[Foundation-l] Blink tag jokes are now obsolete.

Sat Dec 31 19:32:42 UTC 2011

Le 31/12/2011 15:03, Thomas Dalton a écrit :
> Being honest when raising funds in incredibly important.

Probably a misunderstanding.

People getting paid to raise money who only care about getting money,
that's the kind of professionals we need.
Putting them in charge of communication and money relations with the
public was the single best move for our big mission since the creation
of Wikipedia.
It's not that we *need* that much money. The volunteer community is
mature enough to get the project going by itself anyway, with only a
fraction of the budget.
It's just that the  being /#5/ in popularity means millions of dollars,
and a few dozen of professionals are in position of claiming them.
Thanks to the work of hundred of thousands volunteers during ten years,
people who believe in money are getting money. That's wonderful! That's
the magic of Wikipedia.

It's amusing that disagreeing people initiate dialogs, as if words were
conveying values. What the professionals say to obtain the money doesn't
matter to them, only the effective result. They're ready to say
anything, and they will.

Please just state what you want to hear so they can continue. Would a
promess be enough? Can we label this as a misunderstanding, a mistake?
Would something completely different and exciting make a good diversion?
Do you really need some hard and transparent justification about how the
money will be spent? Don't worry, they are professionnals, they can make
up some expensive projects too. Besides, asking about their salary is a
convenient invasion of privacity. The law is covering them.

By the way, are you a real threat to them or can you just be intimidated
to shut up? What about being called paranoid, hateful? Would it be
enough to neutralize you?

There are few other options to manage your concern: if you could do them
the favor of being disruptive, they could moderate you and then ban you.
But the best way is the silent way. Hope that it will be forgotten, like
previous years.

You'll have to learn to agree to disagree. You'll see, it's a fabulous
feeling. They want money, they have the power to get it. You are a
powerless volunteer. They have no plan at all to change their course of
action. So feel blissful about it, you should, it's even mandatory. The
show must go on.

Fundation-l is not here to discuss truths about power and money. The WMF
refuse to enter ethical debates about their actions and motivations.

Unless forced.

But hey... Happy new year! What will you change for 2012?