>>', a sysop is just a technical function, with the ability (some buttons) and not the authority to push them without 'community consent'.

Sysops on Commons arent just handed the tools they first must seek a level of trust from the community that trust is because there are times when a person must act in the interest of Commons. As a long term sysop on Commons and one the higher end contributors sysops do have a level of authority and need to exercise their judgement more frequently without discussion then other larger projects (like de,en) one the problems is that at times there arent the experienced people around to enable a thorough discussion before acting.

This is a particluar problem with local copyright issues as an Australian I got a good understand of OZ law and know where to get more info, I also gained a fair understanding of US over time and out of necessity but I have a very limited smattering of it for elsewhere when there is the necessity to make a move if I cant get independent opinions/help then I would defer to safest solution for Commons

As Andrew said The Foundation has a significant authority to step in to issues and take the lead or if necessary dictate the end result. The reason being is that The Foundation can and does have a legal responsability, it would be also be the target of any action and initial Point of Call on documents.

The up coming GLAM event in Canberra is going to touch on this very issue, if you arent already aware of it it'd be worth see what this event achieves


2009/6/15 Andrew Turvey <andrewrturvey@googlemail.com>
----- "Dedalus" <dedalus@wikipedia.be> wrote:
> From: "Dedalus" <dedalus@wikipedia.be>
> To: commons-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Sent: Sunday, 14 June, 2009 18:57:23 GMT +00:00 GMT Britain, Ireland, Portugal
> Subject: Re: [Commons-l] Some reflections about the governance of Commons
>
>> This Spring the WMF has initiated a year long strategy formation process ... I would like to invite all participants in this discussion, and all participants in the [[massive upload conflict]]s to participate this year, just started, and ending summer 2010, in the overall Wikimedia Foundation strategy formation process.

I'd be keen to be involved as we have a mass upload project planned for some time in the next 6-12 months. How can we do this?


>> And, as far as I know, a sysop is just a technical function, with the ability (some buttons) and not the authority to push them without 'community consent'.

Sorry, but that's very naive. Sysops are always more than a technical function - they have authority, like it or not.


>> And one last thing: Commons, like all projects, are independent of the WMF, the Board of the WMF can't impose anything on the project.

Again, not true. WMF always has the ultimate power to step in and impose a solution through "office actions". Not saying they necessarily should, but they can if they need to.

Andrew

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