Wikipedia check book balanced by convicted felon - Register Options

Wikipedia check book balanced by convicted felon
Register, UK -19 minutes ago
By Cade Metz in San Francisco → More by this author Exclusive For more than six months, beginning in January of this year, Wikipedia's million-dollar check ...


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Zscout370 has been desysoped by ArbCom for restoring the Carolyn Doran article.

Zscout370 has been desysoped by ArbCom for restoring the Carolyn Doran article.

Sounds to me like a "last hurrah" swipe back at Jimbo for that ban.

Zscout370 has been desysoped by ArbCom for restoring the Carolyn Doran article.

Sounds to me like a "last hurrah" swipe back at Jimbo for that ban.

Okay, so the stewards are incompetent. Desysop has since been reversed, apparently he "misunderstood the situation".

Okay, so the stewards are incompetent. Desysop has since been reversed, apparently he "misunderstood the situation".

Incompetent, or just misinformed into believing that ArbCom had agreed something when it hadn't?

Okay, so the stewards are incompetent. Desysop has since been reversed, apparently he "misunderstood the situation".

Incompetent, or just misinformed into believing that ArbCom had agreed something when it hadn't?

It's not clear, actually. It seemed a lot more obvious before all the "well maybe he should be desysopped" hints started being dropped.

This post has been edited by Amarkov:

I just want to say that what I'm gathering from threads over on the Foundation-l list, I have come to the personal conclusion that:

1) Probably all the Board knew about Carolyn Bothwell Doran's legal problems (just prior to her departure from the WMF office) was her DUI charge. I am imagining that she came to the Board, said she would be tied up with DUI charge, it wouldn't look good for the Foundation, and that she would like to submit her resignation and leave peacefully. She probably also asked that the Foundation not disclose this in public, in her hopes to not have her other skeletons discovered by the general public.

2) The boyfriend-shooting, check bouncing, credit card fraud, relationship with the woman who poisoned her lover, husband who drowned, etc. were all probably not known by the entire Board of Trustees until after the Register article broke. I am convinced that some staffer or staffers, and perhaps one (maybe two?) Board members may have known at least something about these other crimes and tragedies, but out of some allegiance to Carolyn, did not publicize these issues.

3) One of these insiders had to have tipped off Cade Metz and helped him build his story.

4) In the two hours between Mike Godwin's call with Cade Metz and the publication of the story, nobody thought it was important to start investigating Carolyn's background -- probably because what they THOUGHT Metz was going to publish merely involved the DUI charge.

The Foundation's response to the Carolyn Fiasco is beginning to appear somewhat more tolerable to me; although I still cannot "forgive" the Foundation in this case. Why? Because I have been trying to point out equally shocking financial indiscretions that probably permeate the Wikipedia/Wikia marriage; yet, I am largely ignored by those with the power to actually put a stop to those problems. They have a historical pattern of ignoring or denying major problems when they are thrust in their faces, so I can't have much pity for them that they did only a semi-poor job of handling this particular Fiasco.

I'm suspect if we wait long enough, Jimbo will be quoted in the New York Times, saying, "I regard it as a staffing boo-boo, and I don't really have a problem with it." And all the drones will get back to work on Wikipedia, Wikia, and Wikia Search, so that Jimbo's luxurious retirement can be further guaranteed.

Greg

I just want to say that what I'm gathering from threads over on the Foundation-l list, I have come to the personal conclusion that:

1) Probably all the Board knew about Carolyn Bothwell Doran's legal problems (just prior to her departure from the WMF office) was her DUI charge. I am imagining that she came to the Board, said she would be tied up with DUI charge, it wouldn't look good for the Foundation, and that she would like to submit her resignation and leave peacefully. She probably also asked that the Foundation not disclose this in public, in her hopes to not have her other skeletons discovered by the general public.

2) The boyfriend-shooting, check bouncing, credit card fraud, relationship with the woman who poisoned her lover, husband who drowned, etc. were all probably not known by the entire Board of Trustees until after the Register article broke. I am convinced that some staffer or staffers, and perhaps one (maybe two?) Board members may have known at least something about these other crimes and tragedies, but out of some allegiance to Carolyn, did not publicize these issues.

3) One of these insiders had to have tipped off Cade Metz and helped him build his story.

4) In the two hours between Mike Godwin's call with Cade Metz and the publication of the story, nobody thought it was important to start investigating Carolyn's background -- probably because what they THOUGHT Metz was going to publish merely involved the DUI charge.

The Foundation's response to the Carolyn Fiasco is beginning to appear somewhat more tolerable to me; although I still cannot "forgive" the Foundation in this case. Why? Because I have been trying to point out equally shocking financial indiscretions that probably permeate the Wikipedia/Wikia marriage; yet, I am largely ignored by those with the power to actually put a stop to those problems. They have a historical pattern of ignoring or denying major problems when they are thrust in their faces, so I can't have much pity for them that they did only a semi-poor job of handling this particular Fiasco.

I'm suspect if we wait long enough, Jimbo will be quoted in the New York Times, saying, "I regard it as a staffing boo-boo, and I don't really have a problem with it." And all the drones will get back to work on Wikipedia, Wikia, and Wikia Search, so that Jimbo's luxurious retirement can be further guaranteed.

Greg

What needs to be taken away from this story is that the WMF, in the midst of a fund raising drive, has proven itself institutionally incapable of exercising the due diligence need to determine the most basic publicly available facts about the person who was for a significant period of time the go-to-person in relation to the corporation's most fundamental financial controls. Getting involved in the interpersonal dramas, petty betrayals, and exculpatory whinings of various actors will only cloud this lesson. Once again the issue is at bottom not wiki drama but social responsibility.

What needs to be taken away from this story is that the WMF, in the midst of a fund raising drive, has proven itself institutionally incapable of exercising the due diligence need to determine the most basic publicly available facts about the person who was for a significant period of time the go-to-person in relation to the corporation's most fundamental financial controls. Getting involved in the interpersonal dramas, petty betrayals, and exculpatory whinings of various actors will only cloud this lesson. Once again the issue is at bottom not wiki drama but social responsibility.

Put simply, they are fund-raising yet they cannot show that they have spent the money they have properly. The business itself is small and simple, even if its reach is wide.

I mean, how many invoices are there to check? I would have thought this was classic brown paper bag accounting - tip out the receipts on the table, get the calculator and spreadsheet going and a couple of hours later any decent accountant has re-done the books. If they cannot reconstruct the accounts, then it means something is missing, or something has been done wrong, like accidentally mixing up charity and Jimbo's private money.

This post has been edited by dogbiscuit:

Somebody should mail a copy of Helter Skelter to Jussi-Ville Heiskanen -- just don't do it while you're on the Wikimedia clock!

Here's why I say the outlandish thing above:

...I think the community has zero interest in what Carolyn Doran did in her private life, except to the point where it may have impacted her abilities to fulfil (sic) the matters she was payed (sic) for. I know for a fact I don't care if she was a serial murderer, as long as the wikimedia projects were not adversely affected, and she did it on her own time.

And there you have it.

(edited by gomi for content)

(edited again by thekohser for more ribald implications)

This post has been edited by thekohser:

Somebody should mail a copy of Helter Skelter to Jussi-Ville Heiskanen -- just don't do it while you're on the Wikimedia clock!

Here's why I say the outlandish thing above:

...I think the community has zero interest in what Carolyn Doran did in her private life, except to the point where it may have impacted her abilities to fulfil (sic) the matters she was payed (sic) for. I know for a fact I don't care if she was a serial murderer, as long as the wikimedia projects were not adversely affected, and she did it on her own time.

And there you have it.

Good to know some people are so brainwashed they have lost much of their humanity. I wonder what he would say if she had murdered a member of the foundation on "her own time." Absolutely disgusting.