Kelly Martin : Nonbovine Ruminations
Change is in the air. December 16, 2007
"My sooper-sekret informers are all atwitter about a big change about to happen at the Foundation."
Full Version: Kelly Martin : Nonbovine Ruminations
So... We could have a WR:OFFICE Pool to surmise what the Big Announcement will be.
QUOTE(Moulton @ Sun 16th December 2007, 10:31pm) 
So... We could have a WR:OFFICE Pool to surmise what the Big Announcement will be.
it doesn't take a durovasleuth to realise that FloFlo and the St Pete crew is no longer compatible. I think FloFlo has had enough of the bullshit eminating from the Redneck Riveria.
QUOTE(Newsfood @ Sun 16th December 2007, 4:27pm)
"My sooper-sekret informers are all atwitter about a big change about to happen at the Foundation."
I'm very sorry, but it is spelled soUper-sekrIt.
You can be an excellent humorist Kelly, but one mustn't forget to spell.
QUOTE(Piperdown @ Sun 16th December 2007, 5:53pm)
It doesn't take a durovasleuth to realise that FloFlo and the St Pete crew is no longer compatible. I think FloFlo has had enough of the bullshit eminating from the Redneck Riveria.
Sooo... You still have to say who will walk (or be frog-marched) out of that tiny office.
QUOTE(Piperdown @ Sun 16th December 2007, 4:53pm)
it doesn't take a durovasleuth to realise that FloFlo and the St Pete crew is no longer compatible. I think FloFlo has had enough of the bullshit eminating from the Redneck Riveria.
I wouldn't be so sure. Floflo has been running around Zambia having a gay old time, enjoying the belief (!) that Wikipedia will help people in the bush, and in broken down shanty houses. Being the Chairman of a famous place that requires no real inputs must be a gas.....
I doubt she'll quit. She's so cheap and convenient.
Isn't Sue Gardiner the sort of expensive one that is never seen, and costs over half the budget???
QUOTE(Moulton @ Sun 16th December 2007, 5:03pm)
Sooo... You still have to say who will walk (or be frog-marched) out of that tiny office.
Perp-walked? That would be a "bust" not a "big change". Hey, maybe we'll see both!!
when it comes to WP, Jimbo always wins.
anyone publicly oppposing him on anything this week would be going if anyone.
all speculative b.s. on my part, i bought the Sleuthing for Dummies manual from Durova on ebay.
anyone publicly oppposing him on anything this week would be going if anyone.
all speculative b.s. on my part, i bought the Sleuthing for Dummies manual from Durova on ebay.
QUOTE(Piperdown @ Sun 16th December 2007, 3:11pm)
when it comes to WP, Jimbo always wins.
Unless the WMF board kicks him out, in which case all he can do is say, "Shit," and that's it. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but Jimbo is legally nothing more than a board member now. If they all decided to cut him off and cut off Wikia ties, oh well about sums up his legal recourse. Yes/no/why?
Possibilities:
1. Jimbo is fired. 1a: The WMF is severing ties from Jimbo to depower him.
2. Mike Godwin has had enough already.
3. The San Fransisco move is canceled, because there was no legitimate reason for the WMF itself to move to the Bay Area (beyond that Wikia is there, and didn't Jimbo move there as well? Jimbo have a COI? Unpossible!).
4. The WMF is in dire financial straights unrelated to the financial audit.
5. They finished the financial audit, and oh boy is it going to an entertaining read!
6. Google bought Wikipedia.
7. Jeffrey Vernon Merkey bought Wikipedia.
8. Gregory Kohs bought Wikipedia.
9. Someone has filed a legitimate Section 230 lawsuit against the WMF at long last.
10. More photos of David Gerard impersonating Lucious Malfoy have surfaced.
You forgot the obvious one-liner that Greg Kohs IS Florence Devouard.
All the fuss about the her number being his by accident was a ruse.
All the fuss about the her number being his by accident was a ruse.
i wonder how much money is laundered to WP in some form from those who benefit from a personalised POV benefitting them, being placed at the top of every google search.
i doubt that the fate of a Top 10 website and the 1st or 2nd hit for any google search will be determined by the donation rate of 2-buck chucks.
i doubt that the fate of a Top 10 website and the 1st or 2nd hit for any google search will be determined by the donation rate of 2-buck chucks.
QUOTE(Piperdown @ Sun 16th December 2007, 5:11pm)
all speculative b.s. on my part, i bought the Sleuthing for Dummies manual from Durova on ebay.
Yes, but did you think far enough ahead to buy the doggie t-shirt? Hm. Didn't think so!
Kelly asks -
"I mean, they've budgeted five million and only raised a fraction of that; where do they think the rest of the money is going to come from?"
Maybe George Soros ;)
"I mean, they've budgeted five million and only raised a fraction of that; where do they think the rest of the money is going to come from?"
Maybe George Soros ;)
QUOTE
Wikis Go Printable
New open source technology will bring content from Wikipedia, WikiEducator, and other wikis to the world of paper
13 December 2007 The Wikimedia Foundation today announced a partnership that will make it possible to obtain high quality print and word processor copies of articles from Wikipedia and other wiki educational resources. The development of the underlying open source software is supported by the Open Society Institute (www.soros.org) and the Commonwealth of Learning (www.col.org), and led by PediaPress.com, a start-up company based in Germany.
New open source technology will bring content from Wikipedia, WikiEducator, and other wikis to the world of paper
13 December 2007 The Wikimedia Foundation today announced a partnership that will make it possible to obtain high quality print and word processor copies of articles from Wikipedia and other wiki educational resources. The development of the underlying open source software is supported by the Open Society Institute (www.soros.org) and the Commonwealth of Learning (www.col.org), and led by PediaPress.com, a start-up company based in Germany.
QUOTE(tarantino @ Sun 16th December 2007, 11:45pm)
Kelly asks -
"I mean, they've budgeted five million and only raised a fraction of that; where do they think the rest of the money is going to come from?"
Maybe George Soros
QUOTE
Wikis Go Printable
New open source technology will bring content from Wikipedia, WikiEducator, and other wikis to the world of paper
13 December 2007 The Wikimedia Foundation today announced a partnership that will make it possible to obtain high quality print and word processor copies of articles from Wikipedia and other wiki educational resources. The development of the underlying open source software is supported by the Open Society Institute (www.soros.org) and the Commonwealth of Learning (www.col.org), and led by PediaPress.com, a start-up company based in Germany.
New open source technology will bring content from Wikipedia, WikiEducator, and other wikis to the world of paper
13 December 2007 The Wikimedia Foundation today announced a partnership that will make it possible to obtain high quality print and word processor copies of articles from Wikipedia and other wiki educational resources. The development of the underlying open source software is supported by the Open Society Institute (www.soros.org) and the Commonwealth of Learning (www.col.org), and led by PediaPress.com, a start-up company based in Germany.
so that explains why "samiharris" gets away with what he does on WP.
QUOTE
I can't imagine they'd be hiring someone; with the fundraiser basically run dry and way short of the expected goals there just isn't money to pay any more staff.
Seems to me they plan to keep on hiring more people. Sue just hired a personal assistant for herself.
I think there's an off chance Jimbo is going to leave the board. Wikia is about to launch its search engine, and they're probably going to go for another round of funding. Those investors can't feel comfortable about the possible conflicts of interest of Jimbo being so involved in both companies.
As to what I actually think the announcement is, I have some guesses, but I'm going to keep them to myself.
QUOTE(anthony @ Sun 16th December 2007, 6:12pm)
As to what I actually think the announcement is, I have some guesses, but I'm going to keep them to myself.
I dunno... Let's try to work this out semi-logically... (I thought about fully-logically, but that was less interesting.)
Only a major hire at the Foundation would generate any advance buzz, or any attention at all, right? They're not going to restructure, since there's no structure required in the first place. And as we've discussed elsewhere, they wouldn't make a big announcement about choosing a location for their new San Francisco office, because they don't even want people to know where that is. Minor hires are no big deal. So that leaves a "major" hire, and the only major positions they could fill, given that Gardner and Godwin are now in place, would be some sort of Marketing Director, or else a CTO/CIO kinda thing. Amirite?
At the moment, they're outsourcing their marketing to contractors, and they don't have much need for marketing anyway, so that's probably not it. Even if it were, the only reason people would be interested enough to tell Kelly about it in advance (as if it were a Big Deal) would be because people think such a position would be a waste of money... but they waste every dollar they get anyway on useless things like Wikipedia, so I doubt that would raise much fuss.
I figure it's a technology organization, so people are more likely to be interested in a newly-hired CTO/CIO, right? I've been thinking about this... Brion Vibber seems to be a popular guy around there - competent, stays in the background, doesn't piss people off much. I figure if they're hiring a CTO/CIO and don't promote Mr. Vibber to the job, then all of Vibber's friends - developers, techie types, and numerous admins - will get really upset, right?
So then the question is simply, are they promoting Brion Vibber, or are they bringing in an outsider? My guess would be they aren't promoting Brion Vibber because if they were, there wouldn't be any fanfare about it, they'd just say "we're promoting Brion Vibber" and everyone would say, "OK, fine."
Who are they hiring, then?
Maybe it's a new budget, in line with how much money they really have left, after all is said and done (and apologized for).
QUOTE(Somey @ Sun 16th December 2007, 6:56pm)
Who are they hiring, then?
A woman friend of Sue Gardner's from Canada who worked with her on that CBC website, and whose job consisted of manually checking for dead links once a week, will now be the chief technical officer. Brion will report to her. Just a guess, mind you.
QUOTE(Moulton @ Sun 16th December 2007, 7:02pm)
Maybe it's a new budget, in line with how much money they really have left, after all is said and done (and apologized for).
Hmmm... Good point, I hadn't thought of that! But would they announce that? This sounds like there's going to be an announcement.
I guess they'd have to at least make it public if they were revising their budget figures...
What I'd rather hear (and hold out no hope for actually happening in my lifetime), is an announcement that they've hired a real Ombudsman who is authorized to review and correct all the egregious injustices that the WP Cabalistas have perpetrated over the years.
QUOTE(Somey @ Mon 17th December 2007, 12:56am)
QUOTE(anthony @ Sun 16th December 2007, 6:12pm)
As to what I actually think the announcement is, I have some guesses, but I'm going to keep them to myself.
I dunno... Let's try to work this out semi-logically... (I thought about fully-logically, but that was less interesting.)
I don't think there's anywhere near enough information. Maybe if I knew who Kelly's "sooper-sekret informers" were and what they actually said to her, I could limit my guesses, but that's not the case. Is it really something big, like Kelly is making it out to be, or is it just something mundane (Michael's replacement, a big donation, a new CTO, see now I'm breaking my rule to keep my guesses to myself).
Heh, here's a random one. Maybe they're going to block Google from indexing Wikipedia. They can claim they're doing it for BLP reasons but truth is they're just benefiting Wikia Search which is just about to start crawling. Hey, that'd also explain the recent "Is popularity a good thing for us?" thread on the foundation-l mailing list. It's a long shot, I doubt this is the real answer, but hey it's possible.
QUOTE(Somey @ Mon 17th December 2007, 12:56am)
Only a major hire at the Foundation would generate any advance buzz, or any attention at all, right?
Nah, there are lots of other possibilities.
QUOTE(Somey @ Mon 17th December 2007, 12:56am)
I figure it's a technology organization, so people are more likely to be interested in a newly-hired CTO/CIO, right? I've been thinking about this... Brion Vibber seems to be a popular guy around there - competent, stays in the background, doesn't piss people off much. I figure if they're hiring a CTO/CIO and don't promote Mr. Vibber to the job, then all of Vibber's friends - developers, techie types, and numerous admins - will get really upset, right?
Hmm, that's a pretty good bit of speculation. When they announced the move to San Francisco, they said some people aren't making the move. And when I heard that I immediately thought Brion Vibber. I mean, he might be a decent techy, but he's not CTO material. And he's been promising single user login for years now and hasn't produced.
QUOTE(tarantino @ Sun 16th December 2007, 6:45pm)
QUOTE
Wikis Go Printable
New open source technology will bring content from Wikipedia, WikiEducator, and other wikis to the world of paper
13 December 2007 The Wikimedia Foundation today announced a partnership that will make it possible to obtain high quality print and word processor copies of articles from Wikipedia and other wiki educational resources. The development of the underlying open source software is supported by the Open Society Institute (www.soros.org) and the Commonwealth of Learning (www.col.org), and led by PediaPress.com, a start-up company based in Germany.
New open source technology will bring content from Wikipedia, WikiEducator, and other wikis to the world of paper
13 December 2007 The Wikimedia Foundation today announced a partnership that will make it possible to obtain high quality print and word processor copies of articles from Wikipedia and other wiki educational resources. The development of the underlying open source software is supported by the Open Society Institute (www.soros.org) and the Commonwealth of Learning (www.col.org), and led by PediaPress.com, a start-up company based in Germany.
Umm... I can bring content from Wikipedia to the "world of paper" any time I want.
I own a printer, you see.
As to The Announcement... either someone's yanking Kelly's chain or it's going to be huge (and I'm not sure a new CIO is huge enough)... it's probably governance-related. While I think we'd all love to see the Sole Flounder escorted off WMF property, I think it's more likely they're just going to reshuffle the deck chairs on the Titanic. I don't think *they* see the Sole Flounder as the walking disaster that we do.
Lessee... If Jimbo takes a hike, and Flo becomes the new on-Wiki sounding board, does that mean WP would be trading in the Sole Flounder for the Flo Sounder?
QUOTE(Moulton @ Sun 16th December 2007, 8:40pm)
Lessee... If Jimbo takes a hike, and Flo becomes the new on-Wiki sounding board, does that mean WP would be trading in the Sole Flounder for the Flo Sounder?
Off to the penalty box with you... two minutes for Bad Punmanship...
QUOTE(Somey @ Mon 17th December 2007, 12:56am)
So then the question is simply, are they promoting Brion Vibber, or are they bringing in an outsider? My guess would be they aren't promoting Brion Vibber because if they were, there wouldn't be any fanfare about it, they'd just say "we're promoting Brion Vibber" and everyone would say, "OK, fine."
Brion just recently moved cross-country.
OK, maybe the new CTO hire isn't big enough to generate advance buzzzzzz.... Still, Kelly Martin is a developer herself, and I think she's done some work on MediaWiki in the past. It's possible that she's overstating the importance of it for that reason, or else the person who's telling her is overstating it.
I guess I hadn't thought of the Big Donation thing because it makes me too ill thinking about it, but why would they wait to announce something like that? Hmm, maybe because the donor asked them to wait until the Carolyn Doran news blows over, to avoid unnecessary embarrassment...?
And there's just no way they're going to ever block Google from indexing Wikipedia. I and many others have been trying to shame them into at least implementing a feature that allows them to noindex specific pages - it would solve huuuuuge numbers of problems at the micro level that waste huge amounts of admin and management time. But they haven't even managed to do that, and now they're going to noindex the whole thing? Naaah, not gonna happen! (Though that would certainly generate a huge amount of shouting from all sides, I'll grant you that much...)
Last but not least, I didn't realize there was much in the way of negatives against Vibber - that may just be because nobody around here seems to care much about single sign-on, though. Maybe we should start a new thread on that...
Anyway, maybe I haven't thought about this long enough. It just seems a little fishy to me, I guess.
I guess I hadn't thought of the Big Donation thing because it makes me too ill thinking about it, but why would they wait to announce something like that? Hmm, maybe because the donor asked them to wait until the Carolyn Doran news blows over, to avoid unnecessary embarrassment...?
And there's just no way they're going to ever block Google from indexing Wikipedia. I and many others have been trying to shame them into at least implementing a feature that allows them to noindex specific pages - it would solve huuuuuge numbers of problems at the micro level that waste huge amounts of admin and management time. But they haven't even managed to do that, and now they're going to noindex the whole thing? Naaah, not gonna happen! (Though that would certainly generate a huge amount of shouting from all sides, I'll grant you that much...)
Last but not least, I didn't realize there was much in the way of negatives against Vibber - that may just be because nobody around here seems to care much about single sign-on, though. Maybe we should start a new thread on that...
Anyway, maybe I haven't thought about this long enough. It just seems a little fishy to me, I guess.
QUOTE(anthony @ Sun 16th December 2007, 7:46pm)
Brion just recently moved cross-country. But I don't think the destination was San Francisco. I think you figured it out.
Damn, you've got the good eye there, Anthony! I certainly hadn't seen that...
Okay, according to WikiAngela, Brion Vibber is already their CTO. And according to Mr. Vibber's blog, he should have moved to San Francisco by now, as Anthony says. So is the announcement that they've promoted him to something higher than that? It makes no sense to me that they'd make a big deal about that, at least in this context.
Naah, I think I must have missed something... Wouldn't be the first time!
QUOTE(anthony @ Sun 16th December 2007, 8:46pm)
Brion just recently moved cross-country. But I don't think the destination was San Francisco. His blog also mentioned the move to San Francisco.
Is this his blog? It says he is moving to San Francisco.
This interview blurb says Brion is CTO.
QUOTE(Somey @ Mon 17th December 2007, 1:48am)
OK, maybe the new CTO hire isn't big enough to generate advance buzzzzzz.... Still, Kelly Martin is a developer herself, and I think she's done some work on MediaWiki in the past. It's possible that she's overstating the importance of it for that reason, or else the person who's telling her is overstating it.
Well, I call it mundane because I think it's kind of inevitable. Sue Gardner at the least is going to want a big shot for CTO. Someone with lots of experience as a CTO. Not just someone who happened to be there during the early days. Probably not someone under 40. And really, Brion is only CTO in the sense that Carolyn was COO. There aren't that many tech employees, what 2 of them?
QUOTE(Somey @ Mon 17th December 2007, 1:48am)
I guess I hadn't thought of the Big Donation thing because it makes me too ill thinking about it, but why would they wait to announce something like that? Hmm, maybe because the donor asked them to wait until the Carolyn Doran news blows over, to avoid unnecessary embarrassment...?
Oh, well, if you haven't eaten anything recently, check out this interview with Sue Gardner. Unless the recent news made the donor back out of their commitment, a big donation is likely to be announced by the end of the year.
Which reminds me of another "big" mundane announcement that should be coming soon - the completion of the audit. See, I promised I wouldn't speculate but here I am speculating. Let's just say I'm not speculating over what *this* announcement is, but merely pointing out what's coming up.
QUOTE(Somey @ Mon 17th December 2007, 1:48am)
And there's just no way they're going to ever block Google from indexing Wikipedia.
Yeah, I know...it was a crazy idea...and not all that serious... But don't forget, it's not necessarily "they", it could come down as an "experiment" instituted by Jimbo fiat.
QUOTE(Somey @ Mon 17th December 2007, 1:48am)
Last but not least, I didn't realize there was much in the way of negatives against Vibber - that may just be because nobody around here seems to care much about single sign-on, though. Maybe we should start a new thread on that...
People like him for the most part. I don't even have a problem with him personally, and I think he'd make a great senior software engineer or whatever. But he's not much of a manager, and that's what a CTO is. I don't even think he wants to be a manager or CTO.
QUOTE(Somey @ Mon 17th December 2007, 1:58am)
Yeah, he has been for a long time. I guess I misunderstood you.
OK. So who's left in St. Pete? Cary Bass? Is he psyched up to move to CA?
His Blogger profile says he's 40 and living in Ft. Lauderdale.
His new blog says:
His Blogger profile says he's 40 and living in Ft. Lauderdale.
His new blog says:
QUOTE(Bastique Blog)
The Wikimedia Foundation (the non-profit organization behind Wikipedia and many other collaboratively-edited reference projects) is about to embark on a wave of hiring.
Over the next month or so, Wikimedia will be recruiting for the following positions: developers, chief financial and operating officer, head of public outreach, head of partnerships development, accountant, personal assistant to the executive director, office manager, head of development, head of communications and head of business development. For the full job postings and application instructions, please go to http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings.
These jobs are intended to be based in our new San Francisco headquarters, but as an international organization we're open to the possibility of locating a few positions elsewhere. For the SF office itself, we will only be able to hire people who already have the legal ability to work in the United States.
These are fabulous opportunities for creative, motivated people who want to work in a successful, growing and highly-collaborative mission-driven environment :-) Please tell your friends & colleagues.
Company: Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Job Title: Multiple openings
Description: Please see http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings
Over the next month or so, Wikimedia will be recruiting for the following positions: developers, chief financial and operating officer, head of public outreach, head of partnerships development, accountant, personal assistant to the executive director, office manager, head of development, head of communications and head of business development. For the full job postings and application instructions, please go to http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings.
These jobs are intended to be based in our new San Francisco headquarters, but as an international organization we're open to the possibility of locating a few positions elsewhere. For the SF office itself, we will only be able to hire people who already have the legal ability to work in the United States.
These are fabulous opportunities for creative, motivated people who want to work in a successful, growing and highly-collaborative mission-driven environment :-) Please tell your friends & colleagues.
Company: Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Job Title: Multiple openings
Description: Please see http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings
QUOTE(Somey @ Mon 17th December 2007, 12:56am)
Who are they hiring, then?
Job openings:
- Software developers WILL OPEN SOON
- Chief Financial and Operating Officer OPEN AND EXTENDED: closes December 15, 2007
- Public outreach WILL OPEN SOON
- Head of Partnerships OPEN: closes December 15, 2007
- Volunteer position: Treasurer on the Board of Trustees OPEN: closes December 1, 2007
- Head of Development OPEN AND EXTENDED: closes December 15, 2007
Florence was complaining that they didn't have any qualified applicants for treasurer, so that's probably not it. Which leaves CFO/COO, Head of partnerships, and Head of development, all of which closed yesterday.
QUOTE(anthony @ Sun 16th December 2007, 8:22pm)
Job openings:
- Software developers WILL OPEN SOON
- Chief Financial and Operating Officer OPEN AND EXTENDED: closes December 15, 2007
- Public outreach WILL OPEN SOON
- Head of Partnerships OPEN: closes December 15, 2007
- Volunteer position: Treasurer on the Board of Trustees OPEN: closes December 1, 2007
- Head of Development OPEN AND EXTENDED: closes December 15, 2007
Damn, I'm getting rusty at this, aren't I? I should have seen that...
It's probably a new CFO/COO (CFOO?), then. I can see why they'd delay the announcement - hey, maybe they're rehiring Carolyn Doran!
They could be bringing in a former Enron executive, too...
I wonder if "Head of Development" is above CTO, though? I wouldn't think so, but they've never had a particularly formal management structure over there, obviously.
QUOTE(Somey @ Mon 17th December 2007, 2:27am)
I wonder if "Head of Development" is above CTO, though? I wouldn't think so, but they've never had a particularly formal management structure over there, obviously.
No, look at the job description on that. "As head of development, your job is to develop and execute a fundraising strategy for the Wikimedia Foundation in the context of its overall mission, vision, values and goals." Has nothing to do with tech stuff.
QUOTE(Somey @ Mon 17th December 2007, 2:27am)
hey, maybe they're rehiring Carolyn Doran!
They could be bringing in a former Enron executive, too...
But, Kelly said it was going to be a "big change", not more of the same thing
A "development officer" is terminology that predates cyberspace. It is common in the nonprofit sector. It means development of fundraising efforts.
Hmm, I think the announcement is going to be that Erik resigned...
QUOTE(anthony @ Mon 17th December 2007, 3:10am)
Hmm, I think the announcement is going to be that Erik resigned...
make sure you tell jimmy. if you don't he and his sickophants will berate you for failing to do your duty.
clueless dalton brother thomas just called WR "evil" on wikien-l for "outing editors".
yeah, especially the ones that out (sparkzilla) and ban (hundreds?) people then turn around and do much worse themselves. while POV owning, BLP Vengeance, cry wolf, tag team hit squadding, socking, removing evidence of editing, etc.
that's wikievil.
Yeah, when was the last time someone got "outed" here anyway, prior to being identified anywhere else? I don't even remember. It might have been Slimmy herself, even.
Btw, he said outing "admins," not "editors." They don't really care about non-admins. In fact, they don't even really care about admins either, as I personally discovered.
Btw, he said outing "admins," not "editors." They don't really care about non-admins. In fact, they don't even really care about admins either, as I personally discovered.
QUOTE(Piperdown @ Mon 17th December 2007, 3:24am)
QUOTE(anthony @ Mon 17th December 2007, 3:10am)
Hmm, I think the announcement is going to be that Erik resigned...
make sure you tell jimmy. if you don't he and his sickophants will berate you for failing to do your duty.
In case you or anyone else didn't know what I was talking about...
QUOTE(anthony @ Sun 16th December 2007, 10:58pm)
QUOTE(Piperdown @ Mon 17th December 2007, 3:24am)
QUOTE(anthony @ Mon 17th December 2007, 3:10am)
Hmm, I think the announcement is going to be that Erik resigned …
make sure you tell jimmy. if you don't he and his sickophants will berate you for failing to do your duty.
In case you or anyone else didn't know what I was talking about …
The successful candidate will be able to —
"pee wikimedia projects"
That would explain what happened to the cash, Flo …
Jonny
QUOTE(anthony @ Sun 16th December 2007, 9:58pm)
QUOTE(Piperdown @ Mon 17th December 2007, 3:24am)
QUOTE(anthony @ Mon 17th December 2007, 3:10am)
Hmm, I think the announcement is going to be that Erik resigned...
make sure you tell jimmy. if you don't he and his sickophants will berate you for failing to do your duty.
In case you or anyone else didn't know what I was talking about...
Now that is what I am talking about.
QUOTE(anthony @ Sun 16th December 2007, 9:58pm)
That was the "big shakeup"? Who cares about Erik Moeller? He's goose-food!
I think we've been had, my friends. We've been led down the garden path, on a wild goose (food) chase, and into Never-Never-Land.
Still, this was an interesting paragraph:
QUOTE(Florence Devouard @ Mon Dec 17 03:01:27 UTC 2007)
I do not share the same optimism than Jimbo with regards to Knol. I think Knol is probably our biggest threat since the creation of Wikipedia. I really mean the biggest. Maybe not so much the project itself, but the competition it will create, the PR consequences, the financial tsunami, the confusion in people minds (free as in free speech or as in free of charge). Many parties are trying to influence us, to buy us, and conflicts of interest are becoming the rule rather than the exception. There are power struggles on the path.
A bigger threat than us This has to be some kind of mistake! Ceci ne peut pas être!
Still, I'd better go and grab "knolreview.com" off the domain registrar's, just to be on the safe side.
Oops, too late...
QUOTE(Somey @ Sun 16th December 2007, 11:10pm)
Still, I'd better go and grab "knolreview.com" off the domain registrar's, just to be on the safe side.
Oops, too late...
What about the .org version... that would make more sense for a noncommercial site.
QUOTE(Somey @ Mon 17th December 2007, 4:10am)
QUOTE(anthony @ Sun 16th December 2007, 9:58pm)
That was the "big shakeup"? Who cares about Erik Moeller? He's goose-food!
Read the accidental post to the list, if it hasn't been deleted yet. There's more. Maybe Jimmy "pathological transparency" Wales can tell us what it is.
Board members can't be paid employees, right? Isn't speculating fun?
QUOTE(anthony @ Sun 16th December 2007, 11:14pm)
Read the accidental post to the list, if it hasn't been deleted yet.
How would we recognize it? Or recognize that it's no longer there to be found?
QUOTE(anthony @ Sun 16th December 2007, 10:14pm)
Read the accidental post to the list, if it hasn't been deleted yet. There's more. Maybe Jimmy "pathological transparency" Wales can tell us what it is.
Board members can't be paid employees, right? Isn't speculating fun?
Board members can't be paid employees, right? Isn't speculating fun?
Oh, okay, you mean this, right?
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/found...ber/036214.html
QUOTE(Greg Maxwell @ Mon Dec 17 03:24:58 UTC 2007)
Your message was good, in general, I think.. but it may have left people thinking that Erik was leaving Wikimedia, and not really moving on to a position of even more power. So that might create some confusion, but I understand that not everything can be announced at once and that stuff isn't final.
"Even more power"? Is he going to be in charge of cleaning the bathrooms now?
Maybe he could be their Official Liaison with the people in The UPS Store downstairs...
Here's the whole accidental post:
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/found...ber/036214.html
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/found...ber/036214.html
QUOTE(Gregory Maxwell)
[offlist]
On Dec 16, 2007 10:01 PM, Florence Devouard <Anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
[snip]
> I feel there are two paths for the future. Either we keep a board mostly
> made of community members (elected or appointed), who may not be
> top-notch professionals, who can do mistakes, such as forgetting to do a
> background check, such as not being able to do an audit in 1 week, such
> as not signing the killer-deal with Google, but who can breath and pee
> wikimedia projects, dedicate their full energy to a project they love,
> without trying to put their own interest in front. A decentralized
> organization where chapters will have more room, authority and leadership.
[snip]
I think it's important to note that *everyone* makes mistakes. So
there is far less of a trade-off then you might fear.
Florence at times you are too humble, but I believe that this is a
quality in an organization which is at times afflicted with excessive
hubris. When I think about the current controversies, I find myself
coming back to things you wanted to do in the past which would have
avoided them. I think we all would do well to listen more to you.
I have a lot of thoughts about the advisory board, and how little they
seem to have done for us. The whole concept of appointing big names
seems more like payoff and less like wisdom as time goes on. Finding
good people with the right interests, skills, and without huge
conflicts of interest is just hard no matter how you cut it.. At least
when you pull from the community you are sure to get people who love
and understand the internals of the projects. Your vision of simply
keeping a majority is simply a good one, and it's the only thing that
gives me hope. There *are* many good outsiders we can choose from to
fill the balance, but it will take time and introspection to make the
right decisions.
Your message was good, in general, I think.. but it may have left
people thinking that Erik was leaving Wikimedia, and not really moving
on to a position of even more power. So that might create some
confusion, but I understand that not everything can be announced at
once and that stuff isn't final.
I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've written to you. Honestly,
I'd lost some faith in the organization. I'm glad to see that you are
still shaking things up and doing you best to keep moving in the
interest of the public and the community. Please, keep in touch even
if I forget.
Thank you for all your hard work!
-- Greg
On Dec 16, 2007 10:01 PM, Florence Devouard <Anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
[snip]
> I feel there are two paths for the future. Either we keep a board mostly
> made of community members (elected or appointed), who may not be
> top-notch professionals, who can do mistakes, such as forgetting to do a
> background check, such as not being able to do an audit in 1 week, such
> as not signing the killer-deal with Google, but who can breath and pee
> wikimedia projects, dedicate their full energy to a project they love,
> without trying to put their own interest in front. A decentralized
> organization where chapters will have more room, authority and leadership.
[snip]
I think it's important to note that *everyone* makes mistakes. So
there is far less of a trade-off then you might fear.
Florence at times you are too humble, but I believe that this is a
quality in an organization which is at times afflicted with excessive
hubris. When I think about the current controversies, I find myself
coming back to things you wanted to do in the past which would have
avoided them. I think we all would do well to listen more to you.
I have a lot of thoughts about the advisory board, and how little they
seem to have done for us. The whole concept of appointing big names
seems more like payoff and less like wisdom as time goes on. Finding
good people with the right interests, skills, and without huge
conflicts of interest is just hard no matter how you cut it.. At least
when you pull from the community you are sure to get people who love
and understand the internals of the projects. Your vision of simply
keeping a majority is simply a good one, and it's the only thing that
gives me hope. There *are* many good outsiders we can choose from to
fill the balance, but it will take time and introspection to make the
right decisions.
Your message was good, in general, I think.. but it may have left
people thinking that Erik was leaving Wikimedia, and not really moving
on to a position of even more power. So that might create some
confusion, but I understand that not everything can be announced at
once and that stuff isn't final.
I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've written to you. Honestly,
I'd lost some faith in the organization. I'm glad to see that you are
still shaking things up and doing you best to keep moving in the
interest of the public and the community. Please, keep in touch even
if I forget.
Thank you for all your hard work!
-- Greg
QUOTE(Moulton @ Mon 17th December 2007, 4:25am)
QUOTE(anthony @ Sun 16th December 2007, 11:14pm)
Read the accidental post to the list, if it hasn't been deleted yet.
How would we recognize it? Or recognize that it's no longer there to be found?
Somey caught it.
OK, so what are the openings of "more power" that are mutually exclusive of holding a seat on the WMF board?
QUOTE(Moulton @ Sun 16th December 2007, 10:35pm)
OK, so what are the openings of "more power" that are mutually exclusive of holding a seat on the WMF board?
Maybe Erik got back together with Angela, co-flounder of Wikia, Inc.
QUOTE(Moulton @ Sun 16th December 2007, 10:35pm)
OK, so what are the openings of "more power" that are mutually exclusive of holding a seat on the WMF board?
Well, Erik's a coder, not a fundraiser or marketing type, so it has to be something technical, right?
Holy shit, could they be putting him in charge of their top-secret Project Ultracard? Their Ajax-driven, web-based, open-source replacement for Microsoft Freecell, that actually lets you Undo as many as three previous moves?
I always assumed that was all just a pipe-dream, but if there's any chance of it coming to fruition, yikes... this could change everything!
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.