The whole timeline reads really weird to me as well - with people entering and exiting the WMF so fast - I am of the external subjective opinion that at least some of them were simply extracting money from the WMF.
It reads as if they may have negotiated some exit packages and literally just took them.
That is a LONG list of "directors" which I could be completely off-base here, but unless the env was far more toxic than is being presented, SOME of these people certainly extracted personal value from being there a short period.
The fucked up bit though is none of that; it is that wikipedia is now a foundation of who we are digitally as a species, and to see that there is SIGNIFICANT apparent risk to it falling apart is extraordinarily alarming to me.
One of the emails sent said that the risk to domain/innate/tech memory leaving with the exodus impending from eng is super scary prospect.
If I were someone well monied at Google, I'd step in and buy the whole ordeal as it is a major part of who we now are, both digitally and organically.
You can't buy Wikipedia :-) but you are right, it's fucked up. Lila and the a majority of the Board of Trustees have taken something amazing and pissed it away.
The entire BoT should be disbanded, new members appointed and Jimmy Wales should take a break for 6-12 months and have no direct say in anything or participate in any way, then come back. His "Founder" status should be modified to allow for greater accountability.
I would definitely donate if they ran a campaign for firing the BoT and removing (or severely limiting) Jimbo's status.
"We've fired the entire board due to mismanagement! Now our editors and engineers need a better leadership ... please donate to help us though this difficult transition as we end this madness once and for all."
The publicity of that campaign would probably be enormous.
The whole timeline reads really weird to me as well - with people entering and exiting the WMF so fast - I am of the external subjective opinion that at least some of them were simply extracting money from the WMF.
It reads as if they may have negotiated some exit packages and literally just took them.
That is a LONG list of "directors" which I could be completely off-base here, but unless the env was far more toxic than is being presented, SOME of these people certainly extracted personal value from being there a short period.
The fucked up bit though is none of that; it is that wikipedia is now a foundation of who we are digitally as a species, and to see that there is SIGNIFICANT apparent risk to it falling apart is extraordinarily alarming to me.
One of the emails sent said that the risk to domain/innate/tech memory leaving with the exodus impending from eng is super scary prospect.
If I were someone well monied at Google, I'd step in and buy the whole ordeal as it is a major part of who we now are, both digitally and organically.