Announcing the 2021 Ombuds Commission

I’m writing with information about the Ombuds Commission (OC), the small group of volunteers who investigate complaints about violations of the privacy policy, and in particular concerning the use of CheckUser and Oversight tools, on any Wikimedia project for the Board of Trustees. I apologize for the length of the announcement. 🙂

The application period for new commissioners for 2021 recently closed. The Wikimedia Foundation is extremely grateful to the many experienced and insightful volunteers who offered to assist with this work.

Because the OC may be asked to provide insights into community governance issues tied into UCoC phase two this year, we are experimenting with expanding the Commission. This year’s OC will consist of ten members rather than eight, with a two-member advisory team who will guide the new commission and also, if necessary, fill in in the event that the OC is unable to act due to incapacity or recusal.

I am pleased to announce the composition of the 2021 OC:

Acagastya

Agastya has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2014, and is primarily active on English Wikinews serving as an administrator and has been accredited reporter since 2017. Agastya is also active on Commons, and speaks English, Hindi and Gujarati.

AGK

AGK has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2008. He is primarily active on English Wikipedia, where he is an administrator, Checkuser, and Oversighter and has served as an Arbitrator. AGK has been a member of the Ombuds Commission since 2020.

Ameisenigel

Ameisenigel has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2015. He is primarily active on German Wikipedia, where he serves as an Arbitrator. He is also active as an translation admin on Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons and on Meta. Ameisenigel speaks German and English.

Emufarmers

Emufarmers has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2005. He is a Metapedian who primarily edits the English Wikipedia; he is also a bureaucrat and sysop on MediaWiki.org, and has provided software support to many third-party, non-Wikimedia wikis over the years. He has served as an OTRS administrator since 2015. He has served on the Ombuds Commission since 2019.

Faendalimas

Scott Thomson, user:Faendalimas, has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2006. Based in Brazil, he is a taxonomist and evolutionary biologist and his main editing interest is reptiles and amphibians. He is most active on WikiSpecies, where he is a bureaucrat, Checkuser, and administrator.

JJMC89

JJMC89 has been contributing to Wikimedia projects since 2015. He is primarily active on the English Wikipedia, where he has more than 300,000 edits and is an administrator and bot operator, and Commons. He also serves as a tool administrator on UTRS.

Moheen

Moheen Reeyad, user:Moheen, has been contributing to Wikimedia projects since 2010. He is active on Commons, Bengali Wikipedia, Wikidata, and English Wikipedia and is an administrator on Commons and Bengali Wikipedia. He is currently a Board member of Wikimedia Bangladesh and lives in Chattogram. Moheen speaks Bengali and English.

MrJaroslavik

MrJaroslavik has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2017. He is primarily active on Czech Wikipedia and Meta. MrJaroslavik speaks Czech and English.

ProtoplasmaKid

Ivan has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2006. He is primarily active on Spanish Wikipedia and Spanish Wikinews and as an administrator on both of those projects. He helped found Wikimedia Mexico in 2011 and was the Wikimania 2015 Chief Coordinator. He has participated in a number of movement committees, including Grant Advisory Committee. He speaks English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Superpes15

Superpes15 has been contributing to Wikimedia projects since 2010. He is primarily active on Italian Wikipedia and are a member of the Small Wiki Monitoring Team. He is an administrator on Italian Wikipedia and serves as a global renamer. He speaks Italian and English.

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The 2021 OC advisors are:

Ajraddatz

Ajraddatz has been an active user on Wikimedia since 2010, and has served in various roles of community trust in that time, including as a Wikidata Oversighter since 2013, a steward between 2014 and 2020, and a Meta CheckUser since 2015.

Galahad

Carlos, currently editing as user:Galahad, has been contributing to Wikimedia Projects since 2009. He is a member of Wikimedia Venezuela and a founding member of Wikimedia Small Projects User Group. He primarily contributes to Spanish-language projects including Spanish Wikipedia and Spanish Wikivoyage. He has been an administrator and bureaucrat of Spanish Wikivoyage since 2013. He has served on the Ombuds Commission since 2019.

Their willingness to remain, to bring their familiarity with processes and their experience to the new arrivals, is greatly appreciated!

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Please join me in thanking the following volunteers who are leaving OC, who have given substantially of their time to serve the commission:

AmandaNP

Amanda has been editing Wikipedia since 2009, when she made her first edits to English Wikipedia. She has served many roles in the past including being a sysop, holding advanced permissions and serving on an Arbitration Committee for 4 years. She will continue to support the English Wikipedia and reach out to global communities through her service and tools she develops.

Elmacenderesi

Elmacenderesi has been working on Wikimedia projects since 2007, primarily on the Turkish Wikipedia. There, he has been a CheckUser and a Bureaucrat since 2008 and an Oversighter since 2011. He is also a member of Wikimedia OTRS and serves as a global outreach coordinator, working with academic institutions and GLAMs, for The Wikipedia Library. He has served on the Ombuds Commission since 2018.

Taketa

Taketa has been a Wikimedian since 2008 and has held a number of positions in his time here, including Administrator and Bureaucrat on the Dutch Wikipedia, Arbitrator on Dutch Wikipedia, Administrator on Wikidata, Steward, and member of the Ombuds Commission. He has created about 7000 new articles in several language Wikipedias. He currently serves on the board of Wikimedia Belgium.

Teles

Lucas became a Wikipedian in 2007 and started to engage with CheckUser rights in 2009, when he became a local CU on the Portuguese Wikipedia. He held both Oversight and Checkuser rights on Ptwiki between 2015 and 2017, when his term with the rights expired. He is currently an administrator on Commons and Ptwiki. His traditional main focus has been on anti-vandalism work. In 2012, the global community elected him as a steward, a position he held until 2020. He served on the Ombuds Commission for 2018.

Uzoma Ozurumba

Uzoma Ozurumba has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2017. She contributes primarily to Meta, Commons, and the Igbo Wiktionary, of which she is a founder. She is a co-founder of the Igbo Wikimedians User Group and serves as a Strategy Liaison for that group. She served on the OC in 2020.

Wikilover90

Rupika has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2014. A free knowledge advocate, she edits primarily on Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata and is administrator on Punjabi Wikisource. She organizes events such as Wiki Loves Folklore and Wiki Loves Women. She has been supporting in activating the Open Movement in North India via various Open GLAM initiatives such as Heritage GLAM. She has served on the Ombuds Commission since 2019.

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Thanks again to everyone who ‘s serving, is serving, or volunteered to serve. And thanks to all of you for reading this wall of text!

Originally published by Karen Brown on Wikimedia-l, 25 January 2021