Craig Franklin wrote:
... it would be grossly unprofessional for Erik, Jan-Bart, or anyone else to publicly discuss the relative merits of people who may or may not be involved in a confidential hiring process....
No, the Board resolved to "consult the community as necessary to assist with identifying, evaluating, and selecting candidates" as per http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Appointing_and_authorizing_a_...
How is it possible for the community to evaluate and select candidates without a transparent discussion of their individual merits? There is nothing which requires confidentiality in the hiring process. What would be unprofessional would be if the Board doesn't follow through with their own resolution, but we all know how well the resolution to maximize financial support of the projects fares as soon as the budgeted fundraising goal is reached since a couple years ago.
We should be discussing the merits of individual candidates in the open.