Talk:Ombuds commission/Archives/2021
 | Please do not post any new comments on this page. This is a discussion archive first created in 2021, although the comments contained were likely posted before and after this date. See current discussion or the archives index. |
Announcing the 2021 Ombuds Commission
The application period for new commissioners for 2021 recently closed. The Wikimedia Foundation is extremely grateful to the many experienced and insightful volunteers who offered to assist with this work.
Because the OC may be asked to provide insights into community governance issues tied into UCoC phase two this year, we are experimenting with expanding the Commission. This year’s OC will consist of ten members rather than eight, with a two-member advisory team who will guide the new commission and also, if necessary, fill in in the event that the OC is unable to act due to incapacity or recusal.
I am pleased to announce the composition of the 2021 OC:
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Agastya has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2014, and is primarily active on English Wikinews serving as an administrator and has been accredited reporter since 2017. Agastya is also active on Commons, and speaks English, Hindi and Gujarati. AGK has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2008. He is primarily active on English Wikipedia, where he is an administrator, Checkuser, and Oversighter and has served as an Arbitrator. AGK has been a member of the Ombuds Commission since 2020.
Ameisenigel has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2015. He is primarily active on German Wikipedia, where he serves as an Arbitrator. He is also active as an translation admin on Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons and on Meta. Ameisenigel speaks German and English.
Emufarmers has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2005. He is a Metapedian who primarily edits the English Wikipedia; he is also a bureaucrat and sysop on MediaWiki.org, and has provided software support to many third-party, non-Wikimedia wikis over the years. He has served as an OTRS administrator since 2015. He has served on the Ombuds Commission since 2019.
Scott Thomson, user:Faendalimas, has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2006. Based in Brazil, he is a taxonomist and evolutionary biologist and his main editing interest is reptiles and amphibians. He is most active on WikiSpecies, where he is a bureaucrat, Checkuser, and administrator. JJMC89 has been contributing to Wikimedia projects since 2015. He is primarily active on the English Wikipedia, where he has more than 300,000 edits and is an administrator and bot operator, and Commons. He also serves as a tool administrator on UTRS. Moheen Reeyad, user:Moheen, has been contributing to Wikimedia projects since 2010. He is active on Commons, Bengali Wikipedia, Wikidata, and English Wikipedia and is an administrator on Commons and Bengali Wikipedia. He is currently a Board member of Wikimedia Bangladesh and lives in Chattogram. Moheen speaks Bengali and English.
MrJaroslavik has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2017. He is primarily active on Czech Wikipedia and Meta. MrJaroslavik speaks Czech and English.
Ivan has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2006. He is primarily active on Spanish Wikipedia and Spanish Wikinews and as an administrator on both of those projects. He helped found Wikimedia Mexico in 2011 and was the Wikimania 2015 Chief Coordinator. He has participated in a number of movement committees, including Grant Advisory Committee. He speaks English, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Superpes15 has been contributing to Wikimedia projects since 2010. He is primarily active on Italian Wikipedia and are a member of the Small Wiki Monitoring Team. He is an administrator on Italian Wikipedia and serves as a global renamer. He speaks Italian and English.
Ajraddatz has been an active user on Wikimedia since 2010, and has served in various roles of community trust in that time, including as a Wikidata Oversighter since 2013, a steward between 2014 and 2020, and a Meta CheckUser since 2015. Carlos, currently editing as user:Galahad, has been contributing to Wikimedia Projects since 2009. He is a member of Wikimedia Venezuela and a founding member of Wikimedia Small Projects User Group. He primarily contributes to Spanish-language projects including Spanish Wikipedia and Spanish Wikivoyage. He has been an administrator and bureaucrat of Spanish Wikivoyage since 2013. He has served on the Ombuds Commission since 2019. Their willingness to remain, to bring their familiarity with processes and their experience to the new arrivals, is greatly appreciated!
Amanda has been editing Wikipedia since 2009, when she made her first edits to English Wikipedia. She has served many roles in the past including being a sysop, holding advanced permissions and serving on an Arbitration Committee for 4 years. She will continue to support the English Wikipedia and reach out to global communities through her service and tools she develops.
Elmacenderesi has been working on Wikimedia projects since 2007, primarily on the Turkish Wikipedia. There, he has been a CheckUser and a Bureaucrat since 2008 and an Oversighter since 2011. He is also a member of Wikimedia OTRS and serves as a global outreach coordinator, working with academic institutions and GLAMs, for The Wikipedia Library. He has served on the Ombuds Commission since 2018. Taketa has been a Wikimedian since 2008 and has held a number of positions in his time here, including Administrator and Bureaucrat on the Dutch Wikipedia, Arbitrator on Dutch Wikipedia, Administrator on Wikidata, Steward, and member of the Ombuds Commission. He has created about 7000 new articles in several language Wikipedias. He currently serves on the board of Wikimedia Belgium. Lucas became a Wikipedian in 2007 and started to engage with CheckUser rights in 2009, when he became a local CU on the Portuguese Wikipedia. He held both Oversight and Checkuser rights on Ptwiki between 2015 and 2017, when his term with the rights expired. He is currently an administrator on Commons and Ptwiki. His traditional main focus has been on anti-vandalism work. In 2012, the global community elected him as a steward, a position he held until 2020. He served on the Ombuds Commission for 2018.
Uzoma Ozurumba has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2017. She contributes primarily to Meta, Commons, and the Igbo Wiktionary, of which she is a founder. She is a co-founder of the Igbo Wikimedians User Group and serves as a Strategy Liaison for that group. She served on the OC in 2020.
Rupika has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2014. A free knowledge advocate, she edits primarily on Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata and is administrator on Punjabi Wikisource. She organizes events such as Wiki Loves Folklore and Wiki Loves Women. She has been supporting in activating the Open Movement in North India via various Open GLAM initiatives such as Heritage GLAM. She has served on the Ombuds Commission since 2019. |
I'd also like to say a big thank you to those returning and those coming aboard for the first time, as well as to all those applied. Again, it was an extremely able group of volunteers, and while this mix of users may best serve the need for this year, I hope that those who applied will consider applying again for future commissions. Kbrown (WMF) (talk) 12:39, 25 January 2021 (UTC)
Activity reports
@AGK: can we get activity reports for quarters 2, 3 and 4 of 2020? ProcrastinatingReader (talk) 21:39, 13 February 2021 (UTC)
- The outstanding reports has been added to the internal list of open tasks, so the members are aware that activity summaries are oustanding. Summaries take quite a while to prepare, so we are waiting for a volunteer to become available. There is a backlog of open cases caused by member inactivity in the last term, and tackling that is taking up most of our time, alongside inducting the new members. Regards, AGK ■ 22:47, 17 February 2021 (UTC)
No identification to WMF anymore
When was this practice (Special:Diff/21133911) stopped? -kyykaarme (talk) 08:56, 21 February 2021 (UTC)
- Not sure, but just a guess, earlier all users that had access to non-public information had to follow wmf:Access to nonpublic data policy and proof their identity, but the new policy was accepted in 2014 and it was only required to read and agree the agreement on Phabricator. So ombuds members nor Stewards/CU/OS doesn't need to disclose their real identity anymore. Of course I can be wrong of the current practice of ombuds identification procedure. Stryn (talk) 10:33, 21 February 2021 (UTC)
- I don't know when it stopped, but I have never identified to the WMF. — JJMC89 (T·C) 17:12, 21 February 2021 (UTC)
- The practice was not stopped for Commission members alone, but all volunteers who wanted access to advanced permissions. This includes checkusers, oversighters, ombuds commissioners, and stewards. Prior to late 2015, volunteers who needed access were required to exhibit a copy of personal identification to the WMF; see Identification noticeboard/old. This process was changed, the personal ID requirement was removed, and volunteers were instead required to agree to a new 'Confidentiality Agreement'; see Access to nonpublic information policy/Noticeboard, the current process. The exact date of the change was 15 September 2015. AGK ■ 10:34, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
- Thanks for the answers. I knew about the policy change for CU/OS/S but was wondering if the ombudsppl had different rules. Turns out this page just wasn't updated for five years. Never trust a wiki, I guess. =/ kyykaarme (talk) 14:30, 26 February 2021 (UTC)
I have started a RFC about the persistent inactivity of several members of the OC. --Rschen7754 01:59, 1 March 2021 (UTC)
- I've send this to the rest of the OC for discussion. Worth noting that the WMF has been working to resolve this over the last couple of cycles at least, and this year the OC has (so far) been more active. Hopefully that momentum will continue. – Ajraddatz (talk) 02:04, 1 March 2021 (UTC)
Stop abuse and violence in Fawiki by checkusers
Hi all.
I sent a complaint to OC and reported that my account " shahramrashidi" has been blocked and banned in Fawiki as nominating Sockpuppetry, without any evidence. Even the user checking has not been requested by any in check user page. But the checkusers have blocked my account according to doubt only as their declaration. Which policy of WP tell you can block unlimited any user without evidence and with doubt only.
This is the response of OC: "The Commission is responsible for investigating complaints about infringements of the Privacy Policy, the Access to nonpublic personal data policy, the CheckUser policy, and the Oversight policy, on any Wikimedia project. The OC pays close attention to policies and their violations. Regarding the complaint relating to the block of User:Shahramrashidi for sockpuppet, the commission has found no violation of any of the aforementioned policies.
Shahramrashidi was blocked according to the Persian Wikipedia's (fawiki) sockpuppetry policy, which provides that a sockpuppet can be blocked without needing to identify the "sockmaster". The Commission is not an appeals body for blocks. The local community's appeal processes should be used in this case."
How do i tell and prove my account is not sockpuppet and the response of OC is about sockpuppet user only, then when my account is not sockpuppet, this policy is not applicable for my account. I asked OC to check my account is not sockpuppet and check users have abused from their facility and access, but instead of checking my account and their action has replied as a/m.
My question is can any check user block and ban any account as sockpuppet even it not to be sockpuppet? Who check this and stop their abuse? I never stop this to prove my account is not sockpuppet and check users abuse from their access. Please check my account in Fawiki and if my account to be sockpuppet, block me in all wiki projects else stop their abuse.Shahramrashidi (talk) 07:10, 4 July 2021 (UTC)
- Why anyone dont check this. Is there any responsible here please?Shahramrashidi (talk) 07:56, 22 July 2021 (UTC)
2022 Ombuds Commission nomination process now open!
Hi everyone! It's coming close to time for annual appointments of community members to serve on the Ombuds commission (OC). This commission works on all Wikimedia projects to investigate complaints about violations of the privacy policy, especially in use of CheckUser and Oversight tools, and to mediate between the complaining party and the individual whose work is being investigated. They may also assist the General Counsel, the Executive Director or the Board of Trustees in investigations of these issues. For more on their duties and roles, see Ombuds commission.
This is a call for community members interested in volunteering for appointment to this commission. Volunteers serving in this role should be experienced Wikimedians, active on any project, who have previously used the CheckUser/Oversight tools OR who have the technical ability to understand these tools and the willingness to learn them. They are expected to be able to engage neutrally in investigating these concerns and to know when to recuse when other roles and relationships may cause conflict.
Commissioners are required to sign the Access to NonPublic Information NDA and must be willing to comply with the appropriate Wikimedia Foundation board policies (such as the access to non-public information policy and the privacy policy). This is a position that requires a high degree of discretion and trust. Commissioners must also be over 18 years of age.
If you are interested in serving on this commission, please write me an email at kbrown
wikimedia
org to detail your experience on the projects, your thoughts on the commission and what you hope to bring to the role. The commission consists of twelve members; all applications are appreciated and will be carefully considered. The deadline for applications is end of day on 31 December, 2021[1].
Please feel free to pass this invitation along to any users who you think may be qualified and interested. Thank you! Kbrown (WMF) (talk) 13:04, 29 September 2021 (UTC)
- @Kbrown (WMF): Will the WMF consider the views the community expressed at Requests for comment/Ombuds Commission inactivity? And could we perhaps get an updated activity report for last quarter as well? ProcrastinatingReader (talk) 09:40, 30 September 2021 (UTC)
- @ProcrastinatingReader: Yes, we've definitely been keeping an eye on that discussion and we hope to appoint a committee that will be active and engaged. That's dependent, however, on us getting enough qualified, strong candidates to fill the committee with those who'll be active, so if you (and that goes for everyone reading this) know of anyone you think would be interested who would be a good fit, please absolutely urge them to nominate themselves! As far as activity reports, the OC handles those internally, so I can't speak to when they'll release numbers for last quarter. Kbrown (WMF) (talk) 11:50, 4 October 2021 (UTC)
- I have just published an activity report for the second quarter yesterday. --Ameisenigel (talk) 14:30, 4 October 2021 (UTC)
- @ProcrastinatingReader: Yes, we've definitely been keeping an eye on that discussion and we hope to appoint a committee that will be active and engaged. That's dependent, however, on us getting enough qualified, strong candidates to fill the committee with those who'll be active, so if you (and that goes for everyone reading this) know of anyone you think would be interested who would be a good fit, please absolutely urge them to nominate themselves! As far as activity reports, the OC handles those internally, so I can't speak to when they'll release numbers for last quarter. Kbrown (WMF) (talk) 11:50, 4 October 2021 (UTC)
- ↑ This deadline is flexible in terms of time zones; as long as your application is in while it's 31 December somewhere in the world, you're fine.
Recipients of the first Allie Awards Ceremony
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Margarita, Rubrum, Sapphire These trophies are dedicated to the members of the 2019, 2020 and 2021 Ombuds Commissions. Your work, although criticized, will always be indispensable and should be appreciated and admired. This is for you.
Allie Awards Academy
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- @Galahad, can you explain what this is? Who is the "Allie Awards Academy"? Are there more details somewhere? Legoktm (talk) 18:38, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
- @Legoktm thanks for your question. These annual virtual awards are for volunteers who actively participate in the movement. The commissions were nominated for their work and were chosen. The "Allie Awards Academy" is the group of volunteers that selects the winners. The page is in Spanish, but a translator may work. If it was wrong, please let us know and next year we will eliminate the category. Regards, Galahad (WMSP) (talk) 23:19, 16 November 2021 (UTC)