[Foundation-l] On the cost of explaining things.

[Erik Moeller]

On Jan 9, 2008 5:52 AM, Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell at gmail.com> wrote:
> So, yes, communication is expensive but you are the glass maker
> complaining about the cost of sand.  It's a cost of doing business.

Mhh, I have yet to see mailing list flamewars turn magically into
useful products. ;-)

I'm in favor of first promoting transparency through promoting more
actual volunteer participation, and secondly, through more systematic
& regular reporting. The model of free-for-all debates on anything &
everything attracts trolling and noise which exhaust and consume both
staff and volunteers. Debating whether you should let the community
vote to hire an accountant (as was recently suggested) is not a useful
exercise for anyone.

> These days it seems many users learn more about Wikimedia from leaks
> and reporters than they do through the official channels.

The fundamentally destructive nature of the leaks that have happened
recently is not the actual information itself, it's that the people
who have forwarded information from private lists without permission
have engaged in no attempt at an actual dialog with the Foundation
about when & whether the information they have leaked could be
legitimately published. That makes these actions appear purely
self-interested, ill-considered, or hostile, and will drive towards
less internal transparency, not more, as truly sensitive information
can no longer be posted to larger groups of people.
-- 
Erik Möller