[Foundation-l] Wikia leasing office space to WMF

[Brion Vibber]

On 1/23/09 11:49 AM, Thomas Dalton wrote:
>> Could we have more detail, please, on the note that "Wikia matched the best
>> offer"?  Were the other ten higher bidders also given the opportunity to
>> match the best offer?  Why was Wikia chosen on a "second and adjusted offer"
>> basis, rather than choosing the good-faith firm that submitted the lowest
>> offer initially?  Was the first low bidder given the chance to further
>> discount their rate?  If so, what was their response?  If not, why not?
>
> I'd appreciate answers to those questions as well.

Wikia's space is physically closer to WMF's main office than the best 
other bid, making it easier for the project team to work with the main 
office. (We'd much rather keep them *in* our main office, but we're 
simply out of room!)

The fact that Wikia also has software developers working on MediaWiki 
usability is a big plus as well -- being physically close to Wikia's 
office makes technical collaboration with their team easier, which 
translates directly to benefiting end users.

These benefits would be present even if the price didn't match the best 
other offer, but would have been outweighed by a significant price 
difference (or being able to increase our primary space at an effective 
cost, say by taking over the space next door which is alas not currently 
available).

> "Wikia has been doing intensive work on the usability front and making
> the code available to public, so I look forward to collaborating with
> the Wikia technical and product teams to exchange ideas and learn from
> their work."
>
> There is a certain amount of logic in working with one of the biggest
> non-WMF MediaWiki users on this project.

Bingo.

-- brion