[Foundation-l] [WikiEN-l] Jimmy Wales in the news

[Chad]

> *"I find (it) tiring to see how you are constantly trying to rewrite the
> past," she wrote to Wales in the message, which was obtained by the AP.
> "Get a grip!"*

I was recently reading an article about non-profits that discussed
internal disagreements. It said (more or less), that a Board should
appear cohesive and act as one voice, even when it isn't behind-the-
scenes. This leak ruins any sense of cohesiveness.

-Chad

On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 7:26 AM, Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 5:20 AM, Florence Devouard <Anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>  > Nathan wrote:
>  >  > <quote>
>  >  >
>  >  > *In an interview with The Associated Press, Florence Devouard, who chairs
>  >  > the Wikimedia Foundation, defended Wales and said he had simply been "slow
>  >  > in submitting receipts." She pointed out that the foundation rejected the
>  >  > steakhouse expense.*
>  >  >
>  >  > *A short time later, in an e-mail exchange with her fellow board members,
>  >  > Devouard reported that she had persuaded the AP that "the money story was a
>  >  > no story." Yet she proceeded to indicate the opposite, upbraiding Wales for
>  >  > having asked the foundation to pay the steakhouse tab.*
>  >  >
>  >  > *"I find (it) tiring to see how you are constantly trying to rewrite the
>  >  > past," she wrote to Wales in the message, which was obtained by the AP. "Get
>  >  > a grip!"*
>  >  >
>  >  > </quote>
>  >  > True?
>  >  >
>  >  > Nathan
>  >
>  >  Yeah. The first quote comes from a direct discussion I had with the
>  >  journalist. The two other quotes were taken from two different emails
>  >  sent to the comcom list.
>  >
>  >  The comcom list is supposingly an internal list to deal with
>  >  communication issues. A *private* and *confidential* list.
>  >  Unfortunately, some members of that list (and I have no idea who) are
>  >  also leaking information. It also happened on internal-l some time ago
>  >  (again, no idea who is the author of the leak).
>  >
>  >  We are currently in an odd situation. I wish from all my heart that we
>  >  be transparent as much as possible. But for all the transparency in the
>  >  world, there are stuff that is just internal discussion, cases where we
>  >  need to discuss openly without the fear that it will make the headlines
>  >  the next day. Unfortunately, there is now no way we can be certain that
>  >  a discussion we have anywhere, be it irc, email or phone, will not be
>  >  leaked.
>  >
>  >  These are very sad times.
>  >
>
>  I'm sorry Florence, but if this issue had been brought into the open
>  *nearly two years ago* when *I* first started hearing the rumors (so a
>  lot of people must have already known about it by then), this would
>  have been taken care of then and wouldn't have even made any headlines
>  (maybe Slashdot, but not the Associated Press, anyway).  Instead, the
>  board and staff chose to try to cover things up, and now you've all
>  dug yourself a very deep hole.
>
>  You're right about one thing: "there is now no way we can be certain
>  that a discussion we have anywhere, be it irc, email or phone, will
>  not be leaked".  Of course, that's something that has always been
>  true.  That's why you don't lie to reporters and to the public.  And
>  that's why you admit problems before they snowball out of hand.
>
>  I'm posting this to foundation-l, both because it's more on topic here
>  and because I'm on moderation on wikien-l.  I was put on moderation
>  there by David Gerard for urging you, on that list, to come out with
>  this story before Danny.  Had you listened to me then you could have
>  at least gotten your spin out ahead of time.  I even suggested the
>  spin: "they did, but then they got caught and now they've stopped" --
>  & provide detailed evidence that this is the case.
>
>  Believe it or not, my suggestion was made because I felt that it would
>  be in all of our interests if you followed it.  And I second the
>  suggestion today.  This story still hasn't completely broken - I
>  suggest you get it out into the open sooner rather than later.
>
>  Anthony
>
>  _______________________________________________
>  foundation-l mailing list
>  foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>  Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>