Chapter updates

The Wikimedia Foundation released a report following their Wikimedia France site visit (see previous Signpost coverage), as well as grant expectations for 2017-2018. Wikimedia France held a General Assembly on 9 September 2017:

• Emeric (chairman until end of June) resigned the day prior to the General Assembly
• the remaining board (5 people) was constituted of Samuel (Chair), Marie-Alice (Vice Chair), FloFlo (treasurer), Edouard and Florence Raymond
• Raymond, who was an appointed board member, was confirmed by the General Assembly
• the General Assembly voted by 73% the "lack of trust" in the previous board
• however, the General Assembly voted to retain the remainer of the previous board despite the distrust, in order to allow transfer of information and to support the new board during the audit.
• Floflo and Edouard will finish their term in 6 weeks (may resign earlier). Samuel and Marie-Alice indicated they would resign at the earliest convenience, only staying to help the transition and the audit.

—  Florence Devouard, writing on the Wikimeida-l mailing list

Wikimedia Macedonia was de-recognised after the termination of their Chapter Agreement on 10 September 2017. This followed the suspension of chapter benefits in February due to "long-standing non-compliance with reporting requirements".

Wikimedia Israel celebrated their tenth anniversary on 6 September with an event that included the presentation of "Wikimedia Awards for the promotion of open knowledge in Israel". These were the first awards from a Wikimedia affiliate for "significant contributions to promoting Wikimedia’s vision." The four winners were:

• Israel Internet Association
• Haifa University
• Former Minister of Education Rabbi Shai Piron
• Oren Helman, former director of the Government Press Office

Further information is available on the Wikimedia Blog.

ACTRIAL

The Autoconfirmed article creation trial (ACTRIAL) began on 14 September 2017 and will last for 6 months. The WMF will study the impact on newly registered accounts, quality assurance processes, and content quality. Information gathered during the trial period will be reported to the English Wikipedia community, and the community will decide if any additional steps should be taken based on the results.

Brief notes

• 2017 CUOS appointments: There are nine CheckUser and five Oversight candidates for the community to review, ask questions of, and comment on, until 29 September 2017.
• New administrator: The Signpost welcomes the English Wikipedia's newest administrator, Ansh666.
• New HQ: The WMF is moving its San Francisco headquarters to One Montgomery Tower (see additional Signpost coverage).