[Foundation-l] Statement to the Associated Press

[Ray Saintonge]

Andrew Whitworth wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 3:33 AM, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
>   
>> Alex wrote:
>>  > And I assume you sent something to this regard (hopefully more
>>  > substantial) to the AP as well?
>>  >
>>  That wouldn't be a wise idea.  You don't maintain the high ground by
>>  getting into the gutter and flinging the same kind of mud, especially
>>  not if AP doesn't do anything with the material they have recived from
>>  Merkey. I'm sure they get complaints of this sort just as much as OTRS
>>  gets them from and about other people.
>>     
> What also wouldn't be a good idea is the same kind of secrecy and
> silence that people have been complaining about for months. If you act
> like every other company in the world, you're going to run into the
> same kinds of problems. There is always forgiveness to be had if
> people are honest about their mistakes. On the other hand, if things
> were truly "transparent" as people seem to claim, then finding the
> necessary proof to debunk these accusations should be a simple matter
> of searching through old records. Make all the truth known and keep
> all your information in the public eye, and you don't need to defend
> against anything, sling any mud, or suffer any unsubstantiated
> allegations.
It's rarely that simple. We are often dealing with issues of privacy.  
If Jimbo shows up at Wikimania with a bimbo on each arm it's not by 
business if he happens to be cheating on his wife.  I should be civil 
and cordial with the bimbos if the circumstances require, but it's not 
up to me to start moralyzing about the situation with him or them.  It's 
not up to me, when I get home, to write about the incident so that 
everybody knows about it.  While there, when a large group goes out to a 
night spot it's not up to me, when somebody decides to pick up the tab 
to ask whether that person is or is not making a business expense 
claim.  We don't publicize the salaries of the staff.  When a Marsden or 
a Merkey introduces himself through an OTRS complaint there is often a 
pastiche of truth, illusions and confidentialities; we cannot assume 
that a person determined to remove embarassing information will limit 
himself to untrue statements or ethical means.

Wading through old records doesn't always help, even if they are all 
available.  Old claims are often murky and coloured with certain points 
of view that are more implicit than explicit.  The proof may indeed be 
there, but the parties involved will interpret it quite differently.  
When someone comes to me with a stck of restaurant receipts claiming 
that he was entertaining clients, and now wants to claim them for tax 
deductions I am don't want to spend a lot of time going through them 
one-by-one to verify the validity of the claims.

Ec