James Heilman removed from WMF board

[tarantino]

Code: Select all

Proof: The Stand

748C4ABF C28EC17C EBFA8C19 2E82562D 8B81ECF3 FD963AC0 31282BBB
919E56E3 4E0A3137 923CCB46 98B96A8C 23C54D10 EF096096 7F50CC72
ADC07A2F 8F7430C4

[Larkin]

Slashdot submission: http://slashdot.org/submission/5441793/ ... -wikipedia

As Wikipedia is about to turn 15 years old, relations between the volunteer community and the Wikimedia Foundation board have reached a new nadir. First, Dr James Heilman, an immensely popular volunteer noted for his energetic efforts to make Wikipedia's medical articles more trustworthy, was expelled from the board, causing wide-spread protests. Then it transpired that Wikimedia is working on a secretive "Knowledge Engine" project funded by a restricted grant from the Knight Foundation, leading to calls for more transparency about the project. Lastly, a few days ago the board announced the appointment of Arnnon Geshuri, former Senior Director of HR and Staffing at Google, to the Wikimedia board, provoking a further loss of confidence. The volunteers are pointing to Geshuri's past involvement in anticompetitive hiring agreements at Google, which led to a class-action lawsuit resulting in a $415 million settlement. They want Geshuri gone.

First of all, a mild reproach concerning the posts immediately following HRIP7 (for example Zoloft's). I don't understand them. As indeed pretty well any post involving Arbcom here - what, for example, is all this Kevin Gorman business actually about. Some dumbing down for us stupids appreciated.

I was looking again at the Lila Tretikov video that was linked in a thread. Starting around 6:17 she begins to discuss machine learning and intelligence (her specialism) and at 7:53 she gives an example involving medical databases (she has already expressed a particular interest in the WikiData project). She says that given access to such a database providing information about demographics, age, locations, diet and so on, you can predict with much higher probability outcomes when patients take a particular drug.

I wonder if that is the source of conflict with Heilman?

[Vigilant]

Jesus jumping jack Christ!

Jimmy's talk page is so hostile right now that it makes the reddit AMA look like a lover's caress with a finishing reacharound.

[Randy from Boise]

I wonder if that is the source of conflict with Heilman?

Having just read far too many posts on Wikimedia-l, I can pretty well give you the cause now.

There has been serious staff discontent regarding Lila's regime. This is not necessarily due to her making the necessary heads roll, it is due at least in some measure to an aloof, globetrotting leadership style. Doc James came onto the board "arrogantly" (his word) and leaped into the fray, talking directly with WMF dissidents about Lila — who is the friend and protected client of the majority of the WMF board. This was a breach of their established protocol, in which staff contact with WMF board members is highly discouraged both by WMF and by the Board themselves.

Some sort of a showdown was had over Lila and the board agreed to "give her a second chance," but Dr. Heilman was pretty much cut out of the loop as a muckraker and a dissident. He also seems to have attempted to pick, prod, and probe to loosen up hidden documents on long term strategic objectives of WMF, which the Wales clique was afraid to provide him expeditiously.

Since the board's bylaws allow for the removal of a board member, with or without cause, he was basically given a message of no confidence and pushed to resign. As an elected member of the board, Heilman felt loyalty to his electorate and declined, instead asking for a second chance. This was denied him and he was voted off the board 8-2, the board's haste resulting from the ensuing scheduled turnover of two particularly entrenched old-timers, one of whom, Jan-Bart, who has been JW's right hand man. If there was further delay, the chance to ditch the distrusted and disliked Heilman would be lost, so a special meeting was called and he was pushed off the pier.

What they did not realize is that the community would be so bitterly unhappy with the Machiavellian machinations of the Wales clique and a righteous shitstorm ensued.

The board STILL hasn't really told us the whole story on why staff was so pissed off about Lila, what she was accused of in terms of less-than-optimum management style or behavior, and how she combatted the revolt of the dissidents on the WMF staff.

Red patent leather boots with 5" spikes at a tech conference. Red flag, man, red fucking flag................

RfB

[Larkin]

I wonder if that is the source of conflict with Heilman?

Having just read far too many posts on Wikimedia-l, I can pretty well give you the cause now.

There has been serious staff discontent regarding Lila's regime. This is not necessarily due to her making the necessary heads roll, it is due at least in some measure to an aloof, globetrotting leadership style. Doc James came onto the board "arrogantly" (his word) and leaped into the fray, talking directly with WMF dissidents about Lila — who is the friend and protected client of the majority of the WMF board. This was a breach of their established protocol, in which staff contact with WMF board members is highly discouraged both by WMF and by the Board themselves.

Some sort of a showdown was had over Lila and the board agreed to "give her a second chance," but Dr. Heilman was pretty much cut out of the loop as a muckraker and a dissident. He also seems to have attempted to pick, prod, and probe to loosen up hidden documents on long term strategic objectives of WMF, which the Wales clique was afraid to provide him expeditiously.

Since the board's bylaws allow for the removal of a board member, with or without cause, he was basically given a message of no confidence and pushed to resign. As an elected member of the board, Heilman felt loyalty to his electorate and declined, instead asking for a second chance. This was denied him and he was voted off the board 8-2, the board's haste resulting from the ensuing scheduled turnover of two particularly entrenched old-timers, one of whom, Jan-Bart, who has been JW's right hand man. If there was further delay, the chance to ditch the distrusted and disliked Heilman would be lost, so a special meeting was called and he was pushed off the pier.

What they did not realize is that the community would be so bitterly unhappy with the Machiavellian machinations of the Wales clique and a righteous shitstorm ensued.

The board STILL hasn't really told us the whole story on why staff was so pissed off about Lila, what she was accused of in terms of less-than-optimum management style or behavior, and how she combatted the revolt of the dissidents on the WMF staff.

Red patent leather boots with 5" spikes at a tech conference. Red flag, man, red fucking flag................

RfB

Yes, thanks for that. I've been reading at JW's Talk page and I can see the whole business has provoked considerable passion. I know nothing about Lila's leadership style. Your account does seem plausible.

Those 5" spikes obviously got to you!

[Ross McPherson]

This is where I somewhat lose the plot. WMF owns Wikipedia, doesn’t it? They can do whatever they like with their own property. The vagrants who have moved in and who have wilfully misunderstood their own importance need a good kick in the butt, or they should show a bit of modesty and get out instead of clinging to their dreams of usurping the site. Let them start their own sum of all knowledge. Wikipedia is meant to be crowd sourced. There is a group there that has pretty much stolen it from the crowd and they think the world owes them a living. If I am right (but I am no expert obviously) Jimbo is the better devil in this stoush. A pox on both their houses but with more lesions on one side than the other.

[Kelly Martin]

This is where I somewhat lose the plot. WMF owns Wikipedia, doesn’t it? They can do whatever they like with their own property. The vagrants who have moved in and who have wilfully misunderstood their own importance need a good kick in the butt, or they should show a bit of modesty and get out instead of clinging to their dreams of usurping the site. Let them start their own sum of all knowledge. Wikipedia is meant to be crowd sourced. There is a group there that has pretty much stolen it from the crowd and they think the world owes them a living. If I am right (but I am no expert obviously) Jimbo is the better devil in this stoush. A pox on both their houses but with more lesions on one side than the other.

The WMF doesn't really own Wikipedia. The WMF owns the servers Wikipedia lives on, and they own some of the trademarks and copyrights related to Wikipedia, but, as I recall, not the Wikipedia name itself, nor the Wikipedia "puzzle globe" (those have a convoluted and legally confused history that probably means nobody can actually effectively claim them, although I think WMF has effective ownership of the Wikipedia name on an adverse possession theory if nothing else). And, of course, the content of Wikipedia is owned, in a gloriously insane way, by the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people who have edited it over the years, in such a ridiculously convoluted way that, again, nobody can probably claim or defend the copyrights effectively. But the WMF only owns a tiny fraction of the content, mostly stuff like the visual decorations and stylesheeting, but a vanishingly tiny portion of the textual content.

[Randy from Boise]

Yes, thanks for that. I've been reading at JW's Talk page and I can see the whole business has provoked considerable passion. I know nothing about Lila's leadership style. Your account does seem plausible.

Those 5" spikes obviously got to you!

Those boots do not exist in nature, take it from a shoe dog. It is symbolic of a personality type.

RfB

[Randy from Boise]

This is where I somewhat lose the plot. WMF owns Wikipedia, doesn’t it? They can do whatever they like with their own property. The vagrants who have moved in and who have wilfully misunderstood their own importance need a good kick in the butt, or they should show a bit of modesty and get out instead of clinging to their dreams of usurping the site.

The board is a legal entity. They don't "own" WP any more than the board of directors of General Motors "owns" GM. Unfortunately, there's really no good mechanism for a stockholders' revolt to toss out an incompetent or nefarious management.

The usurpers are the cancerously growing WMF professional staff in San Francisco, who have turned the "non-commercial" WP into a cash cow for their billowing bureaucracy. The seemingly exponential growth of revenue (and spending) is well documented.

RfB

[Randy from Boise]

Also: the WMF's travel budget is $2 million per year.

A subject for inquiry..........

RfB

[Ross McPherson]

@ Kelly and Randy

Well there we are – generous, free advice, in the nicest traditions of Wikipedia. Thanks.

So, reverting to metaphor, WMF owns the roads, contributors drive cars that they have no title over. If I had to decide who should have moral precedence in that setup, I would say it has to be the owner of the roads. Let the contributors buy 4 wheel drives or walk.

[eagle]

@ Kelly and Randy

Well there we are – generous, free advice, in the nicest traditions of Wikipedia. Thanks.

So, reverting to metaphor, WMF owns the roads, contributors drive cars that they have no title over. If I had to decide who should have moral precedence in that setup, I would say it has to be the owner of the roads. Let the contributors buy 4 wheel drives or walk.

To expand on your metaphor (which I can't decide whether I love or hate due to Wikiproject USRD):
Thousands of volunteers built a road system through countless hours of donated effort on the assumption that the roads would be public and "open sourced". Rather than toll booths or billboard ads, the operating cost of the roads are financed from small donations dropped into tin cups placed at roadside once a year.

But the donations far exceed the cost of operating the roads, so the people in charge of collecting from the tin cups make plans to build a new superhighway that bypasses the public road system. They will not announce whether it will be a tollroad or a freeway. They will not say whether if it will have billboard ads or whether it will be publicly or privately owned. Most important of all, we don't know if professional traffic engineers will design the new superhighway or whether the placement of on-ramps and off-ramps will be left to a decision by a mob.

All we know is that the tin cups will appear on the side of the current roads, year after year, and that one of our representatives sent to watch over the tin-cup collectors was abruptly fired and sent home.

[Ross McPherson]

@ Eagle

Sorry but Wikipedians get no sympathy from me. The WMF did not run me off the road, Wikipedians did. Some jerks dress themselves as cops, link up with road hogs and not only stop people driving, they even piss in their cars to make sure they never come back. Most Wikipedians know this is happening too often and instead of leaving the system continue using it, pretending that they are doing something for humanity when they are just enjoying the free ride. Tolls would be a good idea. A freeway would be a good idea if it stops “the community” hogging the road in caravans, horse floats and road trains loaded with POV.

This is an encyclopaedia that will never amount to a reliable source of information so long as vagrants think they own it. It is good for games of trivial pursuit. That hardly justifies the garbage that goes on there every day. I wish we could keep count of the number of well meaning people who are slapped down every hour by the priceless "community". That toll will never be known.

[Amglish]

I wonder how their contribution drive went this year. Just curious.

[Moral Hazard]

Those 5" spikes obviously got to you!

Those boots do not exist in nature, take it from a shoe dog. It is symbolic of a personality type.
RfB

Have you tried walking in heels? If so, what is the maximum you have worn?

[Randy from Boise]

Those 5" spikes obviously got to you!

Those boots do not exist in nature, take it from a shoe dog. It is symbolic of a personality type.
RfB

Have you tried walking in heels? If so, what is the maximum you have worn?

I did a drag skit when I was in Boy Scouts, I think, so that would be 3 inches.

RfB

[Anroth]

My wife occasionally wears 4 inch heels. She is 6 foot before putting them on.....

[HRIP7]

I wonder how their contribution drive went this year. Just curious.

Almost exactly as well as last year (30+ million). The data is here:

https://frdata.wikimedia.org/

This is the relevant spreadsheet:

yeardata-day-vs-sum.csv Total amount received per day (not taking into account refunds)

[Kelly Martin]

I wonder how their contribution drive went this year. Just curious.

Almost exactly as well as last year (30+ million). The data is here:

https://frdata.wikimedia.org/

This is the relevant spreadsheet:

yeardata-day-vs-sum.csv Total amount received per day (not taking into account refunds)

If they did "almost exactly as well as last year", that bodes badly, since their budget for next year is a significant expansion on last year's.

Of course, not very badly; indeed, I'm not even sure they'd be burning into reserves even with a significant downturn in donations, given how overfunded they've historically been.

[eagle]

@ Eagle

Sorry but Wikipedians get no sympathy from me. The WMF did not run me off the road, Wikipedians did. Some jerks dress themselves as cops, link up with road hogs and not only stop people driving, they even piss in their cars to make sure they never come back. Most Wikipedians know this is happening too often and instead of leaving the system continue using it, pretending that they are doing something for humanity when they are just enjoying the free ride. Tolls would be a good idea. A freeway would be a good idea if it stops “the community” hogging the road in caravans, horse floats and road trains loaded with POV.

This is an encyclopaedia that will never amount to a reliable source of information so long as vagrants think they own it. It is good for games of trivial pursuit. That hardly justifies the garbage that goes on there every day. I wish we could keep count of the number of well meaning people who are slapped down every hour by the priceless "community". That toll will never be known.

Dear Ross:
I understand your negative feelings and am sorry that you had a bad WP experience. I had too many unacceptable experiences as well. However, things will never change unless the problems are identified and pressure applied to have the problems addressed. The people dropping the money in the tin cups do not realize how the money is being spent or what is happening to the volunteers who work on the project in good faith. Today, the actual database is very transparent. If an article contains a falsehood, anyone can go to the talk page and the history page and see which users were responsible and how the falsehood was added. If we add a Siri/Cortana interface and license everything under a CC0 license, the falsehood will be delivered to you in an authoritative voice without you even knowing that the falsehood came from Wikipedia and without any accurate way to backtrack to its origins.

Wikipedia leadership acts as though there is an infinite supply of money and volunteers. In fact, competent volunteers are in short supply. As the drama-seekers drive off the people with writing skills, scholars and subject matter experts, the WMF leadership will ultimately see the error of this approach. By then, the user-base will shift to some other shiny new toy (such as Siri or Cortana) and there will not be sufficient traffic on the road to warrant the tin cup collection process.

Again, you have my understanding and utmost respect.

[Ross McPherson]

@ eagle

Well my avatar here is Buster Keaton so I am not just crying. I am also laughing at the whole stupid situation that is Wikipedia. Obviously I am right to protest against the stuff that goes on there. Unfortunately there are only so many times we can say something without repeating ourselves ad nauseam, so in this case it helps to say it in different ways. Hence the value of metaphor. If this annoys unpoetic souls, I am sorry about that.

I don’t understand the technology you talk about. I do know from experience as a Wikipedian that there simply isn’t time in the cosmos to track through all the garbage that gets dropped into articles, and much of it is not blatant, just a twist here and a twist there. It all adds up to the sump of all knowledge.

I repeat I never had any problems with WMF – at least not directly. If they own the servers, they have more legal right to make decisions than anyone else there. I find it funny that Wikipedians, who are supposed to be working without ownership, think they have a right to contest decisions with Jimbo and his board, who do at least own something. I am pretty sure Jimbo won’t punish his minions by taking everything from them. So it is all another storm in the teacup, I guess.

Information should bring knowledge, knowledge enlightenment. Wikipedia was not, is not and never will be anything like that. Its disappearance would be a tragedy only for those who believe in it. I am sorry for them. Anyway, back to reality. World finances suck worse than Wikipedia right now.

[eagle]

If they own the servers, they have more legal right to make decisions than anyone else there. I find it funny that Wikipedians, who are supposed to be working without ownership, think they have a right to contest decisions with Jimbo and his board, who do at least own something. I am pretty sure Jimbo won’t punish his minions by taking everything from them. So it is all another storm in the teacup, I guess.

Each Wikipedian retain ownership of his or her own writing. The copyright is licensed to the WMF and anyone else on the condition that it remains freely available to others.

The WMF does not have any expectation of future services from any of the individual volunteers, but has an expectation of continued service from employees and contractors. Different people have gone to extraordinary lengths to win the approval and trust of Jimbo and the WMF. Their reward has been employment or contracts from the WMF. If you read User Talk:Jimbo Wales you will see the extent that people will engage in abuse to curry favor with him.

As for whether "Jimbo won't punish his minions" just look at how he has handled the Essjay controvery, or paid editing, or the various Wikipedia criticism sites that have been set up over the past 15 years.

[HRIP7]

Of course, not very badly; indeed, I'm not even sure they'd be burning into reserves even with a significant downturn in donations, given how overfunded they've historically been.

They took far more money last year than they spent (green is revenue, red is expenses, black is net assets):



At the time of writing, I estimate their net assets are around $100 million; they stood at $78 million on 30 June 2015, since when they've taken around $50 million, according to that publicly posted spreadsheet, and have probably spent no more than $30 million, going by last year's expenses.

[SneakySasha]

@ Eagle

Sorry but Wikipedians get no sympathy from me. The WMF did not run me off the road, Wikipedians did. Some jerks dress themselves as cops, link up with road hogs and not only stop people driving, they even piss in their cars to make sure they never come back. Most Wikipedians know this is happening too often and instead of leaving the system continue using it, pretending that they are doing something for humanity when they are just enjoying the free ride. Tolls would be a good idea. A freeway would be a good idea if it stops “the community” hogging the road in caravans, horse floats and road trains loaded with POV.

This is an encyclopaedia that will never amount to a reliable source of information so long as vagrants think they own it. It is good for games of trivial pursuit. That hardly justifies the garbage that goes on there every day. I wish we could keep count of the number of well meaning people who are slapped down every hour by the priceless "community". That toll will never be known.

I've got to agree with you. That non-stop pissing on anything is crazy tiresome. It just baffles me as I witness all these passive editors, admin, and Arbcom who stand by and do nothing! Who do they think they are? Sergeant Schultz?

[Poetlister]

They took far more money last year than they spent (green is revenue, red is expenses, black is net assets):

Of course, the fundraiser is far from their only source of income. As is often documented here, they get substantial grants from various bodies. They ought to get some investment income too.

[Kelly Martin]

At the time of writing, I estimate their net assets are around $100 million; they stood at $78 million on 30 June 2015, since when they've taken around $50 million, according to that publicly posted spreadsheet, and have probably spent no more than $30 million, going by last year's expenses.

As an aside, this means that the WMF could probably run the technical operations of the organization ("keep the servers running") off the interest income of their reserves alone, and still have money left over for the occasional small event. There would not be any need for further fundraising; they've raised enough to operate the website in perpetuity.

That they're still raising funds is proof that "operating the website" is not their mission.

[SneakySasha]

At the time of writing, I estimate their net assets are around $100 million; they stood at $78 million on 30 June 2015, since when they've taken around $50 million, according to that publicly posted spreadsheet, and have probably spent no more than $30 million, going by last year's expenses.

As an aside, this means that the WMF could probably run the technical operations of the organization ("keep the servers running") off the interest income of their reserves alone, and still have money left over for the occasional small event. There would not be any need for further fundraising; they've raised enough to operate the website in perpetuity.

That they're still raising funds is proof that "operating the website" is not their mission.

I believe that if the public were aware of all this, it would kill Wikipedia faster than anything! Well, that and the crazy Google connection. I kind of believe the world's knowledge is already out there. It doesn't need to be on one site. Maybe what's really needed is a non-profit search engine?

[Anthonyhcole]

Maybe what's really needed is a non-profit search engine?

+1

I'd support Wikimedia funding a search engine targetted at high quality educational information. This seems to be where the Knowledge Engine (now called the Search and Discovery project) is heading. It fits their vision

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment.

and their mission statement

The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally.

[HRIP7]

Great blog post by Bill Beutler on The Wikipedian: The Crisis at New Montgomery Street

Wikipedia officially turns 15 years old at the end of the week.[1] The tone of the TV news segments, newspaper op-eds, and other media spotlights will be celebratory. However, the mood among Wikipedia insiders is anything but: the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), its Board of Trustees, and close observers within the community are entering the third week of a crisis that’s arguably more public and pointed than similar issues in years past.

The major events and themes seem to be as follows:

In late December the Board of Trustees dismissed a well-liked community-elected trustee, Dr. James Heilman, for reasons that remain somewhat mysterious
WMF staff complaints about the performance of executive director Lila Tretikov, long simmering but never on-record, have now boiled over into public discussion
Revelations about newly-appointed Board trustee Arnnon Geshuri’s involvement in an illegal anti-poaching scheme while at Google has drawn community outcry
Besides failing to vet Geshuri, the WMF’s increasing tilt toward the Silicon Valley and focus on (perhaps) the wrong technology projects has come into sharper relief

[...]

Slashdotted here. (The submission of Jon Beasley-Murray's post didn't make it; Bill's more exhaustive piece might stand a chance.)

[Poetlister]

I kind of believe the world's knowledge is already out there. It doesn't need to be on one site. Maybe what's really needed is a non-profit search engine?

By no means everything you want to know is online, and even if it is, finding it all and assembling the jigsaw takes time.

I can't see how another (and probably inferior) search engine would help. There are already alternatives, such as Bing, if you don't like Google.

[Jim]

I kind of believe the world's knowledge is already out there. It doesn't need to be on one site. Maybe what's really needed is a non-profit search engine?

By no means everything you want to know is online, and even if it is, finding it all and assembling the jigsaw takes time.
I can't see how another (and probably inferior) search engine would help. There are already alternatives, such as Bing, if you don't like Google.

It's not a new concept for Jimmy. Exploiting the search capabilities of the WP database has been an obvious angle for a long time, because, well, it's an obvious angle:
http://www.cnet.com/news/wales-giving-u ... ia-search/

In that 2009 article:

Wales, who said "I'll return to this again when the economy is good," still believes that search needs to be open, in contrast to engines like Google's whose search algorithms and methods are kept proprietary, for the most part.

[Hex]

In that 2009 article:

Wales, who said "I'll return to this again when the economy is good," still believes that search needs to be open, in contrast to engines like Google's whose search algorithms and methods are kept proprietary, for the most part.

Never forget....

[Randy from Boise]

In that 2009 article:

Wales, who said "I'll return to this again when the economy is good," still believes that search needs to be open, in contrast to engines like Google's whose search algorithms and methods are kept proprietary, for the most part.

Never forget....

Okay, this is now thoroughly off-topic, but let me play Beelzebub's Barrister for a moment... We assume that Google is infiltrating the WMF Board to subvert the WP volunteer movement for its own ends. What if what's really happening is the very first baby steps of WMF trying to infiltrate Google's search engine turf?

Of course, WMF engineering has proven themselves incapable of anything outside of drinking $4 cups of coffee and team-generation of bugware, but just theorizing...

RfB

[uncleuncleuncle]

My theory about the James Heilman board removal based on the snippets of information to come out.

Note: I have no proof of any of this - just inference from the known information.

1) WMF staff does not like Lila
2) James Heilman heard this complaint from the staff
3) James told the staff that the board would discuss the removal of Lila
4) James talked to the board about removing Lila
5) Board had some kind of discussion about removing Lila
6) Lila was not removed
7) Board got "annoyed" at James for discussing the Board's Lila removal activities with the staff
8) Board dismissed James
9) Things are now slightly murky - because while James could prior to the board meeting somewhat reasonably discuss with the staff his thoughts on Lila's removal without violating confidentiality, he could not after the meeting discuss the Lila removal activities taken by the board as a whole.

The End.

[Larkin]

I kind of believe the world's knowledge is already out there. It doesn't need to be on one site. Maybe what's really needed is a non-profit search engine?

By no means everything you want to know is online, and even if it is, finding it all and assembling the jigsaw takes time.

I can't see how another (and probably inferior) search engine would help. There are already alternatives, such as Bing, if you don't like Google.

It's not just a search engine at stake here that might be interesting Lila. It's the whole business of applying artificial intelligence to extracting information (her specialism as I note in a post above). Wikipedia is a vast network of interrelated information very suited to these techniques. This is the Skynet moment we are perhaps approaching. It might be a sound idea to challenge Wikipedia-Google hegemony (god I spelt that right first time round, the brown gaga gods smiling on me today). And indeed I do sometimes feel like some sort of erm... former-day (time travel is so demanding and if that's not enough we now have to worry about other world 5th dimensions as well, it's hard to keep up at one's age) John Connor (T-H-L) in my travails with Wikipedia.

[eagle]

The Community should push for two reforms:
1) Clean up the Bylaws to assure that the Community-elected Trustees are Community elected and make clear that they can only be removed by a vote of the group that selected them.

2) Institute an annual evaluation procedure for the Executive Director. A 360 review might be appropriate with rating collected from the C-level WMF Executives, a self-evaluation, the WMF Board Members and the CEOs of the chapters. These evaluations would be collected by an HR consultant who would meet with the Board to develop recommended areas for improvement, compensation levels and incentive targets.

Any thoughts?

[Vigilant]

The Community should push for two reforms:
1) Clean up the Bylaws to assure that the Community-elected Trustees are Community elected and make clear that they can only be removed by a vote of the group that selected them.

2) Institute an annual evaluation procedure for the Executive Director. A 360 review might be appropriate with rating collected from the C-level WMF Executives, a self-evaluation, the WMF Board Members and the CEOs of the chapters. These evaluations would be collected by an HR consultant who would meet with the Board to develop recommended areas for improvement, compensation levels and incentive targets.

Any thoughts?

Never going to happen.
Accountability is NOT something the board or the WMF executive wants at all.

[Randy from Boise]

My theory about the James Heilman board removal based on the snippets of information to come out.

Note: I have no proof of any of this - just inference from the known information.

1) WMF staff does not like Lila
2) James Heilman heard this complaint from the staff
3) James told the staff that the board would discuss the removal of Lila
4) James talked to the board about removing Lila
5) Board had some kind of discussion about removing Lila
6) Lila was not removed
7) Board got "annoyed" at James for discussing the Board's Lila removal activities with the staff
8) Board dismissed James
9) Things are now slightly murky - because while James could prior to the board meeting somewhat reasonably discuss with the staff his thoughts on Lila's removal without violating confidentiality, he could not after the meeting discuss the Lila removal activities taken by the board as a whole.

The End.

That's basically the story. The only matter of debate, as nearly as I can tell, is how "out of process" and obnoxious James H. was or was not in talking to the staff and bringing their complaints to the board. For my money that is part of the normal and expected function of a member of a supervisory board of trustees and the problem is with the culture, the back-patting, the good-old-boyism, and the eradication of dissidents practiced by the board majority, not with anything James has done, no matter how obnoxious he was about it.

RfB

[thekohser]

A little later than usual to the game, The Register chimes in.

[SB_Johnny]

The latest additions to User:Doc James/Foundation/Removal (T-H-L) pretty much confirm a lot of the theories above, particularly Tim's.

[eagle]

Many thanks for posting the Doc James sub-sub-user page. To me the best quote from it is:

Why did it have to happen on such a short notice? Because two members of the Board, Jan-Bart and Stu, were leaving the Board by the end of last year. We found it completely unfair to burden the new members with such a decision. It had to be the Board that was actually working with James in the last six months.

In other words, the Board members who wanted Doc James off the Board wanted to have Jan-Bart and Stu vote to oust him before they left the Board on December 31.

[DHeyward]

The latest additions to User:Doc James/Foundation/Removal (T-H-L) pretty much confirm a lot of the theories above, particularly Tim's.

I don't know who said it first but the announcement that Lila's employment status was discussed and voted puts her in an untenable situation. That should not have been disclosed.

I suspect they are working out a severance package (through her attorney).

[Vigilant]

The latest additions to User:Doc James/Foundation/Removal (T-H-L) pretty much confirm a lot of the theories above, particularly Tim's.

I don't know who said it first but the announcement that Lila's employment status was discussed and voted puts her in an untenable situation. That should not have been disclosed.

I suspect they are working out a severance package.

If employee morale is as low as reported, there's no other way.

Start the next pool: Who is the next executive director for the WMF?

ObHint: They'll have Google experience in their CV.

[eagle]

The latest additions to User:Doc James/Foundation/Removal (T-H-L) pretty much confirm a lot of the theories above, particularly Tim's.

I don't know who said it first but the announcement that Lila's employment status was discussed and voted puts her in an untenable situation. That should not have been disclosed.

I suspect they are working out a severance package.

If employee morale is as low as reported, there's no other way.

Start the next pool: Who is the next executive director for the WMF?

ObHint: They'll have Google experience in their CV.

The two obvious candidates are Doc James and Greg Kohs.

[Randy from Boise]

Many thanks for posting the Doc James sub-sub-user page. To me the best quote from it is:

Why did it have to happen on such a short notice? Because two members of the Board, Jan-Bart and Stu, were leaving the Board by the end of last year. We found it completely unfair to burden the new members with such a decision. It had to be the Board that was actually working with James in the last six months.

In other words, the Board members who wanted Doc James off the Board wanted to have Jan-Bart and Stu vote to oust him before they left the Board on December 31.

Right, since after that date 8-2 to can him became 6-2-2 and probably no action. That's why they rushed action like they did.


RfB

[Vigilant]

The latest additions to User:Doc James/Foundation/Removal (T-H-L) pretty much confirm a lot of the theories above, particularly Tim's.

I don't know who said it first but the announcement that Lila's employment status was discussed and voted puts her in an untenable situation. That should not have been disclosed.

I suspect they are working out a severance package.

If employee morale is as low as reported, there's no other way.

Start the next pool: Who is the next executive director for the WMF?

ObHint: They'll have Google experience in their CV.

The two obvious candidates are Doc James and Greg Kohs.

I nominate Wil Sinclair.
Or maybe Jeff Merkey.
Is Jeff Peters still around?

No, no, no... David Gerard!!!

[SB_Johnny]

The latest additions to User:Doc James/Foundation/Removal (T-H-L) pretty much confirm a lot of the theories above, particularly Tim's.

I don't know who said it first but the announcement that Lila's employment status was discussed and voted puts her in an untenable situation. That should not have been disclosed.

I suspect they are working out a severance package.

If employee morale is as low as reported, there's no other way.

Start the next pool: Who is the next executive director for the WMF?

ObHint: They'll have Google experience in their CV.

The two obvious candidates are Doc James and Greg Kohs.

I nominate Wil Sinclair.
Or maybe Jeff Merkey.
Is Jeff Peters still around?

No, no, no... David Gerard!!!

I think you're Faegetting someone...

[thekohser]

The two obvious candidates are Doc James and Greg Kohs.

[tarantino]

It was recently announced that Doc James has thrown somewhere between $1,000 – $4,999 into the gaping maw of the foundation. What a loon.

[Vigilant]

It was recently announced that Doc James has thrown somewhere between $1,000 – $4,999 into the gaping maw of the foundation. What a loon.