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 Wikia leasing office space to WMF, Greg Kohs wants answers |
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| thekohser |
 Tue 25th May 2010, 5:16pm
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Just when you thought the whole Wikia, Inc. renting office space to the Wikimedia Foundation thing was dead, you find a fresh new angle like this! QUOTE Conflict of interest in Wikia / WMF office rentalWing [Wikimedia Foundation board member and IBM employee, Ting Chen], I would like to know, here you said (translated to English, with my apologies) that "I remember very well that meeting in January, when the office situation came up for discussion, someone (I think Jan-Bart, but I am not sure), asked Jimmy Wales if he was somehow involved in the rental. Jimmy Wales said no, he wasn't involved on either side, as far as he knew it would be treated purely between the staffs." According to the Wikimedia Foundation conflict of interest policy, Jimmy should have physically excused himself from any discussions regarding the Covered Transaction except to answer questions, including board discussions and decisions on the subject. Since you very well remember the board meeting in question, do you recall Wales ever excusing himself from the discussion about renting office space from Wikia, Inc., the company he co-founded and chairs? It would appear to me that members of the board would have had difficulty having a frank discussion about the possible image blunder that such a deal might present, if Jimmy remained in the room the entire time. -- Thekohser 19:02, 25. Mai 2010 (CEST) |
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| carbuncle |
Tue 25th May 2010, 10:01pm
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QUOTE(thekohser @ Tue 25th May 2010, 7:40pm) 
Predictions on what Wing's reply will be?
(1) No reply at all.
(2) Reply: In fact, Jimmy Wales did leave the room so that the board could freely discuss.
(3) Reply: Jimmy did not leave the room, but don't worry, we all spoke very freely despite his presence, so it is nothing at all to be concerned about.
(4) Reply: Jimmy did not leave the room, and you make a good point, as he really should have.
(5) Asking for you to be banned on de.wiki. |
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| Jon Awbrey |
Wed 26th May 2010, 1:48pm
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τὰ δέ μοι παθήματα μαθήματα γέγονε
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QUOTE(thekohser @ Wed 26th May 2010, 9:25am) Ting "Wing" Chen responds. I sense that the hole is getting deeper. Looks like Option (3) was the winner, but I'm confident that Option (5) may be fast approaching. Anybody else getting anything out of this, or am I just talking to myself? Lemme see if I can get this strait — You suspect that the Wiki-Petroleum Colon Management Service (WP:MS) is deeply embedded in beds-of-a-feather with the Wikimonetized Ick Agency (WIKIA) and you want us to get all excited about it? Well, why don't we just do what we always just do — wait until the Wiki-Pelicans are drowning in Wiki-Pøøtrescence and then blame whatever Adminerstratum happens to inherit the mess that the previous 30 years of de-regulatory snake-oil-bliviscence caused? That'll FixIt …Jon  |
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| thekohser |
Tue 19th October 2010, 3:40pm
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Just to wrap this up from a bottom-line perspective, the reputable company KPMG has accounted for this office space scam as follows: QUOTE Beginning in January 2009 (and ending in October 2009), the Foundation rented between 400 and 600 square feet of office space from Wikia, Inc., a for-profit company founded by the same founder as Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., in order to accommodate staff hired for the usability initiative. Rent paid to Wikia for the year June 30, 2009 totaled $13,470. After October, 2009, the office rental with Wikia came to an end. While Wikia and the Foundation share the same founder, after October 2009, there is no financial relationship between the two organizations.  So, the rental worked out to be about $4.49 per square foot per month, in a city where (in the Financial District) you can get 500 square feet of office space in a high-rise for $2.20 per square foot monthly, or for $3.00 per square foot, only three blocks from the former WMF headquarters at 39 Stillman Street. Put in other terms, the Foundation overpaid for this rental across 10 months the same amount of money that comes in from 248 typical donors to the Foundation. Way to go, Sue! Way to go, Jimbo! Way to go, Gil! This post has been edited by thekohser: Tue 19th October 2010, 3:42pm |
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| Shalom |
Tue 19th October 2010, 10:49pm
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QUOTE(thekohser @ Tue 19th October 2010, 11:40am) Just to wrap this up from a bottom-line perspective, the reputable company KPMG has accounted for this office space scam as follows: QUOTE Beginning in January 2009 (and ending in October 2009), the Foundation rented between 400 and 600 square feet of office space from Wikia, Inc., a for-profit company founded by the same founder as Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., in order to accommodate staff hired for the usability initiative. Rent paid to Wikia for the year June 30, 2009 totaled $13,470. After October, 2009, the office rental with Wikia came to an end. While Wikia and the Foundation share the same founder, after October 2009, there is no financial relationship between the two organizations. So, the rental worked out to be about $4.49 per square foot per month, in a city where (in the Financial District) you can get 500 square feet of office space in a high-rise for $2.20 per square foot monthly, or for $3.00 per square foot, only three blocks from the former WMF headquarters at 39 Stillman Street. Put in other terms, the Foundation overpaid for this rental across 10 months the same amount of money that comes in from 248 typical donors to the Foundation. Way to go, Sue! Way to go, Jimbo! Way to go, Gil! That's awesome. That's like Hemsky! (I often say something is "like Hemsky" if it's funny and embarrassing.) "Hemsky! He scores!!!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI0CFWPxdssBut it's still wacky sniping unless you intend to do something more than math. |
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