Communities talk about the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines

Right now community members are voting on the Enforcement Guidelines of the Universal Code of Conduct. The Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) supports Wikimedia’s equity objectives and commitment to ensuring a welcoming, diverse movement, and it applies to all members of the Wikimedia community–including Wikimedia Foundation staff. The UCoC outlines the behavior norms that connect us as a movement, but the UCoC means different things to different communities.

Small and medium-sized communities have said how excited they are for the UCoC. Some community members expressed concerns about what the UCoC means for these communities with smaller volunteer pools. We thought it would be great for you to hear from some community members from small and medium-sized communities.

On January 19, some staff members supporting the UCoC project talked with community members from small and medium-sized wikis. Panelists included Uzoma Ozurumba, co-founder of the Igbo Wikimedians User Group, Claudia Lo, Senior Design Researcher at Wikimedia Foundation and Ruby D-Brown, Senior Programs Officer at Open Foundation West Africa.

Read on to learn more about what the Universal Code of Conduct means in their communities and how you can vote on the Enforcement Guidelines.

Uzoma Ozurumba

The small and medium-size communities are fragile….so issues of unacceptable behaviors can affect and quickly turn their community to an unsafe environment that no one wants to be part of. So in the sense of being malleable, because they are at the building stage, it will be easy for small and medium-sized communities to adapt and adopt the UCoC, which will guide them towards building a culture that holds every member or contributor accountable to their behavior in the wiki space. Which in the long run will result in an atmosphere of trust, inclusivity and a safe environment for everyone to grow. 

Claudia Lo

One of the things that preoccupied us was making sure that we were paying enough attention, giving enough time and space to those concerns of smaller wikis, medium-sized wikis that maybe don’t have as developed or as extensive a network of this kind of enforcement structures that they themselves may have already made. So I think we should try to really, really look at those perspectives and kind of understand them and understand those challenges and see how we can support them. Which is all to say please, please come, please vote. 

Ruby D-Brown

And we’ve always had major concerns when it comes to the small communities, small wiki communities. You know, they are often like, “My vote doesn’t count.” But take a look at it – we have many small communities spread across the world, small wiki communities, all over the world. If all of these communities come out in your numbers, they might even be more powerful that maybe one big community that we’ve always thought about. So we want to ask you all to come out in your numbers. Your voice will be heard. Your voice is important. Your vote is important. 

You can watch the full interview on YouTube.

How can I vote?

The voter information page on Meta-wiki outlines how to participate in the vote using SecurePoll. Be sure to share this information with members of your community. We want to hear from as many contributors as possible.

When is the voting deadline?

Voting closes on Tuesday, 31 January at 00:00 UTC. 

Where can I ask questions or learn more?

To learn more, check out the UCoC on Meta-wiki.