[Foundation-l] Statement to the Associated Press

[Mark Williamson]

Good point.

Jeff Merkey banned me from the Navajo Wikipedia because I had put my
e-mail address up there including anybody who was interested but
didn't feel comfortable to edit to contact me. He claimed it was spam.

Mark

On 09/03/2008, 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
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  > _______________________________________________
>  > foundation-l mailing list
>  > foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>  > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>  >
>
>
>  _______________________________________________
>  foundation-l mailing list
>  foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>  Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>


-- 
Refije dirije lanmè yo paske nou posede pwòp bato.