I've been posting quite a bit today, so I think I'll stop for a while. (I'd
hate to trigger the limits ;-)
But Alec, thanks for _your_ note, and don't worry about expressing skepticism (even if
it was mostly hyperbole to make a point). Vigilance is healthy :-)
Thanks,
Sue
-----Original Message-----
From: Alec Conroy <alecmconroy(a)gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2010 14:19:01
To: <susanpgardner(a)gmail.com>om>; Wikimedia Foundation Mailing
List<foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Discussion Questions forPotentially-Objectionable
Content
Hi Sue--
Thank you so so much for that reply, it was really really appreciated.
I also wanted to say -- you know in your post where
you speculate about why this is
happening now, is it because of the fundraising, has someone offered board members
jobs,
etc. (I know you were mostly non-serious about the jobs.) That is a totally legitimate
set of
questions.
Well, I think you're being way too charitable with me-- I'm not sure
even I consider those questions legitimate. Thus, I did try to
inject a lot of silliness (e.g. Extraterrestrials and fundamentalist
financiers) into those sorts of scenarios because I didn't want to
convey any genuine-conspiracy-theory of ulterior motives-- I just
kinda wanted to express a vague sense of exasperation and confusion
and not-knowing-what-to-think-or-who-to-trust. Because, ya know, when
you care about an movement and things get rough, your mind does go
through all kinds of scenarios to try to make sense of it, and maybe
sharing those crazy thoughts will help you recognize and intercept
them when they occur in others. :)
If my concerns seemed legitimate, then I probably owe you and anyone
else involved a big apology for accidentally making it seem even
remotely legitimate. A far better description would be "an
illegitimate, unfounded concern that crossed my mind cause I couldn't
make sense of what was going on."
I passed it on because in the hope it might be a little helpful just
to see where some of our thoughts are going. The downside in even
expressing stuff like that is it sort of involves distrusting a group
of total strangers, most of whose names I don't even know without
looking them up, all because they agreed to do work for my all-time
favorite non-profit. Raw deal for ya'll.
It doesn't get said enough, but thank you to all who have done such a
wonderful job running things all these years. I never could have
done your jobs one-tenth as well as you all have. In particular,
last year's fundraising work was just phenomenal, and I really do
apologize for even suggesting, in passing, and in theory, that that
work might somehow really be tied to anything negative. I had no
basis for such a statement, I didn't sincerely believe it then, I
still don't.
Thanks again for reply :)
Alec