[Foundation-l] A train without destination?

Mon Mar 17 07:17:23 UTC 2008

Wouldn't a better subject be "soaring, like the hindenberg"?

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Ray Saintonge" <saintonge at telus.net>
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 3:55 PM
To: "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List" <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] A train without destination?

> Thomas Dalton wrote:
>>>  The WMF has no members.  It was incorporated that way.  The Board could
>>>  sell it, but the implications of that kind of move are absolutely
>>>  mind-boggling.
>>>
>> This is a little off-topic, but I'm curious as to what you mean by
>> that. In what sense could they sell the foundation? They could sell
>> all the assets, but the proceeds would still need to be spent on
>> something which furthers the stated goals of the foundation, they
>> certainly couldn't pocket the cash.
> It's all a little quirky, and I want to make it clear that just because
> something is legally possible doesn't mean that anyone intends to go
> down that road.
>
> The assets, of course, are more than just cash in the bank and a pile of
> servers.  The good will and trademarks would make up the bulk of the
> sales price.  They could be left with a shell company, and a huge bank
> balance.  I agree that they couldn't pocket the task, except perhaps for
> any sales commissions; a 10% commission on a billion dollars is more
> than chump change.  The proceeds could then be put into some other
> venture consistent with the stated goals, but which excludes the
> communities. Nor would there have been a need to ask permission of the
> communities before selling.
>
> The buyers, meanwhile, would have the assets, including the trademarks
> which they could then exploit to their hearts' content, without any need
> to pay attention to the writers who have no contract with them.  The
> free licence would mean that they couldn't claim copyright on any of the
> content, but they don't need that, nor would they need to provide any
> kind of general data dump.  Anyone wanting to use the material would be
> legally able to pick off one article at a time.  By the time users would
> have worked out how to make the material re-usable, they would already
> have made their money in ad revenue and they wouldn't give a damn.  Even
> after that they would continue to receive a perhaps somewhat reduced but
> still good share of traffic.
>
> I'm not predicting that such a nightmare scenario would happen, only
> describing _how_ it could happen in answer to your question.  Sleep well.
>
> Ec
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> 