Talk:Claims of corruption: Difference between revisions

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If [[Consumerium Governance Organization]] brokers such a deal, its prestige will rise, and it will effectively be more trusted than [[Wikimedia]] by defn.

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Just for the record (in case our friend [[142.177.X.X]] - alias banned English Wikipedia user EntmootsofTrolls alias Mediator alias Enforcer etc. etc. - attempts to censor this information), here's the full text of Jimbo Wales' mailing list post of 1 May 2004:

[Wikipedia-l] Reponse to troll [[The Enforcer]]

Jimmy Wales jwales at bomis.com

Sat May 1 14:25:14 UTC 2004

One of our frequently banned users is making a variety of legal and

financial accusations that I wanted to respond to early and firmly

lest any of these things take root in any way shape or form as

reflective of reality in any way.

1. First, the Wikimedia Foundation is currently in full compliance

and more with all legal requirements for filings, etc. It is my

intention that we remain so, and that indeed, we are proactive about

doing whatever is necessary to go above and beyond what is required of

us in terms of organizational transparency, etc.

I am always eager to hear suggestions for improvement in this regard.

2. Second, there are no plans of any kind to release a 'for-profit'

version of the Wikipedia, for the separate benefit of me or Bomis or

any other company that I own, control, work for, etc. We *will* be

working to release Wikipedia on CD-ROM, in paper format, etc., but

these will be projects *of the foundation*, carried out with perfect

consistency with our nonprofit mission.

Such efforts will necessarily and properly involve the work of

for-profit publishers, but of course any contracts entered into will

be to the benefit of the Wikimedia Foundation.

3. There are no current plans for salaries for anyone. In the

future, I do intend that as we grow, we will become a large

organization patterned after the National Geographic Society, the

International Red Cross, and so on. This will eventually necessitate

employees, etc. But for now, any suggestion that I am personally

trying to get money from Wikipedia is beyond ludicrous.

It is commonly thought that I'm a wealthy person, but I'm not really.

I'm a very committed person who drives a 4 year old Hyundai and lives

in an ordinary middle-class American home in an ordinary neighborhood,

while spending far more in the last 5 years on my dream of a free

encyclopedia than I have on my own salary, none of which, of course,

is derived from Wikipedia in any way.

I do this because it matters to me. There are lots of ways to spend

money in life, some frivolous, some meaningful. To me, doing

something meaningful is the best reward.

4. As of June 1, 2004, I am resigning as CEO of Bomis, and my partner

Tim Shell will take over that role. This is primarily to reflect the

reality of the situation, which is that I spend virtually all my time

on Wikipedia and non-Bomis work. But it is also in part to further

emphasize and underscore the fact that the two are unrelated. Bomis's

ongoing provision of free hosting for the Wikimedia Foundation as a

gesture of appreciation of "giving back" to the free software

community whose software has helped us to do so much is not going to

change. But that ongoing gift is the only relationship between Bomis

and Wikipedia, period.

5. One troll has suggested that the Wikimedia Foundation needs to

disclose something about it's relationship to Bomis. This is a

classic propaganda technique: to demand the disclosure of some shadowy

secrets, with ominous overtones, when there is actually nothing to

disclose. I am happy to answer any questions that anyone has about

it, but there's not much to say.

While I was a futures and options trader, I founded Bomis partly as a

sideline hobby. It was eventually successful enough for me to retire

from trading and do it full time. The company rode through the

dot-com boom with good times and bad, and has always prospered enough

to provide me with a decent living.

I eventually became consumed with the passion to create a free and

freely licensed encyclopedia, and started to spend money on it. In

the early days, I thought of it as a possible business venture like

RedHat. Nupedia was an expensive failure, Wikipedia was a big

success.

But through that process, it became apparent that in order for

Wikipedia to achieve it's full potential it needed to be owned by a

non-profit organization. I promised then to give it all away to the

non-profit organization, and I did. I did so fully and completely and

with no regrets. My reward will be a Nobel Peace Prize, ha ha.

Why has Bomis funded Wikipedia? Because my partners in Bomis shared

my vision and let me do it. Bomis had servers, technical employees,

etc., and was the original owner of Nupedia/Wikipedia. The transition

was natural and spontaneous, and that's where things are today.

6. I have said before that although there are no plans for it at the

current time, and no need for it, it would please me greatly to have

the Wikimedia Foundation grow into a large enough organization that it

would be sensible for me to accept a salary for running it. If and

when that time comes, of course my compensation will be decided

according to the standard practices for charitable organizations, i.e.

through a vote of the other members of the Board of Directors, and in

accordance with the advice of an independent outside compensation

agency.

In short, if anyone has *any* questions or concerns about legal or

financial matters, I ask you to please write to me privately and

express those concerns openly and honestly, so that I can resolve

anything of this sort to everyone's satisfaction. If, after you've

talked with me privately, you find that you have any remaining issues

that you don't feel I've addressed, then by all means I encourage you

to go public with your complaints.

That's my biggest problem, really, with what this troll is doing.

He's issuing a lot of lies (anonymously of course) and insinuations,

attempting to make a public stink, rather than honestly and simply

raising the issues with me in an appropriate manner. I don't actually

fear any actual legal action, because in order to file a legal action,

he or she would have to reveal his or her true identity, which would

then enable us to finally take legal action to permanently ban them

from the website, as well as providing an opportunity for me to file a

libel claim against him.

Anyhow, really, I wanted to say all this because I want you you all to

know my keen interest in openness, transparency, fairness, etc. I

want to do whatever I need to do to make sure that the Wikimedia

Foundation is looked to as a shining example of how a nonprofit should

be run, with tight attention paid to expenses, good stewardship of

donor money, etc.

--Jimbo