[X] My Assistant

[Kato]

Inspired by a combination of this template :



hastily added to the Wikia article to clarify a confusion recently...

...and Greg's long held contradictory assertion that there is a "tight-knit connection between Wikimedia and Wikia", which implies by deduction that there is a private company attempting to make a fortune on the back of your "voluntary" work...

...I want to see if we can come up with 50 similarities or connections between the "voluntary" Wikimedia (Wikipedia / Commons etc) and the "for profit" Wikia Inc.. I'll set the ball rolling with a couple of easy ones, and future proposals in the thread can be added to this top post.*

50 Ways that Wikipedia/Wikimedia Foundation and Wikia, Inc. are not 'entirely separate entities'.

1. Jimbo Wales was a co-founder of Wikipedia and a co-founder of Wikia Inc.
2. Jimbo Wales promotes Wikia Inc. at Wikimania, a Wikimedia Meet-Up funded by donors to the Wikimedia Foundation.
3. In 2009, Wikia agrees to sublease two of their conference rooms to the Wikimedia Foundation. WMF's Daniel Phelps "collected a dozen bids for the space in SOMA, and Wikia matched the best offer". The WMF write "Wikia has been doing intensive work on the usability front and making the code available to public, so I look forward to collaborating with the Wikia technical and product teams to exchange ideas and learn from their work"
4. It was revealed that Wikia, Inc. was hosting a secret mailing list comprised exclusively of hand-picked Wikipedia administrators and certain representatives of the Foundation, including Wikipedia co-founder himself, Jimmy Wales.
5. Michael Davis a past business partner of Jimmy Wales, served on the Wikimedia Foundation Board and as WMF Treasurer, also becoming Treasurer and Secretary of Wikia Inc. in 2006.
6. Angela Beesely was on the board of trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation when she co-founded Wikia Inc. in 2004. As well as being vice president of Wikia Inc. she remains a member of the Communications Committee of the Wikimedia Foundation. She also chairs the Foundation's Advisory Board.
7. Wikia, Inc. hired Ryan Jordan (Essjay) in January 2007. Jimmy Wales then without debate installed him onto the Wikipedia's most visible chamber of dispute resolution, the Arbitration committee in February 2007. (Wales later blamed this misadventure on the "unanimous" support of the ArbCom for the appointment.)
8. External links to Wikia (in the "interwiki" format) were exempt from "nofollow" decree issued by Jimmy Wales, which Wales later denied he issued, but Brion Vibber made clear was Wales' decree.
9. There are over 11,000 external links from English Wikipedia pages to Wikia.com pages. As recently as 16 months ago, this number was 3,400, so the problem is growing at a faster rate than actual Wikipedia pages.
10. There are over 150,000 external links from English Wikipedia pages to Amazon.com and IMDB.com (owned by Amazon) pages. Amazon is the leading financial investor in Wikia, Inc.
11. WMF's Form 990 from 2005 (Line 80) clearly states that the WMF is "related... through common membership, governing bodies, trustees, officers, etc., to any other exempt or non-exempt organization", and typed in bright black letters, that non-exempt organization is listed as Wikia, Inc. ("This is why it is so hilarious that Alison Wheeler says this "is a matter of *law*" -- indeed, it is. The only form that the WMF is legally obligated to file is Form 990, and it says that there *is* a related commonality between the WMF and Wikia Inc. Alison obviously has no clue what she's talking about!" TheKohsher)
12. Angela Beesley, vice president of Wikia Inc. regularly edits the Wikipedia article about Wikia, Inc. as User:Angela.
13. Jimmy Wales offered that Wikia Inc. could be a "testing ground" for the highlighted edits that was proposed at last Wikimania.
14. Angela Beesley, vice president of Wikia Inc. has been caught trying to "save" articles and authors who've been deleted/rejected by Wikipedia, so that they can be reconstituted on Wikia.com.
15. Wikipedia operates a practice of "transwiking" of content created by volunteers from Wikipedia to Wikia Inc. "for-profit" sites. In other words, removing articles from Wikipedia and placing them on Wikia's Wikis. A link is then provided on Wikipedia to the new for-profit Wiki.
16. In 2005 Jimbo Wales stated that he hoped to use the money raised by Wikia "to support his nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation Inc., which funds Wikipedia and other smaller projects."
17. Tim Starling worked for Wikia Inc. before being employed by the Wikimedia Foundation.
18. Brad Patrick worked for Wikia Inc.before being employed by the Wikimedia Foundation.
19. Kat Walsh was employed by Wikia Inc. before joining Wikimedia's Board of Trustees.
20. Wikia Inc.'s "About Us" page states that
    "Wikia's staff members have over 60 years Wikipedia experience among them."
21. Jimmy Wales has threatened legal action against another wiki-related site, by e-mailing its owner "I do not remember you executing a trademark agreement with the Wikimedia Foundation to allow you to use our name in commerce. I am now blocking your <Wikipedia> account." The email was sent from jwales@wikia.com, to communicate what Wales could only have thought constituted official Wikimedia Foundation legal action.
22. Google is so convinced that someone typing "Wikia" actually means "Wikipedia", searches for pairs of words containing the word "Wikia" will return results pointing to Wikipedia. Examples: "wikia reference", "wikia links", or "wikia funding", and notice the word "Wikipedia" returned in bold in many of the top results.
23. See Note E of the 2007 WMF audit - Related Party Transactions: "The Organization shares hosting and bandwidth costs with Wikia, Inc., a for-profit company founded by the same founder as Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Included in accounts receivable at June 30, 2007 is $6,000 due from Wikia, Inc. for these costs. The Organization received some donated office space from Wikia Inc. during the year ended June 30, 2006 valued at $6,000. No donation of the office space occurred in 2007. Through June 30, 2007, two members of the Organization’s board of directors also serve as employees, officers, or directors of Wikia, Inc."
    
24. A Wikipedia template that tried to show separation of the two organizations met with almost historic opposition.
25. According to Wikipedia in February 2008, "Wikia allows a broad range of requests to start a new Wikicity. With the exception of ideas which might compete with the [[Wikimedia Project]]". A point first noted on the "Wikia" article in 2005, and which has remained unchallenged in the article ever since.
    
    

* dynamic list based on future claims and queries

[Robster]

No numbers, just questions:

Doesn't Wikia host mailing lists for WMF?
Wasn't Angela Beesley a WMF leader and co-founder (for now) of Wikia?

[Castle Rock]

Didn't Michael Davis, a past business partner of Jimmy Wales, serve on the Wikimedia Foundation Board and as Treasurer and also become Treasurer and Secretary of Wikia in 2006?

[Derktar]

http://www.wikia.com/wiki/About_Wikia
Promotion & Advertising: Michael Davis

Their about us page is pretty helpful.

I'm sure Mr. Kohs can list much more though.

[Achromatic]

Didn't Michael Davis, a past business partner of Jimmy Wales, serve on the Wikimedia Foundation Board and as Treasurer and also become Treasurer and Secretary of Wikia in 2006?

Of course he did - but Alison Wheeler was careful to delete that detail before applying her "NOT TO BE TOUCHING, PEON!" template to the Wikia page.

[thekohser]

First off, the title of this thread is confusing. Should say "50 Ways that Wikipedia/Wikimedia Foundation and Wikia, Inc. are Not 'entirely separate entities'".

You should add these gems to the master list:

* External links to Wikia (in the "interwiki" format) were exempt from "nofollow" decree issued by Jimmy Wales, which Wales later denied he issued, but Brion Vibber made clear was Wales' decree.

* There are over 11,000 external links from English Wikipedia pages to Wikia.com pages. As recently as 16 months ago, this number was 3,400, so the problem is growing at a faster rate than actual Wikipedia pages.

* There are over 150,000 external links from English Wikipedia pages to Amazon.com and IMDB.com (owned by Amazon) pages. Amazon is the leading financial investor in Wikia, Inc.

* Wikia, Inc. hired Essjay in January 2007, and Jimmy Wales appointed him (without community vote) to Wikipedia ArbCom in February 2007. (Wales later blamed this misadventure on the "unanimous" support of the ArbCom for the appointment.)

* WMF's Form 990 from 2005 (Line 80) clearly states that the WMF is "related... through common membership, governing bodies, trustees, officers, etc., to any other exempt or non-exempt organization", and typed in bright black letters, that non-exempt organization is listed as Wikia, Inc. (This is why it is so hilarious that Alison Wheeler says this "is a matter of *law*" -- indeed, it is. The only form that the WMF is legally obligated to file is Form 990, and it says that there *is* a related commonality between the WMF and Wikia. Alison obviously has no clue what she's talking about!)

* Angela Beesley regularly edits the Wikipedia article about Wikia, Inc.

* Angela Beesley has been caught trying to "save" articles and authors who've been deleted/rejected by Wikipedia, so that they can be reconstituted on Wikia.com.

* Jimmy Wales offered that Wikia could be a "testing ground" for the highlighted edits thingy that was proposed at last Wikimania.

Keep the ball rolling, folks!

[Kato]

First off, the title of this thread is confusing. Should say "50 Ways that Wikipedia/Wikimedia Foundation and Wikia, Inc. are Not 'entirely separate entities'".

Oops! good spot. I always get these various bodies mixed up. Silly me.

[Moulton]

There are over 150,000 external links from English Wikipedia pages to Amazon.com and IMDB.com (owned by Amazon) pages. Amazon is the leading financial investor in Wikia, Inc.

This item supports the view that Wikipedia is, de facto, the Internet's dominant compendium of popular culture. Amazon.Com is the Internet's leading purveyor of retail units of that popular culture.

[GlassBeadGame]

There are over 150,000 external links from English Wikipedia pages to Amazon.com and IMDB.com (owned by Amazon) pages. Amazon is the leading financial investor in Wikia, Inc.

This item supports the view that Wikipedia is, de facto, the Internet's dominant compendium of popular culture. Amazon.Com is the Internet's leading purveyor of retail units of that popular culture.

Linking to a book seller in support of a references never seemed a very encyclopedic practice to me. Better to simply give the ISBN number without a link. It seems a part of Wikipedia's entrenched bias of giving disproportionate weight to material on the internet.

[anthony]

I don't think any of these are current, but...Brad Patrick, Tim Starling, River Tarnell.

[thekohser]

I think I have two more for the list.

* Wikia's "About Us" page says:

"Wikia's staff members have over 60 years Wikipedia experience among them."

...even though Jimmy Wales has threatened legal action against another wiki-related site, by e-mailing its owner:

I do not remember you executing a trademark agreement with the Wikimedia Foundation to allow you to use our name in commerce. I am now blocking your <Wikipedia> account.

* That threatening e-mail was sent from jwales@wikia.com, to communicate what Wales could only have thought constituted official Wikimedia Foundation legal action.

[Jonny Cache]

Tool for checking links between domains:

http://www.domaintools.com/

For example:

http://www.domaintools.com/enwikipedia/wikipediareview.com

Jonny

[thekohser]

Tool for checking links between domains:

http://www.domaintools.com/

For example:

http://www.domaintools.com/enwikipedia/wikipediareview.com

Jonny

Cool tool, Jonny, but it doesn't seem to be fully accounting for all links. A few domains that I checked were coming up about 30% - 60% short, at least for English Wikipedia. Nonetheless, I've bookmarked it. Thank you!

[thekohser]

I don't think any of these are current, but...Brad Patrick, Tim Starling, River Tarnell.

Who is this "River Tarnell", and why wasn't it placed in the master thread list?

Greg

[thekohser]

* Google is so convinced that someone typing "Wikia" actually means "Wikipedia", searches for pairs of words containing the word "Wikia" will return results pointing to Wikipedia.

Examples: "wikia reference", "wikia links", or "wikia funding", and notice the word "Wikipedia" returned in bold in many of the top results.

[thekohser]

The WMF audit confirms:

Note E - Related Party Transactions

The Organization shares hosting and bandwidth costs with
Wikia, Inc., a for-profit company founded by the same
founder as Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Included in accounts
receivable at June 30, 2007 is $6,000 due from Wikia, Inc.
for these costs. The Organization received some donated
office space from Wikia Inc. during the year ended June 30,
2006 valued at $6,000. No donation of the office space
occurred in 2007.

Through June 30, 2007, two members of the Organization’s
board of directors also serve as employees, officers, or
directors of Wikia, Inc.

[thekohser]

You might want to hyperlink List Item # 13 to this:

http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikie...ary/089434.html

I'm not saying what Beesley does is horrible -- just don't trumpet to me that there's "no relationship" between Wikipedia and Wikia, when the WMF Advisory Board Chair is all gung ho about how Wikia is a wonderful place to "save" non-notable Wikipedia articles.

If the article is about a legal entity, save them to Wikipedia Review, folks -- slap your own Google AdSense ads on the article, and you have a lifelong revenue stream (until the actual legal representative takes over the article).

[badlydrawnjeff]

Be careful with a list like this, though: That Jimbo co-founded Wikipedia and co-founded Wikia does not actually produce a relationship between Wikipedia and Wikia. You're better off sticking to more reasonable things, such as the nofollow links and the mailing list.

That Jimbo a) finds value in Wiki software and b) trusts people that he knows from one project to work for another isn't evidence of an actual link.

* administrative edit: removed annoying emoticons - Nathan

[anthony]

I don't think any of these are current, but...Brad Patrick, Tim Starling, River Tarnell.

Who is this "River Tarnell", and why wasn't it placed in the master thread list?

Greg

River Tarnell is Kate Turner is User:Kate. (Former?) Wikimedia developer (with root access to Wikipedia's servers), (former?) Wikipedia admin, (former?) Wikia system administrator. Ran for the board on the platform of "disowning or shutting down all Wikimedia projects except Wikipedia". I couldn't find much more information.

EDIT: Also, (former?) member of private-l

This post has been edited by anthony: Sun 10th February 2008, 7:24pm

[anthony]

Jason Richey, (former?) employee of Bomis, (former?) CTO of Wikia, (former?) member of private-l, (former?) root access on Wikipedia's servers.

This post has been edited by anthony: Sun 10th February 2008, 7:24pm