User talk:RobLa-WMF

Welcome to Meta![edit]

Hello RobLa-WMF, and welcome to the Wikimedia Meta-Wiki! This website is for coordinating and discussing all Wikimedia projects. You may find it useful to read our policy page. If you are interested in doing translations, visit Meta:Babylon. You can also leave a note on Meta:Babel or Wikimedia Forum (please read the instructions at the top of the page before posting there). Happy editing!

- :) Ottava Rima (talk) 02:40, 25 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

shortesturls[edit]

Dear Rob, I found you while messaging at http://test2.wikipedia.org/?curid=4#redirect_from_an_alias and looking at the sysop page.
These days I posted some questions at http://www.mediawiki.org/?curid=84252 related to a sort of "shortest urls".I understand that you are the right person at the WMF to find the people who would carefully investigate the "eternatility" and stability of such links. I used the longer variant (with the "w/index.php") at thousands of sites. Please note that some sites as WorldCat Identity of aul Erdős] are using links as Special:Search?search=Paul Erdős to link to the Wikipedia article in English en:Paul Erdős. In the authority control (VIAF) page of Paul Erdős VIAF:51768730/ the page ss hardcoded as http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s . Neither of both links will be stable because the addition of piped disambiguation pages would not automatically redirect such search links to the original article. If a WMF community does not maintain all redirects properly such links may be "disconnected" from their target.
I hope that some people in your group can understand the request and native English speakers would post the required bugzilla reprts in a more understandable wording better then I can do. One might contact me at "meta:" for any questions. Thanks for your future support in advance! Best regards and greetings from Munich, Germany. Gangleri ‫·‏לערי ריינהארט‏·‏Th‏·‏T‏·‏email me‏·‏‬ 09:34, 3 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Your user page[edit]

Hi Rob, this is just a quick note to let you know I've converted your user page to use the new User info template. Please feel free to add more information about yourself in the relevant sections, maybe add a quote too. :-) Thehelpfulone 21:50, 2 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Great, thanks! -- RobLa-WMF (talk) 00:37, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Incompetent Administrator[edit]

Hi, Andrew, If we think one administrator is not competent enough and does not protect the articles from being destroyed by some users (eliminating the references and several parts of bodies of the article by some biased users with particular personal tastes), is there a person or a board of director we can report this incident? I appreciate if you can share your opinion with me.74.195.244.87 16:50, 25 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Goodbye and thanks[edit]

Context: RobLa left the Wikimedia Foundation on October 28, 2016.

I don't think that any other manager at the WMF would have hired me. You put together the most incredible team of high performing solo artists I've ever worked on and somehow managed to keep us mostly pointed in useful directions. On my first day you told me "Always be nice" and since I've called that "RobLa's rule" when I on-boarded my own new hires. You challenged me to get out of my comfort zone and take on work that I would have otherwise avoided. Often I did the jobs I knew I would hate just to keep from disappointing you. I was lost for weeks when you got hurt and happy as hell to welcome you back when you had healed up. I hope we can find things to work on together again. --BDavis (WMF) (talk) 00:47, 29 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for everything, Rob! Max Semenik (talk) 23:14, 29 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Bye RobLa! I always liked working with you, even when we disagreed. I have been looking to your style of management for inspiration in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. Hope to see you around! -- Daniel Kinzler (WMDE) (talk) 12:42, 30 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you Rob. I'll fondly remember the many discussions that we have had at conferences. Our way too many talks about me possibly joining WMF. You, Erik and later Tomasz were always there for me as a volunteer and I highly appreciated that. Hope to see you as an en.wp sysop again :) —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 09:52, 31 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you, Rob! Working with you and just talking to you was great, I am sad to hear about your departure and wish you luck in whatever the future has in store. --Smalyshev (WMF) (talk) 17:46, 31 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Rob, this is incredibly disappointing news. I wish you the best with all that you do in the future. Ed Erhart (WMF) (talk) 19:36, 31 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Rob, I really enjoyed our late evening banter about Second Life (or first life) and general Wikipedia wonderful-weirdness. I will miss you on the 5th floor. ZMcCune (WMF) (talk) 19:39, 31 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Hugs. I'll miss your wisdom and grace, Rob. Thank you for imparting it so generously to the rest of us. Milimetric (WMF) (talk) 19:47, 31 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Rob, it has been great working with you. I remembered first meeting you over a semi-contentious issue and being struck by how much you cared about the movement and our mission (not to mention act as a teaching moment for me). Thank you for all your help, support, and advice. We'll miss you! --ZZhou (WMF) (talk) 20:07, 31 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for your work Rob! Your Archcom work, your work at facilitating cross-team conversations, and your historical knowledge and sharing of it has been helpful to me personally. Best wishes and good luck, and I hope our paths will continue to cross each other in the Wikimedia world. SSastry (WMF) (talk) 20:09, 31 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you very much for your dedication and work at the Wikimedia Foundation. You have been an indirect yet decisive player in both my hiring in San Francisco and then my relocation to Germany. You trusted me all along, when we agreed and also in those other times when we agreed to disagree. In short, I owe you a lot. I wish you best luck and interesting projects with a free license. :) Edit: Oh, and you were also the first person I heard talking seriously about considering this tool called Phabricator... long before we actually implemented it under your direction.--Qgil-WMF (talk) 20:28, 31 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]
It was great working with you, and you will be missed! I hope to continue to see you around some open source projects. Stephen LaPorte (WMF) (talk) 21:04, 31 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Rob -- thank you for always representing the principles that you felt strongly about. You will be missed here. Good luck in the future! Tnegrin (talk) 22:18, 31 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]
You contributed far more than your code commits, for many years. You will be missed. I know you'll keep contributing, on the wiki and elsewhere. See you around. Ijon (talk) 05:19, 1 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Rob - all the best for the future. Thank you for driving conversations around Markdown/crediting our contributors and being an important ally in ensuring Wikimedia has been living and breathing open source! There will be a void with your departure and I do hope to see more of you fighting the cause from the outside. I hope you enjoy whatever time off/new adventures you have planned. Let me know if you are ever in downtown SF and want to grab a coffee! Jdlrobson (talk) 15:40, 1 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Rob, your departure really saddens me. You were a great colleague and even a greater boss. Your technical depth, your ability to lift spirits, your enthusiasm and friendliness, and not least your sense of humor. I'll miss all of it. Erik Zachte (talk) 21:05, 1 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
RobLa. Like many past and present WMFers I literally wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. Remembering me as the runner up for a previous position and asking me if I'd be interested in another one a couple years later was one of the best professional compliments I've ever received. Another was when you promoted me and helped me form the Release Engineering team (which was made up of me mostly taking high performers from MW Core). You have always been a guide and mentor during my time here and I'll always hear your voice in my head when I'm thinking through a problem. Thank you. Greg (WMF) (talk) 21:36, 1 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
RobLa, you are missed in the office and others have said the rest better than what I can say with words. What's left is: if you want to grab a coffee, you know where to find me. Just ping. --LZia (WMF) (talk) 22:35, 1 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
RobLa, thank you for your commitment and many positive contributions. I hope all is well with you and your family. Niedzielski (talk) 16:09, 3 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
thank you very very much! it is really sad to see you go :( I wish you all the best! --アンタナナ 21:14, 4 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
RobLa - missing your presence & work already. Yours are big shoes to fill in dev summit planning & arch com. I greatly enjoyed the period of time when you were my manager, and our weekly talks always kept me grounded & connected. Cscott (talk) 20:29, 10 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
RobLa - I consider myself so fortunate that I happened to have a few brainstorming sessions with you in the initial weeks of my starting at WMF. I wish I was luckier to have had the opportunity to learn more from you. Thank you for sharing your ideas, and introducing me to the world of matrix communication! :) SSethi (WMF) (talk) 1:13, 10 November 2016 (UTC)