Board of Trustees elections

Fourteen candidates have thrown their hats into the ring for the four vacant seats on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. The winning candidates will serve three-year terms. As of press time, you have one more day to submit your candidacy.

You may also submit questions for the candidates, or endorse or comment on others' questions through June 29. So far 40 questions have been submitted.

The diverse group of candidates includes four women, one current board member, and three Africans. About a dozen nationalities are represented.

The elections were cancelled last year while plans to redesign the Board were in progress. Voting will be held August 4–17 with eligible voters casting single transferable votes.

Virtual Wikimania August 13–17

Wikimania, the annual conference hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, will be a virtual event this year for the first time in its 15-year history.

Submissions for presentations are now closed, with almost 300 submissions received. Registration will open soon.

Masking IPs proposal

The WMF is starting to make its proposal to mask IP addresses more concrete. WMF Legal has stated that this type of proposal must be implemented for legal reasons, though the WMF is still gathering evidence and opinions on how best to implement it. Be sure to see the talk page for the most recent community feedback.

Another very long, and somewhat disorganized, discussion at Wikipedia:Village pump (WMF)/Archive 3#IP Masking Update seems to have significant support for simply banning IP editing if the IP masking is put into effect.

Board chair steps down, becomes WMF consultant

María Sefidari, Raystorm, has stepped down as chair of the WMF Board of Trustees. It was then announced on a Wikimedia mailing list that she would become a paid consultant. The reaction on the mailing list, starting with Chris Keating, was "flabbergasted". Michael Maggs, Philip Kopetzky and others joined in saying that it looked like a conflict of interest and a general governance mistake that the WMF would never allow WMF affiliates to get away with.

There is now also a discussion at The Village Pump (WMF), under the heading Self-Dealing on the WMF Board.

Brief notes

• Former Wikimedia Foundation CEO and ED Katherine Maher is now a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council.
• New administrators: The Signpost welcomes the English Wikipedia's newest administrators, Trialpears, Less Unless. and Ashleyyoursmile.
• Milestones: The following Wikipedia projects reached milestones since May 1:
  • The Persian Wikipedia has reached 800,000 articles.
  • The Aragonese Wikipedia has reached 40,000 articles.
  • The Hausa Wikipedia has reached 10,000 articles.
  • The Crimean Tatar Wikipedia has reached 10,000 articles.
  • The Franco-Provençal/Arpitan Wikipedia has reached 5,000 articles
  • The Altai Wikipedia has reached 500 articles.