I'd like to place some things in perspective. Wikipedia Club Pune exists and it has given rise to many fine young editors. Despite its origin with IEP and despite the many strange or wrong paths that Abhi has taken, there is no doubt that we have a group of dynamic young editors who have gone on to become established editors with hundreds of edits to begin with. Rangilo Gujarati, Debastein, BPositive, come readily to mind and there are many more.
Abhi Suryawanshi is to be congratulated for his ability to motivate and bring people into the field. Unmatched till date, per my experience. However, his decision making is flawed. He is amenable to being advised but often does not follow the advice. He has a certain tendency of self-promotion. I'm really sorry to hear about the reports of financial impropriety. I have repeatedly cautioned him to take the senior Pune community members on board before launching his grant requests. People with great experience & high integrity like Sudhanwa Joglekar and Mandar Kulkarni were available to guide the Pune Wikipedia Club & help with financial best practices and grant-writing. For his own reasons Abhi has not accepted their participation, perhaps fearing that his leadership position will be lost. Unfortunately, Abhi's dynamism by itself is not good enough. We need sober management practices and financial integrity as well. We may thus choose to implement his suggestions & let him be part of the project but overall project control and financial control be given to someone else who is of proven character and track record even if he/she be a Wikipedia Club Pune member. On Wed, Mar 4, 2015 at 2:43 AM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan <rsrikant...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > FYI, > Please find a link attached to a failed grant request for funding for Wiki > Club Pune in 2011 shortly after the demise of the India Education Program. > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:PEG/AbhiSuryawanshi/Wikipedia_Club_Pune > This helps establish the case even more. Happy reading and researching. > Thanks and regards, > Srikanth. > > On 04-Mar-2015 2:18 am, "Srikanth Ramakrishnan" <rsrikant...@gmail.com> > wrote: >> >> For the record, >> I was on the EC along with Karthik when Abhishek was banned. His ban was >> for financial misappropriation during the Wiki Summit where he had promised >> both the Chapter and WMF that the money would go into a separate account >> opened for this purpose but in the end the money went into his personal >> account. >> As for the bylaw quoted on the WikiConnect talk page a notice needs to be >> given ONLY when banning a member of the chapter. At that point in time, >> Abhishek Suryawanshi was NOT a member of the chapter and hence no notice was >> mandatory. >> Having gone thru the talk page, it is very disappointing, to say the least >> that the grant was passed merely with one 'Sounds good' comment by Yohann, >> especially given the gaping holes in the grant application as pointed out by >> Karthik. All the points mentioned by Karthik are entirely valid and the >> Chapter as the Grantor and Abhishek as Grantee are both answerable to the >> members of the chapter in this case. Given that this mail is on a public >> mailing list, >> I hope WMF, who monitors it on a time to time bases keep cognizance of >> this and keeps it in mind while entertaining future grant requests which >> lack transparency. >> Thank you Sibi, for bringing this out. It is important for both members of >> the chapter as well as the community to know where funds are going in India >> so as to ensure that movement goals are not affected in the long run by the >> vested interests, if any, of a few people. >> In case, anyone is wondering, Abhishek's application was rejected in >> February 2013, as it was incomplete. >> If such financial mismanagement happens again, rest assured half the >> chapter members will raise issues, a few may resign from their primary >> membership, and the matter will go to the WMF Ombudsmen. >> Thank you, >> Regards, >> Srikanth. >> >> On 04-Mar-2015 12:30 am, "Jayanta Nath" <jayanta...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>> Hi Sibi, >>> >>> If your are talking about Wikimedia India chapter member list, your >>> message already there, please check it >>> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/wmin-members >>> >>> If your are talking about Wikimedia India Community list, you can check >>> the moderator ( hpnadig at gmail.com, anirudhsbh at gmail.com, prashanth.ns >>> at gmail.com, srik.lak at gmail.com) and ask them. >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l >>> >>> Regards, >>> Jayanta >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 7:23 PM, sibi kanagaraj <civil.si...@gmail.com> >>> wrote: >>>> >>>> Not sure , who is moderating the general Indian Community Mailing list . >>>> >>>> Please approve the mail . >>>> >>>> -Sibi >>>> >>>> On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 4:20 PM, sibi kanagaraj <civil.si...@gmail.com> >>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Hi all , >>>>> >>>>> This is to bring to the attention of the larger Wikimedia Community >>>>> about concerns regarding Abhishek Surywanshi’s ( User profile - >>>>> >>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ACentralAuth&target=AbhiSuryawanshi >>>>> ) wikimedia activities and use of movement funds. >>>>> >>>>> While edit counts are not the only way to assess the value of a >>>>> contributor and people are encourage to do outreach, I am seeing a clear >>>>> pattern that he has been very active consistently only in offline >>>>> activities >>>>> that involve large scale funds. >>>>> >>>>> History of programs or events where he has used or applied to use >>>>> movement funds: >>>>> >>>>> 1)A Travel and Participation grant request for travel to US from India >>>>> for Wikimedia Outreach in US - >>>>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:TPS/AbhiSuryawanshi/NASA_LARSS_program >>>>> . The community and EC members of Wikimedia India disapproved of this >>>>> grant >>>>> request. >>>>> >>>>> 2)Wikipedia Summit Pune - >>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Summit_Pune . How much >>>>> was >>>>> spent and how? Where is the expenses report? Following failure to abide by >>>>> terms regarding financial transactions, Wikimedia India banned supporting >>>>> him financially and passed a resolution regarding this. ( As per >>>>> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Talk:Grants/WikiConnect_Pilot_-_January_2015 ) >>>>> >>>>> 3)Various (mostly flight) travel and stay to many different conferences >>>>> / meetups across India in the recent past. Community approval for these >>>>> are >>>>> not clearly seen. >>>>> *Swatantra conference 2014 >>>>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Requests/Swatantra_2014/Participation#Request_for_Support >>>>> (On behalf of which community?) >>>>> *India Community Consultation 201 4 - >>>>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Community_Consultation_2014#Hindi >>>>> (Self-nomination (?) on behalf of Hindi Community where he has made 425 >>>>> edits. >>>>> Bengali Wikipedia 10 years celebration in Kolkatta during Jan 2015 (On >>>>> behalf of which community?) >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Following are some of his proposed activities that will need a grant >>>>> made in near future: >>>>> >>>>> 1)Wikipedia Summit India in Pune during 2015 - >>>>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/WikipediaSummitIndia >>>>> >>>>> 2)Travel and participation grant request for 1125 US dollars for round >>>>> trip travel from Pune to United States for conducting Indic outreach in >>>>> United states - >>>>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Harvard_India_Conference_and_Wiki_Workshop >>>>> >>>>> 3)WikiConnect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiConnect - >>>>> No idea about the budget. The pilot he is doing in Nashik needs 6100 INR >>>>> for >>>>> a cake itself and reimbursement for 15 days of his stay and food. >>>>> >>>>> 4)Further outreach in US - >>>>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Indic_Language_Wikipedia_Outreach_in_United_States >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Some of the concerns: >>>>> >>>>> 1.He is using and proposes to keep using movement funds in large scale >>>>> with questionable impact which are against the learnings already >>>>> documented >>>>> at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Evaluation >>>>> >>>>> 2.He is using fictitious and misleading titles like Ambassador, >>>>> Wikipedia to establish non-transparent relationships with numerous >>>>> organizations in and outside India - >>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiConnect/Pilot_Project#mediaviewer/File:Wikipedia_Nashik_Workshop_Participants_January_2015.jpg >>>>> . This has the risk of damaging goodwill and brand name for Wikipedia. >>>>> >>>>> 4)When a current GAC member and former Wikimedia India EC member seeks >>>>> details regarding his grant request and reminds the current EC about the >>>>> ban, he is hinting legal action against chapter (As per >>>>> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Talk:Grants/WikiConnect_Pilot_-_January_2015 ) >>>>> >>>>> As a community member, I request the funding agencies in the movement >>>>> to take stock of this situation and implement intense scrutiny for funding >>>>> requests with proper evaluation of program design and due process for >>>>> having >>>>> community approval by experienced Wikimedians. >>>>> >>>>> Please donot proceed ahead without community discussion or approval. >>>>> >>>>> Executive decisions circumventing community approval will never help >>>>> the movement. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -Sibi Kanagaraj >>>>> User:Commons Sibi ( >>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ACentralAuth&target=Commons+sibi >>>>> ) >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Disclaimer: The Wikimedia India Chapter (WMIN) is an autonomous entity >>>> with no direct control over the Wikipedia project and other websites hosted >>>> by the Wikimedia Foundation, USA. >>>> >>>> This mail is sent to the members of the Chapter as part of the official >>>> communications between the Chapter, its Director Board and the members. >>>> --- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "wmin-members" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to wmin-members+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>>> To post to this group, send email to wmin-memb...@googlegroups.com. >>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/wmin-members. >>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/wmin-members/CADoCDcsVy%3DT%3DgywBi_GFN_ur-xspZkt6bA-p5NEVaD1nXraeag%40mail.gmail.com. >>>> >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list >>> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org >>> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l >>> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list > Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l > -- Warm regards, Ashwin Baindur ------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
