[WikiEN-l] What's going on? - Inquiry 2

[Ray Saintonge]

Anthony wrote:
> On 9/14/07, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
>   
>> Perhaps a simple announcement saying, "On mm-dd-yyyy Carolyn Doran
>> ceased to be an employee of the Wikimedia Foundation for personal
>> reasons," would have been enough to address your claims of
>> "organizational immaturity".
>>     
> If that's what happened, then the WMF absolutely should have issued an
> announcement saying that.
>
> The fact that the WMF apparently didn't issue such an announcement
> makes it look like that's not what happened.
I'm disinclined to read anything more than necessary into the 
circumstances.  Any of us who follow WMF activities will acknowledge 
that it is only recently climbing out of a period of organizational 
chaos.  If making such announcements had fallen within Carolyn's normal 
employment duties there could very well have been confusion about who 
would make the announcement when she was the person affected.

The maxim of not attributing to malice what you can attribute to 
incompetence can have as much application to organizations as to 
individuals. I see no reason to suggest more sinister events.

The experience of this incident suggests that procedures should be 
developed regarding the announcement of hirings and departures of 
employees.  It is good at any given time to know who is or is not 
working in key managerial or public roles, and the effective dates 
thereof.  How much more can be said about the circumstances of someone's 
leaving will vary with the circumstances.  At times a cryptic comment 
may be as much as can be said.

Take this theoretical example.  If an employee is found pilfering small 
amounts from petty cash that person needs to go.  A quiet departure may 
be best for everyone.  There may not be enough evidence to support theft 
charges in criminal court, and simply participating may cost much more 
in employee wasted time than the amount that was stolen.  Considering 
that some people have already complained that public knowledge of being 
banned from editing for a short period would irreparably damage their 
reputations, how much more damaging would internet gnatterings about 
petty theft be.

Ec