Bureaucrats, developer, Administrators
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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. | 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 | |||
::"honestly and simply raising the issues with me in an appropriate manner" is actually not possible since Wales has a policy of [[outing]] those who offer any criticism, and actually attaching bogus labels to their names like for instance "criminal" or "liar". | |||
:::This maybe so but most of us are accustomed to dealing with people who reveal their identity when raising concerns, like me. People who remain anonymous aren't as convincing as those who are exposing themselves by being '''[[body|some body]]'''. --[[User:Juxo|Juxo]] 17:37, 14 Sep 2004 (EEST) | |||
::Besides no one needs to discuss the [[GFDL]] with Wales, or ask his interpretation of it - he is not a lawyer and is not qualified to say what is reasonable interpretation, and with a pet board, he is certainly not committed to actually asking [[independent board]] opinions of any matter - so the upside of talking to him is zero, the downside considerable, and the [[trolls]] are doing the right thing to just continue to ignore him as much as they can and make note of all his legal errors for later eradication of [[Wikimedia]] in court. | |||
:::Actually if you think that Wikimedia is in violation of [[GFDL]] you should speak to them about it, not just try to intimidate with assumably false threats of [[Class action suit]], [[Suing for funding]] and other crap that really really is not the consumerium way of trying to make things better. I mean that I understand that the lawyers in the US profit the most from the silly legistlation that allows all sorts of anti-common-sense-cases to actually go to court or seem likely enough to go to court that it affects people's behaviour --[[User:Juxo|Juxo]] 17:37, 14 Sep 2004 (EEST) | |||
::There is no reason in the world to have any conversation with this guy, and still less given this: | |||
:::I actually sorta enjoy debating with him about economic systems and such. --[[User:Juxo|Juxo]] 17:37, 14 Sep 2004 (EEST) | |||
::"...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. " | |||
::[[libel chill]] of the plainest sort, and a clear message: 'complain to me or any authority directly, and you can expect court orders issued against you once I have your name on paper' | |||
::the above says all it needs to say, and proves autocratic [[GodKing]] behaviour and total contempt for [[open content]] or its quality or completeness | |||
:::[[Libel chill]] alright, but one interesting point that escaped you is that Jimbo refers to "ban '''them'''", but "file a libel claim against '''him'''" This might indicate that he has some understanding for the [[trollist]] ideology and usefullness of [[trolling]]. Not that I claim that as a fact. --[[User:Juxo|Juxo]] 17:37, 14 Sep 2004 (EEST)~ |