[Foundation-l] Re: Thoughts on admin-only IRC channels and RC patrol

[- Essjay -]

I have to agree with Sam; I myself have been guilty of saying "the Board" or
"the Foundation" when what I mean is "Jimbo." Unfortunately, it is from
Jimbo that we outside the "Foundation walls" most often hear, and it is from
Jimbo that most "executive orders" issue. We can't help but be confused at
exactly where Jimbo's authority to bind the Foundation begins and ends. When
he says "We should do this, it shall be done" (as he does from time to
time), is it inappropriate to say "The Foundation says that..." For example,
when page creation by anons was turned off on EN, (at least acording to
Brion) it was done by order of Jimbo; are we (and the press as well) wrong
in saying "The Wikimedia Foundation ordered..."

Not being privvy to the internal discussions, it becomes very hard for us to
figure out where Jimbo stops and the Foundation starts, particularly because
we don't know if he has discussed it with the rest of the Board (consulted
with Congress?) or if he is doing it on his own authority (issuing an
Executive Order?).

Perhaps we need to force him to put disclaimers on all his statements: "I'm
Jimbo Wales, and I approved this message" vs. "I'm Jimbo Wales, and the
Foundation approved this message." Better, however, would be to realize that
as frustrating as it may be to see the two confused, it goes a lot farther
to gently correct the mistake, rather than dressing down the person who made
the mistake. After all, they are a person, too, and they have feelings, too.
We should all try harder (our hardest, every day) to set the best example we
can, whether that be to look back over what we're saying and make sure we
have our terms straight, or biting our tongue when our toes have been
stepped on.

Now, (as I love to say) "Everybody back to work!"

Essjay


On 1/25/06, Sam Korn <smoddy at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 1/25/06, Anthere <anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > I am *sure* it was an honest mistake.
> > This is nevertheless not the first time, not even the first time *this*
> > week. And this is disheartening.
>
> I think most of these "honest mistakes" are due to the fact that there
> are very few statements by the Board as a whole.  Thus statements by
> individual Board members are understood as being on behalf of the
> Board as a whole.
>
> Though I recognise the difficulty presented, I do think it would
> reduce these confusions if a definitive statement "by the Board" could
> be presented more often.
>
> --
> Sam
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