Talk:Wikimedia MA User Group/2017

De-Recognition of Affiliates with Long-standing Non-Compliance

This is an update from the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee. Translations are available.

Recognition as a Wikimedia affiliate - a chapter, thematic organization, or user group - is a privilege that allows an independent group to officially use the Wikimedia name to further the Wikimedia mission. While most Wikimedia affiliates adhere to the basic compliance standards set forth in their agreements with the Wikimedia Foundation, a protocol has been developed to address the exceptional cases when a Wikimedia affiliate does not meet basic compliance standards and their continued recognition as a Wikimedia affiliate presents a risk to the Wikimedia movement.

In the past year, the Affiliations Committee - with support from Wikimedia Foundation staff - has made a concerted effort to address a handful of chapters with long-standing issues of non-compliance. As a result, in the coming days and months, a small number of chapters that have been unable to return to compliance through their efforts in the past year will not have their chapter agreements renewed. As a consequence, these organizations will no longer have the additional rights to use the Wikimedia trademarks, including the Wikimedia name, that had been granted under those agreements.

If you have questions about what this means for community members in the affected affiliates’ region or language areas, we have put together a basic FAQ. The FAQ talk page is available for additional questions and comments, and the Affiliations Committee is happy to answer questions directly.

Posted by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the Affiliations Committee, 15:55, 13 February 2017 (UTC) • Please help translate to your language • Get help • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

Review of initial updates on Wikimedia movement strategy process

Note: Apologies for cross-posting and sending in English. Message is available for translation on Meta-Wiki.

The Wikimedia movement is beginning a movement-wide strategy discussion, a process which will run throughout 2017. For 15 years, Wikimedians have worked together to build the largest free knowledge resource in human history. During this time, we've grown from a small group of editors to a diverse network of editors, developers, affiliates, readers, donors, and partners. Today, we are more than a group of websites. We are a movement rooted in values and a powerful vision: all knowledge for all people. As a movement, we have an opportunity to decide where we go from here.

This movement strategy discussion will focus on the future of our movement: where we want to go together, and what we want to achieve. We hope to design an inclusive process that makes space for everyone: editors, community leaders, affiliates, developers, readers, donors, technology platforms, institutional partners, and people we have yet to reach. There will be multiple ways to participate including on-wiki, in private spaces, and in-person meetings. You are warmly invited to join and make your voice heard.

The immediate goal is to have a strategic direction by Wikimania 2017 to help frame a discussion on how we work together toward that strategic direction.

Regular updates are being sent to the Wikimedia-l mailing list, and posted on Meta-Wiki. Beginning with this message, monthly reviews of these updates will be sent to this page as well. Sign up to receive future announcements and monthly highlights of strategy updates on your user talk page.

Here is a review of the updates that have been sent so far:

• Update 1 on Wikimedia movement strategy process (15 December 2016)
  • Introduction to process and information about budget spending resolution to support it
• Update 2 on Wikimedia movement strategy process (23 December 2016)
  • Start of search for Lead Architect for movement strategy process
• Update 3 on Wikimedia movement strategy process (8 January 2017)
  • Plans for strategy sessions at upcoming Wikimedia Conference 2017
• Update 4 on Wikimedia movement strategy process (11 January 2017)
  • Introduction of williamsworks
• Update 5 on Wikimedia movement strategy process (2 February 2017)
  • The core movement strategy team, team tracks being developed, introduction of the Community Process Steering Committee, discussions at WikiIndaba conference 2017 and the Wikimedia movement affiliates executive directors gathering in Switzerland
• Update 6 on Wikimedia movement strategy process (10 February 2017)
  • Tracks A & B process prototypes and providing feedback, updates on development of all four Tracks

More information about the movement strategy is available on the Meta-Wiki 2017 Wikimedia movement strategy portal.

Posted by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation, 20:27, 15 February 2017 (UTC) • Please help translate to your language • Get help

Overview #2 of updates on Wikimedia movement strategy process

Note: Apologies for cross-posting and sending in English. This message is available for translation on Meta-Wiki.

As we mentioned last month, the Wikimedia movement is beginning a movement-wide strategy discussion, a process which will run throughout 2017. This movement strategy discussion will focus on the future of our movement: where we want to go together, and what we want to achieve.

Regular updates are being sent to the Wikimedia-l mailing list, and posted on Meta-Wiki. Each month, we are sending overviews of these updates to this page as well. Sign up to receive future announcements and monthly highlights of strategy updates on your user talk page.

Here is a overview of the updates that have been sent since our message last month:

• Update 7 on Wikimedia movement strategy process (16 February 2017)
  • Development of documentation for Tracks A & B
• Update 8 on Wikimedia movement strategy process (24 February 2017)
  • Introduction of Track Leads for all four audience tracks
• Update 9 on Wikimedia movement strategy process (2 March 2017)
  • Seeking feedback on documents being used to help facilitate upcoming community discussions

More information about the movement strategy is available on the Meta-Wiki 2017 Wikimedia movement strategy portal.

Posted by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation, 19:42, 9 March 2017 (UTC) • Please help translate to your language • Get help

We invite you to join the movement strategy conversation (now through April 15)

This message, "We invite you to join the movement strategy conversation (now through April 15)", was sent through multiple channels by Gregory Varnum on 15 and 16 of March 2017 to village pumps, affiliate talk pages, movement mailing lists, and MassMessage groups. A similar message was sent by Nicole Ebber to organized groups and their mailing lists on 15 of March 2017. This version of the message is available for translation and documentation purposes

Dear Wikimedians/Wikipedians:

Today we are starting a broad discussion to define Wikimedia's future role in the world and develop a collaborative strategy to fulfill that role. You are warmly invited to join the conversation.

There are many ways to participate, by joining an existing conversation or starting your own:

Track A (organized groups): Discussions with your affiliate, committee or other organized group (these are groups that support the Wikimedia movement).

Track B (individual contributors): On Meta or your local language or project wiki.

This is the first of three conversations, and it will run between now and April 15. The purpose of cycle 1 is to discuss the future of the movement and generate major themes around potential directions. What do we want to build or achieve together over the next 15 years?

We welcome you, as we create this conversation together, and look forward to broad and diverse participation from all parts of our movement.

• Find out more about the movement strategy process
• Learn more about volunteering to be a Discussion Coordinator

Sincerely,

Nicole Ebber (Track A Lead), Jaime Anstee (Track B Lead), & the engagement support teams

05:00, 18 March 2017 (UTC)

Start of the 2017 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees elections

Please accept our apologies for cross-posting this message. This message is available for translation on Meta-Wiki.

On behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee, I am pleased to announce that self-nominations are being accepted for the 2017 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Elections.

The Board of Trustees (Board) is the decision-making body that is ultimately responsible for the long-term sustainability of the Wikimedia Foundation, so we value wide input into its selection. More information about this role can be found on Meta-Wiki. Please read the letter from the Board of Trustees calling for candidates.

The candidacy submission phase will last from April 7 (00:00 UTC) to April 20 (23:59 UTC).

We will also be accepting questions to ask the candidates from April 7 to April 20. You can submit your questions on Meta-Wiki.

Once the questions submission period has ended on April 20, the Elections Committee will then collate the questions for the candidates to respond to beginning on April 21.

The goal of this process is to fill the three community-selected seats on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. The election results will be used by the Board itself to select its new members.

The full schedule for the Board elections is as follows. All dates are inclusive, that is, from the beginning of the first day (UTC) to the end of the last.

• April 7 (00:00 UTC) – April 20 (23:59 UTC) – Board nominations
• April 7 – April 20 – Board candidates questions submission period
• April 21 – April 30 – Board candidates answer questions
• May 1 – May 14 – Board voting period
• May 15–19 – Board vote checking
• May 20 – Board result announcement goal

In addition to the Board elections, we will also soon be holding elections for the following roles:

• Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC)
  • There are five positions being filled. More information about this election will be available on Meta-Wiki.

• Funds Dissemination Committee Ombudsperson (Ombuds)
  • One position is being filled. More information about this election will be available on Meta-Wiki.

Please note that this year the Board of Trustees elections will be held before the FDC and Ombuds elections. Candidates who are not elected to the Board are explicitly permitted and encouraged to submit themselves as candidates to the FDC or Ombuds positions after the results of the Board elections are announced.

More information on this year's elections can be found on Meta-Wiki. Any questions related to the election can be posted on the election talk page on Meta-Wiki, or sent to the election committee's mailing list, board-electionswikimedia.org.

On behalf of the Election Committee,
Katie Chan, Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee
Joe Sutherland, Community Advocate, Wikimedia Foundation

Posted by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee, 03:35, 7 April 2017 (UTC) • Please help translate to your language • Get help

Voting has begun in 2017 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees elections

This is a message from the Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee. Translations are available.

Voting has begun for eligible voters in the 2017 elections for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees is the ultimate governing authority of the Wikimedia Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization registered in the United States. The Wikimedia Foundation manages many diverse projects such as Wikipedia and Commons.

The voting phase lasts from 00:00 UTC May 1 to 23:59 UTC May 14. Click here to vote. More information on the candidates and the elections can be found on the 2017 Board of Trustees election page on Meta-Wiki.

On behalf of the Elections Committee,
Katie Chan, Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee
Joe Sutherland, Community Advocate, Wikimedia Foundation

Posted by the MediaWiki message delivery • Translate • Get help

19:02, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Join the next cycle of Wikimedia movement strategy discussions (underway until June 12)

Message is available for translation on Meta-Wiki

The Wikimedia movement strategy core team and working groups have completed reviewing the more than 1800 thematic statements we received from the first discussion. They have identified 5 themes that were consistent across all the conversations - each with their own set of sub-themes. These are not the final themes, just an initial working draft of the core concepts.

You are invited to join the online and offline discussions taking place on these 5 themes. This round of discussions will take place between now and June 12th. You can discuss as many as you like; we ask you to participate in the ones that are most (or least) important to you.

Here are the five themes, each has a page on Meta-Wiki with more information about the theme and how to participate in that theme's discussion:

• Healthy, Inclusive Communities
• The Augmented Age
• A Truly Global Movement
• The Most Respected Source of Knowledge
• Engaging in the Knowledge Ecosystem

On the movement strategy portal on Meta-Wiki, you can find more information about each of these themes, their discussions, and how to participate.

Posted by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation • Please help translate to your language • Get help

19:24, 16 May 2017 (UTC)

Start of the 2017 Wikimedia Foundation Funds Dissemination Committee elections

Translations of this message are available on Meta-Wiki.

On behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee, we are pleased to announce that self-nominations are being accepted for the 2017 Wikimedia Foundation Funds Dissemination Committee and Funds Dissemination Committee Ombudsperson elections. Please read the letter from the Wikimedia Foundation calling for candidates at on the 2017 Wikimedia Foundation elections portal.

Funds Dissemination Committee
The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) makes recommendations about how to allocate Wikimedia movement funds to eligible entities. There are five positions being filled. More information about this role can be found at the FDC elections page.

Funds Dissemination Committee Ombudsperson
The Funds Dissemination Committee Ombudsperson receives complaints and feedback about the FDC process, investigates complaints at the request of the Board of Trustees, and summarizes the investigations and feedback for the Board of Trustees on an annual basis. One position is being filled. More information about this role can be found at the FDC Ombudsperson elections page.

The candidacy submission phase will last until May 28 (23:59 UTC).

We will also be accepting questions to ask the candidates until May 28. You can submit your questions on Meta-Wiki. Once the questions submission period has ended on May 28, the Elections Committee will then collate the questions for the candidates to respond to.

The goal of this process is to fill the five community-selected seats on the Wikimedia Foundation Funds Dissemination Committee and the community-selected ombudsperson. The election results will be used by the Board itself to make the appointments.

The full schedule for the FDC elections is as follows. All dates are inclusive, that is, from the beginning of the first day (UTC) to the end of the last.

• May 15 (00:00 UTC) – May 28 (23:59 UTC) – Nominations
• May 15 – May 28 – Candidates questions submission period
• May 29 – June 2 – Candidates answer questions
• June 3 – June 11 – Voting period
• June 12–14 – Vote checking
• June 15 – Goal date for announcing election results

More information on this year's elections can be found at the 2017 Wikimedia Foundation elections portal.

Please feel free to post a note about the election on your project's village pump. Any questions related to the election can be posted on the talk page on Meta-Wiki, or sent to the election committee's mailing list, board-electionswikimedia.org.

On behalf of the Election Committee,
Katie Chan, Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee
Joe Sutherland, Community Advocate, Wikimedia Foundation

Posted by the MediaWiki message delivery • Translate • Get help

21:03, 23 May 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia Zero abuse

@Aallam, Abdeaitali, Aelita14, Amine BELKAID, Amine Slaoui, Asmitta, Anass Sedrati, Bekkari, Cesar80, DerekvG, Elmoro, Etotheraf, Frenchinmorocco, HOUDA.FITRI, Ismael zniber, Omar2040, OussDB, Saadtazi, Santakrouz, Sinneral, Wimmiden, Xerxes1337, Ya6ne, زكريا, and محمد بوعلام عصامي:

Tracked in Phabricator:
Task T129845

Since March, a number of Moroccan users have been abusing Wikipedia Zero to upload hundreds of songs, movies, and anime episodes each week. They've moved from uploading hidden RAR files to blatant copyvios; 90% of video uploads by new users are deleted. At this point we may need to diminish or eliminate Wikipedia Zero access for Morocco.

We previously had success contacting the local chapter in Bangladesh to curtail abuse. This is being tracked in T129845, but most activity happens in a semi-private chat after the pirates started monitoring us. Subscribe in Phabricator and reply here to be added. Dispenser (talk) 12:13, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

@Dispenser: do you mean that the user that you mentioned above abusing Wikipedia zero? or you just mentioned them because they are a Moroccan user? --Alaa :)..! 12:36, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

Pinged them if they're on Wikimedia MA User Group/Membres. Wikipedia Zero abusers are in c:Category:Users suspected of abusing Wikipedia Zero. Dispenser (talk) 12:49, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

@Dispenser: thanks for clarification, can you give make a category for users who abusing the use of Wikipedia zero in morocco only? --Alaa :)..! 14:46, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

@علاء: These are burner accounts without email address. They setup Facebook groups (public and private) to advertise files just uploaded. A live example is Portal Adimilson news Müsik. We have more listed in conpherence chat. Dispenser (talk) 15:16, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

@Dispenser: Thanks. I remembered that before 2 days a new user sent to me a message about thing I think it's related to this topic, he said "Hello, please be comfortably to understand my topic, there's some users who merge applications in pictures form to upload it in free on the wiki which they access it in free on Morocco Telecom Network, that lead to violated the policies of Wikimedia and encrypted files. This is not suitable for Wikipedia". Really I don't understand him and what he mean, but I think now I can understand a part of what he said. Wish what I said help you. --Alaa :)..! 01:03, 6 June 2017 (UTC)

Embedded Data Bot deletes files with embeded RARs, but the pirates managed to exploit a race condition recently to trip it up. T48921 is for implmenting the logic into MediaWiki. Dispenser (talk) 02:57, 6 June 2017 (UTC)

@Dispenser: I may not completely understand the technicalities of Wikipedia Zero but why is it that the user are allowed to upload (free of charge)? Wouldn't it be a good idea to allow viewing the wiki and disable uploading content to the commons (ofc free of charge) -- Abdeaitali (talk) 12:41, 9 June 2017 (UTC)

I'm told there legitimate WP0 (photo) uploads (and too many selfies). And in the Angola/Bangladesh case pirates were spending mobile credits to distribute music to their Facebook Zero followers. Dispenser (talk) 14:05, 9 June 2017 (UTC)

Bourses complètes pour participer à la WikiConvention francophone 2017 (Strasbourg, France)

@Anass Sedrati, Ismael zniber, Omar2040, Santakrouz, Elmoro, DerekvG, Abdeaitali, زكريا, Frenchinmorocco, Ya6ne, Saadtazi, Wimmiden, Bekkari, Etotheraf, Sinneral, Xerxes1337, Cesar80, OussDB, HOUDA.FITRI, Amine BELKAID, Asmitta, Aelita14, WeshMani, Omar-toons, A.Nawfel, Saltassine, Larec, Amine Slaoui, Maghribia ya nassi, Tachfin, Brio, Indiana Younes, Abbas9, and Avicenne11:

Cher-e-s Wikip[m]édien-ne-s,

Au sein de notre mouvement, plusieurs rencontres thématiques et régionales sont tenues pour réunir et rassembler les contributeurs de différentes nationalités.

Ainsi, la communauté francophone organise, pour la seconde année consécutive, sa conférence annuelle. La représentativité marocaine lors de la précédente édition, qui avait eu lieu à Paris, était quasi satisfaisante; seuls 2 contributeurs marocains ont été présents sur les 140 participants issus de 16 pays.

Malgré cela, l’événement a été une opportunité pour faire connaissance avec d'autres contributeurs, échanger les discussions, et surtout partager les expériences. Dans ce sens, une présentation a été faite concernant la situation au Maroc, intitulée « Défis linguistiques des pays francophones sur Wikipédia, exemple du Maroc ».

Pour cette nouvelle édition, prévue du 19 au 21 octobre 2017 à Strasbourg (France), je vous invite à participer massivement, en formulant votre demande par ici: Lien

Des bourses complètes, couvrant le visa, le transport (avion, train..) ainsi que l'hébergement, seront fournies.

Date limite: 30 juin 2017

Bonne chance à tous.

Bien cordialement, --Reda benkhadra (talk) 19:39, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

PS: Vos questions sont les bienvenues !

Learning Quarterly: October 2017

L&E Newsletter / Volume 4 / Issue 14 / October 2017
Learning Quarterly

Frontpage:
#Learning Days
#CEInsightsReport

Stay tuned
blogs, events
& more!

A program in the spotlight:
On-boarding new editors:
The skills-focused approach of WMIL

Leave your mark on Meta!
New AffCom corner, plus learning patterns you can contribute to.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:50, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

Inviting you to participate in the women editing contest "The women you have never met"

Dear Wikimedia MA User Group!

Hope this message finds you all well :) On behalf of Iberocoop network I want to invite you to be part of the women editing contest we are organizing along with many other chapters and user groups in the movement. You are doing an excellent work on your local context and we will be so pleased to have you on board. In this very early stage, we are asking the organizations to add their interest in the following meta page Hope to see you there soon! Hugs----Anna Torres (WMAR) --Anna Torres (WMAR) (talk) 15:31, 25 January 2018 (UTC)

Learning Quarterly: January 2018

L&E Newsletter / Volume 5 / Issue 15 / January 2018
Learning Quarterly

Frontpage:
#LeadershipDevelopment
#CaseStudies

Stay tuned
blogs, events
& more!

A program in the spotlight:
Raising awareness of Wikipedia in Nigeria, one radio program at a time

Leave your mark on Meta!
Inspire New Readers campaign, and AffCom elections

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:45, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

Share your feedback in this global Wikimedia survey

Dear Wikimedia Affiliates,
My name is María Cruz and I work for the Wikimedia Foundation on the Learning and Evaluation team. In one week or so, the Foundation is starting a global survey to learn about the experiences and feedback of Wikimedians. I am writing here, because I wanted to share with you a bit more about the project.
The survey is called "Wikimedia Communities and Contributors" and is conducted annually. We will send the survey to editors across all the Wikimedia projects, as well as Wikimedia affiliates and volunteer developers. This survey is going to be our way of making sure that we can hear feedback from a significant number of users from across the projects. This research supports editors and Wikipedia’s mission. This is our second annual CE Insights survey, and we look forward to improving it every year.
We will be contacting 2 people from each affiliate, based on the primary contact information that we have. Each affiliate will receive an additional third link which they can distribute to any leader in their chapter or user group.
Go to the project page to see the results of last year’s survey, and to see how your feedback helps the Wikimedia Foundation support communities. You can sign up to be notified about the results of the survey, or to learn how you can help with planning the survey next year.
If you have any questions or concerns about this project, please feel free to send them to Edward Galvez's talk page on Meta-Wiki or email him directly at surveyswikimedia · org in any language. You can learn more about this project and read about frequently asked questions. You can also share your feedback on Meta-Wiki.

Thank you for your time supporting this project!
María Cruz

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:42, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

Learning Quarterly: June 2018

L&E Newsletter / Volume 5 / Issue 16 / June 2018
Learning Quarterly

Frontpage:
#WikiWomen
#WikiEduAsia

Stay tuned
blogs, events
& more!

A program in the spotlight:
Karvachar’s WikiClub, when getting knowledge is cool

Leave your mark on Meta!
Inspire New Readers campaign, and AffCom elections

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:45, 3 November 2017 (UTC)