Dear T&S team, You speak of conflict-of-interest editing on behalf of "external parties".
Were these commercial or political/ideological entities? Andreas On Tue, Dec 6, 2022 at 9:04 PM Clover Moss <[email protected]> wrote: > That's actually the first thing I did when I saw the email, as I wasn't > previously familar with the term. > > On Tue, Dec 6, 2022, 3:22 PM Neurodivergent Netizen < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Of course Wikipedia has an article on it. :-) It refers to “the Middle >> East and North Africa.” >> From, >> I dream of horses >> She/her >> >> >> >> >> >> On Dec 6, 2022, at 12:01 PM, Nathan <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MENA?wprov=sfla1 >> >> On Tue, Dec 6, 2022, 2:59 PM Neurodivergent Netizen < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Can you tell us what MENA stands for? >>> >>> From, >>> I dream of horses >>> She/her >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> On Dec 6, 2022, at 8:28 AM, Wikimedia Trust and Safety <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>> Hello all, >>> >>> On December 6th 2022, the Foundation undertook 16 global bans to users >>> who were engaging in conflict of interest editing on Wikipedia projects in >>> the MENA region. While we are unable to discuss Foundation office actions >>> in detail due to legal limitations and for the safety of our communities, >>> we would like to speak a little more to this situation as it involves the >>> safety and security of all of us. >>> >>> As Wikimedia projects have risen in prominence across the world, it has >>> attracted increasing attention of those who would like to control the >>> information published on it, for political or other reasons. Community >>> members have addressed concerns of this sort for many years, but sometimes >>> volunteers who intervene in such cases may themselves face retaliation for >>> their actions. The Foundation does its best to support volunteers in such >>> cases, in order to preserve their safety. >>> >>> In January of 2022, the Foundation began an investigation into alleged >>> conflict of interest editing on Wikipedia projects in the MENA region. In >>> that investigation, we were able to confirm that a number of users with >>> close connections with external parties were editing the platform in a >>> coordinated fashion to advance the aim of those parties. These connections >>> are a source of serious concern for the safety of our users that go beyond >>> the capacity of the local language project communities targeted to >>> address. Due to the gravity of this situation, and in order to keep our >>> users and the projects safe, the Foundation issued these 16 global bans. >>> >>> Such actions can be distressing to those who know individuals involved >>> and to those who don’t. They can cause volunteers to mistrust each other >>> and to mistrust the Foundation and to be unsure if they can safely >>> contribute. We are unable to share more details about this situation due to >>> the reasons mentioned above, but we want to assure you that the Foundation >>> will continue to explore various ways to keep everyone safe and free to >>> contribute to the projects. We want to thank those community members across >>> the globe who address such situations every day and encourage all of you to >>> consider how to be safe in your volunteer activities. We recognize that as >>> we move forward, we will need to work with our communities to find a global >>> process to navigate safety challenges that allow such situations to be >>> dealt with as transparently as possible while also prioritising avoiding >>> risk to the safety of our users. >>> >>> For anyone who feels unsafe on Wikimedia projects we encourage you to >>> use the local community processes or to contact us for assistance. The >>> Foundation and the community will work together, or in parallel, to enhance >>> the safety of all users whenever necessary with whatever means we can. >>> >>> To contact the Trust & Safety team please email [email protected] >>> <[email protected]>g. >>> >>> Kind regards, >>> >>> WMF Office/Trust and Safety >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines >>> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >>> Public archives at >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/NJUOKYM2UTKFH53OKGIXW6OSEEDUI3AL/ >>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines >>> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >>> Public archives at >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/SOYG4CIA6H7WMAMWGRZWT3HJXPFEFVCJ/ >>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines >> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >> Public archives at >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/PJJLIZDA4PA74PN45DBF3LCY4UATLCGI/ >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines >> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >> Public archives at >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/BUS6TJJ5YUIJZ6AHP4OKLPREC2HVOSWV/ >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/JMAELWCYOJRXBLJVU2G56PXSBJIQLZQJ/ > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
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