"Work with community functionaries to create and refine a retroactive review process for cases brought by involved parties, excluding those cases which pose legal or other severe risks "
What does "retroactive review process" mean? I hope it doesn't mean applying standards that were not promulgated at the time to past actions and applying severe sanctions to the alleged perpetrators. On Fri, May 22, 2020 at 5:59 PM María Sefidari <ma...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > Hello everyone, > > Today, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees unanimously passed a > resolution and published a statement[1] regarding the urgent need to make > our movement more safe and inclusive by addressing harassment and > incivility on Wikimedia projects. The statement builds on prior statements > from 2016 and 2019,[2][3] affirms the forthcoming introduction of a > universal code of conduct, and directs the Wikimedia Foundation to rapidly > and substantively address these challenges in complement with existing > community processes. > > This includes developing sustainable practices and tools that eliminate > harassment, toxicity, and incivility, promote inclusivity, cultivate > respectful discourse, reduce harms to participants, protect the projects > from disinformation and bad actors, and promote trust in our projects. > > Over the past nearly twenty years, the movement has taken a number of > unique and sometimes extraordinary steps to create an environment unlike > anything else online: a place to share knowledge, to learn, and to > collaborate together. In order for the movement to continue to thrive and > make progress to our mission, it is essential to build a culture that is > welcoming and inclusive. > > Research has consistently shown that members of our communities have been > subject to hostility and toxic behavior in Wikimedia spaces.[4][5] The > Wikimedia 2030 movement strategy recommendations have also identified the > safety of our Wikimedia spaces as a core issue to address if we are to > reach the 2030 goals, with concrete recommendations which include a > universal code of conduct, pathways for users to privately report > incidents, and a baseline of community responsibilities.[6] > > While the movement has made progress in addressing harassment and toxic > behavior, we recognize there is still much more to do. The Board’s > resolution and statement today is a step toward establishing clear, > consistent guidelines around acceptable behavior on our projects, and > guiding the Wikimedia Foundation in supporting the movement’s ability to > ensure a healthy environment for those who participate in our projects. > > * Developing and introducing, in close consultation with volunteer > contributor communities, a universal code of conduct that will be a binding > minimum set of standards across all Wikimedia projects; > > * Taking actions to ban, sanction, or otherwise limit the access of > Wikimedia movement participants who do not comply with these policies and > the Terms of Use; > > * Working with community functionaries to create and refine a retroactive > review process for cases brought by involved parties, excluding those cases > which pose legal or other severe risks; and > > * Significantly increasing support for and collaboration with community > functionaries primarily enforcing such compliance in a way that prioritizes > the personal safety of these functionaries. > > Together, we have made our movement what it is today. In this same way, we > must all be responsible for building the positive community culture of the > future, and accountable for stopping harassment and toxic behavior on our > sites. > > We have also made this statement available on Meta-Wiki for translation and > wider distribution.[1] > > On behalf of the Board, > María, Board Chair > > [1] > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/May_2020_-_Board_of_Trustees_on_Healthy_Community_Culture,_Inclusivity,_and_Safe_Spaces > > [2] > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/November_2016_-_Statement_on_Healthy_Community_Culture,_Inclusivity,_and_Safe_Spaces > > [3] > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Archives/2019#Board_statement_posted_at_Community_response_to_the_Wikimedia_Foundation's_ban_of_Fram > > [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Harassment_survey_2015 > > [5] > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Insights/2018_Report#Experience_of_harassment_has_not_declined_since_2017_and_appears_to_remain_steady > > [6] > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recommendations/Provide_for_Safety_and_Inclusion > > == Statement on Healthy Community Culture, Inclusivity, and Safe Spaces == > > Harassment, toxic behavior, and incivility in the Wikimedia movement are > contrary to our shared values and detrimental to our vision and mission. > They negatively impact our ability to collect, share, and disseminate free > knowledge, harm the immediate well-being of individual Wikimedians, and > threaten the long-term health and success of the Wikimedia projects. The > Board does not believe we have made enough progress toward creating > welcoming, inclusive, harassment-free spaces in which people can contribute > productively and debate constructively. > > In recognition of the urgency of these issues, the Board is directing the > Wikimedia Foundation to directly improve the situation in collaboration > with our communities. This should include developing sustainable practices > and tools that eliminate harassment, toxicity, and incivility, promote > inclusivity, cultivate respectful discourse, reduce harms to participants, > protect the projects from disinformation and bad actors, and promote trust > in our projects. > > Specifically, the Foundation shall: > > * Develop and introduce a universal code of conduct (UCoC) that will be a > binding minimum set of standards across all Wikimedia projects. > > ** The first phase, covering policies for in-person and virtual events, > technical spaces, and all Wikimedia projects and wikis, and developed in > collaboration with the international Wikimedia communities, will be > presented to the Board for ratification by August 30, 2020. > > ** The second phase, outlining clear enforcement pathways, and refined with > broad input from the Wikimedia communities, will be presented to the Board > for ratification by the end of 2020; > > * Take actions to ban, sanction, or otherwise limit the access of Wikimedia > movement participants who do not comply with these policies and the Terms > of Use; > > * Work with community functionaries to create and refine a retroactive > review process for cases brought by involved parties, excluding those cases > which pose legal or other severe risks; and > > * Significantly increase support for and collaboration with community > functionaries primarily enforcing such compliance in a way that prioritizes > the personal safety of these functionaries. > > Until such directives are implemented, the Board instructs the Foundation > to adopt and implement policies for reducing harassment and toxicity on our > projects and minimizing legal risks for the movement, in collaboration with > communities whenever practicable. Until these two phases of the UCoC are > complete and operational an interim review process involving community > functionaries will be in effect. In this interim period, the Product > Committee of the Board of Trustees will also advise the Trust & Safety > team. > > To that end, the Board further directs the Foundation, in collaboration > with the communities, to make additional investments in Trust & Safety > capacity, including but not limited to: development of tools needed to > assist our volunteers and staff, research to support data-informed > decisions, development of clear metrics to measure success, development of > training tools and materials (including building communities’ capacities > around harassment awareness and conflict resolution), and consultations > with international experts on harassment, community health and children’s > rights, as well as additional hiring. > > The above efforts will be undertaken in coordination and collaboration with > appropriate partners from across the movement, seek to increase effective > community governance of conduct and behavioral standards, and reduce the > long-term need of the Foundation to act. It is the shared goal of the Board > and Foundation that these efforts advance a sustainable Wikimedia movement > and support, rather than substitute, effective models of community > governance. > > We urge every member of the Wikimedia communities to collaborate in a way > that models the Wikimedia values of openness and inclusivity, step forward > to do their part to create a safe and welcoming culture for all, stop > hostile and toxic behavior, support people who have been targeted by such > behavior, assist good-faith people learning to contribute, and help set > clear expectations for all contributors. > > -- > > > María Sefidari Huici > > Chair of the Board > > Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/> > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> -- Dennis C. 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