Problems

This page is about "the rest" of the problems related to Wikimedia community, Wikimedia projects, WMF and Chapters. When an issue comes to this place, it should mean that there is no other place at all over Wikimedia where it may be solved. This place is built to try to solve such problems, while it doesn't have power per se to implement it. The main product of this place is a suggestion what should be done at various levels toward the problem solution.

The project is still in development and you shouldn't use it for particular problems! However, all Wikimedians are welcome to participate in the project creation process.

How to use this project

• If you think, let's say, that some project should be closed, the right place for such proposal is the page Proposals for closing projects. The process there is well established and there is no need for talking about that at some other place. If you want to change the process because you think that something with that process is not going well, the right place for discussing this issue is Wikimedia Forum. And just if you tried both steps and you still think that something is wrong there, you should come here and explain the problem.
• If you have some other problem in which wider community should be introduced, the right place for asking the community is the page Requests for comments. However, if the problem was not solved there, you should come here and explain it.
• This project is about all aspects of Wikimedia community, Wikimedia projects, Wikimedia Foundation and Chapters issues. This means that you may present here any kind of Wikimedia-related problem; not just problems related to the projects. Of course, you should be sure that you tried to solve your problem at other possible ways. If you are unsure, you may ask here for advice.
• If you have a problem with, let's say some Wikimedia Chapter, the first place to talk about it is the chapter itself. After that, you should talk with Chapters Committee. If you are not satisfied with that, you should talk with the WMF Board. Only after that, if you think that the problem still exists, you should come here and explain the whole problem. While this place is maybe able to solve the problem which you exposed, it would usually not deal with that particular problem, but with causes of the problem. In this case, there is a relatively clear and established structure for solving problems related to them. So, the right place for solving it exists. This place deals just with problems which were not solved regularly or there is no regular methods for solving them.
• ...

Meta tasks

This is the list of the tasks which should be done to make and keep the project functional.

Initial tasks

• List as many as possible existing not solved, usually systematic problems, make the initial analysis and categorize them. The main page for the list is List
• Make supporting pages for adding problems.
• Announce that this project is functional.

Permanent tasks

• Handle problems, analyze them, categorize them, try to solve them.
• Talk with Wikimedian communities around projects, WMF and chapters about issues relevant to them and educated interested Wikimedians how to increase their participation.
• Write documentation.
• Help in creation of the new Wikimedia institutions.
• Analyze periodically developments of Wikimedian community, suggest global actions and report it to the community.

Publicity of work

This project is public. As it handles public or very general problems, there is no need for private communication channels, except personal communication. Wikimedians interested in helping others may talk personally with those who need help with the goal to find the right wording for expressing sensitive data here. Solutions at this place are general, while sensitive data should be handled by particular WMF and community bodies.

The working list for this project is wikimediameta-l@lists.wikimedia.org.

Members

Anyone is able to participate in the process on this project. However, as the project has to make some conclusions and suggestions to the wider community, membership should be defined.

Up to the end of November 2008 membership to the project is open to all Wikimedians which have account on Meta at least for the last 6 months with the existing user page prior to the moment of publishing this document. After the end of November 2008, new members may be accepted according to the group rules. Default majority needed for group decision is 80%. If the group doesn't have consensus about conclusions or there are significant different views, all of them should be included into the final document. Without prior information that member wouldn't be able to participate for some specific time, after inactivity for more than three months member will be removed from the list; after which they should pass the same process for becoming a member.

List of members

• Millosh
• Yaroslav Blanter
• Pharos
• Thogo