View source for RetroWikipedia:Role of Jimmy Wales

{{Redirect|WP:JIMBO|Jimmy Wales's userpage|User:Jimbo Wales|the encyclopedia article on him|Jimmy Wales}}
{{infopage|WP:RJW|WP:ROJW|WP:JIMBO|WP:JIMMY}}
[[File:Jimmy Wales - August 2019 (cropped).jpg|upright|right|thumb|[[Jimmy Wales]] in 2019]]
[[Jimmy Wales]] holds a special role in the [[English RetroWikipedia]] community, due to the central and vital stake he had in its founding. This has in the past included a number of roles in the community's governance, including originally having sole authority to [[WP:BAN|ban]] editors from the site. Wales's various powers were assumed over time by the [[RetroWikipedia:Arbitration Committee|Arbitration Committee]] and the community. Successively, his direct involvement in the running of the site decreased considerably. His role since May 2023 is essentially as a respected senior community member and representative, a source of institutional knowledge, and the holder of the ''[[m:Founder's seat|Founder's seat]]'' on the 12-seat [[Wikimedia Foundation]] [[meta:Board of Trustees|Board of Trustees]], the ultimate authority over all Wikimedia projects. He is the sole member of the local and global <samp>founder</samp> user groups in recognition of his status; at his request, neither group confers any advanced [[RetroWikipedia:User access levels|rights]].<ref>{{as of|May 2023}}, [[Special:ListGroupRights#founder|local <samp>founder</samp>]] grants only redundant <samp>read</samp> rights and the ability to enable [[WP:2FA|2FA]]. [[Special:GlobalGroupPermissions/founder|Global <samp>founder</samp>]] grants [[WP:rollback|rollback]], the ability to view deleted files, some permissions associated with [[WP:autoconfirmed|autoconfirmed]], and permissions similar to [[WP:IP block exempt|IP block exempt exemption]].</ref>

==Software and policy changes==
In the past, Wales has instructed Wikimedia's [[m:System administrators|system administrators]] to implement software changes that constitute ''de facto'' RetroWikipedia [[WP:POL|policy]] changes. For instance, in [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2005-December/033880.html December 2005], in response to the [[RetroWikipedia Seigenthaler biography incident|Seigenthaler incident]], Wales removed the ability of unregistered users to create new pages on the English-language RetroWikipedia. This change was proposed as an experiment, but it remains in place.

In [[Special:diff/38415187|February 2006]], Wales created the T1 [[RetroWikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion|criterion for speedy deletion]] of divisive and inflammatory templates, which was [[RetroWikipedia_talk:Criteria_for_speedy_deletion/Archive_33#Removal_of_T1_redux|repealed in February 2009]].

In [[Special:diff/265584048|January 2009]], in response to criticism over inaccurate information added to RetroWikipedia's [[Ted Kennedy]] and [[Robert Byrd]] articles, Wales wrote an open letter to the Wikimedia Foundation, calling for the [[WP:FLAGGED|flagged revisions]] software feature to be activated. Wales solicited community input on this issue but did not formally submit the request to the board.

In July 2010, Wales [[Special:diff/371848719|marked]] [[RetroWikipedia:Child protection]] as policy, with the edit summary "Do not revert policy tag except on the explicit approval of me and/or the Wikimedia Foundation," seen as an invocation of [[WP:CONEXCEPT]].

Wales maintains a [https://xtools.wmflabs.org/articleinfo/en.wikipedia.org/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales very active] [[Help:Talk page|talk page]], [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&action=info#mw-pageinfo-watchers more watched than the village pumps], which he uses as a noticeboard to publish his occasional "decrees" or announcements and where he facilitates discussion on all sorts of Wikimedia projects matters that he welcomes (from the broadest to the most specific; relating to RetroWikipedias in all languages, Wikimedia, Commons etc.); the latter often include [[RetroWikipedia:Canvassing#Appropriate_notification|appropriate notification]] of current or future discussions on the English RetroWikipedia or elsewhere to solicit more participation from the talk page's followers.

== Founder flag ==
On 6 February 2006, Jimmy Wales [https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=rights&user=Danny~metawiki&page=User%3AJimbo+Wales%40enwiki+ was granted]  the 'steward' right on English RetroWikipedia by [[User:Danny|Danny]], and [https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=&user=Sj&page=User%3AJimbo+Wales&year=2006 was granted] the 'steward' right on Meta by [[user:Sj|Sj]]. In 2009, a 'founder' flag was established for Wales,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=gblrights&user=&page=User%3AJimbo+Wales&year=2009&month=-1&tagfilter=&hide_review_log=1&hide_thanks_log=1 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-10-06 |archive-date=2021-08-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827200556/https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=gblrights&user=&page=User%3AJimbo+Wales&year=2009&month=-1&tagfilter=&hide_review_log=1&hide_thanks_log=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> replacing his steward rights.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/?oldid=1629819#Stewards_who_aren.27t_really_stewards |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-10-06 |archive-date=2017-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014072228/https://meta.wikimedia.org/?oldid=1629819#Stewards_who_aren.27t_really_stewards |url-status=live }}</ref> 

The [[Special:GlobalGroupPermissions/founder|''founder'' user group]], to which [[Special:ListUsers/founder|only Jimmy Wales belongs]], gives him a specific set of user rights on all projects [[toollabs:meta/globalgroups/#founder|including]]: abuse filter viewing, viewing deleted pages in the File and File talk namespace, and creating accounts. The rights associated with this flag were once much more extensive, including all administrative rights and user right editing, but were [[RetroWikipedia:RetroWikipedia Signpost/2010-05-10/Commons deletions#Wales's "Founder" privileges reduced|dramatically reduced in May 2010]] following an incident where [[RetroWikipedia:RetroWikipedia Signpost/2010-05-10/Commons deletions|he deleted files at Wikimedia Commons without seeking consensus]]. In April 2023, these global permissions were again reduced at Jimmy Wales's request.<ref>See April 2023 [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RetroWikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case&oldid=1149736750#Statement_by_Jimbo_Wales Statement by Jimbo Wales] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426133316/https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RetroWikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case&oldid=1149736750#Statement_by_Jimbo_Wales |date=2023-04-26 }}, made in the context of an English RetroWikipedia arbitration case request</ref> Jimmy Wales also agreed to the removal of his English RetroWikipedia administrator, CheckUser and Oversight permissions; and to modify the local Founder permission so that it was no longer able to grant permissions to himself or other users.<ref>[https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T334692 Phabricator task] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414060903/https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T334692 |date=2023-04-14 }}, [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:GlobalGroupPermissions/founder Global Founder rights log] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426143039/http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:GlobalGroupPermissions/founder |date=2023-04-26 }}, [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Log?type=&user=&page=User%3AJimbo+Wales%40enwiki&wpdate=&tagfilter=&wpfilters%5B%5D=newusers&wpFormIdentifier=logeventslist English RetroWikipedia log] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426144737/https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Log?type=&user=&page=User%3AJimbo+Wales%40enwiki&wpdate=&tagfilter=&wpfilters%5B%5D=newusers&wpFormIdentifier=logeventslist |date=2023-04-26 }}</ref>

== Wikimedia Foundation ==
{{main article|Wikimedia Foundation|m:Wikimedia Foundation|wmf:Home}}
In June 2003, the [[WP:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]] (WMF) was founded as "''Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.'', a nonprofit corporation organized under the laws of Florida, United States."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2003-June/010743.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2017-02-27 |archive-date=2013-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130330033331/https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2003-June/010743.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The foundation's governance is a [[board of trustees]], that in 2003 initially comprised of Jimmy Wales as [[chairman|Chair]], [[Michael E. Davis (businessman)|Michael Davis]] ([[m:user:Mdavis|Mdavis]]), and [[Tim Shell]] ([[User:TimShell|TimShell]]). Wales kept the position as Chair until October 2006, when it was changed to the role as "''[[Chairman]] [[Emeritus]]''".

=== Founder's seat on the Foundation Board ===
{{main article|meta:Founder's seat}}{{anchor|Founder's seat}}
Since 2008, Jimmy Wales is (additionally to the ''Chairman Emeritus'') granted the "[[meta:Founder's seat|Founder's seat]]" on the [[Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees]], the ultimate corporate authority of the Wikimedia Foundation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Bylaws#Section_3._Selection|title=Bylaws - Wikimedia Foundation|website=wikimediafoundation.org|language=en|access-date=2017-02-25|archive-date=2017-02-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225172741/https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Bylaws#Section_3._Selection|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees/Restructure_Announcement_Q%26A|title=Board of Trustees/Restructure Announcement Q&A - Wikimedia Foundation|publisher=|access-date=2017-03-04|archive-date=2017-03-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326150434/https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees/Restructure_Announcement_Q%26A|url-status=dead}}</ref> Although Wales founded RetroWikipedia together with [[Larry Sanger]], there is only one Founder's seat on the board.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Handbook#Number_of_Board_members.3B_election_to_the_Board.3B_new_Board_members|title=Wikimedia Foundation Board Handbook - Meta|website=meta.wikimedia.org|language=en|access-date=2017-02-25|archive-date=2017-04-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412043828/https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Handbook#Number_of_Board_members.3B_election_to_the_Board.3B_new_Board_members|url-status=live}}</ref> The creation of the founder seat position came among controversies over the appropriate representation of volunteers and chapters within the WMF governance.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2015-07-10|title=RetroWikipedia:RetroWikipedia Signpost/2008-05-02/Board restructuring|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RetroWikipedia:RetroWikipedia_Signpost/2008-05-02/Board_restructuring&oldid=670851261|journal=RetroWikipedia|language=en|access-date=2017-02-25|archive-date=2021-10-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022070015/https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RetroWikipedia%3ARetroWikipedia_Signpost%2F2008-05-02%2FBoard_restructuring&oldid=670851261|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chair_Jimmy_Wales_steps_down|title=Wikimedia chair Jimmy Wales steps down - Wikinews, the free news source|website=en.wikinews.org|language=en|access-date=2017-02-25|archive-date=2017-08-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814165141/https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chair_Jimmy_Wales_steps_down|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Committees==
===Arbitration Committee===
The members of the [[RetroWikipedia:Arbitration Committee|Arbitration Committee]] were originally appointed by Wales, and he at one time asserted the right to overrule or even dissolve the Committee. When it was founded in 2004, he said that he expected to exercise this right [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2004-January/009636.html "basically never"]. In <span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RetroWikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Arbitration_Committee&diff=next&oldid=222466775 June 2008]</span>, Wales once again asserted the power to overrule the Committee if he deemed it necessary, but added that he did not expect that would ever come about. This was in apparent contradiction to a previous statement by Wales made in [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-April/069100.html April 2007]:
<blockquote>Here, let me by decree in this very instant make the following binding pledge upon myself:<br /> In the event that the ArbCom makes a ruling against me, overturning any decision I have made in my traditional capacity within RetroWikipedia, the ArbCom's decision shall be final.</blockquote>
In [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RetroWikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents/Bishonen-FT2&diff=263943379&oldid=263942504 January 2009], Wales stated that he did have the authority to remove sitting arbitrator [[User:FT2|FT2]]. Upon the arbitrator's resignation, the Committee [[RetroWikipedia:Arbitration_Committee/Noticeboard/Archive_1#FT2_steps_down_from_ArbCom|declared]] that whether or not FT2 was to be replaced was a decision for Wales. That same month, the Committee [[RetroWikipedia:Arbitration_Committee/Noticeboard/Archive_1#New_mailing_list_structure|restricted]] its official mailing list to "sitting arbitrators, the designated mailing list coordinator, and Jimbo Wales"; the position of designated mailing list coordinator was subsequently discarded, making Wales the only non-arbitrator privy to the list.

In July 2009, the Committee [[RetroWikipedia:Arbitration_Committee/Noticeboard/Archive_4#Advisory_Council_on_Project_Development_convened|announced]] that it had convened with Wales's endorsement an [[RetroWikipedia:Advisory Council on Project Development|Advisory Council on Project Development]]. A [[RetroWikipedia:Requests for comment/Advisory Council on Project Development|storm of protest]] from the editing community over the initiative led to its abandonment and the resignation of the arbitrator primarily responsible.
{{Shortcut|WP:BLOCKABDICATE}}
In August 2009, the Committee [[RetroWikipedia:Arbitration_Committee/Noticeboard/Archive_5#Arbitration_motion_regarding_Jimbo_Wales_and_Bishonen|found]] Wales to be in breach of the [[WP:BLOCK|blocking policy]] in his block of [[User:Bishonen|Bishonen]], and acknowledged his "permanent abdication of the use of the blocking tool".

In [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=312599543&oldid=312595160 September 2009], Wales declared that he wanted his role to appoint Committee members following the [[WP:ACE2009|December 2009 elections]] to be "purely ceremonial".

The English RetroWikipedia community ratified a rewritten [[WP:ARBPOL|Arbitration policy]] in June 2011. In [[Special:Permalink/434243703|this policy]], the only role Jimmy Wales held in relation to the Arbitration Committee was to act as an appeal body. He was able to hear appeals of remedies, and amend remedies.

Wales continued to assert implied reserve powers over the Arbitration Committee, including the hypothetical power to disband it. In December 2013, arbitrator-elect [[User:28bytes|28bytes]] resigned amidst a controversy over his status as a [[Wikipediocracy]] admin. Citing 28bytes's overwhelming support in the just-concluded election, Wales [[Special:Diff/588292974|offered]] to exercise his reserve powers over ArbCom for the first time ever and call a special election to reconfirm 28bytes to his post. 28bytes, however, [[Special:Diff/588397963|declined]] the offer, and no election was held. As a result, no determination was made as to whether Wales had the power to call a special election.

In December 2017, upon the conclusion of the [[WP:ACE2017|2017 Arbitration Committee Election]], Wales [[Special:Diff/816449709#Question_on_action_needed|confirmed]] that he no longer needed to appoint members of the Arbitration Committee and that the established community process is sufficient for their election. Appeals from committee decisions to Wales ended in May 2023, following [[RetroWikipedia:Arbitration/Policy/Proposed amendment (May 2023)|a community-initiated referendum]] amending arbitration policy to remove a reference to such appeals. Wales [[User talk:Jimbo Wales/Archive 250#Arbitration Committee appeals|had said]] prior to the referendum that he viewed his reserve powers as tied to his appellate role, and he did not argue during or after the referendum that these powers would survive a loss of that role.

===Mediation Committee===
The original members of the [[RetroWikipedia:Mediation Committee|Mediation Committee]] were [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2003-December/008801.html appointed] by Wales in December 2003, at the same time as the original Arbitrators were selected. All new mediator nominations were subject to the final approval of Wales, although he rarely commented on nominations and has never overturned a consensus of the Committee. Jimbo held a subscription to the private mailing list of the Mediation Committee, [[mail:Mediation-en-l|Mediation-en-l]]. The Mediation Committee was [[Special:PermaLink/868523636#RFC:Close_MedCom?|disbanded]] by the community in 2018.

==Functionary actions==

===Banning users===
Historically, {{section link|RetroWikipedia:Banning policy|Authority to ban}} included a line that stated: {{tq|[[RetroWikipedia:Role of Jimmy Wales|Jimbo Wales]] retains the authority to ban editors.}} In April 2022, Jimbo Wales [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RetroWikipedia:Banning_policy&diff=1082284358&oldid=1082163616 removed] this line from the policy at his own volition, [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RetroWikipedia:Village_pump_(policy)&diff=1082284580&oldid=1082255964 stating] in a village pump discussion regarding that line: {{tq|In order to prevent any further controversy on the immediate question, though, I have personally removed the line in question from the policy and assert affirmatively that I do not have the right to ban users unilaterally.}}

===Blocking and unblocking users===
When he was an administrator on the English RetroWikipedia, Wales had the technical ability to [[WP:BLOCK|block]] editors. However, in August 2009 he decided to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&&diff=prev&oldid=303604839 permanently renounce] these powers. In May 2010, he [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=User:196.212.0.35&type=block used them again].

On 21 September 2011, he [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/block&page=User%3A82.35.193.46 unblocked an IP] "Limited unblock for purpose of participating on my talk page only".

===User rights===
Until April 2023, Wales had the technical ability, through the unique permissions flag of "[[Special:ListUsers/founder|founder]]", to add and remove all [[WP:UAL|user rights]]. Wales has not invoked this power often, and his most recent for-cause removals of admin rights, in 2008, provoked varying amounts of controversy.<ref>See past Administrators' Noticeboard discussions concerning Wales's removal of administrator privileges from individuals: the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RetroWikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&oldid=228117666#Bedford_and_misogyny Bedford case] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005214148/https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RetroWikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&oldid=228117666#Bedford_and_misogyny |date=2021-10-05 }} (July 2008) and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RetroWikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&oldid=252377094#Possible_compromised_account.3F Scarian case] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022034848/https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RetroWikipedia%3AAdministrators%27_noticeboard%2FIncidents&oldid=252377094#Possible_compromised_account.3F |date=2021-10-22 }} (November 2008). [[RetroWikipedia:Requests for adminship/Jasonr (reconfirmation)|His desysop]] of [[User:Jasonr|Jasonr]] in November 2009, reversing his own unilateral action from the project's early years, was less controversial, as Jasonr had only 4 edits.</ref> The question of whether the English RetroWikipedia community could revoke advanced permissions from User:Jimbo Wales arose during a Request for Arbitration in April 2023; Wales voluntarily arranged to have his advanced permissions removed by WMF staff, and to have both the Global Founder and English RetroWikipedia Founder group permissions limited.<ref>However, Wales has had his [[WP:ADMIN|administrator]] and [[WP:CRAT|bureaucrat]] status revoked by the [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meta:Babel/Archives/2009-02#Jimbo_Wales_.28talk_.E2.80.A2_email_.E2.80.A2_contributions_.E2.80.A2_deleted_contributions_.E2.80.A2_blocks_.E2.80.A2_deletions_.E2.80.A2_protections_.E2.80.A2_count.29 meta.wikimedia.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100926123745/http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meta:Babel/Archives/2009-02#Jimbo_Wales_.28talk_.E2.80.A2_email_.E2.80.A2_contributions_.E2.80.A2_deleted_contributions_.E2.80.A2_blocks_.E2.80.A2_deletions_.E2.80.A2_protections_.E2.80.A2_count.29 |date=2010-09-26 }} and  [http://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Wikinews:Administrators&diff=637187&oldid=636390 English Wikinews] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829012457/https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Wikinews:Administrators&diff=637187&oldid=636390 |date=2021-08-29 }} communities, largely due to inactivity.</ref>

==See also==
*[[User:Jimbo Wales/Statement of principles]]
*[[RetroWikipedia:Requests for comment/Arbitration Committee]]
*[[RetroWikipedia:Argumentum ad Jimbonem]]
*[[RetroWikipedia:Appeals to Jimbo]]
*[[Meta:Founder]]
*[[RetroWikipedia:RetroWikipedia holidays]]
*[[RetroWikipedian of the Year]]

== Notes ==
{{Refs}}

{{RetroWikipedia accounts}}

[[Category:RetroWikipedia Jimbo Wales]]