User blog:MonkeysHK/The October Pledge of Transparency


 * Introduction

This Pledge is a personal statement on the commitment on upholding transparency when performing duties on the wiki, with the belief that this practice aligns best with the interest of the community, which is the sole collective that owns the site and whom has the right to be informed as much as possible of its operations.

The content of the Pledge follows.


 * Content

Declared in the October Pledge of Transparency,


 * 1) Plans related to the organization's operations and research shall be informed to the public by the largest possible degree and in the best possible way;
 * 2) Guidelines for the operation and governance of the organization shall be formalized and made available to the public by the largest possible degree and in the best possible way, and
 * 3) As a staff member, I shall always be aware of, safeguarding, and improving the public's understanding of the organization as a whole.

This Pledge shall be upheld by the pledger and reflected in the pledger's performance of duties.

Signed MonkeysHK on 28 October 2023.


 * Appendix: Of the reason that the October Pledge is designed to be personally-scoped but not institutionalized

Note: Do not copy the appendix when copying the pledge.

The reason for this approach is that I believe the act to institutionalize something out of a previously not heard-of personal belief can make the organization more bureaucratic and diminish independent voices notwithstanding its intentions. Since the wiki is a product put forward by people who have similar goals and wish to strive to those goals in different ways, the institutional rules should be taken from the commonalities of our believes. Hence, institutional rules are minimal, providing freedom for the creation and adaptation of individual guidelines.

I believe that transparency through bureaucracy is not considered a better solution than acting on transparency by individual actions. The Pledge has a chance to be institutionalized in the future, in that the ideas it promotes may be well-influenced enough to be considered worthwhile to become standards.