I'm not happy about writing this, but too many people I care about are hurting, and it's preventable.

[garrickwinter@mastodon.social]

@JakeOrlowitz This is deeply unfortunate. I don't follow Wikimedia's internal community and politics much but I'd always hoped they'd continue steering things fairly well.

This is making me think about what collective ownership of the foundation could look like instead.

[beaiouns@is.nota.live]

@JakeOrlowitz thanks for the heads up! signed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wiki_Workers_United_solidarity

[poetaster@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@JakeOrlowitz signed and signed. Thanks for covering this!

[sennoma@chaos.social]

@JakeOrlowitz Thanks for writing it. This is a big deal.

[gloriouscow@oldbytes.space]

@JakeOrlowitz Did someone just decide that everything had to suddenly be awful simultaneously or something? Did I miss a memo?

[castanea_jo@ni.hil.ist]

@nora @JakeOrlowitz The bigger list for people to sign: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Workers_United

[cmdrmoto@hachyderm.io]

@JakeOrlowitz Bernadette Meehan, as the recently installed CEO, is ultimately responsible for these firing decisions, yes?

And the Wikimedia Board of Trustees were responsible for installing current CEO Meehan, yes?

So finding the Trump regime loyalists is kinda like a game of Werewolf?

https://wikimediafoundation.org/role/board/

[castanea_jo@ni.hil.ist]

@nora @JakeOrlowitz This is a different and bigger petition saying you will stand for an editorial strike, and is for editors only if I read it correctly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wiki_Workers_United_solidarity

[dalehagglund@hachyderm.io]

@JakeOrlowitz Thank you for this article, it's very concerning.

I'm not someone who's ever edited wikipedia, so the petition link doesn't seem quite right for me (at least as far as I can tell). Are you (or anybody else reading this) aware of a more general petition for wikipedia users and supporters to make their opposition to this change known.

[troglet@mastodon.social]

@JakeOrlowitz Cancelling my donation today. Sigh.

[swordgeek@mstdn.ca]

@JakeOrlowitz if capitalists are in charge, wikipedia is doomed. The path is always the same:

* we can run this more efficiently
* we can generate more revenue
* staying nonprofit will hurt our bottom line

MEC in Canada is a perfect example of what will happen to Wikipedia if this doesn't go unchecked.

[veronica@mastodon.online]

@GarrickWinter I guess we need to decouple everything from the toxic way of doing things in the US. See also Mozilla.

@JakeOrlowitz

[baggypants@mstdn.social]

@JakeOrlowitz I guess everyone missed this article from 2014 'Not surprisingly, Jimbo rejected our view that "If you’ve contributed for years to Wikipedia you must now accept a new political economy: you have permanent lower-caste status, and have simply been working hard for other people to get rich."' https://www.theregister.com/software/2014/09/03/jimbo-tells-wikipedians-you-cant-vote-to-disable-key-software-features/656753

[boud@framapiaf.org]

@gloriouscow You may have missed the "memo" from #JonesDay [1], Wikimedia Foundation's "primary law firm" [3][2]; WMF is one of Jones Day's 9 key clients [4]. JDay has a record of being quite anti-union [5][6][7]. But unless you're a WMF leader, you likely didn't get the memo.

@JakeOrlowitz

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_Day

[2] https://wikimediapolicy.medium.com/victory-in-the-us-court-dismisses-lomax-v-wikimedia-foundation-bf05bbb21459

[3] https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/wikipedias-deep-ties-to-big-tech

[4] https://www.legal500.com/rankings/ranking/c-united-states/intellectual-property/trademarks-non-contentious-including-prosecution-portfolio-management-and-licensing/50505-jones-day

[5] https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2018/12/17/boston-globe-hires-law-firm-known-for-taking-hard.html

[6] https://web.archive.org/web/20250930003827/https://www.cjr.org/analysis/jones-day-unions-slate-strike.php

[7] https://dcist.com/story/21/12/14/politics-prose-bookstore-employees-unionize

[iwein@mas.to]

@JakeOrlowitz when there's a mutual aid fund for the hurting Wikipedia unionizers, I'll switch over my donations until this is resolved.

This is an excellent opportunity to show them the power of the people.

[poofbirb@kolektiva.social]

@JakeOrlowitz im taking a shit

[cmdrmoto@hachyderm.io]

@JakeOrlowitz also has anyone done a cross reference between the Wikimedia Board / C-suite officers and the #epstein files?