Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Annual plan of Wikimedia Serbia for 2025

Oh, wait!

Concerns about Serbian Wikipedia not clearly related to this proposal. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 00:45, 10 November 2024 (UTC)
Our community has: Due to the existence of an article — Nacionalizam, revizionizam i desničarenje or Šta sve možete pročitati na Vikipediji — published on the website of the weekly magazine Vreme where the administrators {Садко, Kizule, Ранко Николић, МареБГ} of the Serbian language wikipedia are mentioned in a very negative context, whose accounts are blocked on other language wikipedias, thereby significantly losing credibility and trust in the all administrators in the wider community of editors without privileges, The administrator Боки of the Serbian language Wikipedia on his user page: This user, in accordance with the Terms of Use of the Wikimedia Endowment, discloses that he is being paid by Ringier for contributing content to Wikipedia member(s); discussion on this topic, one interesting but deleted comment marked personal attack! Administrators نوفاك اتشمان and Ранко Николић who block editors to gain an advantage in discussions and votes, Administrators which do not post a notice on the main page about important issues so that editors can express their thoughts, Administrators Ранко Николић which deletes requests to remove administrative rights even under his personal, and نوفاك اتشمان informs EPIC account to ignore these requests and ignore them, Administrators Dungodung who hired FelixBot to perform a mass deletion of the Short Description template from a large number of articles (because he came to the conclusion that the template is garbage that needs to be eliminated — but the voting was done in a closed circle of administrators, 7 of whom voted without inviting the community to participate in the discussion and voting), Ранко Николић which rejects the request for the removal of the Bot flag reason: unfounded, Administrators Садко who writes accusatory, disparaging, humiliating tracts against seasoned editors with decades of editing experience, here; and Боки here, Administrators who delete articles from the GLAM program and then delete archived discussions older than six years, Administrators who block users for the reason of personal attacks and do not respond to the request for unblocking and stating the specific link where the personal attack was made, Administrators who do not allow editors to create a Talk Page as permitted by the Guidelines, therefore, because of all the above, I believe that the budget of EUR 179,184 represents not only a pointless waste of significant material resources, but also an incentive for the continuation of this behavior. I am writing this out of sincere concern for the continuation of the project. Nota Bene: I ask myself a rhetorical question as a thesis to consider: Since an admin Боки has found a way to make money without consequence by creating and editing articles, are the rest of us editors who edit for free just plain fools; or should we also start charging for our page creation and editing services and will we be blocked because we don't have privileged status? Filipović Zoran (talk) 20:13, 22 October 2024 (UTC) @Filipović Zoran This grant is submitted by Wikimedia Serbia, and refers to the work of the organization itself, its projects, not to the issues within the community that you've been addressing here. The organization is separate from Serbian Wikipedia and we cannot influence its work, administrators and editors. The problems you mentioned should be solved on the project, not on the grant proposal. AxeAdam20 (talk) 15:07, 24 October 2024 (UTC) @AxeAdam20 Аt the moment this is the only place where I can express my impressions and observations. Оn sr.wiki for a long time it is not allowed to present a critical discussion about the project. Тhe community you are talking about consists of 15 administrators, 5 employees and several board members, who mostly participate in actions, competitions, marathons and various events. There are also admins who brag about getting paid for their contributions. Any investment greater than 50,000 euros is a sign of support for such a privileged editor community. For some time now, there has been an opinion among non-privileged editors that the project has lost its volunteer aspect. In this sense, it should be written on many pages: Wikipedia in the Serbian language is a paid project in which a limited group of people with a privileged status participates. Аfter all, I believe that in the near future it will be exactly like this. Тhat's all, folks! Filipović Zoran (talk) 18:16, 24 October 2024 (UTC) @Filipović Zoran: You noted that Оn sr.wiki for a long time it is not allowed to present a critical discussion about the project. Whatever issues you believe there on Serbian Wikipedia with respect to presenting critical feedback, this doesn't mean you are permitted to use this discussion page, which is reserved for feedback about the proposal, to ask excessive, rhetorical, open-ended questions about broader community dynamics about Serbian Wikipedia, especially when they not clearly related to the chapter. This is disruptive to the review process for General Support Funding. I will also note these comments have also been posted elsewhere in the Grants namespace, so I am going to ask you and others to continue discussion there on these topics rather than in this space. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 00:43, 10 November 2024 (UTC) I'm mentioned in Vreme's article just because there is a userbox on my user page with the text that I think Kosovo is part of Serbia. Not because I really did something wrong. If I did something so bad, WMF would eventually intervene, and I've been contributing to WMF's projects long enough to understand that. Part about me in Vreme's article doesn't have to do anything regarding my contributions to WMF or Serbian Wikipedia. Filipović Zoran is just trying to say what's "in his soul", and I think that he'll always find a place for that, even in topic which could be understandable to small kid and he/she/it would say that it's irrelevant. Serbian Wikipedia's community understands really well why I'm in that article. Vreme didn't even reach out to me in any way, so I'm considering their article irrelevant and I'm going to let them do whatever they're doing. I even tried to explain everyrthing to my "namesake" (please correct me if I'm wrong with the word, but basically "namesake" is Google Translate's translation from Serbian's word imenjak which is about two persons having the same name), but I think that it didn't help that much. Kizule (talk) 18:48, 29 October 2024 (UTC)

Project: GLAM!

Believe it or not: On sr.wiki, the practice is that after a certain number of years, articles created within the GLAM project are proposed and then deleted by a small number of administrator votes, along with related archived discussion pages, which is filed as a community consensus.
My question is simple: How much material resources did the Wikimedia Foundation invest in creating articles within the GLAM project that were then deleted by the votes of a very small number of administrators?
Filipović Zoran (talk) 20:22, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

@Filipović Zoran: If there are concerns about the individual actions of administrators, this needs to be resolved on Serbian Wikipedia, not in the context of a funding proposal. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 01:17, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

@I JethroBT (WMF): I have been trying to do that for the past ten years, but my requests were rejected, requests to remove admin rights were deleted, my account was blocked several times to gain an advantage in discussions and voting, so I am forced here to point out the observed irregularity. Example: questions related to the work of the administrator on sr.wiki cannot be resolved on the local wikipedia. I recently made a request to remove admin rights for Садко, Ранко Николић and Dungodung, and I made the same request on meta. The request was not published on the main page as a notice and invitation to the editors to take part in the discussion and vote, but Ранко Николић deleted the requests, and then EPIC deleted the request on the meta with the explanation that the community decides, so I wonder which community? Filipović Zoran (talk) 08:20, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

We will not have a community of volunteers … soon!

Here, and in the topic Oh, wait! I present the observations that I have noticed and which I have been an active witness for a long time on sr.wiki with the statement that the budget of over 170,000 euros for the fiscal year will significantly encourage the further behavior of a certain group of editors with privileges who call themselves Our little fortress, which will lead to a significant decline of very active editors who at the moment there are no more than 20; so this is the right place for such topics. I believe that the budget of 50,000 euros is more than enough to ensure smooth operation in these circumstances until the observed irregularities are corrected, as in the case of hr. wiki and enabling further contributions to a wider range of user accounts. if these steps are not taken in the near future, no more than 5 years from now I predict that there will be no community of editors, only privileged users. I express my concern that the continued investment of significant material resources, primarily due to the behavior of administrators who behave as if the project is theirs alone (they themselves determine the rules of behavior that are largely contrary to the guidelines, they are selective and as necessary, depending on the user and the topic they are addressing), will result in a complete loss of the community of volunteers. That's all folks! Filipović Zoran (talk) 08:20, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

Regional Committee feedback and questions

@IvanaMadzarevic, Mickey Mystique, and Bojan Cvetanović: Hello Ivana, Mickey, and Bojan. Thanks for your General Support Fund proposal on behalf of Wikimedia Serbia. The Regional Fund Committee has completed an initial review of the proposal, and has the following feedback, questions, and comments to help support their review:

• The proposal mentions that Wikimedia Serbia will offer microgrants as the chapter did last year. Over the past year, what kinds of projects, events, or needs have been supported through microgrants? Are you hoping to fund similar activities next year? We also note that the budget for microgrants this year is smaller from last year (3000 EUR to 2000 EUR). Is this because there is less of a need for microfunds than was expected?
  • Microgrants are smaller grants, up to 500 euros, that organizations award to individuals and organizations who want to experiment with pilot projects that carry a lower risk, but can later grow into larger-scale projects (projects that received microgrants in 2024). These projects have specific focuses—photo projects, initiatives aimed at increasing the visibility of local landmarks and traditions, educational projects in primary and secondary schools, and similar… One successful example is Wiki Senior, which focuses on involving seniors in editing Wikipedia. The results of the microgrant projects are presented in our reports, as well as at events on international and regional levels (e.g., Wikimania, CEE Meeting…). We plan to continue awarding microgrants, as the project has proven to be successful, especially since very good results can be achieved with limited funds, and it also helps to engage new people who can join the organization and contribute to free knowledge. An important aspect of microgrants is decentralization, as most (5 out of 6 this year) projects were implemented in various parts of Serbia, allowing for the collection of content that is otherwise hard to access or not widely popular. The budget for microgrants has not been reduced due to a lack of response; on the contrary, the response has been much higher in the last three years than before. However, we had to reduce the overall budget in order to allow for an increase in other areas and to keep pace with inflation. In 2025, we lost certain state privileges, leading to higher taxes and contributions for two positions, as well as increased rent and salary costs. Additionally, we want to improve the organization of the Edu Wiki Camp and WikiLive conference, which has led to higher costs in those areas as well. Given all these factors, we reduced the microgrant budget.--IvanaMadzarevic (talk) 15:00, 13 November 2024 (UTC)
• The Regional Committee had a few comments/questions related to your work supporting underrepresented communities:
  • The committee appreciates the chapter's past work and programs with underrepresented communities. Can you confirm that the underrepresented communities you are focusing on include women, older adults, and Roma communities in Serbia? Are there any other underrepresented communities (within the context of Serbia or the Wikimedia movement in general) that WMRS expects to engage with?
    • Our focus is on women, seniors, Roma, but also significantly on the LGBTQ+ community. To a lesser extent, we also include people with disabilities, with plans to increase these activities in 2025 by launching the Read Wikipedia project. We’ve also organized edit-a-thons on the topic of refugees, but this event was focused solely on content. However, we are not limited to this list, and if we see opportunities with new groups, we are open to collaboration and initiating new initiatives.--IvanaMadzarevic (talk) 15:00, 13 November 2024 (UTC)
  • In general, programs focused on underrepresented communities seem to focus more on content-related outcomes. What plans does the chapter have to engage and directly invite these communities to participate or work together with the chapter? We also want to acknowledge that supporting some underrepresented communities to become highly active editors may not be realistic, but the committee is wanting understand in what other ways Wikimedia Serbia is supporting their participation, and how this participation benefits them.
    • The goal within each of these groups is twofold – to increase content about marginalized groups and to increase the number of editors from these groups. While we had no issues achieving the first goal, we often faced challenges with the second – fear of publishing articles due to the risk of them being deleted (LGBTQ+ topics), lack of confidence in the importance of certain topics (notable women), low digital literacy, last-minute cancellations, lack of responsiveness, and the limited capacity of organizations for collaboration… Despite this, Wikimedia Serbia is making significant efforts to establish sustainable partnerships and successfully involve and empower more editors from marginalized groups. The strategy is one of constant research and a proactive approach toward organizations with similar goals, aiming to attract more people through such partnerships, providing training, and creating good working conditions. In addition to training, consultations are offered to keep participants motivated and to ensure they have a mentor to guide them in their work.--IvanaMadzarevic (talk) 15:00, 13 November 2024 (UTC)

Please let me know if you have any questions or needs for clarity around the committee's feedback. To support the Regional Committee's review, please respond to committee feedback by Thursday, November 21st. On behalf of the Regional Committee, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 21:39, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

General Support Fund proposal approved in the amount of 179,184 EUR

@IvanaMadzarevic, Mickey Mystique, and Bojan Cvetanović: Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of 179,184 EUR with a grant term starting 1 January 2025 and ending 31 December 2025.

The committee supported full funding of the proposal, and appreciated your responses to committee questions during initial review. Overall, Wikimedia Serbia’s proposal was supported by the committee due to the committee’s assessment that the chapter has prepared an annual plan that is clear and achievable over the next year. The chapter is supporting a substantial number of different activities including partnerships, Wikimedian in Residence programs, engagement with older adults, and participation in several campaigns.

There were minor concerns about Wikimedia Serbia expectations for new editors in its evaluation plan, which may be somewhat high. Committee members also suggested incorporating programming that focuses on Wiktionary, which other some affiliates have found to be a good starting place for new contributors to edit and learn about Wikimedia projects.

We look forward to Wikimedia Serbia’s work and achievements over the next year. On behalf of the Regional Committee, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 20:43, 6 December 2024 (UTC)