Wikimedia Foundation Chairman of the Board of Trustees calls for modernization and openness

In previous episodes: Sue Gardner, head of the Wikimedia Foundation, recognized that Wikipedia was in serious trouble .

Hello,
My name is Tin Chen , I am the Chairman of the Board of Attorneys of the Wikimedia Foundation .

Two months ago, the Wikimedia Foundation published the results of its new study of trends among editors (you can find the results here ), which showed that over the past few years it has become more and more difficult to edit Wikimedia projects. Last month, the Council held a long discussion on this topic, following which we unanimously approved a statement asking us to join us and help Wikimedia projects become more open and cohesive.
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Please read our solution; I also ask you to comment on it , share your thoughts.

Best wishes and thanks for your participation in Wikimedia projects,

Ting Chen ,
Chairman, Board of Attorneys , Wikimedia Foundation

Solution: openness

We, the Board of Attorneys of the Wikimedia Foundation, consider that the continuation of the recovery of our project communities is essential to the fulfillment of the Foundation’s mission. Wikimedia projects were based on a culture of openness, interaction, and quality, which led to the creation of one of the world's largest collections of human knowledge. However, despite the fact that the number of readers and supporters of Wikipedia is growing all over the world, the latest study of trends among editors showed a decrease in activity and outflow of new editors.

As noted in our five-year strategy, supported by this study, Wikimedia needs to bring in new unique editors and retain experienced editors. The stability of the editors' community is key to the long-term stability and quality not only of our current projects, but also of the entire movement.

We consider this task as our top priority. We ask all participants to take into account these considerations in the process of their daily work with projects. We support the executive director that this task should become a priority, and we recommend that she increase the allocation of Fund resources to solve this problem by supporting communities, intensifying community efforts, and introducing technical improvements. Finally, we also support developers, editors, wikis, and Regional offices that are working to make projects more accessible, friendly, and responsive.

The Board decided to support these efforts, for which it publishes concrete proposals to the Fund for their implementation. We welcome and look forward to new ideas that will help us achieve the main goal: openness and broad participation .

We urge the Wikimedia community to increase openness and collaboration as follows:

• Treat new editors with patience, kindness, and respect; be aware of the problems facing new editors and look for ways out of them; encourage others to do the same;
• Improve communication in projects; simplify the rules and help system; work with colleagues to improve and increase the friendliness of the rules and practices relating to patterns, warnings and deletions;
• Support the development and implementation of new features and tools that simplify use and improve accessibility;
• Increase community awareness of these issues and support the outreach activities of individuals, groups and offices;
• Work together to reduce the likelihood of conflicts and promote a more friendly culture, a culture of cooperation, including thanks and solemn thanks; encourage best practices and community leaders as well
• Work together to strengthen the practice of discouraging destructive and hostile actions, fight trolls and pursuers.

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strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/May_2011_Update/en?uselang=en