TinDrum

RE: https://chaos.social/@catileptic/116647102977043390

'Wikimedia Foundation fired Brooke Vibber...the first full-time employee the Wikimedia Foundation ever hired, and its first Chief Technical Officer. For more than twenty years she was the engineer you called when something deep in the code was broken. The Foundation itself once described her as one of a very small number of people in the world who deeply understand the technical underpinnings of the system. She was also a union organizer'

#internet #www #wikipedia #union

Alex / catileptic (@[email protected])

"TLDR: In ten days last month, the Wikimedia Foundation fired the longtime lead developer of MediaWiki and disbanded the team whose entire job was to listen to volunteers. Most of the people they fired were union organizers. Wikipedia’s editors are now threatening to strike in solidarity. The Foundation is sitting on $296 million in reserves and a freshly profitable AI revenue stream. This is a confrontation with global implications" https://medium.com/@jakeorlowitz/wikipedia-is-doing-the-capitalist-thing-56a393232943

chaos.social
May 28 at 12:46amWeb
Show threadTinDrum3d ago
'this is the first time editors have organized solidarity action with paid Foundation staff. Administrators offered to step down...*It should not be legal to operate without a union*, wrote an administrator named Femke. *And a organisation that tries to be a force for good should not be willing to operate without one'*
Show threadPetrichor ᚄᚔᚅᚐᚁᚆᚃᚒᚔᚂ3d ago
@oscarjiminy This is so sad. Wikipedia has been one of the centres of good in this crumbling world
Show threadToni Aittoniemi3d ago

@oscarjiminy Oh my god.

”The point is the Foundation is rich. Seventeen-plus months of operating runway in the bank. Revenue diversifying, not shrinking. They can afford six engineers. Whatever this fight is about, it is not about money.”

Is the last bastion of the old internet becoming enshittified?

Is this the poison of American #authoritarianism, aka anti-labour, anti-unionism, seeping through?

If this what the experts say fascism does to make you feel powerless? 🤔

Show threadrhempel3d ago

@gimulnautti @oscarjiminy This isn't just neo-liberal end-stage capitalist enshittification seeping through.

It's letting (hiring) the fox into the hen house and then wondering what the fuck happened.

Show threadAurochs3d ago
@rhempel @gimulnautti @oscarjiminy You can ask her directly, as she has an accoubt in the fedi: @bvibber
Show threadBrooke Vibber 3d ago
@aurochs @rhempel @gimulnautti @oscarjiminy Hi, I cannot comment on this matter at this time. Thanks. :)
Show threadAurochs3d ago
@bvibber @rhempel @gimulnautti @oscarjiminy Sorry to bother. All the best!
Show threadrhempel3d ago

@bvibber @aurochs @gimulnautti @oscarjiminy Of course not, and I completely support and understand your position and appreciate your efforts at unionizing Wikimedia.

As I get closer to retirement I look back on my younger self and roll my eyes at how naive I was around what unions actually accomplish.

Having been in a union in my time working in Europe I can say union culture is different over there than in North America, but that doesn't make it any less important to have unions.

Show threadRichard W. Woodley 🇨🇦🌹🚴‍♂️3d ago

@oscarjiminy

What's the motivation. Have they suddenly seen the light and decided corporate is the way to go. Did Claude tell them to do this. ???