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'''Jimmy<!--The first name on his birth certificate is "Jimmy", not "Jameson"--> Donal "Jimbo" Wales'''<!-- The middle name is "Donal", not "Donald" --> (born ] ]) is a co-founder of ] and the founder of the ],<ref name="wmfbylaws"> '''Jimmy<!--The first name on his birth certificate is "Jimmy", not "Jameson"--> Donal "Jimbo" Wales'''<!-- The middle name is "Donal", not "Donald" --> (born ] ]) is a cunt.
{{cite web|author=Wikimedia Foundation Inc.|title=Bylaws|publisher=wikimediafoundation.org|url=http://www.wikimediafoundation.org/bylaws.pdf|accessdate=2006-05-21}}</ref><ref> Florence Devouard replaces Mr. Wales as chair of the board of trustees for a one year term.</ref> a ] corporation that operates Misplaced Pages and several other ] projects, including ] and ]. He is a member and Chairman Emeritus of Wikimedia's Board of Trustees. He is also the co-founder, along with ], of the for-profit company ]

==Personal life==
Wales' father worked as a ] manager while his mother, Doris, and his grandmother, Erma, ran a small ] "in the tradition of the ]"<ref name="qanda">{{cite web|title= Q&A: Jimmy Wales, Misplaced Pages founder|author=]|url=http://qanda.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1042|work=]|date= September 25, 2005|accessdate=2006-07-11}}</ref> where Wales received his education. Most of the time there were four children in his grade so the school grouped the first, second, third and fourth grade students and the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students.

Currently, Wales works and lives in ], ].<ref> LaMonica, Martin. "Newsmaker:Open-Sourcing the News." ''CNET.com News'' January 7, 2005. Retrieved ], ] from http://news.com.com/Open-sourcing+the+news/2008-1025_3-5515166.html. </ref> He lives in a "modest"<ref>http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13129-2516400,00.html</ref> single story house.

==Education==
After eighth grade, Wales attended ], 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."<ref name="qanda"/> He received his ] in ] from ] and started with the ] finance program at the ], where he left with a ] in finance.<ref name="qanda"/> After that, he took courses offered in the Ph.D. finance program at ]. He taught at both universities during his postgraduate studies, but did not write the ] required to earn a Ph.D.<ref name="qanda"/>

== Career ==
] 2005]]

From 1994-2000, Wales served as research director at Chicago Options Associates, a ] and ] ] in ].<ref name="qanda"/> By "betting on interest rate and foreign-currency fluctuations" he had soon earned enough to "support himself and his wife for the rest of their lives", according to ] of ].<ref name=bookstopshere>{{cite web|url=http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/wiki.html?pg=3|title=The Book Stops Here|date=]|accessdate=2006-10-09|publisher=Wired|last=Pink|first=Daniel H.}}</ref>

===Bomis and Nupedia===
{{NPOV}}
In 1996, Wales founded a search portal called ], which also sold erotic materials 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", with a market similar to ].<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 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> Wales is no longer actively involved in the company.{{fact}}

In March 2000, he started a peer-reviewed, open-content encyclopedia, ] ("the 💕"), and hired ] to be its editor-in-chief.<ref name="qanda"/>

===Misplaced Pages===
] conference held in ], ], August 24, 2006]]
{{main|History of Misplaced Pages}}
Using a wiki to create an encyclopedia was publicly proposed by ] on ], ],<ref>http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html</ref> and Wales worked on setting one up, starting it on ], ].{{cn}} 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.{{cn}} Sanger resigned from the project in 2002.<ref>: retrieved on ], ]</ref>
], ], during a shooting break of a documentary film on Misplaced Pages created by French-German TV station ]]]In mid-2003, Wales set up the ], a ]-based ], to support Misplaced Pages and its younger sibling projects.{{cn}} 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.{{cn}}

Wales has explained his motivations about Misplaced Pages. In an interview with ], he said, "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 late 2005, Wales was criticised for editing his own biography in a way some characterized as "revisionist history."<ref name="wirednews"/><ref name="timesonline">{{cite web|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-1948005,00.html|author = Rhys Blakely|accessdate = 2006-10-15|title=Misplaced Pages founder edits himself|publisher=Times Online}}</ref><ref name="cadenhead">{{cite web|url=http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench/news/2828/wikipedia-founder-looks-out-number-1|author=Rogers Cadenhead|accessdate=2006-10-15|title=Misplaced Pages Founder Looks Out for Number 1}}</ref> In particular, ] drew attention to logs showing that Mr. Wales had removed references to Sanger as the co-founder of Misplaced Pages.<ref name="cadenhead"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Jimmy_Wales&diff=29849184&oldid=29772366|title=Misplaced Pages diff showing modification by Mr. Wales|accessdate=2006-10-15}}</ref> He was also observed to have modified references to Bomis in a way that was characterized as downplaying the sexual nature of some of his former company's products.<ref name="wirednews"/> An article in the July 31, 2006 issue of the '']'' magazine expanded on this topic:

:Even Wales has been caught airbrushing his Misplaced Pages entry—eighteen times in the past year. He is particularly sensitive about references to the porn traffic on his Web portal. “Adult content” or “glamour photography” are the terms that he prefers, though, as one user pointed out on the site, they are perhaps not the most precise way to describe lesbian strip-poker threesomes. (In January, Wales agreed to a compromise: “erotic photography.”)

In both cases, Wales argued that his modifications were solely intended to improve the accuracy of the content.<ref name="wirednews"/> Wales explained that Sanger had been his employee<ref name="uniontribune">{{cite news|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041206/news_mz1b6encyclo.html|author =Jonathan Sidener|title =Everyone's Encyclopedia|accessdate=2006-10-15|publisher=San Diego Union Tribune}}</ref>, and that he had always considered himself to be the sole founder of Misplaced Pages. In 2006, Wales told the '']'' that "it's preposterous" to call Sanger the co-founder.<ref name="preposterous">{{cite news| first=Janet |last=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> However, Sanger strongly contests that description. He was identified as a co-founder of Misplaced Pages at least as early as September 2001<ref name="sanger-NYTimes">{{cite news|author=Peter Meyers|title=Fact-Driven? Collegial? This Site Wants You|url=http://tech2.nytimes.com/mem/technology/techreview.html?_r=1&res=9800E5D6123BF933A1575AC0A9679C8B63&oref=slogin|publisher =]|accessdate=2006-10-15|date=2001-09-20}}</ref> and referred to himself that way as early as January 2002.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/search/?title=Wikipedia_and_why_it_matters&oldid=149626|author=]|title=What Misplaced Pages is and why it matters|accessdate=2006-04-12}}</ref> <ref>In addition to developing Misplaced Pages in its early phase, Sanger claims he is also responsible for 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 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><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>

Following this incident, Wales apologized for editing his own biography, which is a practice generally frowned upon at Misplaced Pages. Wales said in the ''Wired'' interview, "People shouldn't do it, including me. I wish I hadn't done it."<ref name="wirednews"/> However, he continues to assert that he is the sole founder of Misplaced Pages.<ref name="preposterous"/>

===Wikia===
{{main|Wikia}}
Wikia (formerly known as Wikicities) is a wiki hosting service created in October 2004 by Jimmy Wales and ], according to a Wikia press release.<ref>{{cite web|title=100 Wikicities|author=Beesley, Angela et. al.|date=February 3, 2005|accessdate=October 15|accessyear=2006|url=http://wikia.com/index.php?title=Press_releases/100_Wikicities}}</ref> It is a collection of ] running on ] software and operated by ] that target different communities. It is free of charge for readers and editors, and gets its income from advertisements. Following the change in name, Wikia announced that it had received US$4 million in venture capital from a group of investors. "'We've had a lot of interest from investors, and it was really a matter of sorting through the investors to be sure that people who are investing were people who were believers in our mission,' said Wales, who operates Misplaced Pages and Wikia separately from his St. Petersburg offices" reports the Tampa Bay Business Journal.<ref>{{cite web|title=Venture capitalists invest wiki-millions|author= Hinman, Michael|work=]|url=http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2006/03/13/story1.html}}</ref>

is a political wiki created by Jimmy Wales.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6091151.html|title=Misplaced Pages founder launches political site|accessdate=2006-12-05|publisher=CNET|year=2006|author=McCarthy , Caroline |work=News.com}}</ref>

===Media appearances and honors===
], by ] for '']'', a daily Internet ]]]
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 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>{{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=]|publisher = Time|accessdate=2006-04-30|last=Anderson|first=Chris}}</ref>

On ], ], Wales appeared in the "Not My Job" segment of '']'', a weekly news-quiz show on ]. The topic was "It must be True, I read it on Misplaced Pages". He answered all three questions incorrectly. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=35&prgDate=11-04-2006&view=storyview | title="This Week's Show Nov. 4, 2006" | Accessdate=2006-11-10}}</ref>

Jimmy Wales was nominated for ] 2006.<ref>?http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tms/2006/12/beard_of_the_year.shtml</ref>
Jimmy Wales appeared on english radio station ] on Monday 8th January 2007

===Wikisaria===
Wales announced he has obtained funding for a new internet search engine
to be developed.<ref>{{cite web | author=Lewis, Joe | title=The Dilemma Of Socially Driven Search | date=] | work=Essay | url=http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-20061227TheDilemmaofSociallyDrivenSearch.html | accessdate=2007-01-05 }}</ref>

==Personal philosophy==
Wales has been a passionate adherent of ]'s ]. 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 name="qanda" /> 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>

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

==Further reading==
{{Spoken Misplaced Pages|Jimmy Wales.ogg|2005-04-06}}
{{commonscat|Jimbo Wales}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikinewscat|Jimmy Wales}}
{{wikisource author|Jimbo Wales}}
*<!-- please do not make this an internal link; see ] and this article's talk page for reasons -->
*</div>
*

;News media
*{{cite news|url=http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2003-06-30-wiki_x.htm|title=It's a Wiki world out there for the Web's groupmind|publisher=]|date=]}}
*{{cite news|url=http://www.goodexperience.com/blog/archives/000124.php|title=Interview: Misplaced Pages's Jimmy Wales|publisher=Good Experience|author=Mark Hurst|date=]}}
*{{cite news|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2005/09/26/focus4.html|title=St. Petersburg tech brain creates 'wiki' world with online encyclopedia|publisher=Tampa Bay Business Journal|author=Michael Hinman|date=]}}
*{{cite news|url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/18/wikipedia_quality_problem/|title=Misplaced Pages founder admits serious quality problems|publisher=]|author=]|date=]}}
*{{cite news|url=http://www.npost.com/interview.jsp?intID=INT00126|title=Interview with Jimmy Wales, WikiPedia Founder|publisher=nPost.com|author=Nathan C. Kaiser|date=]}}
*{{cite news|url=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6298340/site/newsweek/|title=It's Like a Blog, But It's a Wiki|publisher=]|author=Brad Stone|date=]}}
*{{cite news|url=http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1136024385322320.xml&coll=2|title=Alabamian is brain behind Misplaced Pages|publisher=The Birmingham News|author=Joseph D. Bryant|date=]}}
*{{cite news|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-1962714,00.html|title=Misplaced Pages Chief considers taking ads|publisher=]|author=Rhys Blakely|date=]}}
*{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/fashion/13poss.html |title=Industrial Art Illuminates Life|publisher=]|author=David Colman|date=]}}</div>

;Audio/video
* ], ]
* ], ] - hosted by ]
* Video of Jimmy Wales talk given at the Oxford Internet Institute - recorded ] ]
*
* 40 minutes from a talk Jimmy held at Stanford on ] ] available as an avi in torrent form and licensed under the ] (]: , )
* - recorded ] ]
* on Wednesday, ], ]
* 9 minutes, from Media Alliance event held in ] on ] ]
*, ], ]
* about Community & politics & future plans & other things, ], ]
* recorded ]], posted ]]
*, ], ]. Podcast by ] .
* for in San Francisco, ] ]
* for in San Francisco, ] ]
* on ], ], ]
* on ], ], ]</div>
*

== Sources and notes ==
<!--This article uses the Cite.php citation mechanism. If you would like more information on how to add references to this article, please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/Cite/Cite.php -->
{{reflist|2}}

{{start}}
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{{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the Wikimedia Foundation|years=], ] &ndash; ], ]}}
{{s-aft|after=]}}
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{{s-ttl|title=Chairman Emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation|years=], ] &ndash; December, 2007}}
{{s-inc|heir=}}
{{end}}

<!-- Metadata: see ] -->

{{Persondata
|NAME=Wales, Jimmy Donal
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Wales, Jimbo
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=American ] ], ] pioneer; founder of ]
|DATE OF BIRTH= 7 August 1966
|PLACE OF BIRTH=]}}

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Revision as of 19:20, 8 January 2007

Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales
Jimmy Wales (August 2006)
Born1966
Huntsville, Alabama, USA
Occupation(s)President of Wikia, Inc.; Board member and Chairman Emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation
SpouseChristine
Children1
WebsiteUser page on Misplaced Pages

Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales (born 7 August 1966) is a cunt.

  1. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13129-2516400_2,00.html
  2. Wikimedia Foundation, Board, Jimmy Wales article, 27 October 2006.