On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 5:23 PM, Brian<Brian.Mingus(a)colorado.edu> wrote: I started reading Gerard's e-mail and then find that I should not have bothered. In all seriousness, allow me to echo Brian on this. It may not be your opinion on the matter, but Gregory is certainly allowed to share his and doesn't need to suffer a berating on foundation-l for expressing it. -Chad

On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 9:06 AM, Anthony<wikimail(a)inbox.org> wrote: I am gobsmacked that you are asking this here and saying that you haven't received answers when you asked in a different forum (which forum?). Removal of vicious personal attacks depends on the nature of them. If they are potentially libelous, suppression[1] can be used. In other cases, "poor mans oversight"[2] is often used by admins and oversight volunteers. 1. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Wikipedia:Oversight 2. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Wikipedia:Poor_man%27s_overs… -- John Vandenberg

On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 12:17 PM, Nathan<nawrich(a)gmail.com> wrote: Eh? Anthony is talking about removing messages from the mailing list archive? I assumed he meant the Wikipedia diffs that are mentioned in the article at http://akahele.org/2009/08/omidyar-venturing-out/ Hopefully he will be more clear about the vicious personal attacks he is referring to. -- John Vandenberg

On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 4:02 PM, Gerard Meijssen<gerard.meijssen(a)gmail.com> wrote: I (correctly) assumed that Anthony needed guidance to the oversight-l list to deal with an En.Wp problem, so I pointed him to the applicable policy page on the applicable project. I could have pointed him to the meta policy page, but that page is a lot of unnecessary reading for someone who wants to know how to request oversight on En.Wp. -- John Vandenberg

On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 7:15 PM, Sage Ross <ragesoss+wikipedia@gmail.com<ragesoss%2Bwikipedia@gmail.com> He said that? Where has Halprin or anyone with knowledge of the appointment said that Halprin was considered because of the grant negotiations? Where has anyone even acknowledged that there were grant "negotiations"? What was being negotiated? What were the other offers?

On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 8:18 PM, Sage Ross <ragesoss+wikipedia@gmail.com<ragesoss%2Bwikipedia@gmail.com> > On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 7:26 PM, Anthony&lt;wikimail(a)inbox.org> > He said that? Where has Halprin or anyone with knowledge of the > appointment > > said that Halprin was considered because of the grant negotiations? > Where > > has anyone even acknowledged that there were grant "negotiations"? What > was > > being negotiated? What were the other offers? > > See > http://wikipediaweekly.org/2009/08/28/episode-82-matt-halprin-interview/ > and > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikipediaWeekly/Wikimania_2009/Halpr… > (transcript of one section of the interview). > > Halprin said: "But I think that at this point in time, I think what > Sue would say is, that even if Omidyar Network hadn't gotten involved, > once she got to know me that she would have actually said: hey, this > is someone who could be helpful for us at this point in time." What's > implicit is that Omidyar Network did, in fact, get involved and that's > why Foundation people got to know him well enough to decide that he > should be added to the board. > The timeline is unclear to me. I was under the impression that Halprin met the board before the grant was discussed. To say that "Halprin was considered because of the grant negotiations" implies that he wouldn't have been considered were there no grant negotiations. To me Halprin is saying the opposite in that quote above. If Omidyar Networks had not offered a grant, but offered to put Halprin on the board, would the board have accepted it? I don't see anyone with knowledge of the situation saying no.

On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 8:51 PM, Sage Ross <ragesoss+wikipedia@gmail.com<ragesoss%2Bwikipedia@gmail.com> > On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 8:41 PM, Anthony&lt;wikimail(a)inbox.org> > If Omidyar Networks had not offered a grant, but offered to put Halprin > on > > the board, would the board have accepted it? I don't see anyone with > > knowledge of the situation saying no. > > I had the impression that WMF had been courting Omidyar Network for > some time; it's hard for me to imagine that a potential grant wasn't > part of the context right from the beginning. But indeed, we're > mostly speculating here. Francisco Funders' Briefing to be held at Kapor Enterprises on September 23, 2008. Current confirmed guests include representatives from the Stanton, Moore and Gates Foundations as well as representatives from the Omidyar Network, and individual prospective donors." The Q&A says "The two organizations have been talking since shortly after the Wikimedia Foundation relocated to San Francisco from St. Petersburg, Florida in January 2008." I've reread what you said, though: "he basically said that he and/or Omidyar Network expressed interest in a seat on the board because of the grant negotiations". I guess that's fairly safe to say. And on that, I guess my quota for the day for this thread is filled.