel that they are alienated from Wikimedia leadership > (not just WMF and staff, but more about some amorphous mass of > influential Wikimedians). There was an incident in Dormitory 6 because > of misunderstanding between organizers and dormitory management. I > would say that it shouldn't be a big deal, as such problems can happen > everywhere. What was not usual is the reaction of the part of > Wikimedians who were there. Some of them were cool and just somewhat > frustrated because of this. However, the reaction and feeling of the > other part was "We shouldn't call them [WMF and organizers]. They will > not help us. They don't care for us. They have fun in the city, > although we have problems here." > > This feeling is irrational in the particular case. Organizers took > care about them, of course. However, I didn't hear this from a couple > of well connected Wikimedians who were there. I didn't hear it from > Europeans and inhabitants of other OECD countries. I've heard this > from not so rich Wikimedians who were far away from home; from those > who felt insecure in a distant country and who feel a gap between > those with money (and/or connections) and them. > > This list is consisted of our first serious real-world problems. Yes, > I know that we used to be virtual, online, onwiki. I know that those > problems are new for us. But if we want to stay as a global movement, > we have to fix them. Otherwise, we'll be just another attempt for > creating a decadent society which main purpose is to make fun for rich > and wannabe rich. And, by the way, to explain to poor how rich world > looks like. > > _______________________________________________ > foundation-l mailing list > foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l > _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l