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

[SlimVirgin]

On 3/6/08, Ben McIlwain <cydeweys at gmail.com> wrote:
>  Chad wrote:
>  > On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 7:40 PM, Ben McIlwain <cydeweys at gmail.com> wrote:
>  >> If WMF people are saying one thing to the public but then another thing
>  >> amongst themselves, it's inevitable that the discrepancy will get out
>  >> and only serve to cause even more problems.
>  >
>  > That was my point.
>
>  I'm unclear of what your poitn is.  Given that Wikipedia lacks
>  confidentiality and any discrepancies will quickly become known, are you
>  saying WMF Board members should never disagree even internally, or that
>  they should be transparent with their agreements to the general public?
>   The latter, which is the only alternative that I think makes sense,
>  directly contradicts your first quote from some article that states "a
>  Board should appear cohesive and act as one voice, even when it isn't
>  behind-the-scenes."

It's quite common for organizations to adopt a policy of collective
responsibility, meaning that even if people have disagreed in private,
once a collective decision is reached, they all throw their weight
behind it in public. It's particularly important to do this if you're
trying to raise money, because people won't donate to a group that is
fighting itself. That's why these leaks are so damaging. Board members
have to be allowed to disagree with each other in private in order to
reach the best decisions.

Sarah