On 04/03/2008, Steven Walling steven.walling@gmail.com wrote:
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.
I'm not so sure. I've always opposed Jimbo Wales' undue influence in Wikimedia content, and this isn't really a problem now. There was a time where he could have been titled "GodKing", but with arbcom and through his own disengagement, this is no longer an issue.
Jimbo Wales does a lot in terms of publicity and public relations. The talks around the world that he has given have raised the profile of the project. Is this still so?