*Major staff reshuffling*

[ericbarbour]

From a private email exchange, this is important and needs to be noted.

Rich people love slavery. The best labor is the exploitable free labor. It still amazes me that WP content writers are willingly generating material and giving it to the WMF. They should be SUING the WMF for support instead. At very least they should be demanding better representation and support.

That fat English shitlump James Forrester continues to be "Senior Product Manager". https://wikimediafoundation.org/profile ... forrester/
A guy with no IT training--but a 14 year history of lying for The Glory Of Jimbo The Holy One.

Warning: The WMF had a recent major reshuffling of staff. Most of the old-time looney insiders are now gone from the "Staff and Contractors" page. They are slowly being replaced by people with actual real-world IT and nonprofit experience. I made up a list of notorious Friend Of Jimbo types still on the staff: of about 400 employees/contractors, only about 23 remain from the evil pre-2010 era. I suspect Maher and the Board knows they have to clean out the freaks. They just won't admit anything publicly.

You will note: As of 15 December, James Alexander has disappeared from the main WMF staff page. His WMF userpage is tagged "former employee".
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php? ... d=17924577
Apparently they got rid of him just a few days ago. There was NO PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT. Interesting.

The remaining "deep insiders" are:
Joe Seddon
Peter Coombe
Megan Hernandez
James Forrester
Ryan Kaldari
Roan Kattouw
Max Semenik
Leon Ziemba
Tilman Bayer
Brion Vibber
Ed Erhart
Maggie Dennis
Jake Orlowitz
Keegan Peterzell
Sherry Snyder
Karen Brown
Syd Poore
Brad Jorsch
Tim Starling
Aaron Schulz
Erik Zachte
Aaron Halfaker
Andre Klapper

This is a small percentage of insiders compared to previous years. I suspect Ms. Maher is trying to quietly make the WMF look more "respectable" compared to the Sue Gardner and Florence Devouard eras. Unthinkable!

I'm going to post this on the WS forum and the book wiki. It needs to be mentioned.

[ericbarbour]

I should also note that the remaining old-timers are mostly software developers and other people who are relatively non-controversial. If I were making recommendations to the WMF about staffing, I would strongly suggest finding replacements for Forrester, Karen Brown, and Sherry Snyder. A few others have participated in "dirty tricks" in the past but haven't been outright evil influences on the administrative operations.

And they STILL NEED TO SHUT DOWN THE IRC SYSTEM. A modern web operation does not run seekret IRC channels for the use of administrators to plot against people they don't like, okay? This is not a Stalinist government and the deletionist patrollers are not the Cheka, get it?

[Graaf Statler]

You will note: As of 15 December, James Alexander has disappeared from the main WMF staff page. His WMF userpage is tagged "former employee".
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php? ... d=17924577
Apparently they got rid of him just a few days ago. There was NO PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT. Interesting.

Very weird. Alexander was extreem populair by the Dutch "wiki cabal members". I saw him circling around Romaine=>Wikimedia, with who he had a tet a tet. Natuur12 aka Dr.vies (vies=dirty in Dutch) and EffeietsAnders I have seen on his talk page. Effe not long ago, I saw EllyWa, a wiki witch pur sang complaining about not answering Emails by Alexander, (what is normal for Alexander by the way).
So I have a strong feeling mister Alexander was tot zijn nek in the Dutch Wiki sewer, especially because I am the only Dutch SanFranBanned winner.

But WMF keeps on in his silent, and I am very curiues what there plans are with Alexander his complete corrupt SanFranBans. Because Alexander is just like these guys a tremendous troll, the best troll ever to be more exacte, and I am wondering if they want to take the risk by continuing his troll SanFranBan.
Because it is rediciles, I was a complete innocent and a rather moderated user. I did about three edits a day on the total abandoned wikiquote the last year before that ban. I did not one controversial edit! A extreme rare SanFranBan!
It was not even a local block worth what I did! I had a fight with wikipedia policeman jerk Vintroll what got out of hands and whally blocked me to protect me. Vintroll, the for ever Arb who never wrote one single article in his complete and long career. Vintroll was not even a user there and Whally wanted to restore the rest. That was all.

[ericbarbour]

Very weird. Alexander was extreem populair by the Dutch "wiki cabal members". I saw him circling around Romaine=>Wikimedia, with who had a tet a tet. Natuur12 aka Dr.vies (vies=dirty in Dutch) and EffeietsAnders I have seen on his talk page. Effe not long ago, I saw EllyWa, a wiki witch pur sang complaining about not answering Emails by Alexander, (what is normal for Alexander by the way).
So I have a strong feeling mister Alexander was tot zijn nek in the Dutch Wiki sewer, especially because I am the only Dutch SanFranBanned winner.

Quote possible there was a "purge". I had heard before that Alexander wasn't very popular. The "enforcer of public order" rarely is.

We need to make a list of WMF people compared to the freaks who ran the post-Lenin Soviet government. Just to piss people off. Something like

Cary Bass = Dzerzinsky
Philippe Beaudette = Yagoda or Yezhov
Alexander = Beria
etc.

[CrowsNest]

The implication that the WMF is getting better due to this turnover in staff seems wrong. We know they don't pay a lot, so whatever real world and non-profit experience they are buying, it isn't up to much. We know much of their work is contracted out to small time companies whose efforts are really nothing to write home about, so they're not hiring very good people in contract management areas either.

The Wikimedia Foundation at present still seems entirely unable to fix the pressing problems, or indeed tackle existential threats. If this staff turnover has done anything, it has simply refocused their efforts on being better at disseminating propaganda (lying to people about how Wikipedia is an indispensable public good), and finding different ways to leverage that into cash, like shaking down rich and corporate donors.

None of that will get them very far. It is obvious Wikipedia is a product of convenience, it is not indispensable nor irreplaceable. If something came along tomorrow that damages it extensively, if not threatening its very future, a new law or a competitor product, nobody would really care, not to the extent required anyway. I'd say barely a quarter of the current core group of highly active Wikipedans would do something tangible to save their hobby. And I'm being generous even then.

And even now, despite all this staff turnover, their main focus still seems to be on the old guard's not so brilliant survival strategy, to simply keep urging the public to donate their time, and to keep finding ways to pretend their mission isn't building an encyclopedia, so why not give them money to help them do this other shit instead?

Maybe this would change if the WMF paid salaries commensurate with their status and claimed influence. Then again, maybe the issue is structural, since, when you think about it, there is little they can do to affect what really matters. They're not allowed to alter the content for anything but basic legal reasons, and regardless of whoever is in the key positions, they still clearly want no significant part of interfering with Wikipedia's internal governance, except for the small aspects which deal with same said legal issues. A few grants here, a few workshops there, it really isn't shit.

There is nothing they can do to improve Wikipedia. Nothing. What they are doing, is either small potatoes (outreach) or misguided (grants, AI). So who the staff are, seems pretty irrelevant. As we've seen many times already, even when they do get someone who looks like they're going to get shit done, it is the core group of old school volunteers, who ensure they are ousted. They never needed to be staff to achieve that.

People who think Jimmy Wales is so bad, should be really glad he seems done with the whole thing. Because it is scary to think what might happen if he woke up one day and elevated to the top of his To Do List, "What can I do to fix Wikipedia?" He's made his money, he's got his recognition on the world stage, so the only real reason he'd embark on that mission now, is if he genuinely wanted to fix Wikipedia, as opposed to previous efforts, which were arguably more about PR, or were efforts which he thought would work, but which he now knows, do not.

The existing core group of Wikipedia volunteers want no part of that potential future, because they know what he would do. He might actually fix Wikipedia. They don't care who the WMF hire as long as they don't affect their bottom line, their ability to feel like their lives have meaning through being able to distort and indeed monopolise world knowledge and bully each other to those ends, in some giant sick game.

For the Wikipedians, survival, and indeed enjoyment of their hobby, has not one thing to do with the better management of Wikipedia, and certainly nothing to do with improvement in quality of the encyclopedia, not in any fashion that a properly staffed WMF would want to see. These are people who can't get paid to do what they do, neither by an employer or a consumer. They are the real issue. Unless or until you see the WMF kicking ass and taking names, it really is an irrelevance who they hire (or fire).

[Graaf Statler]

Maybe this would change if the WMF paid salaries commensurate with their status and claimed influence. Then again, maybe the issue is structural, since, when you think about it, there is little they can do to affect what really matters. They're not allowed to alter the content for anything but basic legal reasons, and regardless of whoever is in the key positions, they still clearly want no significant part of interfering with Wikipedia's internal governance, except for the small aspects which deal with same said legal issues. A few grants here, a few workshops there, it really isn't shit.

There is nothing they can do to improve Wikipedia. Nothing. What they are doing, is either small potatoes (outreach) or misguided (grants, AI). So who the staff are, seems pretty irrelevant. As we've seen many times already, even when they do get someone who looks like they're going to get shit done, it is the core group of old school volunteers, who ensure they are ousted. They never needed to be staff to achieve that.

Indeed. It is not possible to repair Wikipedia, that is the whole point. And it is not only the money, because a real skiled person want also satisfaction, pleasure out of his or her work, respect.
Many (public) jobs are rather poor paid in Holland, but are so interesting they get very easy skilled people for them. Our Prime Minister gets 159.489 euro a year. After the taxes I think 80.000-90.000 euro is left.
A guy like Drmies should make around 50.000-60.000 euro a year bruto, so he should have about 3500-4000 euro every month in his hand. But in the harbour of Rotterdam you can make the same money or even better if you work in shifts.
If you want to make good money the best thing to do is become a roofer or start a construction firm. Special ground work is very good paid, because dirty and cold work is good paid.
Have a look here (Dutch), the computer buss in Holland pays extreem poor. It starts around the 2000 euro bruto, so 1700 euro a month is left, and only a specialist is able to make 100.000 euro bruto. So about 60.000 euro is left after the taxes. It is much better idea to become a plumber.

We don't have this high wages so often, Holland is a socialist-Marxian, almost communistic country. 80.000 euro is for us a very good salary, but it is also possible you get as a academic 2000 to 3000 euro bruto a month.
Everybody over 21 years get the minimum,1000 till 1400 euro a month. Houses are subsidised for the lower incomes.Taxes are up to 50% for the high incomes. But we have extreem skiled people. There is not always a relation between the money and skilled people, I think I would refuse such a WMF job/ a Wikimedia chapter job for any money, and prefer my own work.

[Dysklyver]

James Alexander has gone onto a vastly better paid job doing trust and safety at Twitter. No doubt the low pay at the WMF was partly influencing this move.

[Graaf Statler]

Wondering how much time it takes before that Twitter guys understand what a incompetent jerk he is. Because Twitter is a commercial firm, and if he starts to moderate in the WMF style I think his well paid carrier ends very soon...

[Strelnikov]

You will note: As of 15 December, James Alexander has disappeared from the main WMF staff page. His WMF userpage is tagged "former employee". https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php? ... d=17924577
Apparently they got rid of him just a few days ago. There was NO PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT. Interesting.

I guess all my fat guy jokes were read, they figured out that I was not the Willy on Wheels-level WikiTroll Alexander made me out to be, so they canned the goober.

Merry Fuckin' Xmas, You Jive Turkey!

[Graaf Statler]

The gender desk lady wrote a posting about Alexander with absolute interesting aspects.

This is why my Evil Twin makes filters to put these comments in the Gender Desk circular file before I even see them.

I think this is the trap what got James. Because, this is that dammed good faith. Someone else is selecting what you read or not, and in that way you are not orientating you on your one opinion, but on the opinion of someone else. Her evil twin is doing exacte the same as WMF's Trust & Safety is doing, preselecting what someone is reading or not.
Strange enough she knows the danger. Because in this way you put yourself indeed at the end of the food chain. That is a dammed good conclusion.

So far, Wikipedia has been a pyramid scheme, and has been able to afford to alienate their base, because there is always a new one just around the corner, and they have always been able to go up the food chain, after devouring the last one. Just ask some academics – those who do not make their living from the WMF – they hate Wikipedia.

It is weird, she makes the same mistake herself she mention here. Because of course you have to orientate yourself. Otherwise you become a kind of second Alexander, Maher and start to say and do incredible stupid things. Think like for instance saying Holland is a extreem dangers country for woman. Sure, there are terrible incidents, much worser than no enough toilets for lady's. A young school girl killed by here boyfriend because he was jealous. But in general we are doing very well about women and minority issues, and not because of the gender approch of WMF!
It was complete crap she was telling, in general Holland is a fine country for woman and minority's. Thinks can always better, but lady's don't go to Holland because it is dangers for you is rediciles and insulting after all the afford what we are making to do things better and to make Holland safer for them.

I understand very well the gender lady's gender desk is just like Wikipediocrazy close connected to WMF. And now she had to say something positive about Alexander.
That is crystal clear to me after her shitty Holland posting and the appearance of Jackass in here comments about me.
But sometime someone is not to defend, dear gender desk lady. Alexander was just a lazy corrupt asshole how had a easy job where he made his money in a very easy way. James did really nothing, just like Katherine Maher is doing nothing except heating the globe and posting extreme stupide twitter postings. And is telling a incredible amound of bullshit to impress the donors.

And of course you can try to change the focus to Twitter, but this is not about twitter. I don't care if James is baking hamburger now or working for Twitter or Apple. I care about your cheap and not-so-clever manipulating posts as a WMF marionet under the cover of gender.
Because that is what is going on, madam. By the way, did Alexander take that expensive extra strong office chair with him to his new job?

Don't try to fool this old man, gender lady, because that is not gonna happen.