On 29 February 2016 at 20:43, Andreas Kolbe <jayen...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 1, 2016 at 12:52 AM, Risker <risker...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > So please, let's stop pretending those two words mean the same thing. > > > > > They don't mean the same thing at all. But would you really dispute the > statement that WMF leaders should be both transparent AND honest? > > Transparency is a fundamental WMF value. > > Nobody here is talking about vendor agreements; at least I am not. I have > no problem whatsoever with your scenario. If the WMF enters into an > umbrella agreement or business deal with Google or whoever, then that is > something the community should know. If the WMF gets computer hardware at a > preferential rate, absolutely no one is interested in that. > Because, Andreas, I do not want the Wikimedia Foundation to commit suicide. On what basis do you say, with complete confidence, that the basis of the issue is NOT a contract, or a legal agreement, or a human resources issue - all of which will likely require some degree of non-transparency? For example - if the focus of all this excitement is a human resources issue, there are very, very strict regulations about what can and cannot be public. It's why there is an "executive session" at every board meeting - because human resource issues involving identifiable persons MUST not be publicly discussed. I cannot for the life of me imagine what Google sells that the WMF would be interested in buying, so I'm finding your example a bit weird. And unfortunately, there are indeed enough people around here who are so determined to have total transparency that they *would* believe that failure to publicly report that the WMF had received computer hardware at a preferential rate was *failing to be transparent.* So yes, I do dispute that WMF leaders must always be both transparent and honest. Honest, I'll go for - although as we're pretty clearly seeing in this situation, there's a pretty wide divergence between what different leaders consider honesty. But not transparent. I don't want them reporting personal human resources issues or other legally confidential issues publicly - if for no other reason than they'll be slapped with lawsuits that would be a terrible, terrible waste of our donor's money. RIsker/Anne _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
