[Foundation-l] Jimbo's Sexual Image Deletions

[Tim Starling]

On 10/05/10 15:25, Elias Gabriel Amaral da Silva wrote:
> BTW, I also have a broader question. Who entrusted power to the Board
> of Trustees? 

Jimmy Wales determined the structure of the Wikimedia Foundation when
he created it. He and Bomis donated the relevant assets, such as the
domain names, to the Foundation at the time it was formed.

We should remember, when we criticise his use of whatever remnant of
power that he has left, that he could have easily structured Wikimedia
as a for-profit entity, with him retaining majority control. We have
Jimmy to thank for Wikimedia's non-profit status, its open-source
software stack and its free content license.

> They are serving the interests of who? And who can revoke
> the trust upon a specific trustee, or the entire board, in the event
> it was misused?

As a non-membership non-profit corporation, federal law dictates that
it must have a Board and that the Board has final responsibility.

The Articles of Incorporation could have specified means for oversight
of the Board, say by the community, but this was not done. They simply
say that the Board will make its own rules for how its members are
replaced.

The law gives us some protection, in that it prevents Board members
from running the Foundation for their own personal gain (aside from
reasonable salaries and expenses). However, it's still very important
that we pick Board members carefully when we have community elections,
and that we encourage the existing Board to make good choices for
appointments.

-- Tim Starling