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(a)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