Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Single/2016-02-24
[UPDATED] WMF in limbo as decision on Tretikov nears
After a series of closed-door meetings this week by the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees, WMF staffers widely believe that the Board is deciding the fate of executive director Lila Tretikov.
Tretikov's tumultuous tenure has seen a number of dramatic events in recent months, including the dismissal of community-selected Board of Trustees member James Heilman (Doc James); the appointment of trustee Arnnon Geshuri, and his resignation following a community outcry; and the controversy around a Knight Foundation grant for a project called "Knowledge Engine", which at one point may have been intended to be a competitor with Google.
While at least the first two issues could be attributed to the Board's political mistakes, WMF staffers widely attribute a series of high-profile employee departures from the WMF to issues with Tretikov's leadership. A timeline of events at the WMF was recently created by GorillaWarfare, illustrating many instances of staff turmoil, including a number of incidents that were not publicly known outside WMF circles.
Staff concerns about Tretikov came to a head at a remarkable all-staff meeting last November 9, details of which are only now becoming public. An apologetic Tretikov, flanked by Jimmy Wales and Board chair Patricio Lorente, confronted the assembled WMF staffers and pledged to improve communication and leadership. Tretikov told them, in part,
A dramatic question and answer session followed, but many WMF employees seemed bewildered by what resembled a moment of truth, and were unsure about the circumstances that had prompted it. One staffer later termed it a "show trial" of Tretikov, while others vented about perceived failures of leadership during the meeting itself. One prominent staffer, Asaf Bartov (Asaf (WMF)), directly accused Tretikov of lying about the Knowledge Engine, which has been a particular flashpoint in conflicts between Tretikov and WMF staff.
Many staffers had little information about the project, despite the fact that the WMF was asking for millions of dollars from the Knight Foundation to implement it. Heilman told the Signpost that he and fellow Board member Dariusz Jemielniak had to fight a reluctant Tretikov and other Board members to receive key documents about the Knowledge Engine. Regarding this accusation leveled at Tretikov, Bartov later wrote on Facebook:
The Discovery team is tasked with implementing the Knowledge Engine, yet according to the minutes of last week's Discovery meeting, which contained some candid discussion, some team members appear to have learned key details about the project from a Signpost report.
The issue of Tretikov's management and leadership style was intended to be addressed by the appointment of Steve Scheier as a management coach in November. Scheier worked at Apple in the 1980s with Guy Kawasaki, a member of the Board of Trustees who has been widely seen as sympathetic to Tretikov. Kawasaki provided a blurb for Scheier's 2015 book Do More Good. Better. Using the Power of Decision Clarity® to Mobilize the Talent of your Nonprofit Team, stating "This book removed the scales from my eyes and taught me that nonprofits are a different beast—in distribution of power, relationships with constituencies, and employee recruitment and retention. If you want to optimize the leadership of a nonprofit, this is the hands-on guide to help you succeed."
In earlier months, staff voiced fears of retaliation and described a "culture of fear" at the WMF, such as a February 1 comment to Tretikov by Community Tech developer Frances Hocutt: "I hear my colleagues' concerns and see some of them being censured for speaking in ways that I have found sharply critical but still fundamentally honest and civil, and I worry that someday I will be the one who is suddenly found to have stepped over lines which were previously invisible or unspoken."
The depth of these problems was revealed in an anonymous staff survey held in late November. As the Signpost revealed, the survey indicated that trust levels were abysmally low. Just 10% of staff indicated that they had confidence in the WMF's senior leadership, a number widely interpreted as a direct reflection on Tretikov. An even lower 7% of staffers indicated that those senior leaders "keep people informed about what is happening."
In recent weeks, staffers have spoken out more directly and brazenly, responding to Tretikov and even contradicting her directly both in public and private. They appear to have been galvanized by a number of recent events, most notably the resignations of Luis Villa, senior director of Community Engagement, and Siko Bouterse, director of Community Resources—the most recent in a long line of staff departures and medical leaves from the WMF over the past two years, triggering particularly strong responses.
A February 18 message from Ido Ivri also prompted a number of frank responses from current and former WMF employees and community members. Ivri, a board member of Wikimedia Israel, wrote:
While WMF staffers are convinced that Tretikov's departure is imminent, staff resignations have continued amid concerns about the long-term future of the Foundation and the ability of the Board to address these issues. The latest departure, announced Tuesday, is that of Research Analyst Oliver Keyes (Ironholds). Although he used much sterner language in an internal email seen by the Signpost, Keyes publicly stated that "While I appreciate that the Board of Trustees may take steps to rectify the situation, I have no confidence in their ability to effectively do so given their failure to solve for the problem until it became a publicity issue as well as a staff complaint."
WMF strategy consultant brings background in crisis reputation management; Team behind popular WMF software put "on pause"
6 February 2017
Board unanimously appoints Katherine Maher as new WMF executive director; Wikimedia lawsuits in France and Germany
4 July 2016
Clarifications on status and compensation of outgoing executive directors Sue Gardner and Lila Tretikov
15 June 2016
Lila Tretikov a Young Global Leader; Wikipediocracy blog post sparks indefinite blocks
23 March 2016
Podcast #119: The Foundation and the departure of Lila Tretikov
16 March 2016
Update: On February 25, Tretikov announced her resignation, effective March 31, 2016. In her resignation statement, Tretikov said, "I will support the process of identifying our new leadership in every way that I can, and offer my assistance to the Board as they conduct their search for my successor. It has been an honor to serve and to contribute to our great movement." The Board of Trustees announced their acceptance of her resignation.
The WMF issued an official statement to The Next Web, which we have reprinted below in full:
Backward the Foundation
When I joined the Wikimedia Foundation there was an operations engineer named Ryan Lane. In most respects, Ryan was just a standard operations engineer, but every Friday as work wound down he'd crack open a big archive drawer full of drinks and make everyone cocktails.
It was a nice opportunity for mingling: legal, administration, engineering and global development would all come around and have a cocktail (alcoholic or not) and chat. It broke down barriers between departments, sequestered as they are on different floors, and let visiting remote employees meet people they might not otherwise have encountered.
Then Ryan left and nobody bothered organising it any more, and the function went away.
When I joined the Wikimedia Foundation there was an Executive Director named Sue Gardner. In most respects, Sue was just an ED, but she instilled values of transparency outside the organisation and transparency inside it. She created an environment where you might disagree with a decision, but you could still respect it, because you were there for it. She created an environment where everyone, even executives, were answerable for the work they did and did not do. She created an environment where dissent was expected and valued rather than classed as unprofessional.
Then Sue left, and guess what happened next?
Culture is a fragile thing, much more fragile than we expect. When we're in the middle of it, good or bad, it just ... fades into background noise. It's taken as a given. And then people leave and you slowly realise both how valuable their presence was, and the fact that the things they were doing aren't anywhere in anyone's job description, or things you were hiring their replacement with an eye to.
When Ryan left, we lost alcohol. And hey, I can deal with an absence of alcohol. Tech and alcohol haven't exactly been the healthiest of friendships. But when Sue left, we lost a lot of our transparency, internally and externally. When Gayle left we lost a boundless love and fierce determination to make us do better and comfort us when we didn't. When Anasuya left we lost steady counsel, an awareness of the width of the world and knowledge of the multitudes it contains.
We hired for none of these values. We tasked for none of these values. And so we have, organisationally, none of these values. The things that always distinguished the Wikimedia Foundation as a workplace are gone, and replaced with an environment that prizes unanimity above confidence and lacks accountability for organisational failures.
Because of that, I am leaving. I don't know what things I did that nobody will organise now, but I do know that I am not looking back. This was a good place to be – I wouldn't have spent half a decade at it otherwise – but it has tarnished and rusted every day of the last year and a half.
To my friends in the wider movement, I would ask you to keep insisting that the organisation do better. Insist until your keyboard is worn down, insist until your lungs give out, insist until the next Board election and the next opportunity to make the people holding the job at the moment actually do it.
To my friends in the organisation – and there are so very many of them, so many wonderful, glorious, loving people – you owe your people trust and respect and protection, and sometimes that is shielding them at your expense. But sometimes it is getting out while you still can, so as to set an example that leaving is a thing that can be done. If you wait to leave until you have pulled everyone out, you'll be consumed by it. I would not wish that on any of you.
If anyone wants me, I'll be at Rapid7, a company whose employees like being there, whose work is interesting, and whose managers are accessible and answerable. Turns out being a security/privacy nerd who likes data is, in fact, remunerative. If you're reading this: I'm sure you can work out where to find me if you need me.
Oliver Keyes is a Research Analyst at the Wikimedia Foundation until March 18. This article was originally posted on the author's blog and is republished with his permission. The views expressed in this article are his alone and do not reflect any official opinions of this publication.
Of dead pools and dead judges
Summary: There was a lot going on this week: the Grammys; the Presidential primaries in Nevada and South Carolina; and the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, which provoked an entirely predictable and completely unnecessary political firestorm. But what people wanted to know about more than anything, it seems, is Deadpool; a film which, judging from the box office receipts, they've already seen. Still, that's a lot to take in, and I can't really blame people for seeking an escape.
As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of February 14–20, 2016, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:
Wiki Loves Africa brings the continent’s fashion to the world
Held in October and November of last year, the Wiki Loves Africa photo competition focused on the continent’s varied fashion traditions from north, south, east, and west.
According to the organizers, “The competition became an unprecedented visual celebration of the universality of fashion and the diversity of traditional and contemporary cultural practices across Africa.”
The winners came from all over the continent—Kenya, Senegal, Ghana, and Algeria. In total, 7,453 images were entered by 734 unique contributors from 51 countries around the world. All were reviewed by a team of judges, who ranked their favorite three; an additional 39 were sent to the community to vote on for their favorite.
This is Wiki Loves Africa’s second annual contest. 2014’s competition, as the blog documented, put the Africa continent’s cuisine on display through freely licensed photos available to anyone in the world, free of charge. These included a stunning photo of a Sudanese woman making traditional kisra bread.
Wiki Loves Africa is supported by WikiAfrica, hosted by the Africa Centre, and was funded in part by a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation.
- Ed Erhart is an Editorial Associate at the Wikimedia Foundation.
Arbitration motion regarding CheckUser & Oversight inactivity
At 04:46, 17 February 2016, the Arbitration committee voted to have the CheckUser permissions of Deskana removed. Later that same day, the committee released a motion on inactive users with CheckUser and Oversight permissions:
The following is an ArbCom internal process. It supplements the ArbCom procedure on CheckUser/Oversight permissions and inactivity.
- Arbitrators will check the CheckUser and Oversight statistics at the end of each month to identify functionaries who have not met the activity requirements in the preceding three months.
- If a functionary has not met the requirements, they will be sent an email notification reminding them of the required activity levels and asking if and when they plan to return to activity.
- If within two weeks a functionary does not meet the activity requirements or reply with an acceptable plan to return to activity, an arbitrator will send them a second email notification. This message will alert the functionary that their advanced permission(s) (CheckUser and/or Oversight) will be removed after two weeks unless they respond with a plan to return to activity.
- If an arbitrator objects to a functionary's advanced permission(s) being removed automatically, they may notify the rest of the Arbitration Committee and initiate a discussion.
- If a functionary has not responded to the second notification within two weeks or has not provided a plan to return to activity, and no arbitrator has objected, an arbitrator will post an announcement on the Arbitration Committee noticeboard announcing the change and thanking the functionary for their prior service, and will request removal of the permission(s) at the Stewards' noticeboard.
- If an arbitrator has objected to automatic removal, a motion will be initiated and the Arbitration Committee will be notified via the arbcom-l mailing list. After two weeks the discussion will be closed and the permission(s) removed per the step above unless there are at least three arbitrators opposing removal, in which case it can be left open for more comments or a normal vote can be proposed.
This motion was made after a 10–1 vote, with four arbitrators having abstained or not voted.
This week's featured content
Text may be adapted from the respective articles and lists; see their page histories for attribution.
Featured articles
Eight featured articles were promoted this week.
- The 70th Infantry Division (nominated by EnigmaMcmxc) of the British Army fought during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The 70th Division originated from the 7th Infantry Division, which served in the British Mandate of Palestine during the Arab Revolt. It was then transferred to Egypt on the outbreak of the Second World War and soon became the 6th Infantry Division, which took part in the Battle of Crete and the Syria–Lebanon Campaign. The 6th Division was re-created as the 70th Infantry Division, in an attempt to deceive Axis intelligence concerning the strength of the British military in the Middle East.
- Baron Munchausen (nominated by Lemuellio) is a fictional German nobleman and soldier created by the German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe in his 1785 book Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia. The character is loosely based on a real baron, Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr von Münchhausen. The fictional Baron's exploits focus on his impossible achievements as a sportsman, soldier, and traveler.
- The Last of Us (nominated by Rhain) is an action-adventure survival horror video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a man tasked with escorting a young girl named Ellie across a post-apocalyptic United States. Development of the game began in 2009, soon after the release of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The team chose actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson to portray Joel and Ellie respectively, who provided voice and motion capture for the roles. Both assisted creative director Neil Druckmann with the development of the characters and story.
- In 1896, William McKinley was elected President of the United States. McKinley's campaign (nominated by Wehwalt) organization was built by Mark Hanna through 1895 and 1896. Hanna raised millions for a campaign of education with trainloads of pamphlets to convince the voter that free silver would be harmful, and once that had its effect, even more were printed on protectionism. McKinley stayed at home in Canton, Ohio, running a front porch campaign and reaching millions through newspaper coverage of the speeches he gave to organized groups of people who came to see him and hear him address them. Supported by the well-to-do, urban dwellers, and prosperous farmers, McKinley won a majority of the popular vote and an easy victory in the Electoral College. McKinley's systemized approach to gaining the presidency laid the groundwork for modern campaigns, and he forged an electoral coalition that would keep the Republicans in power most of the time until 1932.
- William Etty (nominated by Iridescent) (1787–1849) was an English artist best known for his history paintings containing nude figures. All but one of his works he exhibited at the Royal Academy in the 1820s contained at least one nude figure, and he acquired a reputation for indecency. In 1828 he was elected a Royal Academician, at the time the highest honour available to an artist. Although he was one of the most respected artists in the country he continued to study at life classes throughout his life. In the 1830s Etty began to branch out into the more lucrative but less respected field of portraiture, and later became the first English painter to paint significant still lifes. He continued to paint both male and female nudes, which caused severe criticism and condemnation from some elements of the press.
- Michael Hordern (nominated by Cassianto) (1911–1995) was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly 60 years. He is best known for his Shakespearean roles, especially that of King Lear, which he played to much acclaim on stage in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1969 and London in 1970. He then successfully assumed the role on television five years later. He often appeared in film, rising from a bit part actor in the late 1930s to a member of the main cast; by the time of his death he had appeared in nearly 140 cinema roles. His later work was predominantly in television and radio.
- Black American Sign Language (nominated by Wugapodes) (BASL) is a dialect of American Sign Language (ASL) spoken most commonly by deaf African Americans in the United States. The divergence from ASL was influenced largely by the segregation of schools in the American South. Linguistically, BASL differs from other varieties of ASL in its phonology, syntax, and lexicon.
- Migration of the Serbs (nominated by 23 editor) is the name given to four similar oil paintings by the artist Paja Jovanović, which depict Serbs, led by Archbishop Arsenije III, fleeing Old Serbia during the Great Serb Migration of 1690. The first version is on display at the patriarchate building of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade, the second at the Pančevo Museum, and the fourth at Princess Ljubica's Residence. Migration of the Serbs holds iconic status in Serbian popular culture, and several authors repute it to be one of Jovanović's finest achievements.
Featured lists
Three featured lists were promoted this week.
- The 2013 Tour de France was the 100th edition of the race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on the island of Corsica on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 21 July. The competition featured twenty-two teams and 198 riders (nominated by BaldBoris). All of the nineteen UCI ProTeams were entitled, and obliged, to enter the race. In addition three second-tier UCI Professional Continental teams received wildcard invitations.
- The Mexican National Lightweight Championship (nominated by MPJ-DK) is a Mexican professional wrestling singles championship created and sanctioned by Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F.. Although the Commission sanctions the title, it does not promote the events in which the title is defended. The official definition of the lightweight weight class in Mexico is between 63 kg (139 lb) and 70 kg (150 lb), but the weight limits for the different classes are not always strictly enforced. As of 2016, 49 title reigns were shared between 39 wrestlers.
- The County-Designated Highways in Michigan (nominated by Imzadi1979) comprise a 1,241.6-mile-long (1,998.2 km) system of primary county roads across the US state of Michigan. The system uses eight lettered zones which are divided by major state highways. Each county road in the system is designated with the zone letter followed by a number. Six of the zones, A–F, are in the Lower Peninsula while the Upper Peninsula is divided into the remaining two, G and H.
Featured pictures
Four featured pictures were promoted this week.
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Tech news in brief
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- Phabricator has been upgraded. [1][2]
Problems
- There was no new MediaWiki version last week. Changes that were planned to happen last week will happen this week instead. This is because of a bug that made saving pages take longer time. [3][4]
Changes this week
- After February 23, you can use Wikidata for inter-language links on Wikiversity. [5]
Meetings
You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 23 February at 20:00 (UTC). See how to join.
You can join the next meeting with the Architecture committee. The topic this week is Assign RFCs to ArchCom shepherds. The meeting will be on 24 February at 22:00 (UTC). See how to join.
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