[Foundation-l] Missing audio of WMF Board candidates

[Gregory Kohs]

News flash!  I received a reply from Adam Cuerden, the audio editor charged
with the release of the WikiVoices # 45 session:

"I've asked around, and several people involved have made it clear that
it should only be released by official means, not privately. I'm
afraid that's the end of this discussion, as I cannot go against the
wishes of the other people involved in it to please you.

I'm afraid that ends discussion on this matter, as far as I'm
concerned. I see no moral way to go about what you're asking me to do."

I hope that some Foundation staff or board member will comment on what has
happened here.  Wikimedia Foundation server resources were used to
coordinate a discussion of issues by no less than eight candidates for the
Board of Trustees.  All of the invited candidates and at least one of the
co-hosts (Durova) spent two hours of their time in good faith to produce
this lively Q&A session.  Now, it is being withheld from our community and
the public at large, with no explanation.  People laughed when I suggested
that something fishy was going on when the audio wasn't posted within the
first week of taping.  People also chuckled when I noted that the other
co-host (Promethean) happened to have erased my Board candidacy statement
only a number of days prior to the WikiVoices taping.

What do people THINK of this?

I expect several replies that will poo-pooh and explain away this cover-up
with a few "they obviously did their best, but unfortunately they just
didn't get the job done" excuses.  I will ignore those, because they ignore
reality.  But I look forward to the comments of any who are still able to
think for themselves and might have some actual explanations for what is
going on here.  I suspect that at least one WMF staff or board member is
blocking the release of this audio, and the cover-up mandate is in place.
Call me a conspiracy theorist all you want.  I've shown evidence that the
suppression of the tape is a deliberate decision on the part of a group of
unnamed individuals.  What's your evidence otherwise?

Greg

On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 6:30 PM, Gregory Kohs <thekohser at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have asked the User who is supposedly in possession of the raw audio file
> to explain what's happening, and he has bluntly replied that he is no longer
> interested in spending the "two days" that it would take to edit the
> two-hour audio feed.
>
> I then requested that he simply deliver the unedited electronic audio file
> to me, and I will be happy to post it.  That was 20 hours ago.  Still no
> reply.
>
> The previous public replies to my initial post here (that I am "ill
> informed that you are not aware how things are organised", or that my
> "complains (sic) about it are unreasonable and mistargeted", or that it's
> hard to "see what you expect the Foundation or the
> Election Committee to do about" it) are way off the mark.  My point really
> was that if the Wikimedia Foundation truly cared about an open, transparent,
> and responsibly-handled election, the Foundation STAFF (the folks paid money
> to run the organization effectively) would have been hosting this sort of
> dialogue/debate themselves, rather than breathing a sigh of relief that the
> junior-grade volunteers would take yet another responsibility off of their
> plate.  Clearly, there are more important things on their agenda, such
> as the monthly rent checks to Wikia, Inc. that need to be written!  The WMF
> staff can't be bothered with things like Board-level election
> communications.
>
> Greg
>
>