I dunno. Maybe guilty of a lesser included charge. YMMV.
Posted on 12/19/2007 6:42:34 AM PST by Sam's Army
TAMPA - Executives with the online encyclopedia Wikipedia are trying to solve a mystery within their ranks: How did they promote a person to chief operating officer without knowing she has criminal records in three states, including incidents of theft, drunken driving and a shooting?
The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the massively popular Wikipedia.com, has attorneys and staff combing through records of Carolyn Doran, 45, who worked at the St. Petersburg offices as COO from January to July this year.
Doran resigned from her position this summer, and the foundation is restructuring its top ranks and seeking a new operational chief, according to executives with the Wikimedia Foundation.
Doran could not be reached for comment. Messages left with her attorneys were not responded to.
What is clear is that for an enterprise that thrives on a wealth of information, the top managers say they had too little information about their own high-level employees.
Reflecting Wikipedia's own fluid and public nature, founder Jimmy Wales and other board members are now trading bits of information about Doran on Wikipedia's own public news board.
Wales took to the Web site writing that "As the founder of Wikipedia and spiritual leader of the project from day one, I make this promise to you: If the currently underway audit turns up any stolen money, I will personally make a donation out of my own pocket to cover the loss."
Doran's case comes at an already busy time for Wikipedia. Founded in St. Petersburg in 2001 by Wales and several other technology entrepreneurs, Wikipedia has become one of the most popular sites on the Internet, now hosting 9.1 million articles in 253 languages.
This summer, the foundation decided to relocate operations to the San Francisco area to be closer to other high-tech startups and to make international travel easier.
The nonprofit organization, which operates on a budget of more than $4 million this year, survives on donations from individuals and corporations. As a nonprofit foundation, it must conduct an audit each year, and that is ongoing now, Wales said in his posting.
So far, there is no evidence of any missing money, he said. "Knowing the current state of things, I am reasonably confident that this promise to reimburse the foundation costs me nothing to make: I make it to reassure you, reader, that I stand behind this organization 100%."
Board Was Unaware Of Wrongdoing
The debate surrounding Doran began last week when a British news organization called The Register contacted Wikipedia to ask about Doran's criminal record. At the time, Wikipedia had no evidence of any wrongdoing or criminal background, board members say.
The foundation has been a relatively small organization, with about a dozen employees mainly working in St. Petersburg.
Records from Texas to Florida to Washington show:
•According to a Feb. 21, 1990, article in The Washington Post, Doran pleaded guilty in Fairfax County, Va., to "unlawful wounding" of her boyfriend at the time, Phillip Brown, shooting him with a .357 magnum in the chest as he lay in bed. Brown survived the shooting.
•Then in September 1990, she was charged with theft by check in Collin County, Texas. The charge was dismissed.
•Three months later, she was charged with driving under the influence, again in Collin County, and found guilty.
Doran came to the foundation as a bookkeeper from a temporary employment agency, said Wikimedia general counsel Mike Godwin. Although the foundation did not conduct a background check, Godwin said, the temp agency should have.
Doran ultimately rose through the ranks to chief operating officer in January.
The whole organization went through a reorganization that included a change in the role of the COO position, Godwin said. Amid it, Doran left.
In May, during her time working at the foundation, she was charged in Pinellas County with a DUI and driving on a suspended license, and released on bail. The case is pending, according to public records.
Members Try To Trace Doran's Activities
Florence Nibart-Devouard, chairwoman of the Wikimedia Foundation, wrote on the Wikipedia site on Saturday that "we had no idea she had a criminal background, or it is pretty obvious we would not have hired her."
In August, a month after leaving the foundation, Doran was charged with DUI in Pinellas County, according to sheriff records.
The Wikipedia news Web sites now host a flurry of posts and cross-posts by members tracing Doran's activities while at Wikipedia, including how she was hired, how she rose to COO and which entries she made on the encyclopedia itself.
The incident has already changed how Wikipedia handles new employees. All new applicants will undergo background checks.
"Posted by ( thefieryangel ) on December 19, 2007 at 4:49 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
It is not made clear in the article, but according to Wikimedia Foundation records themselves, Carolyn Doran began working as a Temp. bookkeeper in September 2006. She was named COO of the WMF in January 2007, only four months after she began working there as a temp. To see a complete timeline of events, including links to evidence, please visit http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=14638&st=0
One of Carolyn Doran's only Wikipedia edits was to take out a huge section of information to the article about the Free Republic article (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Free_Republic&diff=prev&oldid=100894241) in which she took out a large section of information about this conservative activist group.
Although the Wikimedia foundation has changed its hiring policies, the recently hired Deputy Director is a former board member, a German National, who was hired without any sort of search process by directly by the Director herself without any sort of AA/EOA procedure. More information can be seen here : http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=14738&st=0"
Must be asociated with scientology.
and finally, who gives a rip if a temp became coo? maybe she's good at what she does.
Oh, that's rich.
Weirdopedia.
LOL! Yeah, a real case of the American Dream coming true! Maybe shooting her ex-boyfriend in the chest with a .357 made her more qualified.
The problem with Wikipedia is that when you have an information source that anyone can edit, anyone will.
It seems that getting drunk is one of those things she is really good at.
This has got scientology written all over it.
Pong
We will need more info to determine guilt or innocence.
With what charge? The editing of Freerepublic (one of her few official activites on Wkipedia)?
Free Republic has been criticized for the frequent actions of some members consisting of threats against former President Clinton, and against the owners of a restaurant who notified authorities when an underage [[Jenna Bush]] attempted to illegally purchase liquor at the establishment. These posts were removed by the site's sysop, Jim Robinson, when they were brought to his attention. He insists that the site has had to "delete relatively few posts" over time for violations of its "no violence" policy despite Free Republic's popularity and ease of registration.{{cite web |url=http://archive.salon.com/politics/red/2001/02/09/blue/index.html |title=A poster crosses the line on Free Republic forum |date=Feb. 9, 2001|publisher=Salon.com}}{{cite web |url=http://archive.salon.com/politics/red/2001/06/06/blue/index.html |title=The jihad against Chuy's |accessdate=2006-12-11 |date=June 6, 2006 |publisher=Salon.com}} However, TJ Walker (writing in the American Politics Journal) alleges that the site acted negligently by leaving user-posted death threats visible for months at a time, including threats against former President Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and [[Dan Rather]].[http://www.americanpolitics.com/070699deaththreat.html]
If favorable this poor, victimized woman must be made whole and given control of half the internet.
If otherwise, take her out and drag her behind a pickup truck on a chain (or something like that).
I dunno. Maybe guilty of a lesser included charge. YMMV.
Hmmm. Wanted to take out references that JimRob took care of some posts that threatened violence. What motivation could that be to remove from Wikipedia...?
Shot him in the chest with a .357 and got the charge reduced to "unlawful wounding" ??? I want the name of her lawyer so I can memorize the phone number.
I lean toward “not guilty” here.
And not just that, who is her headhunter? I want to start off as a temp and make a "C" level position in 4 months. Dayum.
Hung jury, perhaps...
Then he's dead. However, with the normal quality of reporting...maybe she actually had a .38SPC chambered in the 357 and nicked him with a glancing shot. That, I believe he could survive.
Thank you.
She is innocent.
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