Hello all,
It is time to announce the new and returning members of the 2017 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_O…
I apologize for the length of the announcement. :)
The application period for new commissioners for 2017 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 2017 OC. First, the new
members are:
Vogone
User:Vogone has contributed to Wikimedia projects since early 2012. While
they began their involvement on the German Wikipedia, they quickly branched
out to Wikibooks, Wikisource, Wikivoyage, and Wikiversity. They were the
first bureaucrat on the Wikidata project. Vogone has worked heavily
assisting our smaller projects as a global rollbacker, global sysop, and
member of the Small Wiki Monitoring Team. They have experience in
translation administration, both on Meta and
translatewiki.net. Vogone has
shown a keen interest in the technical side of user privacy, including
contributing to MediaWiki software around edit suppression.
Lankiveil
Lankiveil is a long-term user, admin, and oversighter on the English
Wikipedia, having made his first edits in 2004. He serves as a clerk to
the English Wikipedia Arbcom and as an OTRS volunteer. He also sometimes
edits at Irish Wikipedia and Commons. He is a native speaker of Australian
English and is a member of Wikimedia Australia.
Góngora
Góngora, J. Gustavo Góngora Goloubintseff, who primarily edits Spanish
Wikipedia, Catalan Wikipedia and Norwegian bokmål Wikipedia. He has been an
administrator and bureaucrat on the Spanish Wikipedia since 2007, and an
administrator on the Catalan Wikipedia since 2009, where he is also a
CheckUser. He was a member of the Spanish ArbCom in 2008, before it was
dismantled. He was a board member of Wikimedia España in 2011. He is
currently a member of Wikimedia Norge.
Richwales
User:Richwales has been an active Wikimedian since 2005. He is an
administrator, oversighter, and sockpuppet investigation clerk on the
English Wikipedia. Richwales also served on the now-defunct Audit
subcommittee, which served a similar role to the Ombudsman Commission.
Krd
User:Krd, who is primarily active on German Wikipedia and Wikimedia
Commons, and also serves at the Volunteer response team as agent and OTRS
admin, and was a prior member of German Wikipedia Arbcom for more than
three years.
In addition, the following experienced OC members will be returning as members
of the Ombuds Commission:
Pajz
User:Pajz is a Wikipedia editor. He was a Wikipedia administrator between
2007 to 2016 and is a member of the Volunteer Response Team ("OTRS team").
He served as one of the OTRS administrators from 2013 to 2015, before being
first appointed to the Ombudsman Commission in 2016.
Alan
User:Alan 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 ~4 years. In the past
he has served as an administrator and bureaucrat on Spanish Wikivoyage.
And the following experienced OC members will be returning as advisors to
the commission (this advisory role provides expertise when needed, but does
not participate in all discussions):
Rubin16
User:Rubin16 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.
Polimerek
User:Polimerek 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.
And finally, please join me in thanking the following *outgoing volunteers*,
who have given substantially of their time to serve the commission:
NahidSultan
User:NahidSultan 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 has also been part of
OTRS, a small wiki monitoring team member and a global administrator. Other
than his online contributions to the movement, he has also been active
doing Wikimedia work offline, working actively for the Wikimedia Bangladesh
chapter. NahidSultan joined the OC in 2016.
Taketa
User:Taketa has been a Wikimedian since 2008. They mostly work on the Dutch
Wikipedia, writing content and organising projects. They were a member of
the Dutch Wikipedia Arbitration Committee in 2009/10 and 2012/13. They have
served as a Wikimedia steward, nlwiki bureaucrat, listadmin for the nlwiki
admins and bureaucrats, OTRS volunteer and Wikidata admin. Taketa joined
the OC in 2016.
Gnom
User:Gnom 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. Gnom joined
the OC in 2014.
Huji
User:Huji primarily edits Farsi Wikipedia, where he is an administrator,
bureaucrat and 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. Huji joined the OC in 2013.
Barras
Note: Barras resigned from the OC in good standing in November 2016
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.
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I'd also like to offer a huge “thank you” to those returning and those
coming aboard for the first time, as well as to all those applied. The
applications we received this year showed us 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.
Yours,
Karen Brown
--
Karen Brown
Community Advocate
Wikimedia Foundation
kbrown(a)wikimedia.org