Fæ wants a taste of that sweet, sweet WMF money

[Vigilant]

en.wp doesn't feel the love

[Ryuichi]

Wikimedia LGBT+/conversation series proposal $25k

These items seem a little overpriced.
Coordinate meetings: $7.5k
Document meetings: $7.5k

EDIT: I see this was previously mentioned by Vigilant, above.

[Midsize Jake]

It is challenging to talk publicly about these things. I wish there were more venues to do so. Bluerasberry (talk) 21:18, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

If only.

[Ryuichi]

I just wish the WMF was giving $0

Easy done. Stop applying for funds.

[Silent Editor]

Right now it has no legal incorporation and has received either no money, or probably less than $5000 in the last 10 years.

.

That one of the would-be organisers doesn’t know whether it’s no money or less than $5000, doesn’t inspire confidence.

That the would-be organisation has no legal incorporation makes me wonder into who’s bank account they expect the funds will go. (Surely even the WMF wouldn’t accept one of the organiser’s accounts.)

[Ryuichi]

Right now it has no legal incorporation and has received either no money, or probably less than $5000 in the last 10 years.

.

That one of the would-be organisers doesn’t know whether it’s no money or less than $5000, doesn’t inspire confidence.

That the would-be organisation has no legal incorporation makes me wonder into who’s bank account they expect the funds will go. (Surely even the WMF wouldn’t accept one of the organiser’s accounts.)

The money is disbursed through Wikimedia Austria, acting as a "financial partner". WMF might not transfer direct to one of the organisers. WMAT potentially would.

[Vigilant]

Right now it has no legal incorporation and has received either no money, or probably less than $5000 in the last 10 years.

.

That one of the would-be organisers doesn’t know whether it’s no money or less than $5000, doesn’t inspire confidence.

That the would-be organisation has no legal incorporation makes me wonder into who’s bank account they expect the funds will go. (Surely even the WMF wouldn’t accept one of the organiser’s accounts.)

The money is disbursed through Wikimedia Austria, acting as a "financial partner". WMF might not transfer direct to one of the organisers. WMAT potentially would.

Why Austria?

WMAT should look into the background of the people it's about to disburse funds to.

Then they should run the fuck away.

[Vigilant]

The grants conference for this cowpat

My favorite bit

Participation

It is crucial that most participants have a minimum level of Wikimedia experience so that they can engage actively in workshops and discussions. Please answer all applicable questions below.

1. Please describe the target audience for this conference or event.

The event is structured to have three main different types of audience, each with different needs and planned outcomes:

A: Estimated 300: different viewing or participating members of the public likely to be members of the wider LGBTQ+ community and allies
B: Estimated 120: Wikimedia volunteers and open knowledge partners contributing to events and learning from them
C: Estimated 50: Wikimedia LGBTQ+ current participants with interests in helping LGBTQ+ related initiatives or open knowledge

For more information on the breakdown of the target audience, refer to Audiences and scale.

300 people are going to turn up to watch three days of what?

I call shenanigans.

[Vigilant]

Found it.

Grant approved

Hi QW22 team!

Thank you for your work on the grant request and for responding to our comments. We are glad to inform you that we have reviewed the final proposal and we are happy to support it in the amount of $89,450. You can expect an email in the next few days with more instructions and next steps. I will also circle back soon to schedule our first meeting. Looking forward to working together! On behalf of the Conference Grants Committee and Community Resources team. Best CAlmog (WMF) (talk) 08:21, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

What an odd CV

https://il.linkedin.com/in/chen-almog

[Ryuichi]

Nominations for the WMLGBT+ representative to attend Wikimedia Summit are at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wi ... ominations

The only current (self)-nominee is zBlace, Zeljko Blace, currently blocked sans Talk page access on zheir native Croatian Wikipedia; ostensibly for being rude & aggressive.

Block log: https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posebno:E ... D=newusers

Surely there should be some sort of universal code of conduct which prevents such persons from representing affiliates or attending events.

[Vigilant]

Perhaps being indef'd on your home wiki is now a requirement for this ... 'project'.

[Anroth]

RE 89k, so where do I ask the WMF for a copy of the safeguarding risk assessment that was performed before handing that amount of cash to hold an event where vulnerable people will attend, to someone with a history of uploading hardcore pornography of themselves as well as arguing in favour of keeping obviously underage pornography on commons?

-edit- and thats just the safeguarding aspect, let alone the financial due diligence on someone with his history.

[Vigilant]

Ongoing, slow motion grift/grievance train

Wikimedia LGBT+ User Group Governance committee meeting, 25 June 2022, 1600 UTC

Refer to Wikimedia LGBT+/Governance for scope and membership. Due to off-wiki abuse, attendance is not minuted and participants’ names are not noted against actions.

We don't like to have anyone seeing what do in the shadows.
How will we ever guess who 'O' and 'A' are?!
It's a fucking MYSTERY tour.

2. QW project manager

We have not yet recruited a project manager; we have an interim PM keeping things ticking over
Note that WMAT will not be line-managing the PM; we need to agree how their line-management will be arranged.
Agreed: GovCom will line-manage the PM in concert

Delicioso!

[Vigilant]

What an interesting diff

[Ryuichi]

Wikimedia LGBT+ User Group Governance committee meeting, 25 June 2022, 1600 UTC
2. QW project manager

We have not yet recruited a project manager; we have an interim PM keeping things ticking over
Note that WMAT will not be line-managing the PM; we need to agree how their line-management will be arranged.
Agreed: GovCom will line-manage the PM in concert

Delicioso!

Why would they need line management? It's a single, fixed term, project.

[WikiWatcher]

This is in their meeting minutes:

* We’ve had a whistleblowing complaint and an enforcement issue with the Telegram channels

This has got to be someone complaining about Fae appointing their various identities as admin of the Telegram channel, member of the WM LGBT governance committee, and every other position of power imaginable. Right?

Or was it Speedoguy complaining that Teahot was mean to him?

[Giraffe Stapler]

This is in their meeting minutes:

* We’ve had a whistleblowing complaint and an enforcement issue with the Telegram channels

This has got to be someone complaining about Fae appointing their various identities as admin of the Telegram channel, member of the WM LGBT governance committee, and every other position of power imaginable. Right?

Perhaps they found a mole?

Or was it Speedoguy complaining that Teahot was mean to him?

If you don't get this joke, you need to subscribe to the Wikipediocracy magazine. Your subscription includes a tote bag, a link to a PDF of our helpful Faeopedia reference guide, and an autographed picture of Smiley wearing leopard skin pants.

[Vigilant]

The whistleblower complaint almost certainly revolves around Ashley getting a wee bit of power and going apeshit with it, as usual.

[Beeblebrox]

I don't know that this in reference to the same thing, but I was made aware a while back that Fae was trying to weaponized the LGBT user group, aiming at me specifically, and I indeed did complain in a number of places. However, I'm not a member of the group so this whistleblower may be someone else disgusted by Fae aiming to be the tin pot dictator of the group.

It's a damn shame if you ask me. I know that inclusivity is kind of the bedrock of such a user group, but if they continue to let Fae, who doesn't even actually contribute to WMF websites anymore, be in any kind of a leadership role, nobody is ever going to trust them or take the group seriously.

[Vigilant]

I don't know that this in reference to the same thing, but I was made aware a while back that Fae was trying to weaponized the LGBT user group, aiming at me specifically, and I indeed did complain in a number of places. However, I'm not a member of the group so this whistleblower may be someone else disgusted by Fae aiming to be the tin pot dictator of the group.

It's a damn shame if you ask me. I know that inclusivity is kind of the bedrock of such a user group, but if they continue to let Fae, who doesn't even actually contribute to WMF websites anymore, be in any kind of a leadership role, nobody is ever going to trust them or take the group seriously.

And Ashley is perfectly fine with burning everything to the ground as long as he gets to be King of the Ashes.

[Anroth]

And Ashley is perfectly fine with burning everything to the ground as long as he gets to be King of the Ashes.

Oh well done (unless it was unintentional).

[Vigilant]

I would like to point out that we are on the cusp of this glorious day's decade anniversary.

[Boing! said Zebedee]

I would like to point out that we are on the cusp of this glorious day's decade anniversary.

This seems to hit the nail...

Throughout his career on Wikipedia, Fae seems to have desired to 'have his cake and eat it', saying and doing as he likes, and using a smokescreen of claimed privacy issues to prevent his actions coming back on him. --Elen of the Roads

[Beeblebrox]

I would like to point out that we are on the cusp of this glorious day's decade anniversary.

This seems to hit the nail...

Throughout his career on Wikipedia, Fae seems to have desired to 'have his cake and eat it', saying and doing as he likes, and using a smokescreen of claimed privacy issues to prevent his actions coming back on him. --Elen of the Roads

Indeed, that is a perfect summary of their behavior. I once said something along the lines of Fae wanting to portray themselves as Lord High Inquisitor, and humble victim of awful bullies in the same sentence, but this is more succinct.

[Giraffe Stapler]

I would like to point out that we are on the cusp of this glorious day's decade anniversary.

I need to find a new time-wasting outlet.

Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long, and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

[eppur si muove]

I'm horrified at how the self-aggrandising little shit Ashley van Haeften has been allowed to get near another pot of money. Ten years ago when things first blew up around him he did the same whining game of claiming that everybody who complained about him was homophobic and I ended up having to out myself on WP because of this. Okay Vigilant and a couple of others around here are homophobes but most people who see through van Haeften's lies are not.

Reading back through this thread, I see that Ashley has whined about someone comparing him to a sex worker. One of the things that I clashed with him about was how he tried to keep a picture of women whose faces were clearly visible on Commons. The caption described the women as prostitutes. In another case he tried to keep a link in an en:wp article to a sex video despite the subject of the article wanting that part of her history de-emphasised. However when it came to the various pictures of himself that he foolishly uploaded to Commons; van Haeften demanded the privilege of having those photos deleted in direct contrast to his attitude towards these women. This is because van Haeften is a despicable little sexist hypocrite who thinks that he should have privileges that he denies to working women.

Now van Haeften has formed a group where it seems a group of mainly white men are claiming that they represent the broad LGBTQ+ world of WIkimedia. The list of the six people that attending one of the meetings includes four people with male names based in Europe, one apparently male Argentinean and a Bengali-speaker whose gender is not obvious to me. Another list of the initial members of the committee contains four people, three with male Western names, the other Western and female. How can a bunch consisting mainly of privileged male Westerners be representative of the whole world of Wikimedia? Black feminist writers talk about toxic White Feminism where black and working-class women are shut out of senior and paid posts in women's group by white middle-class women who pretend that they represent all women and not just those like them. And here we have another little clique pretending to represent all LGBTQ people and not just white middle class Western gay men.

Giving money to a group dominated by van Haeften and his yes men after the disaster of his stewardship of WMUK just shows the foolishness and institutional amnesia of the Foundation.

[Smultronstället]

I'm horrified at how the self-aggrandising little shit Ashley van Haeften has been allowed to get near another pot of money. <snip>

Giving money to a group dominated by van Haeften and his yes men after the disaster of his stewardship of WMUK just shows the foolishness and institutional amnesia of the Foundation.

The biggest issue from my perspective is the deliverables don't seem commensurate with the cost.

It's also nice to see someone with your stature re-emerge here.

[Vigilant]

Okay Vigilant and a couple of others around here are homophobes but most people who see through van Haeften's lies are not.

Dude.
Fuck you.

[Midsize Jake]

I was gonna say, you could probably make a better case for me being homophobic than Mr. Vigilant, and I'm not intentionally homophobic at all, really. (I just don't like all the frilly clothes and stuff.)

[WikiWatcher]

The conference is postponed, long live the conference!

And 'Peltarion' is sniffing around asking questions. Is that Fae again? Or someone pretending to be Fae? Or Fae pretending to be someone pretending to be Fae?

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:QW ... stponement

[eppur si muove]

And 'Peltarion' is sniffing around asking questions. Is that Fae again? Or someone pretending to be Fae? Or Fae pretending to be someone pretending to be Fae?

User(Scuto) wanting to be very obvious to all concerned while pretending not to be.

According to everyone's favourite encyclopedia which any untrustworthy individual can edit:

"Peltarion (shield), a round or crescent shield used by the Peltasts in ancient warfare."

Wasn't van Haeften in a civil partnership with a classicist when things first blew up?

[WikiWatcher]

And 'Peltarion' is sniffing around asking questions. Is that Fae again? Or someone pretending to be Fae? Or Fae pretending to be someone pretending to be Fae?

User(Scuto) wanting to be very obvious to all concerned while pretending not to be.

But Fae/Scuto already knows what is happening in all the meetings, because they are one or more of the 4 people to attend the meetings.

Either that, or Fae's been booted out of organising the conference and is about to turn on the rest of Wikimedia LGBT+ for, idk, running a campaign of homophobic harrassment or something.

[eppur si muove]

Oh, he certainly has a history of turning on people. He did that with Jon Davies and WMUK.

I take your point that it could be someone pretending to be van Haeften and aping the sort of faux innocence with which he asks awkward questions, However, "peltarion" is not the most common word for a Greek shield. Someone who had just seen that van Haeften had used a word related to a Latin shield and wanted to then use a Greek shield for a fake account pretending to be van Haeften would have gone for "aegis" or "hoplon" or "aspis". Instead we have a word that requires more than a quick Google for "Ancient Greek shield". How many people know about van Haeften's history, including what his civil partner of 10 plus years ago did and at the same time know enough about Greek arms and armour to come up with that word? It does stretch my incredulity somewhat to think that someone could remain in a relationship with him for that long, but I still think his asking his partner (possibly now legally his husband) for a Greek word for shield seems more credible than the alternative of someone aping him and coming up with that particular word.

And what could fit better with his desire to be seen to be being stalked than a user name for his "secret" alternative identity that is so obviously him? There wouldn't be any value in creating an alternative identity that behaved differently and that wasn't transparently him because that would prove that it was how he has behaved over the years that has brought the hostility down on him. That wouldn't fit with his self-image of being a victim of persecution. No, he needs to be able to claim that he is still being persecuted even after creating the cover identity, and he can only do that if he makes it easy to tell that it is him.

[Ryuichi]

How can a bunch consisting mainly of privileged male Westerners be representative of the whole world of Wikimedia?

A question that answers itself?

[Beeblebrox]

Apparently pointing out Fae's exceedingly obvious socking is now valdalism. at least according to guard dog Owen. link

[Vigilant]

It sounds like either:

* They've frozen Ashley out <or>
* He's trying to gaslight as if that were the case for cover.

[Silent Editor]

Apparently pointing out Fae's exceedingly obvious socking is now valdalism. at least according to guard dog Owen. link

Interesting that he didn't revert Peltarion's question as well... but also interesting he didn't answer it.

[WikiWatcher]

Our appeal for project management was poorly focussed, meaning that the bids we had were more directed at the technical aspects than the project management and event management aspects. As we were getting increasingly close to the proposed date of the conference and our internal volunteer capacity is low, we discussed with our partner in the Grants team and agreed to postpone the external-facing parts of the conference, so that we can ensure it gets organised properly. — OwenBlacker (Talk) 07:22, 3 August 2022 (UTC)

Hi Owen! Could post this on Meta as bullshit pseudonyms seem to be in fashion there, but can't be bothered.

Your "internal volunteer capacity" might be higher if you didn't allow your spaces dominated by someone who's been banned for harrassment twice from the same project, and almost collapsed one other affiliate already. Just saying.

Your continued harassment of Fæ on and off wiki is a frustrating timesink. I'm not going to write about their involvement without their consent, but I will remind you that the user group is a Foundation Affiliate in good standing and that neither AffCom nor the Grants team, nor Community Resilience & Sustainability (Trust & Safety) nor the User Group's governance team share the concerns you and others keep raising on Wikipediocracy. Perhaps we could all maybe try to focus on improving encyclopædic content rather than what appear, from outside at least, to be years-long personal vendettas? — OwenBlacker (Talk) 07:40, 3 August 2022 (UTC)

Surely questions like "Is Fæ on the User Group governance team?" or "Is Fæ part of the conference organising team?" are questions which can be answered.

Apart from that, if that's the case, then all those groups you've just named are failing in their fiduciary duty to protect volunteers and staff and the reputation of the Wikimedia movement. It's just less noticeable if it's a UG with 3 volunteers and a never-spent project grant.

Also quite regrettable that you're framing asking sensible questions about Fæ's involvement as 'harassment'. It's like you have already decided that Fæ has never done anything wrong and have utterly bought into their narrative that any criticism is part of some vague campaign against them. That sends an appalling message to anyone who might be considering raising any kind of concern with you directly.

[Vigilant]

Is Trust & Safety still working on his report?

[Giraffe Stapler]

Apparently pointing out Fae's exceedingly obvious socking is now valdalism. at least according to guard dog Owen. link

If Peltarion is Fae, these messages would imply that he is no longer in the good graces of the group:

June 2022 and future meetings?
Was a June 2022 meeting held? If so, could the minutes be shared? Could advance notice be given on-wiki of future meetings? Peltarion (talk) 07:09, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

Monthly meetings?
There has been no notice of, nor minutes shared, of WM LGBT+ meetings for June or July. Have these monthly meetings now ceased? Is there some other place on-wiki they are being shared? Thanks. Peltarion (talk) 02:34, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

[Silent Editor]

Apparently pointing out Fae's exceedingly obvious socking is now valdalism. at least according to guard dog Owen. link

Interesting that he didn't revert Peltarion's question as well... but also interesting he ddn't answer it.

Hi Owen,

Thanks for addressing this on wiki

Incidentally, when I get up to go to the toilet at 4am and notice harassment that I revert, I tend to go back to bed, rather than answering other questions I hadn't previously seen.

Glad to know you’re following along here.

So, I wonder, why did you revert Beeblebox’s post as ‘vandalism’, when you claim you thought it was harassment?

[Vigilant]

Whilst I agree that Beeblebrox's comment above serves no obvious purpose apart from harassment, I think that the more sensible people here should think about how the involvement of more than one person who has been banned or long-term blocked from their home Wikis reflects on this and other LGBTQ+ projects within Wikimedia. Some of us have avoided getting involved in the past because of the presence of certain individuals. Openly disassociating yourselves from certain types might make it easier to recruit those queer Wikipedians that want to avoid them. 82.45.168.246 16:24, 3 August 2022 (UTC)

I'm with the other anon. Wikimedia LGBT is basically synonymous with Fae - who seems to be on every committee, attend every meeting, and run every communications channel the UG has. There are plenty of queer Wikimedians, myself included, who've suffered from Fae's harassment, bullying and hounding in the past and are never going to feel safe in a space run by Fae. But there seems to be no way to raise this issue safely with the UG when you have a bunch of "safe space" policies written by one of the biggest harassers in the movement that direct you to committees on which they also sit. The sooner the User Group stops digging this hole the better tbh, and the only way to get out of it is to make it clear that Fae doesn't occupy any positions of authority in the group. 2A02:C7F:BD0C:F700:910E:250:98D9:C305 16:57, 3 August 2022 (UTC)

You're a radioactive boat anchor, Ashley.
A brood parasite.

Why don't you fuck off from the grifting and let people without a metric fuckton of bad acts under their belts try to drive instead for a while.

[WikiWatcher]

Aaand of course the response was... Ashley hatting off one post, and Owen Blacker putting two more under the same hat.

Criticism will not be tolerated. Don't worry about the content of what's said, just say it's not posted in the right place.

[WikiWatcher]

As of 17:50 this afternoon, Commons has been Fae-free for one year.

[Jim]

As of 17:50 this afternoon, Commons has been Fae-free for one year.

Wanna buy a bridge? I have several for sale right now, some are very famous, landmarks even...
Easy terms. Buyer collects on receipt of payment.

[Jim]

Why don't you fuck off from the grifting and let people without a metric fuckton of bad acts under their belts try to drive instead for a while.

By now, for Ash, it's only about the grifting.

I mean, shit, they don't let him do anything else.

Oh, wait, now they don't let him do that either.

Hey Ash, you're fucked. We all see you, and your nyms.

Go and get a pizza or something...

[WikiWatcher]

Here's a thread about whether people who are banned from Wikipedia should get WMF grants. Any of the English Wikipedia types here want to ask if the WMF applied any of the criteria they're talking about to Fae and Wikimedia LGBT?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... ers_grants?

[Jim]

Any of the English Wikipedia types here want to ask if the WMF applied any of the criteria they're talking about to Fae and Wikimedia LGBT?

What's one of those "types"? Is there something that stops you asking that yourself?

I could easily ask a reasonable question for you if you provide the question, say where you would like it asked and why you can't do so yourself.

PM me if you like.

[WikiWatcher]

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/QW2022

Queering Wikipedia 2022 takes place on:
Friday, October 21, at 18:00 UTC and

Saturday, October 22, at 14:00 UTC for 4 hours
The Queering Wikipedia 2022 programme is split into:

Friday: Networking, social and cultural programme
With presentations from the Wikimedia LGBT+ User Group, plus partners and individuals who have contributed in past activities and have plans to share for 2023.
Saturday: Membership and decision-making
Goal-setting and identifying issues and priorities. Agreeing on decision-making processes. Improving the leadership structure and how to appoint or elect representatives.
Planning for the coming 12 months. Queering Wikipedia 2023. Evaluation and learning points.

[Silent Editor]

Fae may not be involved*, but the desire for that sweet, sweet WMF money lives on:

Maybe US$4,500,000/year of Wikimedia Movement funds should support LGBT+ causes

*At least, not under that name.