[WikiEN-l] Jimmy Wales in the news

[Steven Walling]

Putting the utter stupidity of discussing Jimbo's sex life at all aside, I
will say that this episode rings true for me in one important sense. As an
employee of a for-profit wiki, I've had the *entire* 20+ person staff agree
unanimously that they love Wikipedia despite Jimmy Wales, emphasis on the
"despite". Part of me recognizes that all this hullabaloo is a product of
the media's inane focus on the cult of celebrity, but still...wouldn't we
just be better off without him? My moral compass swings to a resounding Yes.


On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 1:30 PM, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 04/03/2008, Alec Conroy <alecmconroy at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >  The bigger problem are the allegations mentioned in the article about
> >  use of foundation funds.  Three specific claims are made:
> >  -Jimbo tried to expense a $300+ bottle of wine
> >  -Jimbo tried to expense a massage parlor visit
> >  -Wikimedia foundation took away Jimbo's credit card.
> >  Obviously, of it any of that were true, it would be super bad, and
> >  nothing can be done but watch it play out.
> >  But, far more likely, if it's false, the foundation needs to find out
> >  that it's false, and then get that word out ASAP.  I haven't seen them
> >  say it's not true.   I haven't looked hard, but then-- nobody else out
> >  there is looking hard either.   If I haven't seen "the facts" on the
> >  issue, neither has almost everyone else.
>
>
> Sue Gardner did answer on Danny Wool's blog, fwiw.
>
> Mostly the media interest is as cheap tabloid filler. All the London
> commuter papers, with the focus of the "story" being dumping people
> using technology. In between fabulously newsworthy reports on Kelly
> Osbourne's haircut.
>
>
> - d.
>
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