[Foundation-l] Wikipedia Executive Director?

[Nathan]

2010/12/9 Delphine Ménard <notafishz at gmail.com>:
> On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 7:59 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 9 December 2010 18:54, Michael Snow <wikipedia at frontier.com> wrote:
>>> While I understand the challenges in communicating effectively with a
>>> variety of audiences, I think the point that's been raised is that for a
>>> project that is all about trying to describe things as accurately as
>>> possible, much of the community feels that in order to maintain a basic
>>> level of accuracy, it's worth it to forgo whatever additional money we
>>> might raise by giving it up. To phrase it differently, this is not a
>>> messaging decision that should be left to the outcome of AB testing.
>>> That's an argument to which I'm sympathetic.
>>
>> That certainly describes my position very well. Thank you.
>
> And mine. My thanks too.
>
> To even imply that Wikipedia has an executive director is not only a
> falsehood, but also somehow undermines all the efforts the Wikimedia
> community has put in over the years to differentiate Wikimedia from
> Wikipedia, and more importantly, to make sure that it was clear that
> Wikimedia organisations (chapters and Foundation alike) have no power
> over editorial content.
>
>
> Delphine
>
>
>


I agree completely with Michael Snow and Delphine. The impulse is
understandable, but it's a mistake to encourage a misunderstanding
that can undermine the confidence of the public in Wikipedia's
independence and create confusion about the structure of the WMF and
its projects.

Nathan