[Foundation-l] Foundation Discretion Regarding Personnel

[Thomas Dalton]

> > Thomas, I'm beginning to think you've gone a little nuts. You've
> > confused two different things:
> >
> > (1) a general background check on a WMF employee *before* the Register
> > story was published, and
> >
> > (2) a specific check of the Register's references *after* the story
> > was published, which can be done a lot quicker.
> >
> Thomas and I were both clearly talking about the period of time
> between the interview and the publishing of the story.

Precisely. Judging by the quotes in the article, Mike must have known
The Register was intending to publish a story about Carolyn Doran
having a criminal record. That's pretty much all the information the
Wikinews people needed to do their research in a matter of hours, so I
see no reason why the WMF couldn't have done the same. We're not
talking about a full background check, we're talking about having
enough information to break the story before The Register did and thus
keep some level of dignity and credibility.