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'''Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.''' (WMF) is a not-for-profit Florida corporation with its principle place of business in [[San Francisco, California]]. The by-laws of the corporation specifically name [[Jimmy Wales]] at every nexus of authority. It operates several online collaborative wiki projects including [[Wikipedia]], [[Wiktionary]], [[Wikiquote]], [[Wikibooks]], [[Wikisource]], [[Wikimedia Commons]], [[Wikispecies]], [[Wikinews]], [[Wikiversity]], Wikimedia Incubator, Meta-Wiki, [[Wikidata]], [[Wikivoyage]], and owns the now-defunct Nupedia online encyclopedia.  Its Executive Director is Katherine Maher.

'''Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.''' (WMF) is a not-for-profit Florida corporation with its principle place of business in [[San Francisco, California]]. The by-laws of the corporation specifically name [[Jimmy Wales]] at every nexus of authority. It operates several online collaborative wiki projects including [[Wikipedia]], [[Wiktionary]], [[Wikiquote]], [[Wikibooks]], [[Wikisource]], [[Wikimedia Commons]], [[Wikispecies]], [[Wikinews]], [[Wikiversity]], Wikimedia Incubator, Meta-Wiki, [[Wikidata]], [[Wikivoyage]], and owns the now-defunct Nupedia online encyclopedia.  Its Executive Director is Katherine Maher.

HQ is 149 New Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA 94105 Phone:(415) 839-6885 Supposed business hours: 9AM–5PM PST.

HQ is 1 Montgomery Street, Suite 1600, San Francisco, CA 94104 Phone:(415) 839-6885 Supposed business hours: 9AM–5PM PST.<ref>https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Contact_us</ref>

Pay of Executive Director: $200 K.<ref>https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Wikimedia-Foundation-Executive-Director-Salaries-E38331_D_KO21,39.htm</ref>

Pay of Executive Director: $214 K.<ref>https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Wikimedia-Foundation-Executive-Director-Salaries-E38331_D_KO21,39.htm</ref>

==History==

==History==

The Wikimedia Foundation Board met in 2016 in a small town in Italy to discuss transparency and communication.  The Foundation funded all Board members' travel to Italy.

The Wikimedia Foundation Board met in 2016 in a small town in Italy to discuss transparency and communication.  The Foundation funded all Board members' travel to Italy.

==Wikia==

==Wikia==

WMF announced on 2006-06-19 that it had hired attorney Bradford Patrick as internal counsel acted as interim Executive Director.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2006-06-19/Brad_Patrick</ref>

WMF announced on 2006-06-19 that it had hired attorney Bradford Patrick as internal counsel acted as interim Executive Director.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2006-06-19/Brad_Patrick</ref>

In July 2006, Jimmy Wales demonstrates his complete disregard for accountability and truth by his network of thugs by endorsing the false vastly inflated credentials that community college drop-out Ryan Jordan (AKA "Essjay"). Jordan (still hiding behind the mask of anonymity and who obviously could have just said "No comment.") had confirmed with the Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Stacey Schiff his false high credentials. After Wales recognized his error, he got a lucky break in that one of his thugs found a case where Jordan had once invoked his false credentials in some argument about Roman Catholicism. Jordan had worked many hours a day for years on Wikipedia unpaid. Wales promtly sloughed off Jordan as if Jordan were just dead skin being shed by a snake.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essjay_controversy</ref>  

In July 2006, Jimmy Wales demonstrates his complete disregard for accountability and truth by endorsing the false vastly inflated credentials that community college drop-out Ryan Jordan (AKA "Essjay"). Jordan (still hiding behind the mask of anonymity and who obviously could have just said "No comment.") had confirmed with the Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Stacey Schiff his false high credentials. After Wales recognized his error, he got a lucky break in that one of his thugs found a case where Jordan had once invoked his false credentials in some argument about Roman Catholicism. Jordan had worked many hours a day for years on Wikipedia unpaid. Wales promptly sloughed off Jordan as if Jordan were just dead skin being shed by a snake.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essjay_controversy</ref>  

===Gardner administration===

===Gardner administration===

In January 2014,  Sarah Stierch was discovered to have written Wikipedia articles for hire while being a full-time WMF employee. The WMF promptly announced her departure as an employee without any official explanation.<ref>http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2014-January/129466.html</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2014-01-08/News_and_notes|work=Wikimedia Signpost|date=January 8, 2014|title=WMF employee forced out over "paid advocacy editing"|accessdate=March 12, 2014}}</ref>

In January 2014,  Sarah Stierch was discovered to have written Wikipedia articles for hire while being a full-time WMF employee. The WMF promptly announced her departure as an employee without any official explanation.<ref>http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2014-January/129466.html</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2014-01-08/News_and_notes|work=Wikimedia Signpost|date=January 8, 2014|title=WMF employee forced out over "paid advocacy editing"|accessdate=March 12, 2014}}</ref>

In March 2014,  Ryan Kaldari, who has been working for the WMF for almost four years and is a Wikipedia administrator, got into an editing battle with another editor. Kaldari then made complaining comments about that editor under a second assumed name.  For that policy violation, Kaldari lost his administrator privileges.  However, the dispute caused Wikipedia users to research Kaldari's background and discovered that for years he has been the owner and operator of several other websites including "Snuffster.com", which was intended as a parody of Friendster, but soon became a haven for Internet trolls to mock murdered children and to glorify the butchering and burning of women. Kaldari has been paying for the site for 10 years and has actively added comments to various threads on the site that evidence poor moral character, to say the least.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.examiner.com/article/wikimedia-foundation-employee-caught-sockpuppeting-and-loses-admin-rights|first=Gregory|last=Kohs|title=Wikimedia Foundation employee caught sockpuppeting and loses admin rights |date=March 8, 204|accessdate=March 12, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dailydot.com/news/wikipedia-sockpuppet-ryan-kaldari/|title=Wikipedia staffer at center of latest sockpuppet scandal|first=Rob|last=Price|work=Daily Dot|date= March 12, 2014|accessdate=March 16, 2014}}</ref>  Kaldari poor judgment in owning and operating this site was called to the attention of Jimbo Wales, who dismissed it out of hand.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&oldid=599304349</ref>

In March 2014,  Ryan Kaldari, who has been working for the WMF for almost four years and is a Wikipedia administrator, got into an editing battle with another editor. Kaldari then made complaining comments about that editor under a second assumed name.  For that policy violation, Kaldari lost his administrator privileges.  However, the dispute caused Wikipedia users to research Kaldari's background and discovered that for years he has been the owner and operator of several other websites including "Snuffster.com", which was intended as a parody of Friendster, but soon became a haven for Internet trolls. Kaldari has been paying for the site for 10 years and has actively added comments to various threads on the site that evidence poor moral character, to say the least.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.examiner.com/article/wikimedia-foundation-employee-caught-sockpuppeting-and-loses-admin-rights|first=Gregory|last=Kohs|title=Wikimedia Foundation employee caught sockpuppeting and loses admin rights |date=March 8, 204|accessdate=March 12, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dailydot.com/news/wikipedia-sockpuppet-ryan-kaldari/|title=Wikipedia staffer at center of latest sockpuppet scandal|first=Rob|last=Price|work=Daily Dot|date= March 12, 2014|accessdate=March 16, 2014}}</ref>  Kaldari's poor judgment in owning and operating this site was called to the attention of Jimbo Wales, who dismissed it out of hand.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&oldid=599304349</ref>

===Tretikov Administration===

===Tretikov Administration===

In March 2013, Executive Director Sue Gardner announced that she would leave,<ref name=bizinsider/><ref>http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/The_search_for_our_next_Executive_Director Retrieved June 16, 2014.</ref> and an extensive search did not produce a satisfactory candidate.  After a second search, Russian-born Lila Tretikov was selected as Gardner's replacement, and she took office on June 2, 2014.  The WMF appointed a transition team to assist her in learning her new role, and there was a three-week transition period following the announcement of her selection.  Tretikov and Will Sinclair are raising a child together, out of wedlock.  Both Tretikov and Sinclair attempted to become emersed in Wikipedia culture, and Sinclair quickly found his way to the noted criticism website [[Wikipediocracy]], where he registered an account.  On May 30-June 1, 2014, the WMF sponsored a conference called "WikiConference USA" at the [[New York Law School]] which welcomed everyone to attend including "the curious, the skeptical, and others wishing to engage in meaningful conversation about the Wikimedia movement in the United States."<ref>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/WikiCon_USA_2014_Press_Release_v1.pdf Retrieved June 16, 2014</ref>  However, the afternoon before the conference began, Greg Kohs who had proposed to give a presentation on "paid editing" had his registration cancelled and was told not to attend.<ref>http://wikipediocracy.com/2014/06/02/wikiconference-usa-bans-critic-from-open-meeting/ Retrieved June 16, 2014</ref> Sinclair defended Kohs' right to attend and started a [http://wllm.com/ blog] and an [http://www.change.org/petitions/wikipedia-make-wikipedia-conferences-truly-open-to-all-by-allowing-greg-kohs-to-attend online petition] to advocate these views.  He also expressed his views on a WMF listserv.  In response, the WMF insiders turned vicious and openly suggested that Tretikov should break up their family and leave Sinclair because of his support for Kohs.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo#Regarding_the_nauseating_and_cowardly_remarks_made_by_Wikiconference_USA_attendees</ref>  On June 15, Sinclair announced on Mr. Wales talk page that he would no longer participate on Wikipediocracy.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=612984072&oldid=612983354 June 15, 2014.</ref>  Efforts to get Mr. Wales to clarify why Kohs was banned from the conference were met with censorship.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=613156950&oldid=613156824 June 16, 2014.</ref>

In March 2013, Executive Director Sue Gardner announced that she would leave,<ref name=bizinsider/><ref>http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/The_search_for_our_next_Executive_Director Retrieved June 16, 2014.</ref> and an extensive search did not produce a satisfactory candidate.  After a second search, Russian-born Lila Tretikov was selected as Gardner's replacement, and she took office on June 2, 2014.  The WMF appointed a transition team to assist her in learning her new role, and there was a three-week transition period following the announcement of her selection.  At the time, Tretikov was dating PHP programmer Will Sinclair.  Both Tretikov and Sinclair attempted to become immersed in Wikipedia culture, and Sinclair quickly found his way to the noted criticism website [[Wikipediocracy]], where he registered an account.  On May 30-June 1, 2014, the WMF sponsored a conference called "WikiConference USA" at the [[New York Law School]] which welcomed everyone to attend including "the curious, the skeptical, and others wishing to engage in meaningful conversation about the Wikimedia movement in the United States."<ref>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/WikiCon_USA_2014_Press_Release_v1.pdf Retrieved June 16, 2014</ref>  However, the afternoon before the conference began, Greg Kohs who had proposed to give a presentation on "paid editing" had his registration cancelled and was told not to attend.<ref>http://wikipediocracy.com/2014/06/02/wikiconference-usa-bans-critic-from-open-meeting/ Retrieved June 16, 2014</ref> Sinclair defended Kohs' right to attend and started a [http://wllm.com/ blog] and an [http://www.change.org/petitions/wikipedia-make-wikipedia-conferences-truly-open-to-all-by-allowing-greg-kohs-to-attend online petition] to advocate these views.  He also expressed his views on a WMF listserv.  In response, the WMF insiders turned vicious and openly suggested that Tretikov should break up their family and leave Sinclair because of his support for Kohs.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo#Regarding_the_nauseating_and_cowardly_remarks_made_by_Wikiconference_USA_attendees</ref>  On June 15, Sinclair announced on Mr. Wales talk page that he would no longer participate on Wikipediocracy.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=612984072&oldid=612983354 June 15, 2014.</ref>  Efforts to get Mr. Wales to clarify why Kohs was banned from the conference were met with censorship.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=613156950&oldid=613156824 June 16, 2014.</ref>

Sinclair later in 2014 started his own "Off-Wiki" Wikipedia criticism site.

Sinclair later in 2014 started his own "Off-Wiki" Wikipedia criticism site.

As Executive Director, Tretikov gave speeches and participated in meetings and conferences around the world.  Her travels may have made her less accessible to the WMF staff.  One important initiative that Tretikov started was improving the WMF's efforts in child protection.  Previously, the WMF left the decision to take disciplinary action against users was left to untrained volunteers on individual projects.  The project leaders complained that they were not properly trained to handle allegations that a user was a child predator.  Under Tretikov, the WMF legal staff began handling such complaints and banned a number of users from all WMF projects.

As Executive Director, Tretikov gave speeches and participated in meetings and conferences around the world.  Her travels may have made her less accessible to the WMF staff.  One important initiative that Tretikov started was improving the WMF's efforts in child protection.  Previously, the WMF left the decision to take disciplinary action against users to untrained volunteers on individual projects.  The project leaders complained that they were not properly trained to handle allegations that a user was a child predator.  Under Tretikov, the WMF legal staff began handling such complaints and banned a number of users from all WMF projects.

In 2015, the WMF Board and Tretikov reorganized the "Advancement" fundraising staff and secretly entered into an agreement with the [[Tides Foundation]] to establish a separate endowment fund.  The Tides Foundation was established by liberal [[George Soros]].  Under the arrangement, the Tides Foundation will invest and control the endowment until it reaches its goal of $100 million at which time the WMF and Tides will agree on how to handle the money in the future.  The WMF has hired staff to solicit and process gifts for the endowment, and the endowment was publicly launched on January 15, 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://15.wikipedia.org/endowment.html|title=Wikimedia Endowment|accessdate=Feb. 26, 2016}}</ref>  Many people have questioned how the WMF could embark on a $100 million endowment fund drive just a few weeks after a banner ad campaign on its website begging for money to keep its servers running.

In 2015, the WMF Board and Tretikov reorganized the "Advancement" fundraising staff and secretly entered into an agreement with the [[Tides Foundation]] to establish a separate endowment fund.  The Tides Foundation was established by liberal [[George Soros]].  Under the arrangement, the Tides Foundation will invest and control the endowment until it reaches its goal of $100 million at which time the WMF and Tides will agree on how to handle the money in the future.  The WMF has hired staff to solicit and process gifts for the endowment, and the endowment was publicly launched on January 15, 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://15.wikipedia.org/endowment.html|title=Wikimedia Endowment|accessdate=Feb. 26, 2016}}</ref>  Many people have questioned how the WMF could embark on a $100 million endowment fund drive just a few weeks after a banner ad campaign on its website begging for money to keep its servers running.

In 2015, Tretikov reorganized the staff and launched a secret project to develop a "Knowledge Engine" (KE) which some planning documents said would compete with [[Google]] as a means of searching sources beyond the WMF projects by automating the process of evaluating what information on the Internet was reliable. Considering Jimbo's long practice of denouncing as "unreliable" any web site that appeared to be in competition to his project or not following his exact personal style of "God-King" monarchy, such as NNDB, presumably, Jimbo and his entourage of paid females and eunuchs would be free to fiddle with the "reliability scores" as they saw fit based on their emotional reactions to the source. Tretikov applied for a grant of $2 million per year over three years from the Knight Foundation, but only received a one-time $250,000 grant to explore the concept. In November 2015, the WMF Board reaffirmed its support of Tretikov's leadership and retained a management consultant to mentor her. In addition, a number of senior WMF staff (including Deputy Director Erik Möller) departed, some making critical public remarks as they left.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wikipediocracy.com/2016/02/26/unicorns-are-a-myth-lila-tretikov-resigns-as-wikimedia-foundation-executive-director/#comment-44801|title=Unicorns are a Myth: Lila Tretikov resigns as Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director|date=Feb. 26, 2016|accessdate=Feb. 26, 2016}}</ref> It is easy to imagine KE to evolve into an attempt to provide the equivalent of a FICO score for every domain name, perhaps every known person on Earth, that third-party software would likely utilities to influence how second-rate search engines would rank information. Wales frequently uses software features at his web sites to discredit or silence the communications anyone he disapproves of. Wales had previously welcomed the idea of having a biography for every person on Earth but the "deletionist" element of his "community" (who simply lust after the destroying of information about low-fame entities) rejected the notion.

In 2015, Tretikov reorganized the staff and launched a secret project to develop a "Knowledge Engine" (KE) which some planning documents said would compete with [[Google]] as a means of searching sources beyond the WMF projects by automating the process of evaluating what information on the Internet was reliable.<ref>[https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/02/head-of-wikimedia-foundation-resigns-as-tensions-with-editors-mount/ Wikimedia Foundation director resigns after uproar over “Knowledge Engine”], ''Ars Technica''.</ref> Tretikov applied for a grant of $2 million per year over three years from the Knight Foundation, but only received a one-time $250,000 grant to explore the concept. In November 2015, the WMF Board reaffirmed its support of Tretikov's leadership and retained a management consultant to mentor her. In addition, a number of senior WMF staff (including Deputy Director Erik Möller) departed, some making critical public remarks as they left.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wikipediocracy.com/2016/02/26/unicorns-are-a-myth-lila-tretikov-resigns-as-wikimedia-foundation-executive-director/#comment-44801|title=Unicorns are a Myth: Lila Tretikov resigns as Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director|date=Feb. 26, 2016|accessdate=Feb. 26, 2016}}</ref> It is easy to imagine KE to evolve into an attempt to provide the equivalent of a FICO score for every domain name, perhaps every known person on Earth, that third-party software would likely utilities to influence how second-rate search engines would rank information. Wales frequently uses software features at his web sites to discredit or silence the communications anyone he disapproves of. Wales had previously welcomed the idea of having a biography for every person on Earth but the "deletionist" element of his "community" (who simply lust after the destroying of information about low-fame entities) rejected the notion.

[[File:James Heilman.png|thumb|left|200px|James Heilman, M.D. was removed from the Board]] In July 2015, James Heilman, MD was elected to the WMF Board by the editing community after starting working at WP in 2008 and being a very active ("many hours a day") and highly qualified non-anonymous editor and later administrator. He made many mass media presentations promoting the project and worked to improve its reliability especially for those seeking medical information. He attempted to recruit other physicians to help in the effort. Heilman brought staff dissatisfaction with Tretikov's leadership to the Board and pressed for more information on the Knowledge Engine and the Knight Foundation grant. On December 28, 2015, on the eve of two members leaving the Board, the Board held an emergency meeting and removed Heilman from the WMF Board by a vote of 8 to 2. The Board released a statement that Heilman "lacked the confidence" of his fellow trustees. The Community responded to his dismissal by pressing for the release of the Knowledge Engine grant application resulting in a public apology from Tretikov for pushing the project without first gaining consensus. Heilman continues to spend many hours a day contributing to WP as an editor and an admin and continues to make media appearances promoting the WP project.<ref>http://thewikipedian.net/tag/james-heilman/</ref><ref>http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/11/08/501087493/should-i-trust-wikipedia-with-my-health</ref>

[[File:James Heilman.png|thumb|left|200px|James Heilman, M.D. was removed from the Board]] In July 2015, James Heilman, MD was elected to the WMF Board by the editing community after starting working at WP in 2008 and being a very active ("many hours a day") and highly qualified non-anonymous editor and later administrator. He made many mass media presentations promoting the project and worked to improve its reliability especially for those seeking medical information. He attempted to recruit other physicians to help in the effort. Heilman brought staff dissatisfaction with Tretikov's leadership to the Board and pressed for more information on the Knowledge Engine and the Knight Foundation grant. On December 28, 2015, on the eve of two members leaving the Board, the Board held an emergency meeting and removed Heilman from the WMF Board by a vote of 8 to 2. The Board released a statement that Heilman "lacked the confidence" of his fellow trustees. The Community responded to his dismissal by pressing for the release of the Knowledge Engine grant application resulting in a public apology from Tretikov for pushing the project without first gaining consensus. Heilman continues to spend many hours a day contributing to WP as an editor and an admin and continues to make media appearances promoting the WP project.<ref>http://thewikipedian.net/tag/james-heilman/</ref><ref>http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/11/08/501087493/should-i-trust-wikipedia-with-my-health</ref>