Global BIPOC Board Meeting #19 Minutes

February 20, 2024 10:04 AM

Mefi Global BIPOC Advisory BoardMeeting 19 Minutes Aug 22, 2023 7AM PST - 9:00 AM (PST) 120 mins.

Roll call: travelingthyme, Hurdy Gurdy Girl, aielen, majick, brainwane, yueliang, porpoise, MiraK, cendawanita

1. Introductions and housekeeping
2. Agenda and Minutes 
1. Members invited to take collaborative notes/minutes
1. Walkthrough of current minutes workflow: private (board-only) and public minutes (summarized/redacted)
2. Agenda Approval 
1. Action/Discussion Item Prioritization
1. Some members may leave early; we will prioritize member onboarding action items and specific discussion items involving members in attendance. 
2. In particular, “User-reported issues around MeMail harassment and moderation of POC content in AskMe” (user is present)
3. Previous Minutes
1. Finalized public minutes for Meeting #18 completed July 31 (thanks HGG and aielen) 
2. Publication of Meeting #18 minutes are still pending action from Loup (formatting for Metatalk)
1. Action: Loup to complete MeTa formatting for Meeting #18 minutes by Saturday, August 26.
2. Action: Thyme/Loup to publish Meeting #18 minutes on Metatalk by Saturday, August 26.

1. Action items from past meetings
1. “New members will contact Loup ([e-mail]) directly with their email addresses (for Slack), preferred payment mode and payment details by July 30.” (followup from Meeting #18)
1. All new members (cendawanita, porpoise, MiraK, yueliang) have relayed these 3 pieces of info to Loup; further followup required from Loup w/r/t confirmations and Slack.
1. cendawanita
1. Loup sent a Slack invite; however the invite is currently invalid because Loup has not resolved a Slack organization payment issue.
2. cendawanita has not received acknowledgement of payment information from Loup. 
2. yueliang
1. yueliang has not received acknowledgement of payment information from Loup.
2. Action (urgent): Loup to urgently resolve the Slack organization payment issue (i.e. “organization has not paid/upgraded” problem blocking invitee from accepting invitation) and send cendawanita a valid Slack invitation. 


3. Action: Loup to confirm receipt of payment information with cendawanita and yueliang.


2. “Loup will add new members to Slack and shared Google Drive, as well as all relevant documents not on the shared Google Drive (e.g. content policy documents) - by July 30.” (followup from Meeting #18)
1. Pending. 
1. Loup has added some but not all new members to Slack. (See action item 3)a)ii))
2. Loup has not added any new members to the access list for the shared Google Drive. Thyme will take over this item.
1. Action: Thyme to add the new members (cendawanita, porpoise, MiraK, yueliang) to the shared Google Drive
3. Loup has shared some but not all documents with new members. Thyme will take over this item.
1. Action: Thyme will make a list of all documents that cannot be moved to the board’s shared Google Drive (e.g. mod onboarding document, policy documents) to be shared with members, and will add members to the access list for all those documents by Saturday, September 2.
3. “New members will contact Majick with their email address by July 30” (followup from Meeting #18)
1. Done. All new members have contacted Majick with this information.
4. “Majick to add new members to nachomountain email group” (followup from Meeting #18)
1. Done. Majick has added all new members to the nachomountain email group.
5. “Thyme to ensure all new members are on the calendar / receive recurring Zoom invite” (followup from Meeting #18)
1. Done. Thyme has added all new members to the recurring Zoom invite.
6. “Board to make comments, suggest changes in the 3 policy documents by August 15” (followup from Meeting #18)
1. Done. Board has made comments and suggestions. 
7. “Loup to synthesize and implement these suggested changes between August 15 and August 22, and email the new version of the 3 documents to the board mailing list before the next meeting (August 22). Board will vote/approve this new version at the next meeting.” (followup from Meeting #18)
1. Pending. Loup has not yet synthesized or implemented suggested changes, and has not emailed any communication or updates re the 3 documents to the board mailing list since the last meeting. As such, board is unable to take next steps of voting/approving wrt this item.
2. Loup is absent; this item will be revisited next meeting.
8. “Board to set aside time during the July 2024 and August 2024 meetings for similar policy review next year, with Thyme adding this to the board’s calendar. (Meeting dates: 23 July 2024 and 27 August 2024)” (followup from Meeting #18)
1. Pending.
1. Action: Thyme will add policy review agenda items to the board’s calendar for 23 July 2024 and 27 August 2024 by today (August 22).
9. Loup to take over the task of minutes formatting (for MetaTalk), beginning with Meeting #18. (followup from Meeting #18)
1. Pending. (Addressed by action item 2)iii)2)a) )
10. HGG to contact and coordinate/work with Thyme on the public minutes, beginning work for this meeting’s minutes on 2nd August. (followup from Meeting #18)
1. Done. Public minutes completed July 31.
2. Discussion of public minutes summarization work
1. Board resolves to address the following issues identified from the discussion with these corresponding actions:
1. Helping the public better understand the board’s responsibilities and scope of work
1. Make the MeTa about the board’s work (https://metatalk.metafilter.com/26210/What-The-MeFi-BIPOC-Board-Does) more prominent on our BIPOC board subpage to increase general public understanding of board’s scope and responsibilities. 

Action: Board to check with Loup at the next meeting about updating the BIPOC board subpage with this note. 

1. Refining approach to public minutes summarization and community engagement re minutes/board’s work
1. Less explanation and more definitive statements that focus on reporting outcomes and decisions.
2. For more info, MeFites can post on MetaTalk and/or ask board members directly.
3. Develop consistent responses to frequently asked questions.

1. Loup to attempt to follow up with the former member regarding payment for the meeting they attended, and confirm that payment has been received, updating on this next meeting. (followup from Meeting #17 and Meeting #18)
1. Pending. Loup is absent; this item will be revisited next meeting.
2. Loup to share moderator onboarding document with the board by Thursday, July 27th through email.” (followup from Meetings #11, #16, #17, #18)
1. Pending. Document was not sent by the July 27th deadline. Loup is absent; this item will be revisited next meeting.
3. Loup to discuss the BIPOC board subsite spec with Frimble and give an update on the BIPOC board subsite next meeting. (followup from Meeting #17 and Meeting #18)
1. Pending. Loup is absent; this item will be revisited next meeting.
4. Loup to check with Frimble about the next phase of UX changes and the code tour, get more details and update the board next meeting. (followup from Meeting #17 and Meeting #18)
1. Pending. Loup is absent; this item will be revisited next meeting.

1. User-reported issues around MeMail harassment and moderation of POC content in AskMe
1. aielen previously shared document in Meeting #17 (June 27) that relayed some details and correspondence from a user over the earlier part of this year: Summary of user’s experience/issue: 
1. User’s comment trying to address microaggressions in a POC-related thread was deleted; when user communicated with white moderator, the mod suggested the user open a MetaTalk about the issue instead, with the mod offering to post it if the user preferred. There was no follow up from the mod after the user responded and detailed some harassment over MeMail from a white MeFite. User also received no response from the mod to a request to be connected to BIPOC board, and thus the board was not aware of the situation at first.
2. User’s fundamental requests/desired outcomes for this discussion:
1. Stronger accountability and enforcement regarding users harassing other users
2. What should users and mods do when interaction/communication with a mod just drops off
3. Some info re: moderator notes/deletions.
3. Discussion: How would mods deal with this issue now? Are there further policy changes that need to happen? With the understanding that Thyme doesn’t represent the mod team as a unit, they provided a lens on mod policy. 
1. Mod follow up is an issue, especially after an email discussion. 
2. Mods are supposed to cc the general admin email, but there is inconsistency in this.
4. Discussion: Lack of follow-up has created an expectation from POC users that microaggressions and race-related concerns will not be addressed by mods or MeFi admin. This is likely causing at least some of the decline in user engagement that has been a topic of concern. Board members discussed examples from own experiences and asked how to increase accountability. Discussion of whether Board could be ombuds; some hesitance around this as it would make board de facto administrative body. However, members should be encouraged to make contact with board.
1. Action: Board to check with Loup at the next meeting about updating the BIPOC board subpage with the following note: something that explicitly invites people to get in contact with us if they have anything they would like to chat/raise.
5. More discussion: mods should bring in a 2nd mod for contentious or serious or BIPOC related decisions/user issues. It is not appropriate to put the labour/burden of dealing with site race issues on marginalized folks, especially individuals. 
1. Questions about how to be ombuds and work with mod team if noticing a race-related issue on site: flagging, email contact form if needs longer note.

[HGG and porpoise had to leave the meeting here.]

1. Further discussion tabled for next meeting under the agenda item “How the board approaches / should approach ombuds role”

1. Question about whether POC feel comfortable reaching out to mods about problematic posts. Discussion of problematic AskMe thread: https://ask.metafilter.com/374247/Tech-support-India-Maybe-more-important-to-us-than-them-Culture)
1. Action: Thyme to look into this specific case/thread (e.g. what happened on the side of the mod team, timeline, reasons for deletion reason/note change, etc) and update the board next meeting (September 26).

• Not everyone can be assumed to have comfort engaging with perceived authority for surrounding-cultural, site-cultural, personal, personality, or a variety of other reasons. 
• Users from marginalized groups seem to be doing emotional labor / filling in blanks/context to educate majority-demographic users

[Majick had to leave the meeting here.]

1. Discussion: long-term problems with overall declining quality of Metafilter discussion; defensiveness of users relating to race issues; lack of communication between moderators; #poctakeover initiative (https://metatalk.metafilter.com/25441/poctakeover) and POC MeTas at that time used by POC to bring up these issues but change didn’t happen and so many of these POC users left); moderators’ lack of comment in contentious race-related MetaTalks–complicit silence or attempt to have a light hand?; biases in moderation and among users; BIPOC folks feeling shut down when trying to bring up issues
2. Discussion: What do mods currently do to make sure these situations don’t fall between the cracks? There are some systems in place but they are not adequate.
3. What do we need as a group, and what actions can we formulate as a followup to this discussion?
1. How does the BIPOC board advise without overstepping and getting into the same problems as the Steering Committee (ie doing work paid staff should be doing) 
2. Better system for user and mod communication.
3. Discussion of what to talk about re: this issue next meeting: how to prevent balls from being dropped by the mods.

[MiraK had to leave the meeting here.]

1. Create a more welcoming and user friendly environment/ dynamic for marginalized groups. Create more awareness in admin of this need. Address this from more than just a tool perspective.
1. This can also be discussed under the agenda item “Prioritizing future board work, answering the question ‘what is the needle?’: measure users’ willingness to approach mods; belief that their concerns will be addressed. Measure again after implementation of new procedures.
2. Transition Team survey (not specific to BIPOC users) could be used as a template/reference.
2. Further discussion tabled for next meeting under the agenda item “Improving mod team followup and internal alignment w/r/t user communication”

End of Meeting. Items below will be revisited at our next meeting. 

1. Publicizing the board, solving the larger issue of discoverability that is tied to outreach
2. Prioritizing future board work, answering the question “what is the needle?”
3. Proposed policy for mods to cc BIPOC board on race-related issues communicated to mods by users
4. How the board approaches / should approach ombuds role
5. Improving mod team followup and internal alignment wrt user communication
6. Frimble’s progress on a tool for viewing mod notes in threads
7. Data gathering for existing data
8. Land acknowledgements
9. Moderation resource allocation

posted by travelingthyme (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 10:04 AM