You know what they say: God gave us a brain and a penis, but not enough blood to use both at the same time. A good example of that. The short-term fling between Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, and Rachel Marsden, conservative canadian columnist, is ending in a nasty public breakup. Is there any hope for reconciliation? I bet not. At least not for a while. Right now, they are quite busy on thier own. Wales is now accused of spending Wikipedia Foundation funds "to get laid". Marsden wants to reintegrate the journalism market.
On Friday, February 29th, Valleywag, Silicon Valley's gossip blog, reported that Wales, who is divorcing his second wife Christine, had been secretly seeing conservative TV commentator Rachel Marsden since last fall.
It seems that Wales encountered Marsden through Wikipedia. In March 2006, Marsden announced on the site she would seek help from Wales. Later that summer, Wales commented that the article was "over the top" and is said to have warned the page's editors. By November 2006, there were reports that Wales had listened to Marsden's complaints in person. In August 2007, Wales separated from his wife Christine and began seeking a divorce. Most recently, a tipster told Valleywag that Wales " sent a mass email to a 'special' Wikipedia list of admins at the beginning of February, right before he was set to spend the weekend with Marsden in DC. Said he wanted her page cleaned up."
But, is Wales losing his head over his flirts? Judge by yourself. There were rumors that he had intentions to move Wikipedia from Florida to New York where Marsden is based. Now, a former coworker, Danny Wool, a top administrator, is accusing him to use to the non-profit organization's credit card for personal use. For instance, he would have billed the cost of a massage in a visit to Moscow, $ 1,300 for food in Florida and special wine bottles. That led him with an approximate $ 30,000 debt with the organization. That is how a geek impresses women. Then , on a chat with Marsden, he expresses his hope that his startup, Wikia, would make him enough money to buy a jet to have a new option to have more sex with her.
Anyway, when the blood returned to his brain, Wales realized that Marsden was keeping a copy of all their "hot" instant messages on her Google e-mail account. Citing "friends" of the Wikipedia founder, Valleywag reported that Wales had become fearful that Marsden would use the transcripts to blackmail him and threatened to have her deported back to Canada.
So, he broke up with her with a statement published in Wikipedia. Unfortunately, the statement is no longer available because it was moved to Wales' personal blogs. Soon after, Marsden auctioned Wales' belongings still in her possesion on E-Bay Canada.
The story doesn't end here.
Here's the goodbye email from Rachel to Jimmy and an IM conversation that strongly suggests Wales violated Wikipedia's rules to encourage favorable changes to Marsden's Wikipedia profile. You can also check this link to learn more details about Wales' VIP love and rockstarlike life here.
You probably don't care who Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales went to bed with, or what his official relationship to the site is now. What matters is that he's Mr. Wikipedia to thousands of volunteers who contribute to the non-profit organisation. The past week's leaked chats and emails document three acts that aren't crimes, but certainly aren't Wales leading by example. Here's the cocktail-party list to remember.
1. Wales cheated his own Wikipedia rules for a friend.
2. Wales spent lavishly while volunteers worked for free.
3. Wales had his boss lie to cover his tracks.
In this post, there are many references to Valleywag, the Silicon Valley's gossip blog. Movie and TV stars, sport stars and politicians are gossiped about. Why not the geeks? They have become stars in some ways. Well, Jimmy Wales doesn't seem to mind. He complained in an IM chat that the blog hasn't followed his sex life closely enough:"I have shown up at many different Silicon Valley events with many different "dates" through the past year or so, although not always actually dates, so the assumption would be colleagues or whatever, and figured they would eventually pay attention to that."
Now, are the people on Twitter following him:
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What are the bloggers saying about him:
Jimmy is not the first public figure to break up that way:
Trevor Luxton, a financier, e-mailed friends boasting of how he had received oral sex from his ex-girlfriend while speaking to his fiancée on the phone. The e-mail flashed around the world, to be read by thousands.
The American writer Robert Olen Butler sent an e-mail to five students about his split from his wife, which was equally widely circulated.
Phil Collins asked his wife for a divorce by fax.
Eddie Murphy announced his split from the Spice Girl Mel B on television, further insisting that the baby she was carrying might not be his.
Matt Damon announced – to the world and to his girlfriend Minnie Driver – that he was single on the Oprah Show.
The comedian Johnny Vegas announced his split with his girlfriend on Kiss FM, saying: "If she's listening, which would be amazing, it's not that anything went wrong, it's just that you stopped trying."
The soul singer James Brown ended his marriage by taking out a full-page advertisement in Variety.
The late Robin Cook, the former Foreign Secretary, announced his intentions to leave his wife and marry another woman via a press statement made at Heathrow.
