MyWikiBiz, Author Your Legacy — Thursday November 21, 2024
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− | ===Wikimedia Foundation===
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| A more recent example of a failure in ethical accountability is the relationship between the non-profit [[Directory:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]] and the privately-held for-profit corporation [[Directory:Wikia|Wikia, Inc.]] Wikia, co-founded by Jimmy Wales and capitalized by Amazon (reportedly $10 million), the Bessemer Partners, Omidyar Network, and other corporate sponsors, makes money off the back of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation and its projects. How? Wikipedia is a commercial traffic engine. As of December 2008, there are over [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:LinkSearch&limit=5000&offset=10000&target=http%3A%2F%2F*.wikia.com 14,300 external links] from Wikipedia to Wales' Wikia.com sites, which are funded by Google AdSense revenues. It is also interesting that there are [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:LinkSearch&limit=5000&offset=40000&target=http%3A%2F%2F*.amazon.com over 43,000 links] to Amazon's retail site from the supposedly non-profit Wikipedia site. The popular movie site IMDB.com is owned by Amazon, and one can buy Amazon products directly from IMDB pages. There are [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:LinkSearch&limit=5000&offset=170000&target=http%3A%2F%2F*.IMDB.com nearly 174,000 links to Amazon's IMDB site] from Wikipedia. It is no surprise that Amazon particularly wished to invest in Wikia, Inc. Its co-founder makes sure that the external linking environment on Wikipedia is hospitable for the Amazon link spamming machine. | | A more recent example of a failure in ethical accountability is the relationship between the non-profit [[Directory:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]] and the privately-held for-profit corporation [[Directory:Wikia|Wikia, Inc.]] Wikia, co-founded by Jimmy Wales and capitalized by Amazon (reportedly $10 million), the Bessemer Partners, Omidyar Network, and other corporate sponsors, makes money off the back of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation and its projects. How? Wikipedia is a commercial traffic engine. As of December 2008, there are over [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:LinkSearch&limit=5000&offset=10000&target=http%3A%2F%2F*.wikia.com 14,300 external links] from Wikipedia to Wales' Wikia.com sites, which are funded by Google AdSense revenues. It is also interesting that there are [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:LinkSearch&limit=5000&offset=40000&target=http%3A%2F%2F*.amazon.com over 43,000 links] to Amazon's retail site from the supposedly non-profit Wikipedia site. The popular movie site IMDB.com is owned by Amazon, and one can buy Amazon products directly from IMDB pages. There are [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:LinkSearch&limit=5000&offset=170000&target=http%3A%2F%2F*.IMDB.com nearly 174,000 links to Amazon's IMDB site] from Wikipedia. It is no surprise that Amazon particularly wished to invest in Wikia, Inc. Its co-founder makes sure that the external linking environment on Wikipedia is hospitable for the Amazon link spamming machine. |
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| Further, if you go to Jimmy Wales' "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales talk page]" on Wikipedia, and you ask him whether he feels that this obscene number of links to his for-profit site and those of his investors might be a ''conflict of interest'' or ''self-dealing'', Jimbo won't even have time to respond. One or two of his sycophants will fairly promptly dismiss or erase your message; and if you try one more time to ask this question, you're likely to get blocked from editing Wikipedia altogether. This is an example of a breakdown in ethical accountability. In fact, the unethical practice of self-dealing is institutionalized at the Wikimedia Foundation. | | Further, if you go to Jimmy Wales' "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales talk page]" on Wikipedia, and you ask him whether he feels that this obscene number of links to his for-profit site and those of his investors might be a ''conflict of interest'' or ''self-dealing'', Jimbo won't even have time to respond. One or two of his sycophants will fairly promptly dismiss or erase your message; and if you try one more time to ask this question, you're likely to get blocked from editing Wikipedia altogether. This is an example of a breakdown in ethical accountability. In fact, the unethical practice of self-dealing is institutionalized at the Wikimedia Foundation. |
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| If these facts are not enough to convince that money finds its way through the back door to Wikia, Inc., then perhaps a look [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049340.html at the front door] is in order. The Wikimedia Foundation announced in January 2009 that it would begin paying rent to Wikia, Inc. on a monthly basis, using tax-advantaged funds from the Ruth and Frank Stanton Fund. Then, in August 2009, Matt Halprin, [http://www.omidyar.com/team/matt-halprin Partner of the Omidyar Network], was asked to join the Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees. Halprin is charged with an Omidyar team that "pursues investments in Social Media", and Omidyar invested part of $4 million into Wikia, Inc. in 2006. So, he's almost undoubtedly on top of the Wikia return on investment. Again, it is an utter failure of ethical accountability to invite a new non-profit board member who is a partner at a firm that invested some portion of $4 million into a privately-held firm of the "Emeritus Chair" of the Wikimedia Foundation. | | If these facts are not enough to convince that money finds its way through the back door to Wikia, Inc., then perhaps a look [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-January/049340.html at the front door] is in order. The Wikimedia Foundation announced in January 2009 that it would begin paying rent to Wikia, Inc. on a monthly basis, using tax-advantaged funds from the Ruth and Frank Stanton Fund. Then, in August 2009, Matt Halprin, [http://www.omidyar.com/team/matt-halprin Partner of the Omidyar Network], was asked to join the Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees. Halprin is charged with an Omidyar team that "pursues investments in Social Media", and Omidyar invested part of $4 million into Wikia, Inc. in 2006. So, he's almost undoubtedly on top of the Wikia return on investment. Again, it is an utter failure of ethical accountability to invite a new non-profit board member who is a partner at a firm that invested some portion of $4 million into a privately-held firm of the "Emeritus Chair" of the Wikimedia Foundation. |
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| ==References== | | ==References== |