Talk:Ombuds commission/Archives/2016

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2016 Ombudsman Commission announcement

Official announcement

Hello, everyone.

I'd like to announce the new and returning members of the 2016 Ombudsman Commission (OC), the small group of volunteers who investigate complaints about violations of the privacy policy, and in particular concerning the use of CheckUser and Oversight[1] tools, on any Wikimedia project for the Board of Trustees.

[1] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Amending_the_Scope_of_the_Ombudsman_Commission

I apologize for the length of the announcement. :)

The application period for new commissioners for 2016 recently closed. The Wikimedia Foundation is extremely grateful to the many experienced and insightful volunteers who offered to assist with this work.

As it has for the past few years, this year’s OC will consist of seven members, with a two-member advisory team who will guide the new commission.


I am pleased to announce the composition of the 2016 OC. First, the new members are:

User:Alan, who has been a registered Wikimedian for more than three years, but an anonymous editor since 2006, working primarily across Spanish language projects. He is a global sysop and global rollbacker, an administrator on Commons, as well as having been an OTRS volunteer for ~3 years. In the past he has served as an administrator and bureaucrat on Spanish Wikivoyage.

User:NahidSultan, who has been volunteering on Wikimedia projects since 2012. He is mostly active on Bengali Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Meta, where he holds administrator rights. Besides these roles, he is also part of OTRS, a small wiki monitoring team member and a global administrator. Other than his online contributions to the movement, he is also active doing Wikimedia work offline, working actively for the Wikimedia Bangladesh chapter, where he currently serves as a Board member.

User:Pajz, who has been an active contributor to the Wikimedia projects for almost a decade. Formerly a bureaucrat on the German-language Wiktionary, he has since mainly focused on contributing to Wikipedia (mostly on topics from economic theory and copyright law) and helping out on the Volunteer response team ("OTRS team"). He became a Wikipedia administrator and a Volunteer response team member in 2007, and has served as one of the OTRS administrators.

User:Taketa, who has been a Wikimedian since 2008. He mostly works on the Dutch Wikipedia, writing content and organising projects. He was a member of the Dutch Wikipedia Arbitration Committee in 2009/10 and 2012/13. Currently, he helps as Wikimedia steward, nlwiki bureaucrat, listadmin for the nlwiki admins and bureaucrats, OTRS volunteer and Wikidata admin.

Returning members:

User:Barras, who is primarily active on the Simple English Wikipedia and Meta. He’s a steward, an Oversighter on Simple English and Meta, and also a Checkuser on Simple and Meta. Barras joined the OC in 2015.

User:Polimerek, who primarily edits Polish Wikipedia (where he is an admin and former arbitrator), Polish Wikibooks and Wikimedia Commons. He also serves the Wikimedia movement as the president of Wikimedia Poland and on the Grant Advisory Committee. He is a former Checkuser. Polimerek joined the OC in 2014.

User:Rubin16, who primarily edits the Russian Wikipedia, where he is a bureaucrat and administrator. He is formerly a member of their Arbitration Committee. He is an administrator on Wikimedia Commons and is a Central Notice and translation admin on Meta. (He is also a translation admin on Commons.) He is a member of Wikimedia Russia, responsible for press contacts and financial reporting.

The 2016 OC’s advisors (this advisory role provides expertise when needed, but does not participate in all discussions) are:

User:Gnom, who primarily edits German Wikipedia. Gnom, a licensed attorney, has previously served Wikimedia as a legal intern for the Wikimedia Foundation. In 2014, he was elected to the Board of Wikimedia Deutschland, where he serves as co-Vice Chair. Gnom joined the OC in 2014.

User:Huji, who primarily edits Farsi Wikipedia, where he is an administrator, bureaucrat and former Checkuser. He has also contributed substantially to Simple Wikipedia, English Wikipedia and Meta and is a Wikimedia developer contributing to MediaWiki and WMF Labs projects.

These volunteers' willingness to remain, to bring their familiarity with processes and their experience to the new arrivals, is greatly appreciated!

Please join me in thanking the following outgoing volunteers, who have given substantially of their time to serve the commission:

User:Alhen, who primarily edits Spanish projects. He is a bureaucrat and administrator on the Spanish Wikipedia and Spanish Wikibooks, and is also an administrator on Commons. A prior member of the Spanish ArbCom, before it was dismantled, he is a Checkuser on the Spanish Wikipedia.

User:Avraham, a steward, who primarily edits English Wikipedia where he is a Checkuser, Oversighter, admin and bureaucrat. He also serves the Commons as an admin and Oversighter and Meta as an admin. He joined the OC in 2014.

User:PhilKnight, who primarily edits the English Wikipedia. A former member of its arbitration committee and its mediation committee, he is also a Checkuser, Oversighter and administrator there.

User:Thogo primarily edits the German Wikipedia, where he is an administrator and former arbitrator, and has also focused on Meta. He is a former steward and has served as an administrator on several other projects. He joined the OC in 2011.

I'd also like to say a hearty thank you to those returning and those coming aboard for the first time, as well as to all those applied. Again, it was an extremely able group of volunteers, and while this mix of users may best serve the need for this year, I hope that those who applied will consider applying again in future years.

The composition of the 2016 Ombudsman Commission has just been announced on Wikimedia-L. The announcement text is above. In nutshell, the OC in 2016 will consist of:

Serving in an advisory capacity, and filling in if necessary, will be:

Great appreciation goes out to the departing members of the OC: User:Alhen, User:Avraham, and User:PhilKnight. Special thanks go to User:Thogo who has served the commission with great dedication since 2011, both as an active member and an advisor. -- Patrick Earley (WMF) (talk) 18:30, 1 February 2016 (UTC)

viewsupressed

Please, add this right to the list of group permissions - Special:GlobalGroupPermissions/ombudsman rubin16 (talk) 18:36, 15 May 2016 (UTC)

Done. Matiia (talk) 18:52, 15 May 2016 (UTC)

Translation and internal links

Would it be possible to modify the internal links to match the recommandation of Template:Localized_link ? For example I'd like the introduction sentence be

'''ombudsman commission''' investigates complaints about infringements of the [[:wmf:Privacy policy|Privacy Policy]], the <tvar|nonpublic>{{ll|Access to nonpublic information policy}}</tvar>, the <tvar|checkuser>{{ll|CheckUser policy}}</tvar> and the <tvar|oversight>{{ll|oversight policy}}</tvar> on any Wikimedia project for the <tvar|board>{{Ll|Board of Trustees}}</tvar>. 

Also the wikidata item page links would be best wrapped in a template that uses the localized item label like {{Q}}. TomT0m (talk) 10:58, 6 July 2016 (UTC)

Hi TomT0m, I suppose that's a good idea. Thanks, --Gnom (talk) 22:18, 7 July 2016 (UTC)

Ombudsmen's rights

The ombudsman commission investigates complaints about infringements of the Privacy Policy, the Access to nonpublic information policy, the CheckUser policy and the oversight policy on any Wikimedia project for the Board of Trustees. They also investigate for the Board the compliance of local CheckUser or Oversight policies or guidelines with the global CheckUser and Oversight policies.

Do Ombudsmen have special rights for that, such as Checkuser, Oversight or Administrator rights? Who selects and appoints them, following which criteria? --Anti. (talk) 14:55, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

Hi. All answers for your questions are public and appears here: Ombudsman commission
Regards, --Alan (talk) 16:53, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

Ombudsman Commission - selection for 2017 committee

Hello all, It's coming close to time for annual appointments of community members to serve on the Ombudsman commission. This commission works on all Wikimedia projects to investigate complaints about violations of the privacy policy, especially in use of CheckUser and Oversight tools, and to mediate between the complaining party and the individual whose work is being investigated. They may also assist the General Counsel, the Executive Director or the Board of Trustees in investigations of these issues. For more on their duties and roles, see the Ombudsman commission's main page.

This is a call for community members interested in volunteering for appointment to this commission. Commissioners should be experienced Wikimedians, active on any project, who have previously used the CheckUser/Oversight tool OR who have the technical ability to understand the CheckUser/Oversight tool and the willingness to learn it. They are expected to be able to engage neutrally in investigating these concerns and to know when to recuse when other roles and relationships may cause conflict. (In the past, commissioners have retired from other roles that could cause conflict.)

Commissioners must be willing to identify to the Wikimedia Foundation and to comply with the appropriate board policies (such as the access to non-public data policy and the privacy policy. This is a position that requires a high degree of discretion and trust.

If you are interested in serving on this commission, please drop Karen Brown in the Support & Safety team (kbrown(_AT_)wikimedia.org) a note detailing your experience on the projects, your thoughts on the commission and what you hope to bring to the role. The commission is deliberately quite small, so slots are limited, but all applications are appreciated. The deadline for applications is January 2. Any timezone. :) Please feel free to pass this invitation along to any users who you think may be interested. Thank you! Patrick Earley (WMF) (talk) 17:07, 20 December 2016 (UTC)