I'm glad someone is concerned about this issue. Wikia has always smacked of "they wouldn't let us show ads on Wikipedia, so here is the for-profit branch of Wikipedia with ads." There are potential conflicts of interest at nearly every level of the Wikia/Wikipedia relationship.
On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 12:37 PM, Gregory Kohs <[email protected]> wrote: > I was very surprised to read on the Wikimedia blog a post from Naoko > Komura, > the WMF program manager heading up the Wikipedia Usability Initiative, > funded by the Stanton Foundation. > > Post: > > http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/01/21/a-note-on-the-wikipedia-usability-initiative/ > > To quote Komura, > > "On the space front, we had outgrown our current space in the South of > Market area of San Francisco, and we were in search of space specifically > for this project. I am happy to announce that Wikia has agreed to sublease > two of their conference rooms to the Wikimedia Foundation for the project > duration (Jan'09-Mar'10). Daniel [Phelps] collected a dozen bids for the > space in SOMA, and Wikia matched the best offer." > > I submitted a comment to the blog, but over seven hours later, it is still > not published, and there is a history of my questions to that blog being > ignored or censored. So, I'm going to ask here, and I'll also advise the > list moderators that this message is being copied to members of the press. > > Could we have more detail, please, on the note that "Wikia matched the best > offer"? Were the other ten higher bidders also given the opportunity to > match the best offer? Why was Wikia chosen on a "second and adjusted > offer" > basis, rather than choosing the good-faith firm that submitted the lowest > offer initially? Was the first low bidder given the chance to further > discount their rate? If so, what was their response? If not, why not? > > I have to agree with Steven Walling's comment on the blog. He said, "I > find > the idea of the Foundation working that closely with Wikia, literally and > figuratively, discomforting. We already have enough people confused about > the difference between the two organizations, and to be honest, this feels > like nepotism." > > Actually, it's not nepotism. And, there are no uniform laws regarding > nepotism. It's potentially worse. Self-dealing, which is what this really > smacks of, is covered in case law, judicial opinions, and some statutes. > > I have been assured in countless places that "Wikia and the Wikimedia > Foundation are complete separate organizations" and that there were "no > business relationships" between the members of a past WMF Board that was > 60% > comprised of Wikia employees/owners. Considering the past Wikia/Wikipedia > fiasco of Ryan "Essjay" Jordan, I would have thought the WMF would be > hyper-sensitive to working in concert yet again with their neighbor down > the > street. > > In summary: > > We know Wikia was recently laying off workers in the economic downturn. > Presumably, Wikia now has excess office space per employee. WMF gets a > grant, presumably funded by tax-deductible dollars. Expending that grant > on > office space is served up to an ostensibly "open" and "fair" competitive > search among 12 candidate landlords. A lowest bid is received. However, a > bidder who happens to have strong personnel ties to the Board of WMF and > the > Advisory Board of WMF, is given the opportunity to match the lowest bid, > which they do, since they have empty office space doing them no good empty. > > Net result: Tax-advantaged dollars will be transferred to a for-profit > corporation with an "inside track" to the decision-making body of the > non-profit organization. > > It strikes me as fishy, to use a gentle word. > > -- > Gregory Kohs > Cell: 302.463.1354 > _______________________________________________ > foundation-l mailing list > [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l > _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
