[Foundation-l] thoughts on leakages

[Gerard Meijssen]

Hoi,
I agree that it is no longer necessary or needed to learn why Danny left.

Comparisons are made between Erik taking his job and Danny running for the
board. Anthere indicates that people would have been upset if Danny would
have been denied a seat. My point is that the board has to weigh the
potential negative result of an unwanted board member and the potential
negative result of some people who will be upset when an unwanted person is
voted to be on the board. It is for the board to decide this.

I do agree that things have shifted since the elections. New issues have
arisen. Danny is doing good at Veropedia. Indeed there is enough that needs
attention. As half a year has passed, I would no longer object to Danny
standing.. It is indeed in many ways a different situation.

Thanks,
      GerardM

On Jan 11, 2008 5:54 PM, Michael Snow <wikipedia at att.net> wrote:

> Gerard Meijssen wrote:
> > Hoi,
> > There is an important difference between a person who walks away in a
> huff
> > as an employee and then decides to stand for board election and a person
> > that changes one role for another. The difference is that in the one
> > situation I do not expect positive cooperation and in the other I do not
> see
> > such such a problem. From my perspective Danny was not forthcoming in
> > explaining why he left his job. I have asked him repeatedly for this
> from
> > the moment when he announced that he would run for a seat on the board
> of
> > trustees.
> >
> At this point, I think the time for that may have passed, so that it is
> no longer appropriate to demand such an explanation. Virtually everyone
> on the staff, at least those in the office, has left the organization or
> will very soon because of the relocation to San Francisco. As Mike
> Godwin has mentioned in the context of Carolyn's situation, it's
> generally best to avoid criticism focusing on former employees, whether
> an agreement to that effect exists or not.
>
> I think it's best to look back and recognize that the Wikimedia
> Foundation had some serious failings during this period, primarily due
> to being severely understaffed and the development of a problematic
> organizational culture. With hiring Sue as Executive Director, the many
> other new people, and the move to San Francisco, I look at it as a clean
> break with an opportunity to deal with both the staffing and cultural
> issues. I would leave it at that, which is not a reflection on any
> specific individual in the past - the people involved have suffered from
> these problems more than they've caused them. Had they been properly
> supported and surrounded with qualified people who were needed for other
> roles, things might have been very different. That's unfortunate, but
> now we need to get on with cleaning up any remaining mess and moving
> forward.
>
> --Michael Snow
>
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