Hello, everyone! I'm writing with information about the Ombuds Commission (OC), the small group of volunteers who investigate complaints about violations of the privacy policy, and in particular concerning the use of CheckUser and Oversight tools, on any Wikimedia project for the Board of Trustees. I apologize for the length of the announcement. :)
The application period for new commissioners for 2025-27 recently closed. The Wikimedia Foundation is extremely grateful to the many experienced and insightful volunteers who offered to assist with this work. This year’s OC will consist of twelve members and one Steward-Observer. I am pleased to announce the composition of the 2025 OC: だ＊ぜ < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=%E3%81%A0%EF%BC%8A%E3%81%9C > だ＊ぜ, who also may be referred to as Dasze, has been contributing to Wikimedia since 2015. He's primarily active on Chinese Wikimedia projects, where he later served as a director of Wikimedia Community User Group Hong Kong from 2019 to 2023 while users in Hong Kong were suffering various affection in and out of Wikimedia projects. His expertise is international law, human rights law, and statistical and quantitative analysis thereon. He speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, English and some Japanese. This is Dasze's second year on the Ombuds Commission and his term will expire in 2026. Arcticocean < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Arcticocean> Arcticocean has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2008. He is primarily active on Meta and English Wikipedia, where he is an administrator and previously a Checkuser, Oversighter and Arbitrator. Arcticocean served on the Ombuds Commission in 2020 and 2021 and again in 2023-24. His current term on the Ombuds Commission expires in 2026. Ameisenigel < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Ameisenigel> Ameisenigel has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2015. He is primarily active on German Wikipedia, where he served as an Arbitrator from 2020 to 2022 and from 2023 to the present day, and on Wikidata and is an administrator on both projects. He is an Oversighter on Wikidata and also serves as a Global Sysop. Ameisenigel speaks German and English. He has been on the Ombuds Commission since 2021 and his current term expires in 2026. Emufarmers < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Emufarmers> 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 a VRTS administrator since 2015 and has been on the Elections Committee since 2023. He served on the Ombuds Commission from 2019-2021 and again in 2023-24. His current term expires in 2026. Faendalimas < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Faendalimas> Scott Thomson, user:Faendalimas, has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2006. Originally Australian though based in Brazil, he is a taxonomist and evolutionary biologist with a background in International Wildlife Policy, his main editing interest is reptiles and amphibians. He is most active on WikiSpecies, where he is a bureaucrat, Checkuser, and administrator. Faendalimas speaks Portuguese and English. He has served on the Ombuds Commission since 2021 and as Chair from 2022 to 2023, and his current term expires in 2026. Galahad <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Galahad> Galahad has been actively involved as a volunteer for Wikimedia projects since 2009 and has served as the sole administrator of Spanish Wikivoyage since 2013. He has contributed to various voluntary initiatives, including serving as a volunteer advisor to the [[Wikimedia Foundation Community Affairs Committee/Sister Projects Task Force|Sister Projects Taskforce]] and as a member of the Ombuds Commission from 2019 to 2023. Additionally, he founded [[WikiSP|Wikimedia Small Projects]] and held the position of General Coordinator from 2020 to 2025. He is also a member of [[Wikimedia Venezuela]] and served as Vice-President from 2021 to 2023, and he is the founder and leader of the [[LAC Hub]], PAW Initiative, and contributes as a volunteer on the Selection Committee for the Steering Committee members of the [[Wikipedia Asian Month User Group]]. His current term on OC expires in 2027. Nehaoua <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Nehaoua> Nehaoua holds a master's degree in Highway and Bridge Engineering and currently works as a Civil Engineer. However, his true passion lies with knowledge and its free access for all. Since 2009, Nehaoua has been an active Wikimedian, contributing significantly across various projects like French and Arabic Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikisource, and Wiktionary. Nehaoua is fluent in Arabic and French, and is actively improving his English language skills. Nehaoua's term on OC expires in 2026. Renvoy <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Renvoy> Renvoy has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2014. He is primarily active on Ukrainian Wikipedia, where he serves as administrator. Also he holds roles of global sysop and global rollbacker. Renvoy speaks Ukrainian, Russian, English, Polish and Lithuanian. His current term runs through 2026. Revi C. <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth/Revi_C.> revi started editing Korean Wikipedia in 2013, and became an admin on that wiki a year later. revi also serves as an oversighter there since 2018, and has been a Commons admin since early 2014. revi also served as an admin on Wikidata for 10 years (2013~2023), steward for 5 years (2018~2023), and admin on Meta for 9 years (2014~2023). On-wiki, revi is mostly interested in janitorial, anti-spam work and copyright stuff. His current term on OC ends in 2027. RoySmith < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=RoySmith> Roy Smith has been editing Wikipedia since 2004. He has been an admin on English Wikipedia since 2005 and a checkuser since 2021. Previously an active sockpuppet hunter, as of late 2023, he has dialed that back to concentrate more on content creation. His term on OC runs through 2026. Teles <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Teles> Lucas is a Brazilian doctor that 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 for many years, in different terms. He is currently an administrator on Meta, Commons and Ptwiki. In 2012, the global community elected him as a steward, a position he held for more than ten years, until asking removal in 2024. He has previously served the Ombuds Commission for three consecutive years. Today, he focuses on his work at AffCom advisoring, global renaming, occasional anti-vandalism work, translating medical content from English to Portuguese Wikipedia. His current term on OC ends in 2027. Zafer <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Zafer> Zafer has been contributing to Wikimedia projects as a volunteer since 2008 and he is one of the founding members of the Wikimedia Community User Group Turkey since 2016. He is primarily active on Turkish Wikipedia, Wikidata and Commons, and he holds admin on Wikidata. He checks recent changes and new articles at Turkish Wikipedia and is specifically interested in sports related articles. He contributes wiki projects also by taking photos and uploading with free licences. This is Zafer's first year on OC and his term expires in 2027. Steward-Observer The Steward-Observer serves as a liaison between the Ombuds Commission and the Stewards. The Steward-Observer is a non-voting, advisory role. The Steward-Observer was nominated by the Stewards and is appointed by the Wikimedia Foundation to a one-year term. This year's Steward-Observer is… Vermont <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Vermont> Vermont (they/them) has been contributing to Wikimedia projects since 2016. They have been a steward since February 2022, and previously a global sysop and rollbacker. Vermont is an administrator and checkuser on Meta-Wiki and the Simple English Wikipedia, and formerly volunteered on the UCoC Phase 2 and Revisions drafting committees. They served as Steward-Observer for the Ombuds Commission from 2023-25 as well. Vermont's term as Steward-Observer expires in 2026. Departing members Please join me in thanking the following volunteers who are leaving OC, who have given substantially of their time to serve the commission: Bennylin < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Bennylin> Bennylin has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2004. He's primarily active on Indonesian and Javanese Wikiprojects, where he's sysop in 6 of them, Checkuser in Indonesian Wikipedia, bureaucrat in Indonesian Wiktionary, and also active in Commons, Meta, Wikidata, and MediaWiki. He has previously served as a global Steward. He speaks Indonesian, English, Javanese, Chinese and some Spanish. Bennylin served on the Ombuds Commission in 2023-24. Daniuu <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Daniuu> Daniuu has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2019. They are primarily active on Dutch Wikipedia, where they are a sysop and have been a member of the Arbitration Committee. They are also a global sysop and focus on counter-vandalism work. Daniuu speaks Dutch and English. Daniuu was on the Ombuds Commission since 2023. Doğu <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth/Do%C4%9Fu> Doğu Abaris (Doǵu) has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2012. He is primarily active on Turkish Wikipedia, where he has served as an administrator, interface administrator, and oversighter. Additionally, he is a volunteer MediaWiki developer and is currently working on the Auditor MediaWiki extension. He is studying software and data engineering at Singidunum University in Belgrade. He was appointed to OC in 2024 and resigned later that year. MdsShakil < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=MdsShakil> MdsShakil has been contributing to Wikimedia projects since 2019. He is primarily active on Bengali Wikipedia, where he serves as an administrator and oversighter. Additionally, he is an administrator on Bengali Wikibooks and contributes globally as a global renamer, global rollbacker, and global sysop. He speaks Bengali and English. MdsShakil was on the Ombuds Commission since 2023. Minorax <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Minorax> Minorax has been active on Wikimedia projects since 2019. They are a Metapedian who is active on a large number of projects, including Commons, where they have over 400,000 edits, English Wikipedia, and Meta, where they are a Checkuser. They are also a global sysop. Minorax speaks English and Chinese. Minorax was on the Ombuds Commission since 2023. -- Karen Brown Trust & Safety Specialist Wikimedia Foundation kbr...@wikimedia.org
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