[Foundation-l] Re: [Wikipedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation : le ver dans le fruit ?

Tue Jan 25 15:43:17 UTC 2005

I have written to the original author privately to try to address his
concerns and straighten out some factual errors.

I do not mind complaints about the path we are taking towards a larger
and more institutionalized board, although of course helpful comments
that Assume Good Faith (which I think I have earned) are even
better. :-)

>>* What will the community do if Jimmy Wales makes decisions opposite
>>to the opinion of the majority,...

The irony here is that one reason I plan to evolve the institutional
structure of the Wikimedia Foundation slowly is precisely to guard
against a rogue board which does not respect the will of the community
*and* to guard against a general evolution of the community away from
the core goals of the project.  This last point deserves some comment.

This is not a democracy.  This is a charitable humanitarian project
with clearly defined goals and aspirations.  The will of the community
is absolutely important, and the will of the community is drawn around
the goals that we have set for ourselves from the beginning.
Therefore democracy can play a very important part in this, but so
must a firm commitment to _principle_.

> >To answer "Why don't you just fork?" is slapping the donators in
> >the face

And to suggest that I would answer in such a way is a slap in the face
to me, of course.

--Jimbo