[WikiEN-l] Former Wikimedia employee was a felon.

[Nathan Awrich]

A single felony conviction is different from multiple felony/other
criminal convictions. It also depends on what the crimes are - some
crimes obviously have profound implications against the character and
judgment of an individual. Even if that isn't the case here, and it
may not be, giving a ex-convict a fresh start is different from hiring
them to operate your company.

I'd like to agree with what someone else wrote - assume good faith is
a principle of life that is included in policy at Wikipedia only
because cynicism has become such a habit, particularly in the United
States. I know I have difficulty adhering to that principle,
especially concerning public figures, but I try!

Thanks to Mike Godwin for clearing up that he and the Foundation are
prevented from commenting in detail.

Perhaps, though, you can answer some general questions?

* Does the Foundation perform criminal background checks on
prospective new hires at any level of responsibility?

* If it does not, can this be explained so that we understand your
reasoning on why it is unnecessary?

* If it does, has it always?

* Have you considered a general policy of informing the community
prior to the anticipated publication of news concerning Wikipedia,
when you have knowledge that would allow you to do so?

Perhaps these are questions that the current Board and counsel are
unable to answer as well, but they are governance issues that might
impact future elections to the Board.

Nathan

On Dec 14, 2007 9:29 AM, Steve Summit <scs at eskimo.com> wrote:
> John Lee wrote:
> > This is appalling.
>
> Or else it's no big deal at all.  Partly it depends on how you
> look at it.
>
> I don't know all the details of this case (and, frankly, I don't
> care), but my own opinion is that we demonize convicted felons
> far too much.  (I'm speaking of society in general, not the
> Wikipedia community in particular.)  We used to have a much more
> tolerant and forgiving attitude: once you've served your time,
> your debt to society is repaid, and (with perhaps a few exceptions)
> you're a free person.  But these days, a felony conviction is an
> eternal, everexpanding black spot, and in most cases that's just
> wrong: if a felony conviction means that you can't do anything
> or participate normally in society for the rest of your life, we
> might as well say that all felonies are punishable by deportation
> or execution.
>
> > Even if only the broad outline of the story is true, this will
> > be a bad PR hit for Wikimedia and Wikipedia.
>
> Well, given the aforementioned trend in society (not to mention
> the reaction on this list), yeah.  But it shouldn't have to be
> that way, and we on this list certainly shouldn't fan the flames.
>
>
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