[Foundation-l] Answers.com and Wikimedia Foundation to Form New Partnership

[Anthony DiPierro]

On 10/24/05, Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:
>
> Chris Jenkinson wrote:
> > So, what will happen if someone edits the Tools page (and any other
> > pages which reference this 1 click thingy), and removes all references
> > to it? Will the Board be restating the link, even if it is constantly
> > removed by contributors?
>
> It is a wiki page like any other. I would find it incredibly strange
> and shocking if people did that, why would they?
>
> One point that needs to be repeated over and over and over here is that
> the time, manner, and place of any link, even the existence of the link
> at all, is a matter for the wiki to decide, like any other.
>
> Now, having said that, I think that it is pretty silly to imagine that
> we will have a page of "tools", some of which are proprietary, some of
> which are free, most of which bring us no revenue, and *1* which does
> bring us revenue -- from someone who has freely given to our community
> without asking anything in return -- from someone who proposed this idea
> as a way for him to give *even more* to us, and then people are going to
> maliciously delete any reference to us.
>
> The message coming from that would be simply bizarre.
>
> I think people need to slow down and think this through before jumping
> to strange conclusions.
>
> --Jimbo

 I agree that it'd be stupid to remove the link, but the only reason to put
the link in a place of prominence (or whatever the phrase was) is the fact
that we made a deal to do so. In the absense of such a deal the link would
likely be put right in with all the rest.
 I think the question many of us are wondering is what happens if the wiki
process puts the link in a place which Answers Corporation doesn't consider
a position of prominence? Do we forfeit the revenue? Are we in violation of
the agreement?

Hopefully all this will be moot by the time the trial period is over,
because some Wikipedians will have created their own tool just like that by
Answers Corporation except for the fact that it's open source and donates
100% of its net profits to Wikipedia. In that case I think it'll be clear
that the board should not renew the agreement with Answers Corporation.
 Anthony