On this note, here's an essay I wrote along similar lines in 2016. I think things have improved significantly since then, but most of the observations are still true...
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:The_Land/Why_do_They_always_do_It_wrong On Fri, Feb 22, 2019 at 7:01 PM Pine W <wiki.p...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > Recent events have brought to mind the recurring challenges of stress and > friction in the Wikiverse that can happen in interactions, or lack of > interactions, between WMF, affiliates, and community members. > > I realize that some friction is inevitable, but the feeling that I get is > that the levels of stress regarding these interactions are, on average, > fairly high. > > This stress can happen on both sides. My understanding is that some staff > are afraid to communicate in public because they worry about making people > angry for unpredictable reasons. Affiliates and community people may feel > frustrated or ignored. > > For me, this situation is painful and frustrating, and I'm currently > feeling worn by the friction of our groups. > > The Wikiverse will probably always have a some friction, and some of that > friction may lead to insightful conversations and good refinement of ideas, > but the average level of WMF-affiliate-community friction feels high. > > I'm not saying that there should be no conflicts or no difficult > conversations. Sometimes I think that being frank is the best thing to do, > and a high level of stress is difficult to avoid in certain situations. > However, I would like for the average level of stress and friction in our > interactions to be more moderate. I would like for staff to feel generally > okay regarding communicating in public, and I would like for affiliates and > community members (in which I include myself) to feel less pain. > > I think that the mission to share verifiable and reliable knowledge with > the world is amazing, and I'm grateful that we do this. However, the stress > level regarding WMF-affiliate-community interactions feels high in a way > that I think that this is a problem. Maybe a question to ask about our > interactions is, "How can improve the quality of our interactions in a way > that is generally beneficial for all groups and beneficial for our common > goals?" > > Would anyone like to make suggestions? > > Thanks, > > Pine > ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine ) > _______________________________________________ > 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-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ 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-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
