On Sat, August 12, 2006 15:52, Jimmy Wales wrote:

I have for a very long time now stressed to everyone who invites me to speak that they are inviting me in my personal capacity. So this policy will have no impact on me. But it could have impact on many others.

I will stick my head above the parapet here, but comment that *nobody* is inviting you in a 'personal' capacity. They are inviting you because of WMF, not because of your history at Chicago Options Associates, Bomis or anything else whatsoever, and to suggest you can separate yourself from WMF in this way is rather misleading.

I believe, and my memory might be weak here so someone can correct me, that this question first came up when David Gerard gave a talk in the UK, a talk for which there was an honorarium (small) associated with it. The small amount of money involved, it seems to me, quite properly should go to David for his efforts. And why not?

The UK Chapter reviewed that (it was for the BBC) and concluded that where WMUK is the body contacted then any fees received will go to WMUK and the person(s) concerned would be covered for their expenses. In this instance, David was representing the WMF directly (the contact came via WMF) and so it is up to the WMF to decide on such things. AIUI in this instance the 'fee' was basically sufficient to cover the costs involved, so effectively balanced what would have been claimed anyway.

This is all about how professional we wish to behave and how we wish the WMF to grow and mature in the future. If we are looking at it as a cash cow for a select few individuals then outwith the short term there will clearly be problems in maintaining credibility and capability in delth.

Alison Wheeler