[Foundation-l] Greg Kohs and Peter Damian

[Fred Bauder]

On reflection, I guess I (I, not the Foundation), envision our public
mailing lists as being for all who are involved and interested, casually
or intensely, as well as for observers are simply monitoring our on-going
discussions, and who may, from time to time, wish to comment or initiate
topics.

The difficulty arises with trollish and disruptive behavior and bad faith
grading into malice. With respect to malice, keep in mind that a person
engaged in a campaign intending to harm may have and use substantive
issues for that purpose.

Bottom line, it's a judgment call, and not easily done, or defended.

Fred


> On Sun, Oct 17, 2010 at 11:50 PM, Fred Bauder <fredbaud at fairpoint.net>
> wrote:
>> This list is for people who support the project, not those who are
>> actively opposing it or criticizing in public forums in exaggerated
>> ways.
>> Nothing constructive or helpful is likely to be added by thekohster
>
> Wow, I don't know.  On the one hand, you're right, the list should be
> for people who support the project (*).  On the other hand, this ban
> appears to possibly be in retaliation for Greg's whistleblowing with
> regard to the Q2 Consulting contract, and it seems to me that that
> action *was* constructive, in that it points out the lack of an
> important policy, even if it ultimately turns out that no actual
> wrongdoing took place.
>
> Maybe it was the right decision (**), but even so, the timing was
> horrible (***).
>
> (*) Including those who support the project but believe that major
> changes ought to be made.
>
> (**) I'm not sure if Greg falls into "those who support the project
> but believe that major changes ought to be made" or not.
>
> (***) See
> http://www.examiner.com/wiki-edits-in-national/wikimedia-foundation-director-admits-to-sweetheart-contracts
> , which was published after the ban was announced, but which describes
> an IRC conversation which took place before the ban was announced.
>