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| image = Jimmy Wales.jpg | image = Jimmy Wales.jpg
| caption = Jimmy Wales (April 2006) | caption = Jimmy Wales (April 2006)
| birth_date = <!-- Please, reinsert the birth date ONLY is a good source is available -->
| birth_date = ], ] <!-- See NNDB link or try http://wikimediafoundation.org/Wikimedia_Quarto/2/En-8 for very close. His 40th B-day is last day of Wikimania 2006 and you think nobody is going to notice?!? -->
| birth_place = ], ] | birth_place = ], ]
| death_date = | death_date =
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| website = <!-- Please don't turn this into an internal link, see below--> | website = <!-- Please don't turn this into an internal link, see below-->
| footnotes = | footnotes =
}}'''Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales''' is the founder and president of the ] and, together with ], co-founder of ] He is the ] for both organizations.<ref name="wmfbylaws">{{cite web|author=Wikimedia Foundation Inc.|title=Bylaws|publisher=wikimediafoundation.org|url=http://www.wikimediafoundation.org/bylaws.pdf|accessdate=2006-05-21}}</ref> He previously made his living as a speculator in the ]s, which made him wealthy. In May 2006, Wales was named one of '']'' magazine's 100 most influential people.<ref name=influence>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187286,00.html|title=Jimmy Wales: The (Proud) Amateur Who Created Misplaced Pages|date=]|accessdate=2006-04-30|last=Anderson|first=Chris}}</ref> }}'''Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales''' <!-- Please, reinsert the birth date ONLY is a good source is available --> is the founder and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the ],<ref name="wmfbylaws">{{cite web|author=Wikimedia Foundation Inc.|title=Bylaws|publisher=wikimediafoundation.org|url=http://www.wikimediafoundation.org/bylaws.pdf|accessdate=2006-05-21}}</ref> a ] corporation that operates the free online encyclopedia, ], and several other ] projects. He is also founder of the for-profit company ], which is legally unrelated to Wikimedia.


In May 2006, Wales was named one of '']'' magazine's 100 most influential people.<ref name=influence>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187286,00.html|title=Jimmy Wales: The (Proud) Amateur Who Created Misplaced Pages|date=]|accessdate=2006-04-30|last=Anderson|first=Chris}}</ref>
⚫ ==Early life and education==
Wales was born in ], and his legal ] is Jimmy, not "James". His father, now retired, was a ] manager.


⚫ ==Early life and education==
Wales' mother, Doris, and grandmother, Erma, ran a very small ], as he put it "in the tradition of the ]" and its philosophy of education was significantly influenced by the ]. Wales attended this ] and his mother and grandmother were his primary teachers. There were four children in his grade most of the time, so the school grouped together first through fourth grades, and fifth through eighth grades. As such, he had a fair amount of freedom to study whatever he liked and he spent many hours poring over the '']'' during this time. <ref name="qanda">{{cite web|title= Q&A: Jimmy Wales, Misplaced Pages founder|author=]|url=http://qanda.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1042|work=]|accessdate=2006-03-10}}</ref><ref name="newsweek1">{{cite news|url=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6298340|title=It's Like a Blog, But It's a Wiki|author=Brad Stone|publisher=]|date=]|accessdate=2006-05-20}}</ref>
Wales was born in ]. His father, now retired, was a ] manager, while his mother, Doris, and grandmother, Erma, ran a small ], "in the tradition of the ],"{{fact}} <!--quotations need a reference-->where Wales was educated. There were four children in his grade most of the time, so the school grouped together first through fourth grades, and fifth through eighth grades.


A 2005 ''Time'' magazine article characterized this educational experience as ] and Wales, while disagreeing with that characterization, acknowledged that it was "in a sense, similar."<ref>{{cite news|title=It's a Wiki, Wiki World|author=Taylor, Chris|publisher=]|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1066904-3,00.html|accessdate=2005-05-29}}</ref> A 2005 ''Time'' magazine article incorrectly reported that Wales was ].<ref>{{cite news|title=It's a Wiki, Wiki World|author=Taylor, Chris|publisher=]|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1066904-3,00.html|accessdate=2005-05-29}}</ref> Strictly speaking he was not, but he did note that his schooling experience was "in a sense similar",{{fact}} <!--needs a reference-->since his mother and grandmother were his primary teachers. The school's philosophy of education was significantly influenced by the ], and students had a fair amount of freedom to study whatever they liked. Wales has said that he spent many hours poring over the '']'' during this time.<ref name="newsweek1">{{cite news|url=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6298340|title=It's Like a Blog, But It's a Wiki|author=Brad Stone|publisher=]|date=]|accessdate=2006-05-20}}</ref>


===Preparatory school and university=== ===Preparatory school and university===
After eighth grade, Wales went to ], a ]. There, he was exposed to its modern computer labs and other technology equipment. He later claimed that the expense of this school was burdensome for his family. He received his ] from ] and his ] from the ] both in ]. Later, he took courses offered in the ] finance programs at the University of Alabama and ]. He taught at both universities during his postgraduate studies, but did not write the ] required to earn a Ph.D. After eighth grade, Wales went to ], a ], which was an early supporter of computer labs and other technology for student use. Wales has said that the school was expensive for his family, but that education was regarded as important. "Education was always a passion in my household … you know, the very traditional approach to knowledge and learning and establishing that as a base for a good life."{{fact}} <!--needs a reference--> He received his ] from ] and his ] from the ]. <!--do we know what kind of Master's and in what subject?-->Later, he took courses offered in the ] ] programs at the University of Alabama and ]. He taught at both universities during his postgraduate studies, but did not write the ] required to earn a Ph.D.


==Career==
==Finance and Internet career==
Wales went on to become a ] working for ] at ] Within two years (1994 to 1996) had earned enough to "support himself and his wife for the rest of their lives."<ref>{{cite web|title=The Book Stops Here|author= Pink, Daniel H|publisher=]|url=http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/wiki.html?pg=3|accessdate=2006-06-28}}</ref> Wales went on to become a ] and ] ] in ], and within six years had earned enough to "support himself and his wife for the rest of their lives."<ref>{{cite web|title=The Book Stops Here|author= Pink, Daniel H|publisher=]|url=http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/wiki.html?pg=3|accessdate=2006-06-28}}</ref>
Wired magazine chose to characterize his earnings as having "made a bundle ] on currency fluctuations." <ref> </ref>


In 1996, Wales moved to ] and founded a search portal called ], which also sold adult content until mid-2005. He was asked in a September 2005 '']'' interview about his previous involvement with what the interviewer, ], called "dirty pictures". In response, Wales described Bomis as a "guy-oriented search engine."<ref name="qanda"/> In an interview with '']'', he also explained that he disputed the categorization of Bomis content as "soft-core pornography": "If ] movies are ], it was porn. In other words, no, it was not."<ref>{{cite web|author=Cadenhead, Rogers|title=Misplaced Pages Founder Looks Out for Number 1|url=http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench/news/2828/wikipedia-founder-looks-out-number-1|accessdate=2005-12-19}}</ref> He is no longer actively involved in the company. In 1996, Wales founded a search portal called ], which also sold adult content until mid-2005. He was asked in a September 2005 '']'' interview about his previous involvement with what the interviewer, ], called "dirty pictures". In response, Wales described Bomis as a "guy-oriented search engine."<ref name="qanda">{{cite web|title=Interview with Jimmy Wales|author=]|url=http://qanda.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1042|work=]|accessdate=2006-03-10}}</ref>
<!-- I do not remember the correct citation form for an interview right now, someone might need to correct this -->
In an interview with '']'', he also explained that he disputed the categorization of Bomis content as "soft-core pornography": "If ] movies are ], it was porn. In other words, no, it was not."<ref>{{cite web|author=Cadenhead, Rogers|title=Misplaced Pages Founder Looks Out for Number 1|url=http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench/news/2828/wikipedia-founder-looks-out-number-1|accessdate=2005-12-19}}</ref> He is no longer actively involved in the company.


⚫ In March 2000, he started a peer-reviewed, open-content encyclopedia, ] ("the 💕"), and hired ] to be its editor-in-chief. While Wales was CEO, Bomis donated over ]100,000 (primarily through salaries and providing free Internet access) to ] and ], and continued supporting them into 2002.
⚫ ==Misplaced Pages and the Wikimedia Foundation Inc.==


⚫ ==Misplaced Pages and the Wikimedia Foundation==
], ], during a shooting break of a documentary film on Misplaced Pages created by French-German TV station ].]] ], ], during a shooting break of a documentary film on Misplaced Pages created by French-German TV station ].]]
{{main|History of Misplaced Pages}} {{main|History of Misplaced Pages}}
Using a wiki to create an encyclopedia was publicly proposed by ] on ], ], and Wales worked on setting one up, starting it on ], ]. Misplaced Pages was at that point a ]-based site intended for collaboration on early encyclopedic content for submission to ] for peer review, but Misplaced Pages's rapid growth soon made it the dominant project and Nupedia was mothballed. Sanger dropped out of the project in 2002, posting a resignation on his Misplaced Pages user page.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/User:Larry_Sanger|title=User Page|author=]|accessdate=2006-04-12}}</ref> He has since criticized Wales's approach to the project,<ref>{{cite web|author=]|title=Why Misplaced Pages Must Jettison Its Anti-Elitism|publisher=]|url=http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/30/142458/25|date=]}}</ref> describing Wales as "decidedly anti-elitist".
⚫ In March 2000, Wales started a peer-reviewed, open-content encyclopedia, ] ("the 💕"), and hired ] to be its editor-in-chief. While Wales was CEO, Bomis donated over ]100,000 (primarily through salaries and providing free Internet access) to ] and ], and continued supporting them into 2002.


Wales later took issue with this description in a C-SPAN interview,<ref name="qanda" /> describing himself as not anti-elitist but "perhaps anti-credentialist. To me the key thing is getting it right. And if a person's really smart and they're doing fantastic work, I don't care if they're a high school kid or a Harvard professor."
The concept of using a ] to create an online encyclopedia was publicly proposed by ] on ], ]. Wales started to set one up on ], ]. When first operational, Misplaced Pages was a ]-based site intended for collaboration on early encyclopedic content for submission to ] for peer review. Sanger coined the name "Misplaced Pages" for the project. Misplaced Pages's rapid growth soon made it the dominant project and Nupedia was mothballed.


⚫ In mid-2003, Wales set up the ], a ]-based ], to support Misplaced Pages and its younger sibling projects. He appointed himself and two business partners who are not active Wikipedians to the five-member board; the remaining two members are elected community representatives. This move relieved him and Bomis from the increasing financial burden of supporting Misplaced Pages while keeping his leadership position.
Sanger dropped out of the project in 2002, posting a resignation on his Misplaced Pages user page.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/User:Larry_Sanger|title=User Page|author=]|accessdate=2006-04-12}}</ref> He has since criticized Wales's approach to the project, describing Wales as "decidedly anti-elitist".<ref>{{cite web|author=]|title=Why Misplaced Pages Must Jettison Its Anti-Elitism|publisher=]|url=http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/30/142458/25|date=]}}</ref> Wales later took issue with this description in a C-SPAN interview,<ref name="qanda" /> describing himself as not anti-elitist but "perhaps anti-credentialist." He added: "To me the key thing is getting it right. And if a person's really smart and they're doing fantastic work, I don't care if they're a high school kid or a Harvard professor." Wales does care if the person has been banned by himself, his appointed Arbitration Committee or blocked by the Foundation volunteer "administrators".


⚫ In 2004, Wales was quoted as saying that he had spent around US$500,000 on the establishment and operation of his Wiki projects. By the end of its February 2005 fund drive, the Wikimedia Foundation was supported entirely by grants and donations. Wales has become increasingly involved with promoting and speaking about its projects, and to this end, he travels to conferences and Wikimedia functions, such as "Wikimeets" and ]. The Foundation's travel budget was US$25,000 in 2005; how much of this total was used by Wales himself has not been published.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wikimediafoundation.org/Budget/2005|title=Wikimedia Foundation's 2005 Budget|accessdate=2006-04-12}}</ref> On ], ], he gave a talk at ]'s LongNow Foundation entitled "Vision: Misplaced Pages and the Future of Free Culture," where he discussed the philosophical underpinnings of Misplaced Pages, his support for the ] movement, and the difficulties the Wikimedia Foundation may confront as it grows in size.
{{selfref|See also ]}}


===Controversy===
Wales' personality and leadership style set the tone for this central aspect of the ] process both of content creation and policy enforcement. The community-defined policies remain in constant flux, in particular on sensitive community issues such as whether one administrator is allowed to ever remove the block of a editor if such a block was imposed by some other active administrator. Wales' worldview has an impact upon core societal goals within the Foundation such as ], presumptions of ], ] and ] or lack thereof.
While Larry Sanger referred to himself as the co-founder of Misplaced Pages as early as January 2002,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/Wikipedia_and_why_it_matters|author=]|title=What Misplaced Pages is and why it matters|accessdate=2006-04-12 }}</ref> and so did the Misplaced Pages community,<ref>When Wales dropped his initial opposition to having an article about himself (], ]) the article that was written said that he "is an Internet entrepreneur, most famous for his founding, with Larry Sanger, of Misplaced Pages ... Wales became famous after he co-founded Misplaced Pages in January 15, 2001". ({{cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Jimmy_Wales&oldid=5755427|author=Various Authors|title=Jimmy Wales|date=]|accessdate=2006-06-06}}) This stood unchallenged until ], ].</ref> Wales says he has always called himself the sole founder of Misplaced Pages. The press frequently referred to Sanger and Wales as co-founders, but this began to change after Sanger's departure. For example, a 2004 '']'' magazine article stated that " created Misplaced Pages", without mentioning Sanger.<ref name="newsweek1" /> In 2006, Wales told the '']'' that "it's preposterous" to call Sanger the co-founder.<ref>{{cite web|author=Janet Knott|title=Bias, sabotage haunt Misplaced Pages's free world|url=http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/02/12/bias_sabotage_haunt_wikipedias_free_world/?page=4|publisher=]|date=]|accessdate=2006-04-12}}</ref> Sanger has strongly contested this assertion, claiming that, in addition to developing Misplaced Pages in its early phase, he also had the idea of applying the wiki concept to the building of a 💕. It is undisputed that he also coined the name of the project. He has said: "I remember very clearly the evening when I got the idea for Misplaced Pages." He nevertheless ascribed the broader idea to Wales: "To be clear, the idea of an open source, collaborative encyclopedia, open to contribution by ordinary people, was entirely Jimmy's, not mine, and the funding was entirely by Bomis. (…) The actual development of this encyclopedia was the task he gave me to work on."<ref>{{cite news|author=]|title=The Early History of Nupedia and Misplaced Pages: A Memoir|publisher=]|url=http://features.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/18/164213|date=]|accessdate=2005-04-18}}</ref> Wales has credited a Bomis employee named ] as the person who "initially came up with the idea to make the encyclopedia wiki-based."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy||title=Edit to Misplaced Pages article "Jimmy Wales"|publisher=]|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Jimmy_Wales&diff=next&oldid=29849184|date=2005-12-02}}</ref>


⚫ In late 2005, a related controversy arose regarding Wales and the Misplaced Pages entry on himself. After ''Wired'' Magazine picked up on work from ], Wales confirmed that he had (visibly and under his own name) edited his own biography on Misplaced Pages, a practice generally frowned upon within the Misplaced Pages community and even by Wales himself.<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title=Jimmy Wales response in "Daniel C. Boyer on wikipedia" thread|work=wikien-l mailing list|url=http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=wikien-l&m=105999934110753&w=2|date=]|accessdate=2006-06-09}}</ref>
⚫ In mid-2003, Wales moved to ] and set up the ] to support Misplaced Pages and its newer sibling or "sister" projects. He appointed himself and two business partners to the five-member board; the remaining two members are elected community representatives. He then ceased the financial support that he and Bomis had been providing to Misplaced Pages.


⚫ Wales's edits<ref>Jimmy Wales' edits of , , and , 2005.</ref> were in line with his view that Larry Sanger should not be considered a co-founder of Misplaced Pages. When some other editors undid his edits, Wales repeated them twice. His edits changed specific references to Misplaced Pages's origins as well as the description of Bomis. Wales said in the ''Wired'' interview, "People shouldn't do it, including me. I wish I hadn't done it."<ref name="wirednews">{{cite web|author=Hansen, Evan|title=Misplaced Pages Founder Edits Own Bio|work=Wired News|publisher=Wired|url=http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69880,00.html|accessdate=2006-02-14}}</ref> The article said: "Wales has also repeatedly revised the description of a search site he founded called Bomis, which included a section with adult photos called 'Bomis Babes'."<ref name="wirednews" />
⚫ In 2004, Wales was quoted as saying that he had spent around US$500,000 on the establishment and operation of his Wiki projects. By the end of its February 2005 fund drive, the Wikimedia Foundation was supported entirely by grants and donations. Wales has become increasingly involved with promoting and speaking about its projects, and to this end, he travels to conferences and Wikimedia functions, such as "Wikimeets" and ]. The Foundation's travel budget was US$25,000 in 2005; how much of this total was used by Wales himself has not been published.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wikimediafoundation.org/Budget/2005|title=Wikimedia Foundation's 2005 Budget|accessdate=2006-04-12}}</ref> On ], ], he gave a talk at ]'s LongNow Foundation entitled "Vision: Misplaced Pages and the Future of Free Culture," where he discussed the philosophical underpinnings of Misplaced Pages, his support for the ] movement, and the difficulties the Wikimedia Foundation may confront as it grows in size.


===Motivations behind Misplaced Pages=== ===Motivations behind Misplaced Pages===
In an interview with ], Wales explained the purpose of Misplaced Pages by saying, "Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="Misplaced Pages Founder Jimmy Wales Replies"| publisher=]|url=http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/28/1351230|date=]|accessdate=2006-06-07}}</ref> In an interview with ], Wales explained the purpose of Misplaced Pages by saying, "Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="Misplaced Pages Founder Jimmy Wales Replies"| publisher=]|url=http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/28/1351230|date=]|accessdate=2006-06-07}}</ref> Likewise, in a December 2005 appeal for donations to Wikimedia, Wales explained his motivation for his Misplaced Pages work by saying "I'm doing this for the child in Africa."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="A Personal Appeal from Misplaced Pages Founder Jimmy Wales"|publisher=wikimediafoundation.org|url=http://wikimediafoundation.org/Personal_Appeal|accessdate=2006-06-01}}</ref>

⚫ In a December 2005 appeal for donations to Wikimedia, Wales explained his motivation for his Misplaced Pages work by saying "I'm doing this for the child in Africa."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="A Personal Appeal from Misplaced Pages Founder Jimmy Wales"|publisher=wikimediafoundation.org|url=http://wikimediafoundation.org/Personal_Appeal|accessdate=2006-06-01}}</ref> In response to critics who pointed out that these motivations were inconsistent with Wales' Objectivist worldview (see "]" section in this article), he replied, "Do we have a source for me claiming that my 'Misplaced Pages activities do not serve a selfish end'? No, we do not. (…) For what is it worth, I think it is in my rational self-interest to care about what happens to kids in Africa, and far from being destructive of my self-interest, it is beneficial to my self-interest."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="Talk:Jimmy Wales"|work=en.wikipedia.org|publisher=]|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Talk:Jimmy_Wales&diff=55321582&oldid=55105689|accessdate=2006-06-07}}</ref>

===Attribution dispute===

Wales initially opposed having an article about himself on Misplaced Pages. On ], ], he dropped this initial opposition and the article that was written said that he "is an Internet entrepreneur, most famous for his founding, with Larry Sanger, of Misplaced Pages ... Wales became famous after he co-founded Misplaced Pages in January 15, 2001".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/Wikipedia_and_why_it_matters|author=]|title=What Misplaced Pages is and why it matters|accessdate=2006-04-12 }}</ref><ref>
({{cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Jimmy_Wales&oldid=5755427|author=Various Authors|title=Jimmy Wales|date=]|accessdate=2006-06-06}})</ref> Larry Sanger referred to himself as the co-founder of Misplaced Pages as early as January 2002, and so did the Misplaced Pages community. In the early period, the press usually referred to Sanger and Wales as co-founders.

The press became increasingly more careless about assigning attribution to Sanger. For example, a 2004 '']'' magazine article stated that " created Misplaced Pages", without mentioning Sanger.<ref name="newsweek1" />

The above was the ] until ], ] when Wales indicated that he has always called himself the sole founder of Misplaced Pages. Sanger then needlessly reminded Wales that, in addition to developing Misplaced Pages in its early phase, Sanger also had the idea of applying the wiki concept to the building of a 💕. Sanger said: "I remember very clearly the evening when I got the idea for Misplaced Pages." He conceded other broad ideas to Wales: "To be clear, the idea of an open source, collaborative encyclopedia, open to contribution by ordinary people, was entirely Jimmy's, not mine, and the funding was entirely by Bomis. (…) The actual development of this encyclopedia was the task he gave me to work on."<ref>{{cite news|author=]|title=The Early History of Nupedia and Misplaced Pages: A Memoir|publisher=]|url=http://features.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/18/164213|date=]|accessdate=2005-04-18}}</ref>

In early 2006, Wales told the '']'' that "it's preposterous" to call Sanger the co-founder, but he has since then declined to comment about the matter.<ref>{{cite web|author=Janet Knott|title=Bias, sabotage haunt Misplaced Pages's free world (see p.4)|url=http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/02/12/bias_sabotage_haunt_wikipedias_free_world/|publisher=]|date=]|accessdate=2006-04-12}}</ref>

===Autobiography controversies===

⚫ In late 2005, a controversy arose regarding Wales and the Misplaced Pages entry on himself. After ''Wired'' Magazine picked up on work from ], Wales confirmed that he had (visibly and under his own name) edited his own biography on Misplaced Pages, a practice generally frowned upon within the Misplaced Pages community and even by Wales himself.<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title=Jimmy Wales response in "Daniel C. Boyer on wikipedia" thread|work=wikien-l mailing list|url=http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=wikien-l&m=105999934110753&w=2|date=]|accessdate=2006-06-09}}</ref>

⚫ Wales's edits were in line with his view that Larry Sanger should not be considered a co-founder of Misplaced Pages.<ref>Jimmy Wales' edits of , , and , 2005.</ref> When some other editors undid his edits, Wales repeated them twice. His edits changed specific references to Misplaced Pages's origins as well as the description of Bomis. Wales said in the ''Wired'' interview, "People shouldn't do it, including me. I wish I hadn't done it."<ref name="wirednews">{{cite web|author=Hansen, Evan|title=Misplaced Pages Founder Edits Own Bio|work=Wired News|publisher=Wired|url=http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69880,00.html|accessdate=2006-02-14}}</ref> The article said: "Wales has also repeatedly revised the description of a search site he founded called Bomis, which included a section with adult photos called 'Bomis Babes'."<ref name="wirednews" />

Wales has credited a Bomis employee named ] as the person who "initially came up with the idea to make the encyclopedia wiki-based."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy||title=Edit to Misplaced Pages article "Jimmy Wales"|publisher=]|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Jimmy_Wales&diff=next&oldid=29849184|date=2005-12-02}}</ref> This claim is disputed by Sanger.


⚫ In response to criticisms about the inconsistency of these motivations with Wales' adherence to ]'s ] (see ] in this article), Wales replied, "Do we have a source for me claiming that my 'Misplaced Pages activities do not serve a selfish end'? No, we do not. (…) For what is it worth, I think it is in my rational self-interest to care about what happens to kids in Africa, and far from being destructive of my self-interest, it is beneficial to my self-interest."<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="Talk:Jimmy Wales"|work=en.wikipedia.org|publisher=]|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Talk:Jimmy_Wales&diff=55321582&oldid=55105689|accessdate=2006-06-07}}</ref>
This controversy was soon overshadowed by the ], in which Wales made serveral public appearances with the semi-retired journalist.


==Philosophical and political views== ==Philosophical and political views==
Wales has been a passionate adherent of the ] of ]. He is a vocal supporter of ] and Kelley's faction within the movement, sometimes leading to communication difficulties with other Objectivists. <ref>{{cite newsgroup|author=Wales, Jimmy|title=Re: Anyone here care about ideas?|date=] ]|newsgroup=alt.philosophy.objectivism|url=http://groups.google.com/group/alt.philosophy.objectivism/browse_thread/thread/e64022f15de23f31/bfb2b00ad61301c7?q=&rnum=2#bfb2b00ad61301c7}}</ref> When asked by Brian Lamb in his appearance on '']'' about Rand, Wales cited "the virtue of independence" as important to him personally. When asked if he could trace "the Ayn Rand connection" to having a political philosophy at the time of the interview, Wales reluctantly labeled himself a ], qualifying his remark by referring to the ] as "lunatics" and citing "freedom, liberty, basically individual rights, that idea of dealing with other people in a matter that is not initiating force against them" as his guiding principles.<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="Q & A: Jimmy Wales"|url=http://www.q-and-a.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1042|accessdate=2006-06-05}}</ref> From 1992 to 1996, he ran the electronic mailing list "Moderated Discussion of Objectivist Philosophy,"<ref>{{cite newsgroup|author=Wales, Jimmy|title=Re: Objectivism of Ayn Rand|date=] ]|newsgroup=talk.philosophy.misc|id=Bv1u8x.Bnv@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu|url=http://groups.google.com/group/talk.philosophy.misc/msg/8c5e626c70a213f8?dmode=source}}</ref> and in 2002, he began moderating ''Atlantis'',<ref>The wetheliving.com website is down as of ] - the prior cite is {{cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20050207071329/www.wetheliving.com/mailman/listinfo/atlantis|title=Jimmy Wales begins moderating Atlantis mailing list|date=unknown}}</ref> an Objectivism-related mailing list on the Objectivist community site ''We the Living''. Wales has been a passionate adherent of the ] of ]. When asked by Brian Lamb in his appearance on '']'' about Rand, Wales cited "the virtue of independence" as important to him personally. When asked if he could trace "the Ayn Rand connection" to having a political philosophy at the time of the interview, Wales reluctantly labeled himself a ], qualifying his remark by referring to the ] as "lunatics" and citing "freedom, liberty, basically individual rights, that idea of dealing with other people in a matter that is not initiating force against them" as his guiding principles.<ref>{{cite web|author=Wales, Jimmy|title="Q & A: Jimmy Wales"|url=http://www.q-and-a.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1042|accessdate=2006-06-05}}</ref> From 1992 to 1996, he ran the electronic mailing list "Moderated Discussion of Objectivist Philosophy,"<ref>{{cite newsgroup|author=Wales, Jimmy|title=Re: Objectivism of Ayn Rand|date=] ]|newsgroup=talk.philosophy.misc|id=Bv1u8x.Bnv@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu|url=http://groups.google.com/group/talk.philosophy.misc/msg/8c5e626c70a213f8?dmode=source}}</ref> and in 2002, he began moderating ''Atlantis'',<ref>The wetheliving.com website is down as of ] - the prior cite is {{cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20050207071329/www.wetheliving.com/mailman/listinfo/atlantis|title=Jimmy Wales begins moderating Atlantis mailing list|date=unknown}}</ref> an Objectivism-related mailing list on the Objectivist community site ''We the Living''.


==Other activities== ==Other activities==
Inspired by the success of Misplaced Pages, Wales has founded the for-profit company ] (separate from ]), which hosts various wikis and manages the ] project.
⚫ Wales was appointed a fellow of the ] at ] in 2005. On ], ] Wales joined the ] of ], a provider of wiki technology to businesses.<ref>{{cite news|title=Misplaced Pages Founder Joins Socialtext Board|date=] ]|publisher=]|url=http://www.socialtext.com/weblog/051003wikiwales.html}}</ref> In 2006, he joined the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization ].<ref>{{cite news|title=Creative Commons Adds Two New Board Members|date=] ]|publisher=]|url=http://creativecommons.org/press-releases/entry/5840}}</ref>

⚫ He was appointed a fellow of the ] at ] in 2005. On ], ], according to a press release,<ref>{{cite news|title=Misplaced Pages Founder Joins Socialtext Board|date=] ]|publisher=]|url=http://www.socialtext.com/weblog/051003wikiwales.html}}</ref> Wales joined the ] of ], a provider of wiki technology to businesses. In 2006, he joined the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization ].<ref>{{cite news|title=Creative Commons Adds Two New Board Members|date=] ]|publisher=]|url=http://creativecommons.org/press-releases/entry/5840}}</ref>


Wales lives in ] with his wife and daughter. Wales lives in ] with his wife and daughter.
Line 90: Line 74:
], by '']'', a daily Internet ].]] ], by '']'', a daily Internet ].]]
Wales received an ] from ] on ], ]. The ] awarded him a Pioneer Award on ], ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/14632|title=EFF Honors Craigslist, Gigi Sohn, and Jimmy Wales with Pioneer Awards|date=]|publisher=Kansas City infoZine News|accessdate=2006-06-05}}</ref> Wales received an ] from ] on ], ]. The ] awarded him a Pioneer Award on ], ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/14632|title=EFF Honors Craigslist, Gigi Sohn, and Jimmy Wales with Pioneer Awards|date=]|publisher=Kansas City infoZine News|accessdate=2006-06-05}}</ref>

Wales was the first person listed in the "Scientists & Thinkers" section of the ], ] special edition of '']'' ("The lives and ideas of the world's most influential people"), listing ].<ref name=influence /> Wales was the first person listed in the "Scientists & Thinkers" section of the ], ] special edition of '']'' ("The lives and ideas of the world's most influential people"), listing ].<ref name=influence />

==Published works== ==Published works==
*Robert Brooks, Jon Corson, and J. Donal Wales. , in ''Advances in Futures and Options Research'', volume 7, 1994. See also ]. *Robert Brooks, Jon Corson, and J. Donal Wales. , in ''Advances in Futures and Options Research'', volume 7, 1994. See also ].

==References== ==References==
<div class = "references-small"><references /></div> <div class = "references-small"><references /></div>

==Further reading== ==Further reading==
<div class = "references-small"> <div class = "references-small">
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*<!-- please do not make this an internal link; see ] and this article's talk page for reasons --> *<!-- please do not make this an internal link; see ] and this article's talk page for reasons -->
*</div> *</div>

===News media=== ===News media===
<div class = "references-small"> <div class = "references-small">
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* for in San Francisco, ] ] * for in San Francisco, ] ]
* on ], ], ]</div> * on ], ], ]</div>

==External links== ==External links==
*
**
*{{nndb name|id=953/000114611|name=Jimbo Wales}} *{{nndb name|id=953/000114611|name=Jimbo Wales}}

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|SHORT DESCRIPTION=American ] ], ] pioneer; founder of ] |SHORT DESCRIPTION=American ] ], ] pioneer; founder of ]
|DATE OF BIRTH=], ] |DATE OF BIRTH=
|PLACE OF BIRTH=] |PLACE OF BIRTH=]
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Revision as of 16:37, 11 July 2006

Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales
Jimmy Wales (April 2006)
BornHuntsville, Alabama
OccupationPresident of the Wikimedia Foundation
WebsiteUser Page

Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is the founder and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit corporation that operates the free online encyclopedia, Misplaced Pages, and several other wiki projects. He is also founder of the for-profit company Wikia, Inc., which is legally unrelated to Wikimedia.

In May 2006, Wales was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people.

Early life and education

Wales was born in Huntsville, Alabama. His father, now retired, was a grocery store manager, while his mother, Doris, and grandmother, Erma, ran a small private school, "in the tradition of the one-room schoolhouse," where Wales was educated. There were four children in his grade most of the time, so the school grouped together first through fourth grades, and fifth through eighth grades.

A 2005 Time magazine article incorrectly reported that Wales was homeschooled. Strictly speaking he was not, but he did note that his schooling experience was "in a sense similar", since his mother and grandmother were his primary teachers. The school's philosophy of education was significantly influenced by the Montessori method, and students had a fair amount of freedom to study whatever they liked. Wales has said that he spent many hours poring over the World Book Encyclopedia during this time.

Preparatory school and university

After eighth grade, Wales went to Randolph School, a college prep school, which was an early supporter of computer labs and other technology for student use. Wales has said that the school was expensive for his family, but that education was regarded as important. "Education was always a passion in my household … you know, the very traditional approach to knowledge and learning and establishing that as a base for a good life." He received his Bachelor's degree from Auburn University and his Master's from the University of Alabama. Later, he took courses offered in the Ph.D. finance programs at the University of Alabama and Indiana University. He taught at both universities during his postgraduate studies, but did not write the doctoral dissertation required to earn a Ph.D.

Career

Wales went on to become a futures and options trader in Chicago, and within six years had earned enough to "support himself and his wife for the rest of their lives."

In 1996, Wales founded a search portal called Bomis, which also sold adult content until mid-2005. He was asked in a September 2005 C-SPAN interview about his previous involvement with what the interviewer, Brian Lamb, called "dirty pictures". In response, Wales described Bomis as a "guy-oriented search engine." In an interview with Wired, he also explained that he disputed the categorization of Bomis content as "soft-core pornography": "If R-rated movies are porn, it was porn. In other words, no, it was not." He is no longer actively involved in the company.

In March 2000, he started a peer-reviewed, open-content encyclopedia, Nupedia.com ("the 💕"), and hired Larry Sanger to be its editor-in-chief. While Wales was CEO, Bomis donated over US$100,000 (primarily through salaries and providing free Internet access) to Nupedia and Misplaced Pages, and continued supporting them into 2002.

Misplaced Pages and the Wikimedia Foundation

Jimmy Wales on the Holbeinsteg bridge in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, during a shooting break of a documentary film on Misplaced Pages created by French-German TV station arte.
Main article: History of Misplaced Pages

Using a wiki to create an encyclopedia was publicly proposed by Larry Sanger on January 10, 2001, and Wales worked on setting one up, starting it on January 15, 2001. Misplaced Pages was at that point a wiki-based site intended for collaboration on early encyclopedic content for submission to Nupedia for peer review, but Misplaced Pages's rapid growth soon made it the dominant project and Nupedia was mothballed. Sanger dropped out of the project in 2002, posting a resignation on his Misplaced Pages user page. He has since criticized Wales's approach to the project, describing Wales as "decidedly anti-elitist".

Wales later took issue with this description in a C-SPAN interview, describing himself as not anti-elitist but "perhaps anti-credentialist. To me the key thing is getting it right. And if a person's really smart and they're doing fantastic work, I don't care if they're a high school kid or a Harvard professor."

In mid-2003, Wales set up the Wikimedia Foundation, a St. Petersburg, Florida-based non-profit organization, to support Misplaced Pages and its younger sibling projects. He appointed himself and two business partners who are not active Wikipedians to the five-member board; the remaining two members are elected community representatives. This move relieved him and Bomis from the increasing financial burden of supporting Misplaced Pages while keeping his leadership position.

In 2004, Wales was quoted as saying that he had spent around US$500,000 on the establishment and operation of his Wiki projects. By the end of its February 2005 fund drive, the Wikimedia Foundation was supported entirely by grants and donations. Wales has become increasingly involved with promoting and speaking about its projects, and to this end, he travels to conferences and Wikimedia functions, such as "Wikimeets" and Wikimania. The Foundation's travel budget was US$25,000 in 2005; how much of this total was used by Wales himself has not been published. On April 14, 2006, he gave a talk at Stewart Brand's LongNow Foundation entitled "Vision: Misplaced Pages and the Future of Free Culture," where he discussed the philosophical underpinnings of Misplaced Pages, his support for the Free Culture movement, and the difficulties the Wikimedia Foundation may confront as it grows in size.

Controversy

While Larry Sanger referred to himself as the co-founder of Misplaced Pages as early as January 2002, and so did the Misplaced Pages community, Wales says he has always called himself the sole founder of Misplaced Pages. The press frequently referred to Sanger and Wales as co-founders, but this began to change after Sanger's departure. For example, a 2004 Newsweek magazine article stated that " created Misplaced Pages", without mentioning Sanger. In 2006, Wales told the Boston Globe that "it's preposterous" to call Sanger the co-founder. Sanger has strongly contested this assertion, claiming that, in addition to developing Misplaced Pages in its early phase, he also had the idea of applying the wiki concept to the building of a 💕. It is undisputed that he also coined the name of the project. He has said: "I remember very clearly the evening when I got the idea for Misplaced Pages." He nevertheless ascribed the broader idea to Wales: "To be clear, the idea of an open source, collaborative encyclopedia, open to contribution by ordinary people, was entirely Jimmy's, not mine, and the funding was entirely by Bomis. (…) The actual development of this encyclopedia was the task he gave me to work on." Wales has credited a Bomis employee named Jeremy Rosenfeld as the person who "initially came up with the idea to make the encyclopedia wiki-based."

In late 2005, a related controversy arose regarding Wales and the Misplaced Pages entry on himself. After Wired Magazine picked up on work from Rogers Cadenhead, Wales confirmed that he had (visibly and under his own name) edited his own biography on Misplaced Pages, a practice generally frowned upon within the Misplaced Pages community and even by Wales himself.

Wales's edits were in line with his view that Larry Sanger should not be considered a co-founder of Misplaced Pages. When some other editors undid his edits, Wales repeated them twice. His edits changed specific references to Misplaced Pages's origins as well as the description of Bomis. Wales said in the Wired interview, "People shouldn't do it, including me. I wish I hadn't done it." The article said: "Wales has also repeatedly revised the description of a search site he founded called Bomis, which included a section with adult photos called 'Bomis Babes'."

Motivations behind Misplaced Pages

In an interview with Slashdot, Wales explained the purpose of Misplaced Pages by saying, "Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing." Likewise, in a December 2005 appeal for donations to Wikimedia, Wales explained his motivation for his Misplaced Pages work by saying "I'm doing this for the child in Africa."

In response to criticisms about the inconsistency of these motivations with Wales' adherence to Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy (see Philosophical and political views in this article), Wales replied, "Do we have a source for me claiming that my 'Misplaced Pages activities do not serve a selfish end'? No, we do not. (…) For what is it worth, I think it is in my rational self-interest to care about what happens to kids in Africa, and far from being destructive of my self-interest, it is beneficial to my self-interest."

Philosophical and political views

Wales has been a passionate adherent of the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand. When asked by Brian Lamb in his appearance on Q&A about Rand, Wales cited "the virtue of independence" as important to him personally. When asked if he could trace "the Ayn Rand connection" to having a political philosophy at the time of the interview, Wales reluctantly labeled himself a libertarian, qualifying his remark by referring to the Libertarian Party as "lunatics" and citing "freedom, liberty, basically individual rights, that idea of dealing with other people in a matter that is not initiating force against them" as his guiding principles. From 1992 to 1996, he ran the electronic mailing list "Moderated Discussion of Objectivist Philosophy," and in 2002, he began moderating Atlantis, an Objectivism-related mailing list on the Objectivist community site We the Living.

Other activities

Inspired by the success of Misplaced Pages, Wales has founded the for-profit company Wikia, Inc. (separate from Wikimedia), which hosts various wikis and manages the Wikia project.

He was appointed a fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School in 2005. On October 3, 2005, according to a press release, Wales joined the Board of Directors of Socialtext, a provider of wiki technology to businesses. In 2006, he joined the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization Creative Commons.

Wales lives in St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife and daughter.

Awards

Wales being interviewed on the red carpet of the 2006 Time 100, by Rocketboom, a daily Internet vlog.

Wales received an honorary degree from Knox College on June 3, 2006. The Electronic Frontier Foundation awarded him a Pioneer Award on May 3, 2006.

Wales was the first person listed in the "Scientists & Thinkers" section of the May 8, 2006 special edition of Time ("The lives and ideas of the world's most influential people"), listing 100 influential people.

Published works

References

  1. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. "Bylaws" (PDF). wikimediafoundation.org. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
  2. ^ Anderson, Chris (2006-05-08). "Jimmy Wales: The (Proud) Amateur Who Created Misplaced Pages". Retrieved 2006-04-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. Taylor, Chris. "It's a Wiki, Wiki World". Time. Retrieved 2005-05-29.
  4. ^ Brad Stone (2004-11-01). "It's Like a Blog, But It's a Wiki". Newsweek. Retrieved 2006-05-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. Pink, Daniel H. "The Book Stops Here". Wired Magazine. Retrieved 2006-06-28.
  6. ^ Lamb, Brian. "Interview with Jimmy Wales". C-SPAN. Retrieved 2006-03-10.
  7. Cadenhead, Rogers. "Misplaced Pages Founder Looks Out for Number 1". Retrieved 2005-12-19.
  8. Sanger, Larry. "User Page". Retrieved 2006-04-12.
  9. Sanger, Larry (2004-12-31). "Why Misplaced Pages Must Jettison Its Anti-Elitism". Kuro5hin. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. "Wikimedia Foundation's 2005 Budget". Retrieved 2006-04-12.
  11. Sanger, Larry. "What Misplaced Pages is and why it matters". Retrieved 2006-04-12.
  12. When Wales dropped his initial opposition to having an article about himself (September 9, 2004) the article that was written said that he "is an Internet entrepreneur, most famous for his founding, with Larry Sanger, of Misplaced Pages ... Wales became famous after he co-founded Misplaced Pages in January 15, 2001". (Various Authors (2004-09-09). "Jimmy Wales". Retrieved 2006-06-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)) This stood unchallenged until March 28, 2005.
  13. Janet Knott (2006-02-12). "Bias, sabotage haunt Misplaced Pages's free world". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2006-04-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. Sanger, Larry (2005-04-18). "The Early History of Nupedia and Misplaced Pages: A Memoir". Slashdot. Retrieved 2005-04-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. Wales, Jimmy (2005-12-02). "Edit to Misplaced Pages article "Jimmy Wales"". Misplaced Pages. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  16. Wales, Jimmy (2003-08-04). "Jimmy Wales response in "Daniel C. Boyer on wikipedia" thread". wikien-l mailing list. Retrieved 2006-06-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. Jimmy Wales' edits of 28 October, 9 November, and 2 December, 2005.
  18. ^ Hansen, Evan. "Misplaced Pages Founder Edits Own Bio". Wired News. Wired. Retrieved 2006-02-14.
  19. Wales, Jimmy (2004-07-28). ""Misplaced Pages Founder Jimmy Wales Replies"". Slashdot. Retrieved 2006-06-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. Wales, Jimmy. ""A Personal Appeal from Misplaced Pages Founder Jimmy Wales"". wikimediafoundation.org. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
  21. Wales, Jimmy. ""Talk:Jimmy Wales"". en.wikipedia.org. Misplaced Pages. Retrieved 2006-06-07.
  22. Wales, Jimmy. ""Q & A: Jimmy Wales"". Retrieved 2006-06-05.
  23. Wales, Jimmy (23 September 1992). "Re: Objectivism of Ayn Rand". Newsgroup: talk.philosophy.misc. Bv1u8x.Bnv@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu. {{cite newsgroup}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. The wetheliving.com website is down as of 2006-06-05 - the prior cite is "Jimmy Wales begins moderating Atlantis mailing list". unknown. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. "Misplaced Pages Founder Joins Socialtext Board". Socialtext. 3 October 2005. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. "Creative Commons Adds Two New Board Members". Creative Commons. 30 March 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. "EFF Honors Craigslist, Gigi Sohn, and Jimmy Wales with Pioneer Awards". Kansas City infoZine News. 2006-04-28. Retrieved 2006-06-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

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