On Jan 9, 2008 5:52 AM, Gregory Maxwell gmaxwell@gmail.com wrote:
So, yes, communication is expensive but you are the glass maker complaining about the cost of sand. It's a cost of doing business.
Mhh, I have yet to see mailing list flamewars turn magically into useful products. ;-)
I'm in favor of first promoting transparency through promoting more actual volunteer participation, and secondly, through more systematic & regular reporting. The model of free-for-all debates on anything & everything attracts trolling and noise which exhaust and consume both staff and volunteers. Debating whether you should let the community vote to hire an accountant (as was recently suggested) is not a useful exercise for anyone.
These days it seems many users learn more about Wikimedia from leaks and reporters than they do through the official channels.
The fundamentally destructive nature of the leaks that have happened recently is not the actual information itself, it's that the people who have forwarded information from private lists without permission have engaged in no attempt at an actual dialog with the Foundation about when & whether the information they have leaked could be legitimately published. That makes these actions appear purely self-interested, ill-considered, or hostile, and will drive towards less internal transparency, not more, as truly sensitive information can no longer be posted to larger groups of people.