LSS/foundation-l-archives/2007 week 5

English (en)  - français (fr)  - 日本語 (ja)

This is part of LSS, a mailing list summary service. It is a summary of foundation-l. Most posts whose authors are named have links to the full e-mail in the archive. However not every post is archived and the archive itself is so unstable that the urls will periodically be reassigned breaking the links in this summary. While edits to correct inaccuracies are welcome, changes to style or focus should first be discussed on the talk page. Decisions on whether to refer to people by their Wikipedia handle or their email name is arbitrary and may not be completely internally consistent. Some genders may be accidentally incorrect.Incorrect or not, this standard is used all around the net, for business or projects.

This issue covers (roughly) 2007 January 29-February 4

• [1] Acceptability of fair use images on the WMF wiki is discussed again by people familiar to the discussion of the past months.
• [2] rory096 informs the list of a proposed change to en.WP's username policy so users with non-Latin usernames that don't provide transliterations in their signatures when they're told to can be blocked. Discussion follows as to whether this policy would be discrimination. [3] rory096 informs the list that a compromise has been reached on the issue.
• [4] David Gerard asks what can be done to advocate for free content in light of recent new stories over free access to journals. [5]Delirium explains the stories are referring to "free as in beer" not "free as in freedom" .
• [6] TOR asks for contributions at Glossary which he created with chapter-related words.
• [7] Andrew Gray informs the list that only the uz.WP has been blocked in Uzbekistan, and suggests the creation of a map or list of places WMF is being blocked
• [8] Andre Engels asks what the future is for mo.WP which is currently closed. [9]GerardM explains that the closure was done without the consent of the board and that the language committee proposed that this wiki would be reopened and that discussions would start on how the Moldovan and the Romanian Wikipedia can work together. He also suggests that any vandalism will result in a ban for all the projects that such a person is involved in.[10]Yann suggests that some procedures, some admins / bureaucrats (at least two native speakers, one using Latin script and one using Cyrillic script) and a mediation committee are needed before reopening. It is also reported that OTRS is receiving multiple requests for the complete removal of mo.WP. [11] Neil explains in detail what he believes kind of cooperation is needed before a program that would convert from Latin to Cyrillic could be developed into a workable solution.
• [12] David Gerard suggests the need for a more user-friendly way for organizations to find help on the proper way to get their articles updated an alternate to OTRS or calling his press contact number. [13]Erik suggests the underlying problem is that talk pages do not work and proposes that WMF hire a developer to continue work on LiquidThreads as a replacement for talk pages. [14] Fred Bauder suggests adding information about conflicts of interest to the text viewable below the edit box.
• [15] Bryan Tong Minh informs the list of a contest to identify the commons:Commons:Picture_of_the_Year/2006. Phase 1 voting ends Feb 14, and voting on the final choices Feb 28.
• [16] phoebe informs the list of a teaching case on Wikipedia being used for MBA students at Harvard available under GFDL [17]
• [18] Oscar announces the hiring of Delphine Ménard as Chapters Coordinator as a part-time position, who has already been serving in this role as a volunteer.
• [19] habj reports a non-WMF wiki using a derivative of the Wikipedia logo. [20] Angela explains she has contacted the founder and he responded to say it was a temporary logo and that the real one is being worked on and will be installed before the release of the site.
• [21] Anthere announces that the board has agreed to retain "Phillips Oppenheim" to help WMF find a permanent Executive Director.
  • More information about this firm here: http://www.phillipsoppenheim.com/laurie_nash.html
  • More information about what WMF is looking for (unofficial) here: http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2007-January/027269.html
• [22] Anthere announces that Brad Patrick will no longer be serving as Executive Director and be resuming his other role as General Counsel exclusively to address a backlog of complex legal questions the WMF faces moving forward.
• [23] Anthere announces that due to a lack of an Executive Director at the current time the board has agreed to the following organizational roles:
  • For all office/administrative issues, staff (Barbara, Danny...) will report to Carolyn
  • Carolyn (operations) will report to Florence
  • Sandy (communication) will report to Florence
  • Brad (legal) will report to Florence
  • Danny (non administrative tasks, eg grants, special projects etc...) will report to Erik
  • Brion/Mark/Tim (tech) will report to Jan-Bart
  • Delphine (chapters) will report to Oscar
  • Due to their background, Oscar and Michael (are and) will be very involved in financial and audit considerations.
  • Jimbo is more focused on public relations and licenses discussions.
  • Kat is spending time on various legal-related, licenses discussions and is in charge of an assignment not yet made public

[24] Anthere further explains that there are plans to hire a new Chief Technical Officer and that there is no need to have the developers report to Brion as an intermediate as they pretty much manage their own business between themselves well. [25] Brion explains that he is more of a "Lead Developer" than "Chief Technical Officer" and that he will be working from the main office from next month.