Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2016-01-20/News and notes



Calls are growing in the Wikimedia community to oust newly appointed Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees member Arnnon Geshuri, due to his involvement in the High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation controversy (see previous Signpost coverage). On January 20, called for a vote of no confidence on Meta, which proposes that "in the best interests of the Wikimedia Foundation, Arnnon Geshuri must be removed from his appointment as a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation Board." The vote has attracted 70 support votes in just over 24 hours. Two current and former members of the board have already participated. Current trustee Guy Kawasaki was the first to oppose, doing so with a newly created Meta account. He has not yet provided the rationale for his vote, despite calls to do so from other participants. Former chair of the board Florence Devouard was the 16th support vote and linked to a statement on the Wikimedia mailing list that read, in part:

On Sunday January 24, Trustee Alice Wiegand (Lyzzy) published a blog post in German entitled "Silence" (translation). The post shows signs of strong disappointment at the way in which the Board has handled the recent upheavals ("we're not currently having a good run"). She writes: "There has been widespread incomprehension, frustration, helplessness, and anger, culminating recently in a no-confidence vote. And the Board of Trustees is silent." In a metaphorical passage, she speaks of the effect that silence can have: "It paralyzes, irritates, and harms".

Although Wiegand writes there is much about the ongoing community discussion that she doesn't agree with, to her, it "clearly demonstrates how sensitive the community is to our decisions, how strongly it fears that major changes are being pushed through without its input, and how big the loss of confidence in the Board as an institution has become. Some of it is rooted in misguided ideas about the methods and extent of the Board's decisions. Once again it shows that we’ve still not managed to communicate [with the community] our self-conception as a Board of Trustees, our tasks and our ideas in a clear way."

Wiegand says that the Board is preparing a statement on the Geshuri appointment that she plans to contribute to personally. "Most of all, we have to stop self-centered introspection, and tackle the actual questions around free knowledge."



Brief notes

 * Steward elections: This year's elections for Wikimedia stewards will be from February 8 to 28. Candidates can nominate until January 28. As of this edition, six candidates have already nominated. G
 * Wikimedia Foundation risks: The WMF has released its current 2015–16 Risks Document, which details "some of the top potential risks that could threaten the Wikimedia Foundation’s mission". It was originally intended to be released with the 2015–16 Annual Plan, but "it was inadvertently not posted" until noticed by "an alert Community Member". G
 * An Education Hackathon was conducted by Wikimedia Argentina, attracting more than 400 people from around the world. T
 * First results from the community wishlist survey: Danny Horn of the WMF writes that they have committed to investigating and responding to the top ten requests. So far, two are being worked on: migrating dead links to the Internet Archive, which maintains an enormous database of webpages going back to the early 1990s, and coming up with a new pageview tool to replace the occasionally unreliable alternative. T
 * WMF needs your input on its future strategy: There is a strategy consultation with the community that the WMF needs feedback on. Executive director Lila Tretikov writes that your time and effort will "help guide the Foundation in its work to support the movement." An FAQ is available. The organization hopes to have a strategy in place in time for the community to review its annual budget, which community member Pete Forsyth calls "an important step toward running its finances in a more transparent and accountable way." T
 * #1Lib1Ref campaign wrapping up: The libraries community has an opportunity to help bridge Wikipedia's systemic gaps. To get these people to participate, the WMF's Wikipedia Library team is engaging them in an innovative social media campaign with the hashtag #1Lib#1Ref; organizations and associations like the Internet Archive have also lent assistance in spreading the word. Urge your local librarian(s) to join this global movement! See the official announcement, updated for January 21. G
 * Dearth of administrators ... and no bureaucrats: The last request on the English Wikipedia for adminship closed on December 23, 2015; since then, not a single one—even a not-now or snow-close—has been started. Meanwhile, according to the table atop the requests for adminship page, Wikipedia has not promoted a single bureaucrat for two years. It is worth noting, however, that the position's responsibilities have shrunk significantly due to global renames. Nevertheless, it raises questions about the efficacy in keeping the position. GP!