User:Jimbo Wales

Hallo! Welcome! My name is Jimmy Wales, and I was born in the wonderful city of Huntsville, Alabama. I founded Wikipedia in 2001. Since 2006, I have been Chair Emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation, which I founded in 2003. In 2004, I co-founded Wikia — a completely separate organization, unrelated to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation — with Angela Beesley.

Press inquiries: If your press inquiry is strictly about Wikipedia or another Wikimedia project, you can contact me directly by e-mail or you can call the Foundation office and speak to our communications person, Jay, at +1 415 839 6885. If your press inquiry is for my personal views on some general topic, contact my assistant Lisa at presswikia.com. She knows how to find me as quickly as possible. If your press inquiry is about Wikia (a for-profit company completely separate from Wikimedia/Wikipedia, extending the Wikipedia social model to become "the rest of the library"), also contact Lisa at presswikia.com.

General Wikipedia questions: You will probably be satisfied by contacting the help desk. Remember, if you're with the press, please follow the instructions above.

Complaints: The best thing to do if you have a complaint is to start with the help desk. Ask a short, friendly question, and Wikipedians will be happy to help you. Contacting me directly with a complaint should be reserved for after you have exhausted all other remedies.

Other inquiries of any kind can be sent by e-mail to jwaleswikia.com. (Press inquiries by e-mail are also welcome.)

As we move forward with software and social changes, I think it is imperative that I state clearly and forcefully my views on openness and the license. This page, like all Wikipedia pages, is a living, dynamic document, which the community and I will update and clarify as legitimate questions arise.

I should point out that these are my principles, such that I am the final judge of them. This does not mean that I will not listen to you, but it does mean that at some ultimate, fundamental level, this is how Wikipedia will be run.

(But have no fear, as you will see, below.)

1. Wikipedia's success to date is entirely a function of our open community. This community will continue to live and breathe and grow only so long as those of us who participate in it continue to Do the Right Thing. Doing the Right Thing takes many forms, but perhaps most central is the preservation of our shared vision for the NPOV and for a culture of thoughtful, diplomatic honesty.

2. Newcomers are always to be welcomed. There must be no cabal, there must be no elite, there must be no hierarchy or structure which gets in the way of this openness to newcomers. Any security measures to be implemented to protect the community against real vandals (and there are real vandals, who are already starting to affect us), should be implemented on the model of "strict scrutiny."

   "Strict scrutiny" means that any measures instituted for security must address a compelling community interest, and must be narrowly tailored to achieve that objective and no other.

   For example: rather than trust humans to identify "regulars" correctly, we must use a simple, transparent, and open algorithm, so that people are automatically given full privileges once they have been around the community for a very short period of time. The process should be virtually invisible for newcomers, so that they do not have to do anything to start contributing to the community.

3. "You can edit this page right now" is a core guiding check on everything that we do. We must respect this principle as sacred.

4. Any changes to the software must be gradual and reversible. We need to make sure that any changes contribute positively to the community, as ultimately determined by everybody in Wikipedia, in full consultation with the community consensus.

5. The GNU Free Documentation License, the openness and viral nature of it, is fundamental to the long-term success of the site. Anyone who wants to use our content in a closed, proprietary manner must be challenged. We must adhere very strictly to both the letter and spirit of the license.

6. The mailing list will remain open, well-advertised, and will be regarded as the place for meta-discussions about the nature of Wikipedia. Very limited meta-discussion of the nature of the Wikipedia should be placed on the site itself. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. The topic of Wikipedia articles should always look outward, not inward at the Wikipedia itself.

7. Anyone with a complaint should be treated with the utmost respect and dignity. A person with a complaint should be encouraged constantly to present problems in a constructive way in the open forum of the mailing list. Anyone who just complains without foundation, refusing to join the discussion, I am afraid I must simply reject and ignore. Consensus is a partnership between interested parties working positively for a common goal. I must not let the "squeaky wheel" be greased just for being a jerk.

8. Diplomacy consists of combining honesty and politeness. Both are objectively valuable moral principles. Be honest with me, but don't be mean to me. Don't misrepresent my views for your own political ends.

The original version of this statement of principles was first published on Wikipedia on 27 October 2001.

This user scored 1,000,000 (You are Jimbo Wales! We love you, man!) on the Wikipediholic test.

I like getting simple messages from people in German, but unfortunately I am not quite ready to engage in real conversations in German.

You see, Wikipedia is not only a marvelous project — it is also a marvelous interlingual project. For those who speak languages other than English, here's my name translated or transliterated to many languages...

Hello you, speaking any language different from those in the above page — just pop in, and write your own!

Really, you can! Please feel free to do so. Just do it! Make an edit! Make several edits! Make thousands of edits! After all, that's what Wikipedia is all about! (just make sure the edits conform to Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines)

Now, you all know that this is my user page. I like to keep it a certain way, but the thing is, I trust you. Yes, I really do. I trust that you'll add something here that makes me smile, that informs me, or that helps to inform others. If I have things in a certain format, I trust that you will respect that format. Actually, scratch that. Since this page is just so simple and plain, my ultimate dream is that some person who thinks it is fun would come along and make it look perfect, or close to perfect. See that link up here that says 'edit this page'? Go for it. It's a "wiki world"! — Jimbo!

N.B. Many Wikipedians have my user page on their watchlist and will edit mercilessly or even remove altogether any bad faith alterations made. This is a wiki, after all. So if you are here to vandalize, why don't you turn around and become a faithful editor? You can choose to vandalize, but if you do, you'll have to face the consequences, while you might as well become a good editor. After all, Wikipedia can always use many more faithful editors. It is, of course, a work in progress!

Comments or questions on how this page currently looks should be directed to my talk page.
-Jimmy Wales