What is it about Jimmy Wales? The founder of Wikipedia has a thing for brainy women, and a penchant for mixing business and pleasure. But the latest rumor I've heard is mind-blowing: That Wales had a brief affair with Sue Gardner, the executive director of the nonprofit which runs Wikipedia. Gardner has always been …
Jeff Merkey, a former Novell chief scientist, has issued a statement accusing Jimmy Wales of extortion. Merkey says that Wales offered him "special protection" for his Wikipedia entry in exchange for a "substantial" donation to Wales's Wikimedia Foundation. After Merkey withdrew his donation over concerns that the…
In a simpering interview on CNET — "Let's just get this out of the way," the host actually says — Sue Gardner, executive director of the foundation which runs Wikipedia, used the classic disgruntled-employee line to dismiss charges that Wales had abused his position there. But that's not the only way she made a fool…
We keep hearing new rumors about women Jimmy Wales has been involved with. But why tell you? Some Wales critics say it's not the sex, it's the money. But it's hard to separate the two when charges fly that Wales took a girlfriend on trips paid for by the nonprofit WIkipedia. The latest names linked to Wales: Barbara…
"The Wikipedia effort is not personality-driven," claims a commenter who insists that "nobody cares" about Jimmy Wales's behavior. The cult of personality in action: Journalist Cyrus Farivar — a regular contributor to NPR, The Economist, Wired and the New York Times — has had his Wikipedia page deleted several times…
News Corp. overlord Rupert Murdoch may be getting a bit slow in his dotage, but he still knows a good story. Is it a coincidence that three arms of his media empire — the Times of London, Fox News, and the New York Post — have belatedly picked up on Jimmy Wales's bizarre breakup with Rachel Marsden? Marsden was,…
In an IM chat with ex-girlfriend Rachel Marsden, Jimmy Wales scolded Valleywag for not following his sex life more closely: "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…
A tipster reports overhearing Jimmy Wales at SFO the morning of Saturday, February 23, pleading with a girlfriend — presumably Rachel Marsden — to keep the relationship alive. His eyewitness report of the conversation:
What's the worst thing Jimmy Wales could talk about with a girlfriend? Get your mind out of the gutter, and down into the sewer. Before his Wikipedia-posted breakup with Rachel Marsden, Wales plotted with the Canadian journalist on exactly how he was going to get her Wikipedia entry cleaned up. To avoid his foes at…
It's not the sex. It's the money. So contends Danny Wool, a former top administrator at the nonprofit which runs Wikipedia. Wool reports on how Wales ran up $30,000 in expenses on trips abroad, many of which allowed him to pick up speaking fees which he kept personally. Florence Devouard, chair of the nonprofit,…
Michael Arrington, a fragile soul, imagines the rest of the Valley is as weak-willed as he is. Without mentioning Jimmy Wales by name, Arrington distraughtly lays out his fears that Valleywag will drive him to kill himself. How little you know, Michael. For Wales, Valleywag induces not the big death but the little…
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and Fox News personality Rachel Marsden have broken up — and Jimmy is learning a harsh lesson: hell has no fury like a woman scorned. Here's the goodbye email from Rachel to Jimmy and an IM conversation that strongly suggests Wales violated Wikipedia's rules to encourage favorable…
How to describe His Holiness Jimbo Wales? The pugnacious entrepreneur Jason Calacanis can't stand dealing with Wales, because the Wikipedia founder is so humble, so calm, so staid that, unlike Calacanis's other would-be competitors, he takes no bait and is above reproach. So Jason must be pleased to see Wales revealed…
Breaking up stinks. Never more so than when your ex is Jimmy Wales, the unhygienic founder of Wikipedia, right-wing TV commentator Rachel Marsden has learned. Before Wales dumped her via Wikipedia, he left two reeking articles of clothing at her New York apartment. She's now selling them on eBay Canada. Today's…
This is surely a first: Breaking up with a girlfriend via Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales, the creator of the world's best collection of Outkast lyrics, has announced in a statement on the website that he's no longer seeing Rachel Marsden, the saucy Canadian right-winger who started chatting him up after her Wikipedia…
Jimmy Wales can't get enough of Rachel Marsden, the girlfriend he met on Wikipedia. Here's a shot of her pouting for the camera. Three more after the jump.
In which Wikipedia's chief non-expert Jimmy Wales worries that Larry Page and Sergey Brin will be able to read their instant messages, talks dirty about broadband infrastructure, and says his "Google killer" startup Wikia needs to make him enough money so he can buy a jet where he and Canadian girlfriend Rachel…
Why did Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales suggest Wikipedia move from Florida to New York last fall? His for-profit startup, Wikia, is based on the Peninsula; siting Wikipedia's nonprofit foundation across the country made little sense. In light of his fling with cantankerous Canadian Rachel Marsden, the New York-based…
Men, if you want to win over a girl, don't post ads on Craigslist. Instead, help her clean up her Wikipedia page! It sure worked for Jimmy Wales. The twice-married, now-divorcing Internet stud met his current girlfriend Rachel Marsden through the site. Here's a brief recap of the Web courtship:
Jimmy Wales loves to talk about "transparency" and "a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge." Unless it's about his scandal-prone girlfriend. Wales, who is divorcing his second wife Christine, has been secretly seeing conservative TV commentator…
