Re: [Wikimedia-l] Updates from Wikimedia Foundation Board

2020-05-02 Thread Pine W 
Andy, I was going off of this statement: "In order to ensure sustained
community representation on the Board, we are extending the terms of
the three community-selected trustees currently occupying those seats
(María, Dariusz, and James) for up to a year until we are all ready to
run the postponed process"

That is different from saying that the Board will ask the community if
the community wants to postpone elections. I would understand and
support the latter, but not the former. I don't want the WMF Board to
start down the path of deciding if and when the community will hold
elections for community-nominated seats. This should be a decision for
the community, and the community alone, to decide.

By the way, has the Elections Committee been consulted regarding any of this?

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Updates from Wikimedia Foundation Board

2020-05-02 Thread Andy Mabbett 
On Sat, 2 May 2020 at 22:30, Pine W  wrote:

> I must point out that, at this time, the WMF Board has not received
> consent from the community to make changes to its size or composition,
> nor to alter the terms for the holders of community-nominated seats to
> the Board.
>
> I suggest that the Board start an RfC on Meta regarding extending the
> terms of existing community-selected trustees by one year. This would
> be a simple RfC and easy to implement.
>
> A more complex RfC would be needed regarding the size and composition
> of the Board.

> WMF has a pattern of making significant decisions which it has not
> discussed with the community in advance and for which it has not
> obtained the community's consent. The fact that the Board continues in
> this pattern even after a governance review is concerning.

From the e-mail to which you reply;

"We plan to present the Board’s vision and hold a community discussion
as part of the process for the Bylaws change."

-- 
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Passings of Users Tsirel, Muidlatif, Dmitrismirnov, and Ronhjones

2020-05-02 Thread Ryan Merkley 
I’m incredibly sad to learn of Muid’s passing. He was such a bright light with 
an enormous personality. I was very fortunate to know him though my work at CC. 

r.
_

Ryan Merkley (he/him)
Chief of Staff, Wikimedia Foundation 

rmerk...@wikimedia.org 
@ryanmerkley 
+1 415 271 4946

> On May 2, 2020, at 4:45 PM, Pine W  wrote:
> 
> Hello Wikimedia-l colleagues,
> 
> It has come to my attention that the following four contributors have passed 
> on.
> 
> The obituaries here are adapted from
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deceased_Wikipedians/2020,
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deceased_Wikipedians/2019, and
> https://ru.wikinews.org/wiki/%D0%92_%D0%92%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B8_%D0%BE%D1%82_COVID-19_%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%80_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80_%D0%B8_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%B5%D1%86_%D0%94%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%A1%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2;
> see those pages for the original texts and attribution.
> 
> 
> == Boris Tsirelson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Tsirel) ==
> 
> On 21 January 2020, Boris Semyonovich Tsirelson, a mathematician and
> professor of mathematics at Tel Aviv University, Israel, as well as a
> Wikipedian, passed away due to being voluntarily euthanized following
> a terminal battle with cancer. He was 69. During his lifetime, he made
> notable contributions to probability theory and functional analysis,
> such as "Tsirelson's bound" and "Tsirelson space". On Wikipedia, he
> made 8,857 edits, including the creation of pages such as
> "Conditioning (probability)" and "Standard probability space", among
> others. It is currently unknown if he is survived by anyone, but his
> legacy will not be forgotten.
> 
> 
> == Muid Latif (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Muidlatif) ==
> 
> On 11 April 2020, Muid Latif, a former project lead of Creative
> Commons in Malaysia who had been promoting free-culture movement and
> open collaboration, passed away as announced by his brother at Latif's
> official Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/muidlatif/).
> 
> In addition to his user pages, there are articles about him in Malay
> Wikipedia (https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muid_Latif) and English
> Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muid_Latif).
> 
> 
> == Dmitri Smirnov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dmitrismirnov) ==
> 
> A Russian émigré to the UK, composer and teacher, and a Wikimedian,
> Dmitri passed away on 9 April from COVID-19. I will quote portions of
> the page from Russian Wikinews.
> 
> В четверг, 9 апреля 2020 года, в больнице города Уотфорд
> (Великобритания) от осложнений, вызванных коронавирусной инфекцией
> COVID-19, умер советский и британский композитор, поэт, викимедиец,
> администратор Русской и Английской Викитеки Дмитрий Смирнов. В ноябре
> прошлого года ему исполнился 71 год.
> 
> Дмитрий Николаевич Смирнов родился 2 ноября 1948 года в Минске в семье
> оперных певцов Николая Трофимовича Сенькина (сценический псевдоним
> Садовский, 1914—1999) и Евгении Александровны Смирновой (1914—2003).
> 
> В 1967 году окончил музыкальное училище в городе Фрунзе (ныне Бишкек),
> а затем, в 1972 году, Московскую консерваторию. Среди его учителей
> Эдисон Денисов, Николай Сидельников, Юрий Холопов, Филипп Гершкович.
> 
> Был женат на композиторе Елене Фирсовой.
> 
> В 1991 году Смирнов эмигрировал в Великобританию. Преподавал в
> Кембридже (Сент-Джонс колледж, 1992), в Дартингтоне (графство
> Девоншир, 1992), в 1993—1997 профессор композиции в Килском
> университете (графство Стаффордшир), в Голдсмитс-колледже (Лондон,
> 2002).
> 
> Смирнов — один из активнейших участников вики-проектов Викимедиа с
> псевдонимом Dmitrismirnov. Начиная с 18 апреля 2006 года он сделал 242
> 896 правок. Основным его проектом стала Русская Викитека, где Дмитрий
> был администратором и внёс 212 513 изминений. Как наиболее
> продуктивный участник этого проекта он шесть раз удостаивался
> Вики-премии в 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 и 2019 годов. Также он внёс
> заметный вклад в Английской Викитеке, где так же был администратором,
> в Викисклад, в Русскую и Английскую Википедии, в Викиданные.
> 
> Он вносил изменения в вики-проекты практически каждый день. Последние
> его правки датируются 12 марта.
> 
> 3 апреля он размещает в Facebook первые фотографии из госпиталя в
> кислородной маске. Потом он выкладывает ещё несколько фоторепортажей
> из клиники: 3 и 4 апреля, шутит. Между ними воспоминания — фотография
> с Еленой Фирсовой.
> 
> В 17:31 9 апреля на его стене в Facebook появляется первый некролог.
> 
> Примечательно, что ещё 2 апреля Дмитрий Смирнов оставил в Facebook запись:
> «Я счастлив что побывал на этой земле»
> 
> 
> == Ron Jones (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ronhjones) ==
> 
> We learned

[Wikimedia-l] Passings of Users Tsirel, Muidlatif, Dmitrismirnov, and Ronhjones

2020-05-02 Thread Pine W 
Hello Wikimedia-l colleagues,

It has come to my attention that the following four contributors have passed on.

The obituaries here are adapted from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deceased_Wikipedians/2020,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deceased_Wikipedians/2019, and
https://ru.wikinews.org/wiki/%D0%92_%D0%92%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B8_%D0%BE%D1%82_COVID-19_%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%80_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80_%D0%B8_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%B5%D1%86_%D0%94%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%A1%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2;
see those pages for the original texts and attribution.


== Boris Tsirelson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Tsirel) ==

On 21 January 2020, Boris Semyonovich Tsirelson, a mathematician and
professor of mathematics at Tel Aviv University, Israel, as well as a
Wikipedian, passed away due to being voluntarily euthanized following
a terminal battle with cancer. He was 69. During his lifetime, he made
notable contributions to probability theory and functional analysis,
such as "Tsirelson's bound" and "Tsirelson space". On Wikipedia, he
made 8,857 edits, including the creation of pages such as
"Conditioning (probability)" and "Standard probability space", among
others. It is currently unknown if he is survived by anyone, but his
legacy will not be forgotten.


== Muid Latif (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Muidlatif) ==

On 11 April 2020, Muid Latif, a former project lead of Creative
Commons in Malaysia who had been promoting free-culture movement and
open collaboration, passed away as announced by his brother at Latif's
official Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/muidlatif/).

In addition to his user pages, there are articles about him in Malay
Wikipedia (https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muid_Latif) and English
Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muid_Latif).


== Dmitri Smirnov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dmitrismirnov) ==

A Russian émigré to the UK, composer and teacher, and a Wikimedian,
Dmitri passed away on 9 April from COVID-19. I will quote portions of
the page from Russian Wikinews.

В четверг, 9 апреля 2020 года, в больнице города Уотфорд
(Великобритания) от осложнений, вызванных коронавирусной инфекцией
COVID-19, умер советский и британский композитор, поэт, викимедиец,
администратор Русской и Английской Викитеки Дмитрий Смирнов. В ноябре
прошлого года ему исполнился 71 год.

Дмитрий Николаевич Смирнов родился 2 ноября 1948 года в Минске в семье
оперных певцов Николая Трофимовича Сенькина (сценический псевдоним
Садовский, 1914—1999) и Евгении Александровны Смирновой (1914—2003).

В 1967 году окончил музыкальное училище в городе Фрунзе (ныне Бишкек),
а затем, в 1972 году, Московскую консерваторию. Среди его учителей
Эдисон Денисов, Николай Сидельников, Юрий Холопов, Филипп Гершкович.

Был женат на композиторе Елене Фирсовой.

В 1991 году Смирнов эмигрировал в Великобританию. Преподавал в
Кембридже (Сент-Джонс колледж, 1992), в Дартингтоне (графство
Девоншир, 1992), в 1993—1997 профессор композиции в Килском
университете (графство Стаффордшир), в Голдсмитс-колледже (Лондон,
2002).

Смирнов — один из активнейших участников вики-проектов Викимедиа с
псевдонимом Dmitrismirnov. Начиная с 18 апреля 2006 года он сделал 242
896 правок. Основным его проектом стала Русская Викитека, где Дмитрий
был администратором и внёс 212 513 изминений. Как наиболее
продуктивный участник этого проекта он шесть раз удостаивался
Вики-премии в 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 и 2019 годов. Также он внёс
заметный вклад в Английской Викитеке, где так же был администратором,
в Викисклад, в Русскую и Английскую Википедии, в Викиданные.

Он вносил изменения в вики-проекты практически каждый день. Последние
его правки датируются 12 марта.

3 апреля он размещает в Facebook первые фотографии из госпиталя в
кислородной маске. Потом он выкладывает ещё несколько фоторепортажей
из клиники: 3 и 4 апреля, шутит. Между ними воспоминания — фотография
с Еленой Фирсовой.

В 17:31 9 апреля на его стене в Facebook появляется первый некролог.

Примечательно, что ещё 2 апреля Дмитрий Смирнов оставил в Facebook запись:
«Я счастлив что побывал на этой земле»


== Ron Jones (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ronhjones) ==

We learned in May 2020 of Ron's death in early April 2019. He was a
retired physical chemist from England, and he died on April 7, 2019,
the day he made his last edit, in a tragic house fire that also
claimed the life of his wife Sue and their beloved pets. On Wikipedia
he was an administrator who helped out with WikiProject Chemistry, did
anti-vandalism work, and also ran RonBot, which among other things
performed maintenance on non-free images. He had been a contributor
for over 11 years, making over 400,000 edits, as well as being a
prolific editor on Wikimedia Commons, where he made over 100,000 edits
as an administrator. He was a member of

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Brand Project: Preparing for feedback on naming convention proposals

2020-05-02 Thread Pine W 
I would like to hear from the WMF Board what their thoughts are
regarding what is happening here. In particular, I would like to hear
the Board's explanation for why they think that this a good use of
donated money and everyone's time.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Brand Project: Preparing for feedback on naming convention proposals

2020-05-02 Thread Dan Szymborski 
On Fri, May 1, 2020 at 7:25 AM Samir Elsharbaty 
wrote:



> The 2030 Movement Brand Project is now moving into Phase 2: naming
> convention proposals [1]. This is the most anticipated phase of this
> project. It will ask the movement to evaluate which proposal(s) best
> communicate who we are so that billions of new users can understand us and
> join us. We look forward to getting everyone’s feedback on the different
> ideas being developed.
>
> The RFC was quite clear that the answer was none.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Is the Wikimedia-movement apolitical?

2020-05-02 Thread James Salsman 
> "Wikipedia should support any political movement that makes
> people's lives better because they will then have more time to edit
> Wikipedia," is an incredibly dubious line of reasoning. It would literally
> cover anything in politics

On the contrary, by definition, it would be restricted to the subset
of ways to make people's lives better which also allow them more time
to edit. The contrapositive of 'because' is 'is caused by.'

If campaign finance reform makes people's lives better and allows them
more time to edit, then there would seem to be five categories:
'active opposition,' 'inactive opposition,' 'silence,' 'inactive
support,' 'active support.' Obviously the Board wants to do what
supports the community, employees, donors, and readership, not
necessarily in that order.

I personally would love to see a link to https://bit.ly/amendmentact
at least on the Outreach wiki or something, as I have no idea what
passes for petition notability these days.

Best regards,
Jim

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