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While I understand skepticism about the claims that have lead to his extradition given the timing and nature of them, the reports of internal conflict and staff

While I understand skepticism about the claims that have lead to his extradition given the timing and nature of them, the reports of internal conflict and staff turnover at wikileaks make it pretty clear that Assange, for lack of a better descriptor, is kind of a dick. Wikileaks is not an organization which I would consider transparently run, and all reports I have seen seem to indicate that dissent was dealt with rather harshly. Honestly, from what I've seen, Assange's failure as an effective leader has as much to do with the collapse of Wikileaks as anything.

Helianthus 15y ago
I find it foolish to overlook the fact that the financial engine itself was turned against Wikileaks. Leaders are hard men. I presume you wouldn't complain about Steve Jobs quashing dissent. I expect such an organization to be rife with chaos.
- commandar 15y ago
  >I presume you wouldn't complain about Steve Jobs quashing dissent. That's a complete strawman. >I expect such an organization to be rife with chaos. And I'd suggest that as a result of that chaos, having someone with the sort of egotistical tendencies Assange has demonstrated is a recipe for disaster. The way Wikileaks has collapsed not only from outside pressure, but from within is telling to me.
philwelch 15y ago
I agree there isn't proof of the stronger claims about Assange, like the rape allegations, But frankly, what you're talking about, combined with Assange's self-aggrandizement and attention-seeking behavior which made Wikileaks all about Julian Assange and less about the mission points to a potentially malignant narcissism that doomed the project from the get-go.
Tichy 15y ago
Just because there was conflict among the Wikipedia staff doesn't prove that Assange was in the wrong. In fact the German Chaos Computer Club has severed ties with Assange's former colleague Domscheidt-Berg and his OpenLeaks project because they didn't like his style. So maybe he isn't a Saint, either.
mushishi 15y ago
If it was so that Wikileaks did have positive effect on revealing nasty hidden corruption or abuse with high reliability (whether that is the case I don't know), I would consider him being a dick (your words), or how it is run, to not have much weight.
- commandar 15y ago
  His leadership style has directly resulted in Wikileaks being ineffective as an organization, however. For example, it's been two years since Assange started publicly claiming he had documents from Bank of America that could probably bring down the bank, yet they remain unreleased to this day, and, at this point, there are indications they've been destroyed entirely. That's all happened because Wikileaks didn't have its house in order internally, not because of any outside forces.

Helianthus 15y ago

I find it foolish to overlook the fact that the financial engine itself was turned against Wikileaks. Leaders are hard men. I presume you wouldn't complain about Steve Jobs quashing dissent. I expect such an organization to be rife with chaos.

commandar 15y ago
>I presume you wouldn't complain about Steve Jobs quashing dissent. That's a complete strawman. >I expect such an organization to be rife with chaos. And I'd suggest that as a result of that chaos, having someone with the sort of egotistical tendencies Assange has demonstrated is a recipe for disaster. The way Wikileaks has collapsed not only from outside pressure, but from within is telling to me.

philwelch 15y ago

I agree there isn't proof of the stronger claims about Assange, like the rape allegations, But frankly, what you're talking about, combined with Assange's self-aggrandizement and attention-seeking behavior which made Wikileaks all about Julian Assange and less about the mission points to a potentially malignant narcissism that doomed the project from the get-go.

Tichy 15y ago

Just because there was conflict among the Wikipedia staff doesn't prove that Assange was in the wrong. In fact the German Chaos Computer Club has severed ties with Assange's former colleague Domscheidt-Berg and his OpenLeaks project because they didn't like his style. So maybe he isn't a Saint, either.

mushishi 15y ago

If it was so that Wikileaks did have positive effect on revealing nasty hidden corruption or abuse with high reliability (whether that is the case I don't know), I would consider him being a dick (your words), or how it is run, to not have much weight.

commandar 15y ago
His leadership style has directly resulted in Wikileaks being ineffective as an organization, however. For example, it's been two years since Assange started publicly claiming he had documents from Bank of America that could probably bring down the bank, yet they remain unreleased to this day, and, at this point, there are indications they've been destroyed entirely. That's all happened because Wikileaks didn't have its house in order internally, not because of any outside forces.