News flash! I received a reply from Adam Cuerden, the audio editor charged with the release of the WikiVoices # 45 session:
"I've asked around, and several people involved have made it clear that it should only be released by official means, not privately. I'm afraid that's the end of this discussion, as I cannot go against the wishes of the other people involved in it to please you.
I'm afraid that ends discussion on this matter, as far as I'm concerned. I see no moral way to go about what you're asking me to do."
I hope that some Foundation staff or board member will comment on what has happened here. Wikimedia Foundation server resources were used to coordinate a discussion of issues by no less than eight candidates for the Board of Trustees. All of the invited candidates and at least one of the co-hosts (Durova) spent two hours of their time in good faith to produce this lively Q&A session. Now, it is being withheld from our community and the public at large, with no explanation. People laughed when I suggested that something fishy was going on when the audio wasn't posted within the first week of taping. People also chuckled when I noted that the other co-host (Promethean) happened to have erased my Board candidacy statement only a number of days prior to the WikiVoices taping.
What do people THINK of this?
I expect several replies that will poo-pooh and explain away this cover-up with a few "they obviously did their best, but unfortunately they just didn't get the job done" excuses. I will ignore those, because they ignore reality. But I look forward to the comments of any who are still able to think for themselves and might have some actual explanations for what is going on here. I suspect that at least one WMF staff or board member is blocking the release of this audio, and the cover-up mandate is in place. Call me a conspiracy theorist all you want. I've shown evidence that the suppression of the tape is a deliberate decision on the part of a group of unnamed individuals. What's your evidence otherwise?
Greg
On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 6:30 PM, Gregory Kohs thekohser@gmail.com wrote:
I have asked the User who is supposedly in possession of the raw audio file to explain what's happening, and he has bluntly replied that he is no longer interested in spending the "two days" that it would take to edit the two-hour audio feed.
I then requested that he simply deliver the unedited electronic audio file to me, and I will be happy to post it. That was 20 hours ago. Still no reply.
The previous public replies to my initial post here (that I am "ill informed that you are not aware how things are organised", or that my "complains (sic) about it are unreasonable and mistargeted", or that it's hard to "see what you expect the Foundation or the Election Committee to do about" it) are way off the mark. My point really was that if the Wikimedia Foundation truly cared about an open, transparent, and responsibly-handled election, the Foundation STAFF (the folks paid money to run the organization effectively) would have been hosting this sort of dialogue/debate themselves, rather than breathing a sigh of relief that the junior-grade volunteers would take yet another responsibility off of their plate. Clearly, there are more important things on their agenda, such as the monthly rent checks to Wikia, Inc. that need to be written! The WMF staff can't be bothered with things like Board-level election communications.
Greg