User talk:Mdennis (WMF)/Archive 11

WMF and ArbCom
Hello Maggie.

I just have one question: If the community (through the prescribed ARBPOL amendment process) were to: (1) absolve ArbCom of all responsibility for all legal, privacy, and off-wiki harrassment matters, and (2) request that the WMF assume these responsibility for resolving these issues, would the WMF respect the community's wishes and assume those responsibilities? I feel that untrained volunteers should not be dealing with these cases, seeing that they have real-life implications and are of extremely stressful nature. Such things should be handled by professionals. Many share my views on this, but the main barrier that many perceive is the question of whether the foundation would respect the community's wishes. Biblio (talk) 23:46, 25 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Hi, Biblio. :)


 * It depends on what you mean by "legal, privacy, and off-wiki harassment matters" and also what you would anticipate by “resolving.”


 * I want to start off by noting that the Wikimedia Foundation already handles many legal, privacy and off-wiki harassment matters involving our communities. But with almost 300 language projects across the world we cannot handle those issues at the level of detail that some in the communities might wish - and, conversely, we sometimes handle them ‘’more’’ than others in those communities might wish! As much as possible, we respect the right of our communities to self-govern. When the Foundation is asked to address an issue, we must balance respect for community autonomy with our role in protecting Wikimedia projects and volunteers. A project’s own decision-making body, with an obligation to only its own community, has (and should retain) the freedom to make individual, nuanced decisions of a type that the Wikimedia Foundation cannot, or cannot easily, make because of its broader role hosting all the different projects.


 * So when you ask if we would assume the responsibilities you list, it both is, and isn’t, a straightforward answer. Essentially, we already do - but whether we do it in the way you or others would have in mind is extremely difficult to answer without knowing exactly what level of handling you envision and what you expect us taking over all handling of these issues would solve. --Maggie Dennis (WMF) (talk) 22:12, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

Person seeking help about his relative's bio on Wikipedia
Hi MRG,

This new user, JB Hill says he is the grandson of Napoleon Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich, a well-known self-help book. Mr. Hill is concerned that Napoleon Hill's bio is being sourced with a blog from the website Gizmodo. He seems to be trying to tell Wikipedia that his grandfather's memory is being maligned by this blog post and is offering sources that he says refute those claims. Mr. Hill is not here to edit Wikipedia, as he explained he is simply trying to refute Novak's claims. Can you put him in touch with someone at the Foundation who can help him sort his concerns? I'm afraid an admin has shown up on his talk page and is suggesting he will be blocked if Mr. Hill posts "original research," There seems to be a definite communication disconnect there and Mr. Hill is not getting any where on the article talk page. The editors on the Napoleon Hill page, block any attempt to clean up the article, are not amenable to talk page discussion. When Mr. Hill attempted to comment there he was told he had a COI, which he does. But he doesn't appear to be trying to disrupt or edit war. He just wants somebody at Wikipedia to listen and help him. Thanks. SW3 5DL (talk) 18:30, 23 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Hi, SW3 5DL . I'm sorry, but the Wikimedia Foundation can't help with matters of this sort. While I really wish we could help, we have to refer individuals who reach out to us directly to community, either directly or via the volunteer email response team at OTRS. The Wikimedia Foundation doesn't create or curate content and, except in very rare cases (see WP:OFFICE), can't dictate it. Contact us - Subjects might be of some use to him. If nothing else, they (or another volunteer) might guide him to dispute resolution options if the users on the talk page are not open to assisting. --Maggie Dennis (WMF) (talk) 19:10, 23 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks, Maggie. I really don't know how the Foundation works, that's why I came here. I will pass on the link to Mr. Hill on his talk page. Thanks again. SW3 5DL (talk) 19:16, 23 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks, SW3 5DL. I appreciate your looking out for him! :) --Maggie Dennis (WMF) (talk) 19:18, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

REQUEST FOR DELETION: BLP Violations at sh.wiki./Janevistan/Office action.
Dear Mrs. Maggie Dennis, I would kindly ask you to initiate an Office actions [] for removing propaganda page protected by Serbo-Croatian admins Janevistan: https://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korisnik:Orijentolog/Janevistan. Serbo-Croatian Wikipedia, was involved in a harmful and politically motivated propaganda with the apparent offences against the basic values of Macedonia involving the offenses of the national symbols of the Republic of Macedonia and particularly insults relating to the Constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia (that is subject of a criminal law and prosecution in the Republic of Macedonia). Furthermore, this page contains serious apparent violations of BLP rules and the other basic rules of Wikipedia, including those relating to personal offences and personal rights, enshrined in basic texts of Wikipedia/Wikimedia. Greetings. 93.87.185.74 (talk) 10:06, 3 March 2017 (UTC)
 * I have replied to your duplicate request on m:User talk:Mdennis (WMF). Please look there for your response. --Maggie Dennis (WMF) (talk) 15:17, 3 March 2017 (UTC)
 * I have replied to your answer on m:User talk:Mdennis (WMF). Please look there. 93.87.185.74 (talk) 17:17, 3 March 2017 (UTC)

YGM
Hi Maggi. I have sent you an email on a delicate issue. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 09:41, 3 August 2017 (UTC)

Urgent request for help
Hello Maggie Dennis, I sent a letter to your e-mail about the appeal for help. I am discriminated against. I ask you, help me. Read the message I sent you to your email. It's very urgent. Farid (talk) 19:50, 19 August 2017 (UTC)

New email
Just to say I sent you an email with a question (I first posted this message on your Moonriddengirl Talk page but then saw a note there from someone else which says to come here instead, sorry for too much!) AnOpenMedium (talk) 15:57, 8 September 2017 (UTC)


 * Many thanks! Just wrote back AnOpenMedium (talk) 12:29, 12 September 2017 (UTC)


 * With regret my actions with regard to uploading seem now to have triggered a complaint of some kind, in language I do not understand...here. Perhaps there is something you can do to help clear this up? It is a little embarrassing to be accused of fakery. Thanks. AnOpenMedium (talk) 08:47, 21 September 2017 (UTC)

Save vs Publish in copyright warning
Please see MediaWiki_talk:Wikimedia-copyrightwarning. Thank you, — xaosflux  Talk 12:17, 18 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Hi, xaosflux . Thanks for the poke. :) I know that Christel left a note there that she's on it, but I just wanted to respond here, too, to let you know that she's checking with our legal team. There are quite a few people off for winter breaks, so that *may* delay response, but I hope not! --Maggie Dennis (WMF) (talk) 16:52, 18 December 2017 (UTC)
 * No worries, I expect our localized version will mostly mirror any potential global default change. — xaosflux  Talk 17:04, 18 December 2017 (UTC)

Font for logo
Hi, I'm a graphic worker and now there is a need for a Pashto Wikivoyage Logo. It's very hard to get the information on which font to use. This should be easy to obtain but is not so. All the different logos with this and other needed information should be in one place. Do you know if there is such a place or can we create it? I think the font is Lenka, is that correct? Please ping me, thanks --Goran tek-en (talk) 16:50, 19 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Hello! The logos page on Meta-Wiki has the most information on Meta-Wiki about all of the logos. According to the page about the Wikivoyage logo linked to from the logos page, the font used in the current logo is Gill Sans Bold. Adding info about the wordmarks and fonts to the logos page on Meta-Wiki seems reasonable to me if you are interested in starting that effort. :) --GVarnum-WMF (talk) 18:58, 19 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks for that information. But why does it say Lenka on this page, and you have written further down, confusing? --Goran tek-en (talk) 14:44, 20 December 2017 (UTC)

I've a question for you
For fun I typed into the google search bar a line from a tv episode synopsis I had added to Wikipedia just to see what the returns were. As I expected, there is a wikia page with the synopsis, but there are also a few other pages such as this one on steam, this one on vudu, these on Amazon, and these on apple. I recognize all of the descriptions for the episodes for season 1 and 2 because I wrote them, but I see know where on the pages in question a disclaimer that the information came off Wikipedia. Correct me if I am wrong, but under the terms of the CC-by-SA 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, aren't these groups legal obligated to include a notice that the information came off Wikipedia? TomStar81 (Talk) 21:14, 16 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Yes they are . Per the terms of the license and WP:REUSE there must be some sort of attribution or it is in violation of the copyright license. Attribution can be as simple as a link to the article in question. If you find material is in violation of the Creative Commons copyright you can send them one of the various letters located at WP:Takedown. Please note, that in order to do so you must have been a "major contributor" to the text (which seems to be the case here). Violations of this sort are sadly very common and very few people actually follow up and attempt to enforce the terms of the license so a lot of reusers don't know that they did anything wrong (or simply don't care). --Majora (talk) 21:29, 16 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Is this something best suited for a/the Wikimedia legal team, or is this something that is best handled by me? TomStar81 (Talk)
 * If you are the creator of the text it is best suited for you to do it. If it gets to that point, only the creator can send legally binding DMCA takedown notices. I don't believe that WMF-Legal can help you in that regards since they wouldn't own the copyright to that text. The creator (AKA you) would. Part of the reason that these violations go unenforced is because we would have to get the creator(s) to followup. Which is hard in the best of circumstances. --Majora (talk) 21:38, 16 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Alright then, I'll dust off the artillery and get it aimed in this general direction. Need to do some additional checking first to be 100% sure that there's no small notice on one single disclaimer page somewhere that notes that the information used on site may or may not have come off Wikipedia. Thank you for the help on this matter, I do appreciate it. TomStar81 (Talk) 21:42, 16 January 2018 (UTC)

Terms of use and topics that require enhanced disclosure
There are a number of topics that require enhanced disclosure well beyond that in the Terms of Use, for instance:
 * Promotion of securities is illegal under 15 U.S.C. § 77q(b) "without fully disclosing the receipt, whether past or prospective, of such consideration and the amount thereof".
 * Political advertising must carry a disclaimer

In particular, such disclosure must be carried in the article itself. The ToU only mentions this vaguely -- "Applicable law [...] may further limit paid contributions or require more detailed disclosure." I'm amazed at how pathetically weak this is. This subset of undisclosed paid edits -- the paid use of Wikipedia to illegally promote securities or for electioneering purposes (see the Facebook controversy) is potentially ruinous to Wikipedia's reputation. What is the WMF's opinion on this? (It's mentioned on the FAQ, but why is it buried there? Surely this matter is more important than that, given recent controversies.) MER-C 14:06, 18 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Hi, MER-C. :) This seems more a question for Legal. With Wikimania going on right now, it may take a little time to get somebody to review and respond, but I'll ask them to take a look! --Maggie Dennis (WMF) (talk) 20:09, 18 July 2018 (UTC)
 * No problems. MER-C 20:59, 18 July 2018 (UTC)
 * There was something I forgot: the TOU doesn't mention other conflicts of interest that are very similar and require enhanced disclosure. Promoting a security/cryptocurrency you own on Wikipedia or your own political candidacy is strictly not paid editing, but is equally as bad as paying someone else to do it for you. MER-C 16:56, 21 July 2018 (UTC)

Hi MER-C, Maggie's team asked me to reply to your questions, since I worked on this part of the Terms of Use. The Terms of Use uses broad terms (like requiring users to comply with applicable law) because this is the legally strongest way to protect the Wikimedia projects and community. It is ultimately each user's individual responsibility to ensure their edits are legal and allowed, and we want to make sure the Terms of Use strike the right balance of informative transparency and legal rigor.

We include a few specific types of prohibited activity (like fraud, undisclosed paid activity) where Wikipedia has specific rules, but this does not provide any exemption from other laws such as the ones you identify. Laws still apply to users when they edit Wikipedia and it is still a violation of the Terms of Use to edit the projects in violation of the law.

The community can take action, such as blocking users per the community's own guidelines and policies, or for violations of the Terms of Use. You can also report violations of the Terms of Use to , although we may need to keep the rest of that case confidential to ensure we are in the best position to protect the Wikimedia projects from abuse. Best, Stephen LaPorte (WMF) (talk) 05:35, 9 August 2018 (UTC)

New message from DannyS712
Per Template:Editnotices/Page/MediaWiki:Wikimedia-copyrightwarning, your feedback is requested about a proposed change to MediaWiki:Wikimedia-copyrightwarning. DannyS712 (talk) 10:42, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

Flag's up!
- TomStar81 (Talk) 15:46, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

Jailed Saudi volunteers
Hi Maggie, I just happened to mention our jailed Saudi volunteers here (this discussion relates to the White Paper ArbCom requested, so it might also be of interest to you).

But my reason for writing today is that, remembering the Saudi case, I wanted to check with you whether the Foundation has any news on that front. Has anyone from the WMF been able to get in touch and provide support to them and their families? Regards, Andreas JN 466 14:59, 9 June 2023 (UTC)