Talk:Claims of corruption: Difference between revisions
here's jimbo's post of 1 May (just in case 142.177.X.X attempts to censor it)
(moving claim later proved false to FUCOC) |
(here's jimbo's post of 1 May (just in case 142.177.X.X attempts to censor it)) |
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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 | |||