Arvind ji, I am writing to address recent comments and concerns you’ve raised regarding staff involvement in Wikimedia spaces. It is important to clarify that there is no policy within the Wikimedia movement that restricts anyone’s participation based on their employment with any affiliate or the Wikimedia Foundation until or unless there is a Conflict of Interest. Staff members, just like any other individuals, have the right to engage with movement initiatives in their personal capacities. Their involvement, when not violating any policy, should be treated with all fairness and respect.
By definition, volunteer work in Wikimedia spaces is open to everyone, including staff, and is based on the principles of free knowledge and community participation. Staff members can, and often do, volunteer their time and efforts outside of their professional roles, contributing meaningfully to the movement. Volunteering is not limited by employment status, and it's crucial to understand that participation enriches our shared goals. The ability to organize a conference depends on experience, willingness and time they can offer to create inclusive and productive spaces for learning & collaboration. Questioning someone’s involvement based on their professional background not only undermines their contributions but also disrespects the collective wisdom of any Conference Organizing Team (COT), who carefully consider all contributors to ensure the success of an event. Furthermore, I must express my deep concern regarding the manner in which you have raised these issues, particularly targeting a woman in a public mailing list. Given the persistent gender gap in leadership roles across Wikimedia spaces, it is disheartening to witness such actions. Asking someone to step down under pressure does not necessarily lead to greater respect—it can actually undermine the spirit of inclusivity and volunteerism that we all work hard to uphold. We are all here to support the same mission, and fostering an inclusive, supportive environment for everyone—regardless of gender, professional background, or experience—is essential to achieving that goal. I’ll urge the mailing list owners to monitor such personal targets given the recent recommendations (just 2 days ago) we have received from the WMF Trust & Safety team.. Sincerely, Chinu On Thu, Sep 12, 2024 at 10:46 PM Neechal Karan <[email protected]> wrote: > I agree with the point that we need to encourage more leadership from the > community. Minimize the Staff involvement in the community driven events. > However I don't have any specific comment on any staff members. I > appreciate their effort on what they do to bring this successful > conference. Since the topic is in the table, I feel their response will > help us to understand better on this scenario. > > Regards, > Neechalkaran > > > > On Thu, 12 Sept, 2024, 10:19 pm Arvind Menon, <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Dear Aafi, >> >> I will request you to check CIS annual grants from the start and also the >> activity report. So much money has been taken in the name of Wikisource to >> do workshop, digitisation, hire resource person, do Wikisource in Education >> Program and what all. I will hesitate to share the amount someone from CIS >> should reply along with links and money in rupee not dollars. Community >> should know this. >> >> Sunil Abrahim, Vishnu Vardhan both said they want community to take >> leadership and staff to step back. Is Tanveer Hasan and Pavan Santosh on >> different floor? After spending so much money on Wikisource, CIS should >> have made some leaders to do these work. The CIS team would have been so >> proud of themselves and community would have also come up and said Well >> Done! CIS could have told the volunteers to take initiatives and we are >> right behind you for help. Unfortunately nothing like this happened and CIS >> staff are doing all these work on their own and saying doing it in personal >> capacity. Which model will you prefer Aafi? >> >> Edit counts are not the basis to judge others on scholarship but they are >> also important to have better experience. Many more volunteer editors have >> so much edits and they have admin and other access. They should be given a >> chance. Do you disagree Aafi? 2023 when this discussion happened many >> volunteers came up but why CIS staff was chosen. I cannot understand. >> >> If CIS person steps down today she will not lose respect but gain >> respect. I am sure about that. >> >> I am sorry Aafi if you consider my email to be baseless accusations. I >> will not reply then. >> >> Arvind >> >> On Thu, 12 Sept 2024 at 20:22, Aafi <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> The Conference Leads did share a call for volunteers for a long time, >>> but I suspect not many presented themselves to volunteer for several >>> organising committees for the Conference. Nitesh is a long time Wikimedia >>> contributor who actively contributes to Wiki projects and is also a visible >>> face of many volunteer based initiatives. If she comes in her volunteer >>> capacity to be a part of the Scholarship COT, what issue is there? I assume >>> no. >>> >>> There are plenty of Wikimedians who also work for the Wikimedia >>> Foundation or other organisations, whilst also supporting several programs >>> voluntarily. I do not find any misuse of power there. I'd appreciate it if >>> you could explain yourself rather than making baseless accusations. >>> >>> Just an FYI: I'm not a Wikisource contributor and my response doesn't >>> endorse/approve of any Wikisource Conference COT opinions. This response is >>> entirely my own observation. >>> >>> Kind regards >>> Aafi >>> >>> On Thu, 12 Sept 2024, 10:51 Arvind Menon, <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Dear Community Members, >>>> >>>> Wikisource is having a conference and Nitesh Gill who is CIS-A2K staff >>>> is on the scholarship committee. After such a big community we can't find >>>> any volunteers. Staff are not meant to select community members for >>>> scholarship. This is a misuse of power. Everything in the name of personal >>>> capacity is a misuse of power and community cannot grow like this. >>>> >>>> Arvind >>>> >>>> >>>> This message has already been shown to Trust&Safety at WMF, Nitesh >>>> Gill and several Wikisource community members involved with the conference. >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> WikimediaIndia-l mailing list -- [email protected] >>>> To unsubscribe send an email to >>>> [email protected] >>>> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit >>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/wikimediaindia-l.lists.wikimedia.org/ >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> WikimediaIndia-l mailing list -- [email protected] >>> To unsubscribe send an email to >>> [email protected] >>> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/wikimediaindia-l.lists.wikimedia.org/ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> WikimediaIndia-l mailing list -- [email protected] >> To unsubscribe send an email to >> [email protected] >> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/wikimediaindia-l.lists.wikimedia.org/ > > _______________________________________________ > WikimediaIndia-l mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/wikimediaindia-l.lists.wikimedia.org/
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