Madame Katherine pontificates for our amusement

[ericbarbour]

‘There Is No Public Internet, and We Are the Closest Thing to It’

We were created for a very different purpose at a different time. The web that we came into actually had a number of larger collaborative, non-commercialized early projects, some of which still exist, and some of which don’t, that were more community-driven. And we sort of are a legacy of the original spirit of the web, and that’s very much what the Wikimedia Foundation was created to do — to ensure that Wikipedia was preserved as a nonprofit entity, with respect for community governance, and in the public interest and in the public spirit.

Only because Jimbo couldn't bullshit the people who did most of the work in 2001-2002 into making it for-profit. In other words, he tried to heel it, and failed, because he's not as brilliant or as glorious as he thinks he is....

Also not mentioned by Her Highness: that the WMF is heavily dependent on Google and is therefore not "free" at all. Of course she's not going to say anything that would upset the Larry&Sergeys and the Zuccs of the valley. So we get politically-neutral nonsense.

[CrowsNest]

Give her credit, she's been by far the best snake oil salesman the cult has ever had. She shovels out this shit because she knows that the WMF hasn't got a hope in hell of surviving if she just came out and told the truth about how little the rise of Wikipedia has actually benefited the public, and how much donated money it's taken for them to do it. All that cash, and yet Joe Fucknuts still cannot use Wikipedia in isolation for anything, nothing at all, just like the disclaimer says. He still does though, because his name is Fucknut. There is no product, Joe's best result from any visit is not being misinformed. Which is really the only benefit not being a commercial entity gives the WMF - zero expectations from the non-buying public like Joe, who remain awestruck that the thing they don't understand does a thing they can't make use of, all for free and available instantly.

[Graaf Statler]

Also not mentioned by Her Highness: that the WMF is heavily dependent on Google and is therefore not "free" at all. Of course she's not going to say anything that would upset the Larry&Sergeys and the Zuccs of the valley. So we get politically-neutral nonsense.

Of course. At the moment Google dumps Pedia it's the end of there money machine. And her Highness is only a cheerleader, I don't take here serious as a front woman. It's a house of cards, based on nothing.