[WikiEN-l] Jimmy Wales in the news

[Erik Moeller]

On 3/4/08, Screamer <scream at datascreamer.com> wrote:
> If there is, it will, and I did my searching.  I did not find anything
>  problematic.  I honestly don't think anything will turn up, Jimmy is
>  pretty straight forward.

That's right. Jimmy routinely asks people on OTRS to look into
articles that are one-sided when people ask him to. He had a conflict
of interest here, which, for obvious reasons, he didn't want to
disclose - so he suggested a smaller conflict of interest in his
e-mail to OTRS as a reason for recusing himself from editing it. It
would have been better to stay away from the matter entirely,
obviously, but I don't see it as a big deal. I' m more worried that
the community will now massively push it in the other direction as a
reaction against perceived bias.

There are two real stories here, IMHO:

* a destructive, trashy kind of pseudo-journalism that invades
people's personal lives under the pretense of a real story;
* the destructiveness and maliciousness on the fringes of our own community.

Jimmy not only created an extraordinary project -- he decided to make
it based on the principles of the open source / free software
movement, and turned it over to a non-profit organization. This was,
by no means, the obvious thing to do: Had events played out a little
differently today, Wikipedia would be a dot-com with ads, probably a
subsidiary of Google, Microsoft or Yahoo.

As community leader, Jimmy has developed and emphasized the values
that we cherish: the assumption of good faith, the importance of
neutrality in open collaboration, and the belief in a shared purpose.
When he talks about bringing education to those who cannot afford it,
he's not just trying to impress. Anyone who spends 5 minutes with him
will understand that this is his personal life goal.

Moreover, Jimmy stepped back graciously as Chair of the Foundation
when he no longer could dedicate as much time as needed to the role.
He's helped us connect with philanthropists here in the Bay Area --
donations like the recent 500,000 dollars from the last fundraiser
were only possible because of his outreach efforts. His international
network of contacts has helped us to build our Advisory Board, really
smart people who have helped us on many occasions. He's been humble
and helpful, and has always acted in the best interests of the
organization.

When people try to create a malicious caricature of the man, then
please remind yourself that actions speak louder than words. And also
ask what the self-interest is of those who make the attacks.
-- 
Erik Möller
Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation

Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate