Its very strange to me to see a list of "James was NOT removed for X", as
if that was sufficient and an adequate substitute for saying why he was
actually removed. The problem with the Board is that they have taken this
action without actually providing any real explanation. This problem
appears to have been precipitated by Denny being hesitant to be forthcoming
in an e-mail where James was a recipient, but no one has provided any
reason for why this should be the case.
The bottom line for me is that if the WMF and the Board were seen as being
successful and healthy in other respects this would be a relatively minor
issue, but there is a widening perception that the Board and the WMF are
*failing*. The projects are carried by volunteers, but the perception of
the WMF by those volunteers and others is increasingly that the WMF adds
and has historically added little to the projects beyond operational
maintenance.
Those of us who voted for James did so in part because of his history as a
forthright, outspoken activist and volunteer - attributes which we thought
might shake up the board and push the WMF to produce more value for the
hundreds of millions of dollars that have been spent. Now that he has been
kicked off, its hard to escape the possibility that he attempted to do so
and was ejected as a result. Nothing any member of the Board has said has
been able to shake that possibility.