Talk:Wikimedia movement affiliates/Affiliates mailing list

Limit of three

What is the rationale behind limiting subscription to this mailing list to three people per affiliate?

Is this mailing list open for anyone to read, or does one have to be among the appointed three for an affiliate to subscribe to read? Blue Rasberry (talk) 21:09, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

At the request of affiliates, the list is private. The limit was set to help keep it manageable, but ultimately, the list is run by the affiliates, so you all can change it to whatever you want with consensus. --Varnent (talk)^(COI) 06:52, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

Why is WMF disallowed from joining?

What is the rationale behind prohibiting WMF staff from joining this list?

Just curious - what other Wikimedia-hosted lists have a prohibition against WMF joining? Blue Rasberry (talk) 21:09, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

This came up elsewhere when the creation was requested, such as Talk:Wikimedia Affiliates Network#Mailing list request for comment. My impression was that it is meant to allow affiliates to feel safe discussing concerns they may have, including about WMF. There are many lists with private membership which may or may not happen to include WMF staff. There are also some lists that have just committee or specific groups of volunteers and not staff. This was discussed with WMF staff before being done, and did not appear to raise concerns. --Varnent (talk)^(COI) 06:55, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

And what about affiliate representatives who are WMF staff? Legoktm (talk) 19:34, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

That is a good question. I am not sure, but have suggested it be asked of the list once it is going. --Varnent (talk)^(COI) 20:29, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

Non-affiliate membership / Observing

Would it be possible to join the mailing list (perhaps in read-only mode) if you are not an affiliate's representative but also not a WMF staffer. It looks like another cabal forming to me so I would rather more people knew what is going on in there. --Base (talk) 13:40, 2 November 2015 (UTC)

I will pass the request along to the list once it is going. --Varnent (talk)^(COI) 15:22, 2 November 2015 (UTC)

Already existing lists?

I don't understand completely the conception of the this new mailing list.

• What is the difference between this new list and the existing internal-l mailing list?
• What is the relation between this list and the existing chapters at wikimedia.ch list?
• What can we expect from the new list which the existing mailing lists cannot cover?

Kind regards, Samat (talk) 20:17, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

@Samat: Greetings and thank you for your questions. Here is some information in response:

1. Internal-l is no longer actively used - and also included WMF, but not Wikimedia user groups (which make up a majority of recognized affiliates).
2. Chapters-l does not include Wikimedia user groups, and not actively promoted much. There was discussion with the moderators of that list about expanding that list, but those conversations did not end in that occurring.
3. This list will be for all Wikimedia movement affiliates, and be primarily managed by them (rather than WMF as was done with Internal-l). Wikimedia-l - as it turns out - is not heavily followed or even subscribed to by non-English affiliates, and the Affiliations Committee received feedback from multiple affiliates that they preferred a more dedicated communication channel. Finally, there is no actual way of contacting all active leaders of the 80+ affiliates in one place, this is an effort to help resolve that.

I hope that helps provide more context. --Varnent (talk)^(COI) 08:49, 6 November 2015 (UTC)