p2pnet - rss feed: Wikipedia firestorm: COO Carolyn Doran
p2pnet news | Crime:- Was this a convicted felon penetrating a naive organisation, bent on pillaging it? Or was it a woman with a record and a drink problem trying to make a fresh start and almost immediately coming unstuck?
Both questions are being asked as news continues to unravel in what Wikipedia boss ‘Jimbo’ Wales describes as a “non-story,” but which relates how ‘book-keeper’ turned Wikipedia COO Carolyn Doran, 45, was arrested on August 10 for DUI and hit and run.
The Register reported she has a record which includes, “convictions for passing bad checks, theft, petty larceny, additional DUIs, and unlawfully wounding her boyfriend with a gun shot to the chest”.
That was 17 years ago and said a Washington Post story at the time:
“A Herndon woman pleaded guilty yesterday in Fairfax Circuit Court to unlawful wounding of her boyfriend, who was shot once in the chest Aug. 25. Carolyn Bothwell [Doran], 27 … said she entered the plea after the prosecution offered to recommend probation. She said she did not want to risk losing custody of her 3-year-old son. ”
‘A convicted felon’
Says The Fieryangel in a Wikipedia Review time-line published three days ago, “12 Jun 2007 - The Wikimedia Foundation passes a new audit charter.
“04 Jul 2007 - The WMF board hires Sue Gardner as ‘management consultant’. The boards passes another resolution on Carolyn Doren, presumably terminating her employment
“13 December 2007, Story breaks in The Register that Carolyn Doran ‘was a convicted felon’.”
The Fieryangel goes on:
14 Dec 2007 - Jimbo Wales announces that if any money is missing after the audit, he will pay for it out of his own pocket.
I will go even further. If the audit uncovers any evidence of theft, I will personally donate out of my own pocket to cover whatever is missing. I feel pretty confident doing that even though the audit is still underway.–[[User:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo Wales]] ([[User talk:Jimbo Wales#top|talk]]) 21:13, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
Jimbo Wales then sums up his view of the incident:
It’s a sad story, if true, but fortunately not of much consequence.”
I don’t see how it is a major scandal, given that as far as we know right now, there were no crimes committed at the foundation.
Later that day, Florence Devouard [chair of the Board of the Wikimedia Foundation] admits that WMF did not do any background checks on their employees and that this situation was not the responsibility of the board, but of Brad Patrick in his role as CEO.
Says a final entry, dated December 15:
Jimbo Wales pledges for a second time (on the Foundation-l mailing list) that he will personally cover any losses in the case of fraud.
I have decided to get out in front of the issue by pledging to cover, personally, any losses due to theft if that turns up in the audit. I do not think that will come to anything, but I stand ready to make sure that it does. It is the only thing I know of that I can do to help at this point in reassuring everyone that this is a non-story in the end.
In a further quote, Wales says:
“If you ever hear of anything like this again, please do not make the ‘bad faith’ assumption that it is being ‘hushed up’.
Assume that I would be outraged if I knew, and come and tell me.
Remarks The Fieryangel in a comment posted today:
Jimbo’s doing his typical routine : “no big deal! Business as usual…” But I can’t imagine that their ‘potential donors’ are very happy about this…and I don’t see how they’re going to get the 4.5 million dollars they need for their budget to begin with…This can’t be helping matters.
‘Isn’t that refreshing?’
Says Code of Conduct in the Wikipedia Review:
This website has been accused of many terrible things, almost all of them without any real justification, or with justification based on one or two incidents whose seriousness is practically negligible compared with some of the things that happen on many other internet message boards. To our knowledge, not one person has ever lost their job, been arrested or divorced, or attempted suicide because of Wikipedia Review. Arguably, one or two people may have been inconvenienced for short periods of time, but so far we haven’t had to set up a ‘Ticketing System’ to deal with complaints, which have been few and far between.
Why is that? Could it just possibly be because Wikipedia Review isn’t anywhere near as horrible as some people say it is? And could it be that those people are simply upset because, well, they can’t ‘ban’ us from anything?
Luckily, this is Wikipedia Review. That means you, yes you, get to decide.
Isn’t that refreshing?
Stay tuned.
Also See:
The Register - Wikipedia COO was convicted felon, December 13, 2007
Washington Post - Herndon Woman Pleads Guilty In Shooting, February 21, 1990
Want to help p2pnet stay online? Please click here.
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!
Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile - http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
December 23rd, 2007 at 1:54 pm
so the founder of wikipedia was arrested on a DUI?
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:18 pm
What’s the big deal? The woman did her time, now let her go on with her life. What? you want her terminated? From an honest job?
All of the so called Christians should be up in arms about this. What does the Bible say about repentence and forgiveness? Maybe politically, economically and socially crippling people for life because they have committed a crime is one reason why there is such a high rate of repeat offenders in the P.S.A.
December 23rd, 2007 at 5:01 pm
So basically the story is that an employee of company X has comited a crime e.g DUI and has a record. Is the legal system no longer to rehabilitate people then?
Ok if this is such a big story why not cover all similar occurrences you would not consider discriminating one company from the next would you.
December 23rd, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Hey meth0d:
“so the founder of wikipedia was arrested on a DUI?”
She’s not the founder. Jimmy Wales is. Meanwhile, I’ve spoken with her a couple of times and she was a help to me.
As far as her DUI goes, I’ve been in jail because of booze. On January 1, 2005, “I quit using drugs, including alcohol, in 1987 after they nearly killed me,” I posted here http://www.p2pnet.net/story/3440 and elsewhere.
I started using when I was 13 and quit when I was 45, and my life didn’t really start until then. So you could say I’m 20 and still learning how to deal with the world.
For Carolyn, I hope she has the strength to overcome what could be her addiction and if she does, I hope Wales and the other people around her will help her get her life started again.
Same to Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Kiefer Sutherland and anyone else who’s battling with chemicals of whatever kind.
Cheers!
December 23rd, 2007 at 9:35 pm
so who is she then jon?
December 24th, 2007 at 2:12 am
zomg a felon! run
December 24th, 2007 at 7:54 am
” ‘book-keeper’ turned Wikipedia COO”
chief operating officer
Cheers! And have a good holiday
December 24th, 2007 at 9:47 am
but jon,
The Register reported she has a record which includes, “convictions for passing bad checks, theft, petty larceny, additional DUIs, and unlawfully wounding her boyfriend with a gun shot to the chest”.
it doesnt seem like she is a good person judging from other things she has been convicted of. i mean really shooting your boyfriend with a gun? thats just out there.
December 25th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Messing with the funny stuff can make people do some bad things. When they get off the funny stuff and start true recovery, they can become good again. Protect yourselves and each other from criminals, but don’t condemn those who are trying to go straight or those who are straight now but have been caught doing bad stuff in the past.
Many “entertainment” cartel movies, actors, characters, etc. encourage and promote drug use, disrespect for parents, and generally immoral behaviour. This is one of the reasons why I condone copyright infringement. The U.S. constitution provided for copyrights and patents to promote the sciences and USEFUL arts. It makes no provisions for smut.
December 28th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
There are many hard luck cases in this world. Carolyn is very near the top of the list. Having knowledge of her life back to the beginning (which is really no one’s business but hers) would bring most people to their knees in tears. This doesn’t excuse her present problems but does offer an explanation for them. The real problem here is not Carolyn’s past, but a media frenzy to discredit Wikimedia, which is beyond my understanding. Has anyone at all written of any problems at Wikimedia caused by Carolyn’s time as COO? NONE! Wake up everyone and see this for what it really is, an attempt to discredit Wikimedia.
March 11th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I was incarcerated with Carolyn for some time. She is not a bad woman at all, and a large portion of what has been written about her in articles is simply untrue.
It’s easy to sit in your chair and make assumptions and pass judgements, but until you’ve been in her shoes, don’t pass judgement on Carolyn.
She really is a wonderful woman.