Dear Chinu Ji, Please note this is a Gender neutral discussion on Staff and their volunteering role in the name of personal capacity. Please note that in Wikimedia policies evolve as per discussion from time to time. Community consultation and listening to them is the most important thing.
Your message is like there is no policy so do not discuss or talk. Plese also note I respect not just Women but LGBT and other communities. When talk on this issue started Trust and Safety was copied from the beginning even before sending this the email body was shown to those involved as written on above.Trust and Safety was also copied and asked for any violations. This is not an email just shot from anywhere. Now why are you targeting mailing list admins? I will be sending some more emails on CIS and their poor work performance compared to their budget. But I will not do it just like this. I will once again share the draft with them beforehand and copying Trust and Safety. After that I will share on mailing list. Now please check CIS reports and how much activity is done in the name of Wikisource. This is not about any public pressure to step down but CIS would be happy themselves had they got volunteers to do this work. Even this CIS staff would have been happy. There could have been so many Women leaders in Wikisource to volunteer this work. I request to you audit their work and share with all of us what better could be done in coming days. I am with you on developing more Women volunteers. I would also request CIS not to shoot down any discussion but listen to the feedback. Atleast Vishnu was always open to listening the community. Tanveer and Pawan are expected not different. The first step is to accept the gender gap challenge and only then we all can improve. Wish you the best for CIS Train The Trainer event in Odisha. Arvind On Friday 13 September 2024, Women Camp <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 wikimediaindia-l-leave@lists. >>>>> wikimedia.org >>>>> 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 wikimediaindia-l-leave@lists. >>>> wikimedia.org >>>> 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 wikimediaindia-l-leave@lists. >>> wikimedia.org >>> 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 wikimediaindia-l-leave@lists. >> wikimedia.org >> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/wikimediaindia-l.lists. >> wikimedia.org/ > >
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