[Foundation-l] Wikia leasing office space to WMF

[Delirium]

Erik Moeller wrote:
> I know that Wikia/WMF related stuff is pretty exciting, but really, we
> have work to do. We're not going to not make a decision that is right
> just because it creates fodder for trolling. (And I hope that if this
> turns into a troll-fest, the list moderators will take appropriate
> action.)

Mailing-list controversy is hardly the main PR problem here; the 
continuing confusion this creates in the wider world about the extent to 
which Wikia and the Wikimedia Foundation are entangled is a bigger one. 
It certainly *looks* suspicious. I know if something like this happened 
at some other organization I wasn't involved in---say, the Sierra Club 
was leasing space from a for-profit environmental lobbying firm founded 
by a Sierra Club board member---I would certainly raise my eyebrows, and 
I'd be skeptical when they assured me that there really weren't any 
shenanigans going on.

There's a reason organizations that depend on public goodwill try to 
avoid even the appearance of impropriety in this sort of respect, and 
auditors usually suggest avoiding those sorts of entanglements.

-Mark