Moderation team for talk and osmf-talk mailing lists/Votes/Etiquette Violations by fititnt - A vote whether to ban his participation on community.openstreetmap.org and the mailing lists

From OpenStreetMap Foundation

Voting proposal to the Moderation team for: 1) talk mailing list, 2) osmf-talk mailing list and 3) the categories "general", "general:tagging", and "foundation" on community.openstreetmap.org by Logan McGovern - Closed Sat 4 Feb 2023 12:01PM

Relevant documents

General Review of Forum Behavior by OSM Community member fititnt

General Notes:

  1. The moderator author of this report is not an employee of Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, nor has ever been.
  2. No members of the general moderation group have sufficient justification to recuse themselves of participation in this review.
  3. Brief Past associations with HOT are insufficient to justify recusal, especially in light of the fact this group was appointed by the duly elected OSMF board.
  4. 'Community forum' refers to https://community.openstreetmap.org/
  5. HOT is an acronym representing the organization Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team.

Summary Finding of the OSMF Moderation Team

It is recommended this user be banned for a period of 4 weeks from both the community forum and associated mailing lists for numerous past violations of the guidelines. fititnt violates the etiquette guidelines by refusing to adhere to the standards of expected behavior many times over. The exact period will be decided in a vote. It is further recommended this user be warned that any further violations will result in a permanent ban with a recommendation to the Data Working Group that the user be banned from contributing to OSM.

  1. He does not act in good faith
  2. He is not respectful in his communications with others
  3. He fails repeatedly to engage in a calm and seriously manner with opponents
  4. The titles of his topic threads frequently presuppose an answer, and are not serious attempts at discussion
  5. In one instance, he engages in xenophobia against Ruben Martin
  6. Uses the derogatory term 'meatpuppet' to refer to people who are employed by HOT and HOT affiliated organizations.

Topic I: Clarification about comments from Community Services Associate from Humanitarian Openstreetmap Team

Notes:

  1. The topic title was originally more inflammatory, but later modified by the author in compliance with moderator request.
  2. A post made by a HOT staff member prompted fititnt to publish this topic. The relevant post is in Portuguese.
  3. In response to the criticism leveled at them, the statement with which fititnt takes offense was revised by the HOT Staff member to 'clarify'.
  4. The disambiguation was ignored by her detractor, fititnt

Recorded Violations:

Problematic communication I

"As the title says: Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team United States Inc claimed ownership over community.openstreetnap.org"
Observation I

Fititnt presupposes the least gracious interpretation possible of a post by a HOT community services associate. He claims the statement implies HOT has plans for ownership and control the community forum. Reading the post in question, this alleged implication is not at all apparent.

Problematic Communication II

"Let's not fall into the trap of "ambiguous text" like say she could be interpreted in two ways. The person who doesn't seem to have any other collaboration on OSM is LITERALLY paid to be a spokesperson"

Observation II

fititnt attempts to preempt discussion that conflicts with his view. It is noted by other participants in the conversation that he is capable of reaching out to the HOT Community Services associate to request either a clarification or retraction, but fails to do so.

Observation III

The HOT associate responds by issuing a clarification anyway, alleging misunderstandings/mistakes are due to translation errors. This is ignored by fititnt. HOT's head of communications also tries to respectfully engage by questioning the accuracy of equating the role of "community services associate" with "paid spokesperson". fititnt fails to respond to this reasoning either.

Problematic Communication III:

"What's going on? What's the agenda not discussed in public?"

Observation IV

Further unfounded assertions of malicious intent. During his relatively short tenure as an OSM contributor, it is apparent that fititnt has made no attempt to seriously and calmly discuss his concerns with representatives of the organization he detests. It is noted that the user antagonizes Everton Bertellini, another employee of a HOT affiliated organization in a separate thread on the Brazilian subforum, with similar statements.

Problematic Communication IV:

"They're not doing any hard work, just saying they're doing it by paying people without actual experience."

Observation V

This sentence erases the significant efforts of the many folks associated with HOT who have contributed significantly to the success of OpenStreetMap.

Topic II: What happens if let others keep sponsoring against OpenStreetMap

Problematic Communication V:

"What happens if let others keep sponsoring against OpenStreetMap"

Observation VI:

User posts screenshots of a paid ad dating from 2017 by HOT via Google. With regards to the screenshot, The words 'keep sponsoring' do not apply as this was a post dating to approximately 5 or 6 years before.

Problematic Communication VI:

"Finances (2020, around 100x difference without need to do any core function)".

Observation VII

A 'core function' is expanding also the number of mappers and awareness of OpenStreetMap, and it is an objective observation that many people, were it not for the efforts of HOT, would have remained ignorant of the existence of OSM. This is a heavy-handed implication of parasitism by fititnt.

Topic III: Trust on moderation of LATAM

Problematic Communication VII:

"This misuse under the condition of power is malum in se. An evil in itself."

Observation VIII

Any positive progress this discussion may have generated is lost by using the descriptor "evil".

Topic 4: "Let's close this LatAm community"

Problematic Communication VIII:

"I do agree that shared language/culture most of the time is a good thing, but maybe you might not be aware of Spain/Portugal's historical context in Latin America..."

Observation IX

In response to an attempt by Ruben Martin to de-escalate tension, he responds by reducing Ruben's personhood to the colonial past of his nationality (Spanish). Very crude.

Topic 5: Brasil Forum - Revalidacao do moderadores

Note: the contents of the communications are machine translated from Portuguese.

Problematic Communication IX:

"which could generate appeal for paid meatpuppets to remain THAT nor is it happening in the topic of Handling of con icts of interest that has latam moderator attacking people from local community to remain as moderator; let's not lower the level around here"

Observation X:

User makes offhand reference to people working for firms in the OSM ecosystem as "Paid meatpuppets"

Problematic Communication X

"And regardless of what just stay here in the election, things will appear well ranked in search engines, so even for organization that pays him, this will generate damage to the image, and this issue of moderation in Brazil is reason."

Observation XI

Unfounded, aggressive charge of corruption against Everton Bertellini due to his association with a HOT a affiliate organization.

Votes

Options:
  • I vote to ban this user from participation in the community forum and mailing lists for a period of 28 days.
  • I abstain
  • I vote against instating a ban of 28 days from the mailing lists and community forum.

Banning this user from participation in the community forum and mailing lists for a period of 28 day was unanimously approved with 5 votes in favour:

  • Angela Teyvi (I vote to ban this user from participation in the community forum and mailing lists for a period of 28 days.)
  • Radmila Jovanovic (I vote to ban this user from participation in the community forum and mailing lists for a period of 28 days.)
  • Logan McGovern (I vote to ban this user from participation in the community forum and mailing lists for a period of 28 days. The behavior is too egregious, from my interpretation of the code of ettiquette to let stand.)
  • Rubaina Adam (I vote to ban this user from participation in the community forum and mailing lists for a period of 28 days.)
  • Allan Mustard (I vote to ban this user from participation in the community forum and mailing lists for a period of 28 days. This misbehavior must be sanctioned.)
Proposal by Logan McGovern.