[Foundation-l] Statement to the Associated Press

[Brian]

lol, is that Daniel Brandt?

On Sun, Mar 9, 2008 at 4:17 PM, Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:

> I encourage anyone who is tempted to believe this story to consider the
> source.
>
> jmerkey at wolfmountaingroup.com wrote:
> >
> > I am notifying the foundation I was approached on Friday by the
> Associated
> > Press regarding statements attributed to me which are in some way,
> > perceived to be related to Mr. Wales private affairs which seem to have
> > gotten a great deal of press coverage.   I have a detailed collection of
> > email exchanges with Mr. Wales and Foundation employees over some period
> > of time which seem to be of apparent interest to various parties
> involved
> > in this controversy, and I have informed all parties that I will of
> course
> > disclose such materials subject only to a lawful subpoena or other
> > instrument as required by law since they contain confidential
> discussions
> > regarding business dealings with the Foundarion.  I have, however, been
> > asked for a formal statement admitting or denying various allegations
> > which purport to claim my involvement in any of Mr. Wales business
> > activities.
> >
> > Since I am obligated to protect my own good name, I feel compelled to
> > address various allegations in order to distance myself from this
> > controversy involving Mr. Wales so the facts are not spun into something
> > they are not.  As such, I issued the following statement to the
> associated
> > press in response to their inquiries regarding my involvement with Mr.
> > Wales and his business dealings.  This statement was sent on Friday,
> March
> > 7, 2008.
> >
> >
> > --- STATEMENT TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ---
> >
> > "According to Merkey, in 2006, Wales agreed that in exchange for a
> > substantial donation and other financial support of the Wikimedia
> > Foundation projects, Wales would use his influence to make Merkey's
> > article adhere to Wikipedia's stated policies with regard to internet
> > libel "as a courtesty" and place Merkey under his "special protection"
> > as an editor.  Merkey later withdrew his financial support of the
> > Wikipedia project after reviewing evidence of diversion and
> > mismanagement of the charities funds by Wales and the Wikimedia Board of
> > Trustees and was immediately banned from the Wikipedia site by the
> > Arbitration Committee for frivilous and unsubstanciated claims after he
> > terminated the payments of $5,000.00 per year to the Wikimedia
> > Foundation."
> >
> >
> > --- END OF STATEMENT ---
> >
> > I hope this clarifies the rumors and allegations being posted on various
> > blogs.   As I am certain everyone is aware, I have continued development
> > of my Wikipedia projects and kept a safe distance from the Foundation
> > since these events, and I plan to continue to develop tools and refine
> > machine translation for Cherokee and other languages, however, I have
> > little interest in becoming embroilled in the internal affairs of the
> > Foundation or Wikipedia at present, and in fact, have no need to do so
> in
> > order to accomplish my objectives and use Wikipedia's high quality
> content
> > for my projects.
> >
> > I wish Mr. Wales and everyone the very best, and hope these issues can
> be
> > sorted out.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> >
> > Jeffrey Vernon Merkey
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
>
>
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