Maria Sefidari Huici to step down

[Vigilant]

Or meetings feting Kim Jung Un.

[CoffeeCrumbs]

Generally speaking, if you're checking with 30 people to see if something you want to do is legal, you should probably sit down and think about if you ought to be doing that something.

Generally speaking, if you're checking with 30 people to see if something you want to do is legal, you should probably resign as head of the legal department.

I didn't know that Hollywood Upstairs Medical College had started up a law program!

[Vigilant]

So, I'll bet that the WMF institutes a six-month cooling off period for Board -> Staff self-dealing attempts.

During that time, they will not find a CEO because 1) they aren't really trying and 2) Human Resources sucks as hard as engineering.

At the end of that 'cooling off period', Maria Sefidari Huici will be offered the job of CEO.

[Poetlister]

I think that it's a safe bet that if Maria is ever offered a paid appointment at WMF, it will cause an uproar. The question is whether the WMF can cope with the uproar, especially if it gets into the media and has potential to damage fundraising.

[Giraffe Stapler]

So, I'll bet that the WMF institutes a six-month cooling off period for Board -> Staff self-dealing attempts.

During that time, they will not find a CEO because 1) they aren't really trying and 2) Human Resources sucks as hard as engineering.

At the end of that 'cooling off period', Maria Sefidari Huici will be offered the job of CEO.

I'll take that bet! Not the 6 month cooling off period part - that's a done deal - but Sefidari becoming CEO. I doubt we will know if they make her an offer, but I will bet that she doesn't end up as CEO.

[Midsize Jake]

At the end of that 'cooling off period', Maria Sefidari Huici will be offered the job of CEO.

I'll take that bet! Not the 6 month cooling off period part - that's a done deal - but Sefidari becoming CEO. I doubt we will know if they make her an offer, but I will bet that she doesn't end up as CEO.

That's three different things to bet on, though — they make the offer, she takes the offer, she actually ends up in the job. The WMF might insist on some sort of "out clause" that would allow them to rescind after the announcement but prior to her first day, but who knows, given the way they run things.

I mean, three years ago I wouldn't have thought this to be a realistic possibility, but more than half the C-suite has left since then. They're probably rudderless enough at this point to do just about anything.

[Bezdomni]

[...]

[T]hree years ago I wouldn't have thought this to be a realistic possibility, but more than half the C-suite has left since then. They're probably rudderless enough at this point to do just about anything.

They could advertise at the Village Pumps and/or Help Desks.

They don't need no stinkin' chiefs... they've got

[Without Comfort]

Sefidari Huici wants to step away. I don't think she would want the job. If nothing else, she would think about the impact on her wife.

[Midsize Jake]

Sefidari Huici wants to step away. I don't think she would want the job. If nothing else, she would think about the impact on her wife.

Perhaps you're right, but let's face it — there's often a fine line between "impact it would have" and "opportunities it would create."

[Without Comfort]

Sefidari Huici wants to step away. I don't think she would want the job. If nothing else, she would think about the impact on her wife.

Perhaps you're right, but let's face it — there's often a fine line between "impact it would have" and "opportunities it would create."

Yes, but didn't she want off the board prior to the golden parachute being created? Surely, she had something in mind for herself. If she ever did take the helm, the new movement strategy is so vast and indecipherable she would have near free rein to reshape the future identity of the behemoth.

Maher and Dennis spoke up for Sefidari Huici, and while they may have lied, they may have just been telling like it is.

[Vigilant]

All right, what are the odds that she takes a very senior role at Tides?

[Silent Editor]

Sefidari Huici wants to step away. I don't think she would want the job. If nothing else, she would think about the impact on her wife.

She accepted the consultancy. That doesn’t show the best judgement on her part.

[Without Comfort]

Sefidari Huici wants to step away. I don't think she would want the job. If nothing else, she would think about the impact on her wife.

She accepted the consultancy. That doesn’t show the best judgement on her part.

Her judgement has never been good. That's not the same as choosing to stay in the public eye after what's gone on. She never struck me as exceedingly ambitious.

[Poetlister]

Will all of this lead to a major restructuring of how things work? What would people here like to see? Here's a suggestion from Bill Takatoshi:

https://i.ibb.co/HPzpqLt/WMF-orgchart.png

However, Risker is not a fan.

Two questions, Bill.

1) Labour representation? Huh?
2) Where are the actual Wikimedia projects? I mean....all of this is
hubris if the projects aren't on the org chart. They're the raison d'etre
of every aspect of the community.

[No Ledge]

[Vigilant]

Maria Sefidari Huici is a grifter.

She's lied about her education, at one point claiming to be a Computer Science PhD candidate.
She's lied about her employment, claiming to be a professor at a university after teaching one no credit course.
She's lied about her conflict of interest on en.wikipedia with Fram and Laura Hale.
She's taken tons of trips, including being with Laura Hale on her grift.
She changes the rules, like postponing the board election(it's online anyway, COVID had nothing to do with this), to prevent her from facing consequences of the Frammageddon.
She quits the board on short notice to take a self-dealing contract with the WMF that she had prepped them for.

She has literally never held an honest job in her life.

She, like Laura Hale, is looking for a confidence game that sets her up with a no work/high pay position, preferably with lots of perks.

G-R-I-F-T-E-R

[No Ledge]

Man, I'm playing the wrong game, one that set me up with a no pay/high work position with few perks.

[Without Comfort]

Speculation is not proof. If even one serious accusation against Sefidari Huici is completely mistaken, there's no reason for anyone to take the overall criticisms seriously.

Sticking to what's known and admitting what's unknown is basic honesty. It elevates discussion of a particular person to the level of critique as opposed to, at best, speculation.

Is the goal to persuade onlookers? To inform the ignorant?

[Vigilant]

Speculation is not proof. If even one serious accusation against Sefidari Huici is completely mistaken, there's no reason for anyone to take the overall criticisms seriously.

Sticking to what's known and admitting what's unknown is basic honesty. It elevates discussion of a particular person to the level of critique as opposed to, at best, speculation.

Is the goal to persuade onlookers? To inform the ignorant?

Then you should be able to provide serious critique about where I have made a mistaken accusation or you should apologize.

Since neither Maria Sefidari Huici nor Laura Hale not the WMF will comment about any of these topics, we will have to suffer through with my poor detective skills.

Perhaps your time would be better utilized going to the WMF and asking for a timeline...

[jf1970]

Speculation is not proof. If even one serious accusation against Sefidari Huici is completely mistaken, there's no reason for anyone to take the overall criticisms seriously.

Sticking to what's known and admitting what's unknown is basic honesty. It elevates discussion of a particular person to the level of critique as opposed to, at best, speculation.

Is the goal to persuade onlookers? To inform the ignorant?

Then you should be able to provide serious critique about where I have made a mistaken accusation or you should apologize.

Since neither Maria Sefidari Huici nor Laura Hale not the WMF will comment about any of these topics, we will have to suffer through with my poor detective skills.

Perhaps your time would be better utilized going to the WMF and asking for a timeline...

Vig, why do you care? Let's assume all the accusations are 100% true: what's the total $ stolen? 10k? 50? It would be one of the smallest international non-profit frauds given the size of the nonprofit. I care because I donate time and money to Wikipedia. Presuming you donate neither (right?), why do you care so much if the WMF chair is grifting (like enough to talk about it almost daily)? It seems like this affects you not at all. If you're an HTDer, shouldn't you be cheering for WMF grift?

[Vigilant]

Speculation is not proof. If even one serious accusation against Sefidari Huici is completely mistaken, there's no reason for anyone to take the overall criticisms seriously.

Sticking to what's known and admitting what's unknown is basic honesty. It elevates discussion of a particular person to the level of critique as opposed to, at best, speculation.

Is the goal to persuade onlookers? To inform the ignorant?

Then you should be able to provide serious critique about where I have made a mistaken accusation or you should apologize.

Since neither Maria Sefidari Huici nor Laura Hale not the WMF will comment about any of these topics, we will have to suffer through with my poor detective skills.

Perhaps your time would be better utilized going to the WMF and asking for a timeline...

Vig, why do you care? Let's assume all the accusations are 100% true: what's the total $ stolen? 10k? 50? It would be one of the smallest international non-profit frauds given the size of the nonprofit. I care because I donate time and money to Wikipedia. Presuming you donate neither (right?), why do you care so much if the WMF chair is grifting (like enough to talk about it almost daily)? It seems like this affects you not at all. If you're an HTDer, shouldn't you be cheering for WMF grift?

I must admit, I am conflicted on who to root for.

However, as I've said in the past, I got involved with en.wp (~2006) while trying to prevent Jeff Merkey from shitting up what I thought was a really great idea, Wikipedia. I got roughly fucked over by Tony Sidaway, SlimVirgin, Guy Chapman, Shell Kinney and the rest of the dipshit gang of old.

I like to imagine that I do contribute to Wikipedia, in my own way, as a sort of caustic outside audit firm. I want to make certain types of behavior personally expensive to prevent it from happening in the future.

I guess I still have that in the back of my mind when I see grifters and fools and charlatans in charge of the WMF. 15 years later, the newest set of miscreants are still doing terrible things instead of making Wikipedia something better.

Just imagine what the WMF could do if it had solid leadership and good engineering? Imagine what competent Trust and Safety could do. Imagine how much better Wikipedia would be with well managed admins...

It could be something great, but it's held back by these shitheels.

It offends me.

[No Ledge]

...while trying to prevent Jeff Merkey from shitting up what I thought was a really great idea, Wikipedia.

Not to be confused with Jeff Merkley (T-H-L).

Merkey Waters

I'm feeling a need to get myself up to speed on this story of which I am unfamiliar.

[Poetlister]

...while trying to prevent Jeff Merkey from shitting up what I thought was a really great idea, Wikipedia.

Not to be confused with Jeff Merkley (T-H-L).

Merkey Waters

I'm feeling a need to get myself up to speed on this story of which I am unfamiliar.

Jeff Merkey is one of the more colourful characters in Wikipedia history. You could start with this thread from Wikipedia Review. He had a BLP but it was deleted and the AfD was blanked.

[Vigilant]

Vig, why do you care? Let's assume all the accusations are 100% true: what's the total $ stolen? 10k? 50? It would be one of the smallest international non-profit frauds given the size of the nonprofit. I care because I donate time and money to Wikipedia. Presuming you donate neither (right?), why do you care so much if the WMF chair is grifting (like enough to talk about it almost daily)? It seems like this affects you not at all. If you're an HTDer, shouldn't you be cheering for WMF grift?

I thought about your question some more last night and I wanted to add that it was likely the really vicious nature of Laura Hale and her enablers that struck me the most.

Other people grift at the WMF and it's kind of lame and sad and funny at the same time.

Laura Hale is a sociopath who purposefully tries to ruin people who get in the way of her grifting. FanFiction and Wiki examples abound and show that her capacity for cruelty and betrayal have no limits.

Maria Sefidari Huici helped Laura Hale extensively on her quest, culminating with the Frammageddon, but with many victims along the way (Hawkeye7, for example).

It wasn't enough for her to get monies she really wasn't entitled to, she seems to feel a need to damage people.

[jf1970]

Vig, why do you care? Let's assume all the accusations are 100% true: what's the total $ stolen? 10k? 50? It would be one of the smallest international non-profit frauds given the size of the nonprofit. I care because I donate time and money to Wikipedia. Presuming you donate neither (right?), why do you care so much if the WMF chair is grifting (like enough to talk about it almost daily)? It seems like this affects you not at all. If you're an HTDer, shouldn't you be cheering for WMF grift?

I thought about your question some more last night and I wanted to add that it was likely the really vicious nature of Laura Hale and her enablers that struck me the most.

Other people grift at the WMF and it's kind of lame and sad and funny at the same time.

Laura Hale is a sociopath who purposefully tries to ruin people who get in the way of her grifting. FanFiction and Wiki examples abound and show that her capacity for cruelty and betrayal have no limits.

Maria Sefidari Huici helped Laura Hale extensively on her quest, culminating with the Frammageddon, but with many victims along the way (Hawkeye7, for example).

It wasn't enough for her to get monies she really wasn't entitled to, she seems to feel a need to damage people.

Sounds like you're not an HTDer, you're pissed because it's not as good as it should be, and it's being held back by people who are taking advantage of it. That pisses me off, too.

[Vigilant]

Vig, why do you care? Let's assume all the accusations are 100% true: what's the total $ stolen? 10k? 50? It would be one of the smallest international non-profit frauds given the size of the nonprofit. I care because I donate time and money to Wikipedia. Presuming you donate neither (right?), why do you care so much if the WMF chair is grifting (like enough to talk about it almost daily)? It seems like this affects you not at all. If you're an HTDer, shouldn't you be cheering for WMF grift?

I thought about your question some more last night and I wanted to add that it was likely the really vicious nature of Laura Hale and her enablers that struck me the most.

Other people grift at the WMF and it's kind of lame and sad and funny at the same time.

Laura Hale is a sociopath who purposefully tries to ruin people who get in the way of her grifting. FanFiction and Wiki examples abound and show that her capacity for cruelty and betrayal have no limits.

Maria Sefidari Huici helped Laura Hale extensively on her quest, culminating with the Frammageddon, but with many victims along the way (Hawkeye7, for example).

It wasn't enough for her to get monies she really wasn't entitled to, she seems to feel a need to damage people.

Sounds like you're not an HTDer, you're pissed because it's not as good as it should be, and it's being held back by people who are taking advantage of it. That pisses me off, too.

If there's no chance that it ever gets better, does that make me an HTDer?

At some point, almost everyone reaches the conclusion that hoping the WMF will do better is just a personal manifestation of the Gambler's_fallacy (T-H-L)

[jf1970]

Vig, why do you care? Let's assume all the accusations are 100% true: what's the total $ stolen? 10k? 50? It would be one of the smallest international non-profit frauds given the size of the nonprofit. I care because I donate time and money to Wikipedia. Presuming you donate neither (right?), why do you care so much if the WMF chair is grifting (like enough to talk about it almost daily)? It seems like this affects you not at all. If you're an HTDer, shouldn't you be cheering for WMF grift?

I thought about your question some more last night and I wanted to add that it was likely the really vicious nature of Laura Hale and her enablers that struck me the most.

Other people grift at the WMF and it's kind of lame and sad and funny at the same time.

Laura Hale is a sociopath who purposefully tries to ruin people who get in the way of her grifting. FanFiction and Wiki examples abound and show that her capacity for cruelty and betrayal have no limits.

Maria Sefidari Huici helped Laura Hale extensively on her quest, culminating with the Frammageddon, but with many victims along the way (Hawkeye7, for example).

It wasn't enough for her to get monies she really wasn't entitled to, she seems to feel a need to damage people.

Sounds like you're not an HTDer, you're pissed because it's not as good as it should be, and it's being held back by people who are taking advantage of it. That pisses me off, too.

If there's no chance that it ever gets better, does that make me an HTDer?

At some point, almost everyone reaches the conclusion that hoping the WMF will do better is just a personal manifestation of the Gambler's_fallacy (T-H-L)

Sure but HTD WMF ≠ HTD Wikipedia

Some might say HTD WMF = pro-Wikipedia

[Vigilant]

Vig, why do you care? Let's assume all the accusations are 100% true: what's the total $ stolen? 10k? 50? It would be one of the smallest international non-profit frauds given the size of the nonprofit. I care because I donate time and money to Wikipedia. Presuming you donate neither (right?), why do you care so much if the WMF chair is grifting (like enough to talk about it almost daily)? It seems like this affects you not at all. If you're an HTDer, shouldn't you be cheering for WMF grift?

I thought about your question some more last night and I wanted to add that it was likely the really vicious nature of Laura Hale and her enablers that struck me the most.

Other people grift at the WMF and it's kind of lame and sad and funny at the same time.

Laura Hale is a sociopath who purposefully tries to ruin people who get in the way of her grifting. FanFiction and Wiki examples abound and show that her capacity for cruelty and betrayal have no limits.

Maria Sefidari Huici helped Laura Hale extensively on her quest, culminating with the Frammageddon, but with many victims along the way (Hawkeye7, for example).

It wasn't enough for her to get monies she really wasn't entitled to, she seems to feel a need to damage people.

Sounds like you're not an HTDer, you're pissed because it's not as good as it should be, and it's being held back by people who are taking advantage of it. That pisses me off, too.

If there's no chance that it ever gets better, does that make me an HTDer?

At some point, almost everyone reaches the conclusion that hoping the WMF will do better is just a personal manifestation of the Gambler's_fallacy (T-H-L)

Sure but HTD WMF ≠ HTD Wikipedia

Some might say HTD WMF = pro-Wikipedia

There are more than enough shitheads on en.wp, the prime recruiting venue for the WMF, that it's not at all clear that these are orthogonal issues and not entirely a problem of culture shared between the two conjoined entities.

[Moral Hazard]

The best thing about Maria is that speed reading "Sefidari Huici" activates my Father Guido Sarducci pleasure-center.

Don't mistake Vigilant for a HTD fυckin' bastard.

[thekohser]

I'm not buying the fulsome praise for Amanda Keton that's suddenly coming on elsewhere. She's a frigging lawyer; the idea that a conflict of interest issue didn't pop into her head either means she's lying or incompetent. The faux openness -- speaking warm and openly, but while not fielding really tough questions -- is post hoc buck-passing.

Her repeated claims of being super nervous on the call also struck me as a bad faith plea for people to go easy on her.

She cleared the grifter contract from the legal front. Can you imagine any other organization keeping a chief legal counsel after a screwup of this magnitude?

But, she spoke with "Jimmy" to get his guidance on cooling-off periods for "The Movement", so everything is fine, Vig.

[Vigilant]

And the WMF is finally rid of the grifter Maria Sefidari Huici and her sociopathic spouse.

[Osborne]

There are more than enough shitheads on en.wp, the prime recruiting venue for the WMF, that it's not at all clear that these are orthogonal issues and not entirely a problem of culture shared between the two conjoined entities.

The employees recruited from enwp (usually with no previous work experience) are generally more problematic than those who had some professional experience before.

[Poetlister]

There are more than enough shitheads on en.wp, the prime recruiting venue for the WMF, that it's not at all clear that these are orthogonal issues and not entirely a problem of culture shared between the two conjoined entities.

The employees recruited from enwp (usually with no previous work experience) are generally more problematic than those who had some professional experience before.

They are also less likely to leave because they would find it harder to get another job.

[Vigilant]

More rats deserting the ship.

News about some CTeam transitions in Wikimedia Foundation

Chief Creative Officer Heather Walls and Chief Technology Officer Grant Ingersoll
will be leaving the Wikimedia Foundation, at the end of July.

CEO, COO, CTO, CCO, Chair of the Board all gone in a couple of months...

Something stinks.

Some of the plebs have noticed the deafening silence.

I find it quite worrying that after a month no one has deemed it necessary
to reply to the concerns voiced by a former chair of the WMF Board of
Trustees. There isn't even a PR-level denial of there being a crisis.

The C-Suite turnover would be a major challenge for any company or
organisation. Just describing it as a "natural part of evolution" doesn't
explain what direction this "evolution" is taking and why so many of the
C-Suite don't deem this worth sticking around for. In the meantime, the
"smooth operation" is leading to uncertainty and stagnation that is wasting
valuable time and momentum for the implementation of the 2030 strategy.

Someone should gently let poor Philip know that the 2030 boondoggle is over now that most of the higher level Social Justice Warrior types have moved on.

[No Ledge]

The atmosphere is reminiscent of my experience working for a company that was past its prime, unable to effectively respond to technology changes that crippled its business model, and was on the verge of being taken over, with the acquiring company then downsizing a significant portion of the workforce.

But this doesn't make sense, because as far as I can tell the business model seems to be thriving. Could a corporate takeover be in the works??

I suppose the other possibility is that there really is something behind what Hare and others said, and there is some sort of reaction to that happening or in the works.

[Randy from Boise]

The atmosphere is reminiscent of my experience working for a company that was past its prime, unable to effectively respond to technology changes that crippled its business model, and was on the verge of being taken over, with the acquiring company then downsizing a significant portion of the workforce.

Microsoft?

RfB

[Zoloft]

The atmosphere is reminiscent of my experience working for a company that was past its prime, unable to effectively respond to technology changes that crippled its business model, and was on the verge of being taken over, with the acquiring company then downsizing a significant portion of the workforce.

But this doesn't make sense, because as far as I can tell the business model seems to be thriving. Could a corporate takeover be in the works??

I suppose the other possibility is that there really is something behind what Hare and others said, and there is some sort of reaction to that happening or in the works.

When we've seen an entire C-level collapse like this, it's often the result of a bunch of subpoenas.

[Poetlister]

I don't want to defend the WMF but they responded promptly to Philip Kopetzky:

Hi Philip,

just to make sure, are you aware of the email under the topic "REPLY TO: News about CTeam transitions from Wikimedia Foundation" ? I believe that was sent within the day.

Best,
Lodewijk

He replied:

Thanks Lodewijk - it seems as if it wasn't picked up by this mailing
thread. Considering how little progress has been made with essential
programs like the strategy implementation and the new grants model in July,
I really doubt this "strong interim leadership in place to provide
continuity" is really happening, or that the WMF isn't on auto-pilot at a
time where it needs active input.

[Poetlister]

For those who missed it, this is the link to the WMF statement.

[Vigilant]

It's been 3 months.

Any word on filling back up the gaping void in the C-suite roles?

[Vigilant]

Well, well, well.

The WMF finally got around to updating this Conflict of Interest rules after the utter debacle with Maria Sefidari Huici's unethical insider contract and Laura Hale's (Maria's Wife) paid editing without disclosure.

Notice on the mailing list

Underlying page

Whether this is sufficient remains to be seen.

Just how many violations would Maria and Laura have had under this new policy?

What do you do if the board is corrupt and/or incompetent?

The 'chief legal counsel' says she asked 30 people if giving Maria a self-dealing contract immediately following her tenure as chair was A-OK.

It sounds like the policy should mandate an outside law firm with this specific focus of practice should review allegations of Conflict of Interest.

[Vigilant]

The guy who posted the policy update.

Charles M. Roslof

Lead Counsel, Wikimedia Foundation

Lead counsel, eh?
What experience is required to hold that role?

About me

I joined the Wikimedia Foundation as a legal counsel in February 2016, after having previously worked on the legal team as an intern and as the Intellectual Property & Internet Law Fellow.

I received my law degree from Harvard Law School, where I was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender and a writer and performer for the law school comedy musical. I received my bachelor's degree from Georgetown University, where I majored in computer science and minored in linguistics and Japanese.

He had never worked as an attorney prior to joining the WMF...

What the actual fuck, guys?

Couple this with the Tides dipshit being the General Counsel who is seemingly incapable of managing something as simple as avoiding an obvious self-dealing situation and you've got a recipe for legal disaster.

Are they trying to make the HR department look less terrible?
Are they competing with the WeMakeFailures engineering team for who gets to wear the pointy hat and sit in the corner at the Christmas party?

For fucks sake, people.

[Poetlister]

The Wikimedia Foundation legal team has posted a draft of an updated
conflict of interest policy on Meta-Wiki:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Conflic ... 21_updates

We are collecting feedback on the policy for the next three weeks: today
until 22 November.

This is still only a draft. People are welcome to comment, not that it's likely to make much difference.

[No Ledge]

What's the difference between a Lead Counsel and a General Counsel and what's the relationship between these two?

Seems like another upper-level void being back-filled... I recall other names in Legal, but don't know whether they're still there.

[Poetlister]

From: Yair Rand

Hm, a lot of the text has been reworded and re-ordered, but without that
much difference in practical content. Complex enough that
automatically-generated diffs aren't much use, so I put together a (quite
messy) diff by hand:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Conflic ... dates/Diff

(Disclaimer: IANAL.) Some changes of note:
* Rules on Covered transactions now apply to transactions/employment/etc
with those who have been trustees/executives/"key employees" at any time in
the prior 12 months. (Such transactions may still be approved by the Board,
following procedure.)
* This was added: "In order to approve a Covered Transaction, the Board
must conclude that: [...] the Covered Transaction does not involve the
Foundation hiring as an employee or contractor an individual who had been a
Wikimedia Foundation Trustee within the preceding 6 months." That seems ...
overly specific. It doesn't apply any of the other normal rules on CoIs to
recent trustees, like those dealing with
other transactions/agreements/contracts, etc.
* Situations with "perceived conflict of interest" ("in which the interests
of a Covered Person may be seen as competing or at odds with the interests
of the Foundation") are no longer covered by the policy.
* Re when the Board is determining whether a transaction counts as
self-dealing/etc, a part of the procedure was changed from "[The Board]
shall consult with the Foundation’s legal advisor as necessary" to "The
Board may consult legal counsel and other outside advisors as part of its
determination.", which seems to make it more optional?
* The policy goes into somewhat more detail on the procedure for assessment
of CoIs, and dealing with violations of the policy.

I really wish that the WMF itself could provide summaries of changes to its
rules. Unfortunately, it often doesn't, and even when it does, it often
leaves out critical modifications (e.g. certain things in the last bylaws
changes), requiring volunteer effort to determine what the WMF is doing.

-- Yair Rand

There's a trick some WP editors have used: rewrite an article, shuffling the bits around so it's hard to tell what substantive alterations they've made. It looks like the WMF lawyers have the same trick.

[The Adversary]

Well, well, well.

The WMF finally got around to updating this Conflict of Interest rules after the utter debacle with Maria Sefidari Huici's unethical insider contract and Laura Hale's (Maria's Wife) paid editing without disclosure.

Notice on the mailing list

From that notice:

Note: This is not related to any policies or issues regarding paid/conflict of interest editing of the projects. It is about conflicts of interest that may arise in connection with an individual’s executive or Board role at the Foundation.

[Vigilant]

A year and change.

The WMF should still be red-faced with shame from this underhanded betrayal of Teh Communitah.