Wikimedia Australia board elections

[HRIP7]

The Wikimedia Australia board elections are coming up. Candidates are here:

President
Laura Hale (statement)
Nominated by: Steven Zhang, Robert Myers
John Vandenberg (statement)
Nominated by: Charles Gregory, Craig Franklin

Vice President
Gideon Digby (statement)
Nominated by: Laura Hale, Steven Zhang
Graham Pearce (statement)
Nominated by Charles Gregory, Craig Franklin

Treasurer
Craig Franklin (statement)
Nominated by: Charles Gregory, Graham Pearce
Ross Mallett (statement)
Nominated by: Laura Hale, Steven Zhang

Secretary
Charles Gregory (statement)
Nominated by: Craig Franklin, Graham Pearce
Robert Myers (statement)
Nominated by: Laura Hale, Steven Zhang

Ordinary members
two seats
Gideon Digby (statement)
Nominated by: Laura Hale, Steven Zhang
Nick Dowling (statement)
Nominated by: Laura Hale, Steven Zhang
Craig Franklin (statement)
Nominated by: Charles Gregory, Graham Pearce
Charles Gregory (statement)
Nominated by: Craig Franklin, Graham Pearce
Graham Pearce (statement)
Nominated by: Charles Gregory, Craig Franklin
Steven Zhang (statement)
Nominated by: Laura Hale, Robert Myers

The election will be held at the AGM scheduled for 25 November 2012.

[EricBarbour]

Comical. All the insiders are running for seats, and they are all nominating each other.
"Election"? What "election"? Is there some point to this shit?

[Retrospect]

And how many of them are capable of organising a piss-up in a Fosters lager factory?

[HRIP7]

Comical. All the insiders are running for seats, and they are all nominating each other.
"Election"? What "election"? Is there some point to this shit?

There are fourteen applications, fairly clearly attributable to two mutually exclusive factions, and only six seats. The election will decide which group (if any) gets to dominate the board: the one supporting John Vandenberg, or the one supporting Laura Hale.

Would be a no-brainer to me, if I were a voter down under, but hey.

[Zoloft]

Politics at the chapter level seems to be similar to the elections held by your local art association or garden club.

[EricBarbour]

Politics at the chapter level seems to be similar to the elections held by your local art association or garden club.

No, this is worse. This is a bunch of tweens running for middle-school class president. They ACT like tweens.

[Anroth]

Homeowners Association....

[Anthonyhcole]

I haven't involved myself with Wikimedia Australia. Though I've encountered both names on-wiki - Hale and Vandenberg - I'm not very familiar with either; so any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers.

[HRIP7]

Candidate questions are being asked; some friendly, some not so friendly.

Judging by that recent ANI thread, the private WMAU members' mailing list (no public archives) mentioned in one of those questions is not a very harmonious place.

[FlossMore]

Laura Hale wrote a statement? Ouch, she did. Still, maybe it took time away from writing an article, as will answering the questions. Ouch, it appears she wrote the questions.

I think electing her would be good for Wikipedia overall, though, keep her occupied outside of article space. I would vote for her.

[eppur si muove]

The decision by the FDC not to allocate WMAU any money at this point will presumably have some effect on the elections. I'm not aware of what the issues are beyond what si given in the FDC statement.

[Notvelty]

Candidate questions are being asked; some friendly, some not so friendly.

Judging by that recent ANI thread, the private WMAU members' mailing list (no public archives) mentioned in one of those questions is not a very harmonious place.

*gasp* How -dare- Tony ask questions of a candidate that go to their personal ability to fill the role for which they are standing! And what cheek it is to expect an answer of the form that is required in job interviews in the real world! Doesn't he know this is about making sure the good cultists get their spot at the trough (even when it's empty).

But seriously, I think they need to get a great big rubber "UNEMPLOYABLE" stamp and 'imprint' it across the pages of at least half the candidates. These people couldn't hold down a job in the public service.

[HRIP7]

Unless I am very much mistaken, waves of the election are reaching Jimbo's talk page ...

Clues include

– the recent suggestion of a DYK topic ban for Laura Hale,
– Laura Hale stating in her dissertation that Ross Mallett (Hawkeye7 (T-C-L)) was her landlord,
– the arbcom finding that Hawkeye7 has an undisclosed conflict of interest with regards to Laura Hale,
– the arbcom remedy directing Hawkeye7 "not to take any further administrative action with regards to, or at the behest of, Laura Hale"
– and the fact that Ross Mallett is the Hale Party's candidate for treasurer, opposing Craig Franklin (Lankiveil (T-C-L)) from the Vandenberg Party.

So Laura Hale is running for president, and she has nominated her landlord who helped her with her dissertation as a candidate for treasurer.

[Anroth]

If anyone in Australia wants a hint of how to vote:

LauraHale is currently (along with Prioryman) a Gibraltar proxy.

Vandenberg on the other hand asked some very pointed questions of the WMUK members. (I would dig out the diffs, but they are lost in the Fae thread somewhere)

So do you want an enabler? Or someone who asks questions?

This may be unrelated to the Election - Plus LauraHale is an incompetant who cant even read and comprehend a source. Even once its been pointed out to her.

[Anroth]

So someone has posted this at Jimmy's userpage.

Is it ok for a candidate for a senior post in a chapter organization of a large silent conflict of interest? Especially if two candidate live in the same house in which a candidate owns the house and the other pays rent to the other candidate to live there? Would you consider it appropriate for these people do not have their commercial relationship to the foundation and the public disclosed, especially if these people have been applied together for money to the GAC already? Would you consider it ok that these two people were sanctioned for abusive behavior on Wikipedia, and threatened to block other member of chapter who objected to their flooding DYK with poorly written articles?

Since its clearly related to Laura & Hawk, does someone have more info on what is going down with the (private) WMAU mailing list? Which member of WMAU did they threaten to block etc?

[thekohser]

Could a moderator put this in with the other Wikimedia Australia thread, please?

[lonza leggiera]

So someone has posted this at Jimmy's userpage.

Is it ok for a candidate for a senior post in a chapter organization of a large silent conflict of interest? Especially if two candidate live in the same house in which a candidate owns the house and the other pays rent to the other candidate to live there? ....

...

Pays rent?

I was able to attend the University of Canberra because he provided rent-free accommodation.

[EricBarbour]

So someone has posted this at Jimmy's userpage.

Is it ok for a candidate for a senior post in a chapter organization of a large silent conflict of interest? Especially if two candidate live in the same house in which a candidate owns the house and the other pays rent to the other candidate to live there? ....

...

Pays rent?

I was able to attend the University of Canberra because he provided rent-free accommodation.

And the response?

It isn't hard to guess who you are talking about, both in name and chapter organization. But I won't comment further, except to say that it is the true height of cowardice to register a bad-hand account from which you can feel free to cast aspersions. Resolute 15:50, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

I don't know what this is about, but using an alternative account for edits that would be "highly controversial within his/her family, social or professional circle" is legitimate. "Bad-hand accounts" describe those used for disruptive activity. Wnt (talk) 10:07, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

Well, I've politely asked Ced Bix on their talkpage about their other account. In the absence of an answer, I guess SPI may be the next step. Meanwhile, this now seems to be under discussion at WP:ANI#Bad faith account -- pls consider blocking as well. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 14:18, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

Which resulted in an attack on Ced Bix's talkpage, and an AN/I argument.

The names might change, but the sleaze remains the same.

(I have a stupid question. If Wikimedia Australia is "recognised by the Wikimedia Foundation as an official chapter and as such will offer members an official voice in the global Wikimedia community" and founded to "increase public awareness", then why is their members' mailing list private and secret?)

[Anroth]

I think they have two.

[tarantino]

John Vandenberg was re-elected as president of Wikimedia Australia and Laura Hale is no longer on the committee.

[eppur si muove]

John Vandenberg was re-elected as president of Wikimedia Australia and Laura Hale is no longer on the committee.

The four office holders all seem to come from the same slate. The only person elected from the Hale slate is Steve Zhang as an ordinary committee member. Kerry Raymond seems also to have been elected and seems to be an independent candidate and not part of a slate with anyone else.

[EricBarbour]

John Vandenberg was re-elected as president of Wikimedia Australia and Laura Hale is no longer on the committee.

This is actually very funny. WMAU is slowly purging itself of the cranks who helped to start it. Vandenberg and Zhang are the last survivors of the original pests who generated all the traffic on their public mailing list. All the others -- Brianna Laugher, Liam Wyatt, Sarah Ewart, Daniel Bryant, and especially that slimy little shit "The Bainer" -- have all fallen by the wayside.

You should see my Stephen Bain article. Not very nice at all. And 100% verifiable.

[Anroth]

You should see my Stephen Bain article. Not very nice at all. And 100% verifiable.

Well post it then.

[EricBarbour]

You should see my Stephen Bain article. Not very nice at all. And 100% verifiable.

Well post it then.

I've got something even better. Two photos that sum up perfectly what Mr. Bain is all about.


He was an ass-kisser nonpareil. Premium "cabalist".

Did you know that when his Arbcom term ended in 2008, Wales extended it a year by "kingly fiat"?

"To my knowledge and belief, the current ArbCom is fully in support of our monarchist tradition. I will not act contrary to their advice, given in private, and these traditions will continue so long as the Foundation and the ArbCom support them.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 22:28, 19 October 2008 (UTC)"

"Monarchist tradition"??

BTW, he left Wikipedia after losing another Arbcom election in 2010, has done almost nothing since then.

[tarantino]

John Vandenberg has proposed to suspend their private "members" mailing list.

As in many countries, the Wikimedia community in Australia has had a public mailing list since before the chapter existed. When the chapter was created, a private "members" mailing list was established for discussion between members only, and an "announce" list was established however it has not been used.

In the weeks between nomination of candidates for the committee of management and the AGM, the Wikimedia Australia private mailing list was used in ways that are not beneficial to the organisation. Specifically, accusations of impropriety and illegality have been made privately without evidence.

One member asked to be removed from the private list during this period, presumably due to the inappropriateness of the content of the list traffic. This was done by Adam Jenkins.

Even after the AGM, the accusations continue, and the people involved have continued to niggle at each other on the private mailing list.

Losing wmau committee candidates Laura Hale and Robert Myers/Bidgee arrived in San Francisco Nov 27 and supposedly had a meeting with the wmf on the 29th. Hale tried to get people interested in meeting them there a month ago, but apparently no one was.

Hale and Myers also got Craig Franklin to delete their candidates' pages from the wmau wiki.

[EricBarbour]

I wonder if I should try to write up the "history" of WMAU. It's quite pathetic. Plus, without a leak of the "seekret" mailing list, it's fruitless.

[HRIP7]

John Vandenberg was re-elected as president of Wikimedia Australia and Laura Hale is no longer on the committee.

The four office holders all seem to come from the same slate. The only person elected from the Hale slate is Steve Zhang as an ordinary committee member. Kerry Raymond seems also to have been elected and seems to be an independent candidate and not part of a slate with anyone else.

The election results are up. The votes for the officer's positions were as follows:

President
Candidate Votes
Laura Hale 7
John Vandenberg 24
John Vandenberg was elected.

Vice President
Candidate Votes
Gideon Digby 11
Graham Pearce 22
Graham Pearce was elected.

Secretary
Candidate Votes
Charles Gregory 23
Robert Myers 10
Charles Gregory was elected.

Treasurer
Candidate Votes
Craig Franklin 26
Ross Mallet 7
Craig Franklin was elected.

[Anroth]

Well that was suitably one-sided.

[eppur si muove]

Well that was suitably one-sided.

Nevertheless, with low double-figure margins they do need to get that COI policy in place.

[Willbeheard]

Well that was suitably one-sided.

Interesting that only 31 votes were cast for president but 33 for the other posts. Why did two people abstain?