The New York media is predictably offended by Facebook's "People You May Know" feature. To anyone without Asperger's syndrome, the notion of an algorithm suggesting social relationships is offensive. But to Silicon Valley's elite, this is progress. Forming friendships is inefficient and time-consuming; mapping the social graph is a task well-suited to be offloaded to servers. Which, unlike the Starbucks lattes you may purchase in the pursuit of actual friendships, constantly decrease in price. Sure, I thought Facebook was a little off when it hinted I might be friends with Jimmy Wales, but the service is barely out of beta. Other suggestions, like Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, who I met casually once at a bar, is a perfectly suited addition to my list of Facebook "friends." Thus my faith in Mark Zuckerberg's ever-improving software remains unshaken. (Screenshot by Harrison Hoffman)

Why is Jimmy Wales, the do-little founder of Wikipedia, cochair the annual World Economic Forum on the Middle East? The event is the "foremost global gathering of political, business and cultural leaders," according to the organizers. Wales was chosen for the "contribution [he has made] globally, regionally or within [his] industry... His expertise in terms of business, knowledge etc. is the important thing here, not necessarily any knowledge of the region... At present the gossip and allegations directed towards Mr. Wales remain just that — gossip and allegation — and as such, the Forum has no comment." What gossip and allegation are they referring to? Something like this, perhaps:

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has the best job ever: Flying around the world on other people's dime, getting drunk with worshipful fanboys, and bedding women who want their online-encyclopedia entries edited. His latest globetrotting gig: cochair of a World Economic Forum event in the Middle East. ("Has Jimmy been asked to attend because of his deep understanding of the cultures and economics of the Middle East, or is it because the organizers think that like Wikipedia, they can edit the history and change things at a whim, without anyone being accountable?" asks former Wikipedia administrator Danny Wool.) How can he afford to pursue such sidelines?

Yahoo's new site for women, Shine, began life with a link to The Phoenix's 100 Unsexiest Men of The Year. OK, fine, we clicked. But then we were astounded to find the list contained only 4 percent geek. Further, the unattractiveness of those who made the list, such Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, was, frankly, insultingly underrated. Also, the whole list was out of order. Below, a poll where you can help us rerank both the geeks already on the list, and those who should have made it. Rachel Marsden, your assistance in this matter would be appreciated.

There is no neutral point of view in a love affair gone bad. Jimmy Wales violated Wikipedia's rules in posting a note announcing his breakup with Canadian journalist Rachel Marsden on the world's most exacting collection of urban legends about McDonald's. Marsden has retaliated in kind, or attempted to. Her recent efforts to leave a note for Wales on Wikipedia — "the only way to have any sort of rational or caring discussion with him," she claims — resulted in her account being banned by administrators.

"What kind of experience have you had at Wikipedia in dealing with individuals? Has that paid off for you?" interviewer Seth Godin asks Jimmy Wales, the founder of the world's most thorough Susan Richardson biography, in this clip. Wales responds: "Oh yeah. I mean it's really — it's really, uh, a very, uh high touch kind of business, so to speak. There's a lot of personal interaction." Seriously people, sometimes these things write themselves.

Ordinarily, this would be good news: Vinod Khosla, the former Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist, and his wife Neeru Khosla, have donated $500,000 to Wikipedia's nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation. But founder Jimmy Wales's dalliances with other VCs — chiefly Roger McNamee and Marc Bodnick of Elevation Partners — have cast a shadow over every dollar the organization receives. Is this one of the $500,000 donations McNamee recently said he helped broker? And if so, what do he and Khosla expect to get in return? For starters, keep a close eye on Wikipedia's articles on ethanol, a major business interest of Khosla's. Wales, ordinarily Wikipedia's front man, makes no appearance in the press release, quoted below:

Earlier this month, Virgin's Richard Branson hosted Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and his wealthier coevals on Necker Island for a discussion on global warming. The beach party seemed to be held mostly for the benefit of a sun-satiated New York Times reporter. But, between sips of pinot grigio, Branson and his tanning friends confirmed that yes, they will consider holding another such confab again in the future. You don't see plebes in Priuses saving the world, do you? Write your best caption in the comments.

Jimmy Wales remains frustrated that he hasn't profited from the creation of Wikipedia, former confidants tell me. And even though the world's most complete list of sexually active popes is now run by a nonprofit, the Wikimedia Foundation, Wales is still trying to figure out how to commercialize Wikipedia on the side, with the help of private-equity firm Elevation Partners. Now comes a spanner in the works: The foundation has won a $3 million donation from the Sloan Foundation. Wales does not appear anywhere in the press release announcing the deal. The grant will be doled out at the rate of $1 million a year, meaning Wales, for the first time, has a powerful outside watchdog. The Sloan Foundation won't look kindly on attempts to have their monies fund ways to line Wales's pockets — or put Elevation Partners investors like Roger McNamee or Marc Bodnick on the Wikimedia board. The full release:

Confidantes of Jimmy Wales — like his close friend Sue Gardner, the executive director of his Wikipedia nonprofit — like to portray him as a sensitive soul, easily scarred by all the attention his misdeeds have generated. But the truth? Wales loves it when people talk trash about him. He couldn't wait for Valleywag to out him as Silicon Valley's Casanova. And he's even figured out a way to make money from it. Wikia, his for-profit startup, owns Uncyclopedia, a through-the-looking-glass parody of Wikipedia. The entry on Wales is scathing. It begins:

Rachel Marsden, the former pundit on the Fox show "Red Eye" who was tossed out for being too crazy, and who then went on to date Wikipedia guru Jimmy Wales before breaking up with him and putting his clothes up for sale on eBay, is now, predictably, unemployed. So she's trawling for jobs on Mediabistro, just like you! Marsden has supposedly applied to be a senior publicist at Maxim [P6]. Negatives: She has demonstrated that she is a serial loose cannon who will probably seduce the magazine's top editors and draw them into a scandalous and embarrassing public affair. Positives: She doesn't really like the Black Crowes, either.

We were right: Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales really did skip off to Richard Branson's Caribbean getaway in early March, even as a scandal unfolded over his governance of the world's most comprehensive list of gay animals. The powwow on Necker Island, which included Google's Larry Page, Tesla Motors chairman Elon Musk, former British prime minister Tony Blair, and VC Vinod Khosla, discussed global warming. Branson asked: "Is the world on fire?"

Everyone's beating up on Wkipedia founder Jimmy Wales for his shady dealings. But evidence has now arisen that if he's a money-grubber, he's not a particularly skilled one. When Wales turned in receipts for $30,000 in expenses charged to the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia's nonprofit parent, among them was a $1,300 dinner at a steakhouse in Tampa. In attendance: Marc Bodnick, another Elevation Partners cofounder. Bodnick later introduced Wales to Bono. (His sister-in-law Sheryl Sandberg, then a Google exec, now Facebook's COO, helped connect Bodnick and Bono, a contact from her Washington days.) The foundation's board ultimately turned down Wales's request to get paid back for the dinner.

The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit which operates Wikipedia, says its mission is to give the world free access to the sum of all human knowledge. Behind the scenes, it's responsible for the mother of all power struggles. Jimmy Wales is supposedly a figurehead — just one of many board members. Sue Gardner, the executive director, supposedly runs Wikipedia day to day — though deputy director Erik Moeller, a former board member who has long schemed to take control of Wikipedia, actually runs the site's technology and content. Florence Nibart-Devouard, a French local official, replaced Wales as the nonprofit's chair in October 2006, and thinks she's in charge. Ah, but not according to Wikimedia's legal filings.

Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, has been backed into a corner by the slew of charges against the nonprofit and its founder, Jimmy Wales. She's retreating from her initial line that it was all the fault of a disgruntled ex-employee, as she did with CNET. Now, in a recorded interview with Not the Wikipedia Weekly, she's switched to a new defense: What about the children?

With ICQ lending its name to an Israeli toothpaste manufacturer and Google trucking branded ice cream bars to its Mountain View headquarters, no wonder Jimmy Wales is thinking about how Wikipedia can cash in on brand licensing. The only problem: Wales's marketing ideas are as dull as his sexual fantasies. Board games? Discovery Channel specials? Boring!

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 swift to rush to Jimmy Wales's defense — oddly so, since he's just one of many board members she reports to. In a recent newspaper article on Wales, there was this line: "Ms. Gardner said there will always be a need for what Mr. Wales provides." Ah yes, what Mr. Wales provides. To Rachel Marsden, Elisabeth Bauer, and Barbara Cohen, among others, you mean?

The New York Times has picked up Valleywag's extensive reporting on the ongoing Jimmy Wales scandal (How to decode the Times story: Whenever they say "a gossip Web site," they mean us.) While most of the story is a rehash, it does raise one interesting point: What's the relationship between Wikipedia and VC firm Elevation Partners? Roger McNamee of Elevation insists he's just acting as a donor and volunteer fundraiser in pulling in $1 million for Wales's Wikimedia Foundation nonprofit. But Wales admits in the article to proposing Wikipedia-branded business ventures like a trivia game or a TV documentary, with funding from Elevation Partners. Another plan we've heard: Changing the terms by which Wikipedia contributors add to the online encyclopedia to a more liberal Creative Commons license. That would make the site's content more readily reused in, say, printed works sold for profit. (Illustration by a newspaper)

Slashdot and the BBC are reporting something we blogged a week ago: Former Novell chief scientist Jeff Merkey claims Wikipedia big-dog Jimmy Wales approached him for a $5,000 donation to the cause in exchange for cleaning up Merkey's Wikipedia entry. UPI tidily summarizes: "Wales did erase a previous entry, replacing it with an entry with limited editing access." True, here's Jimmy's note about it. So why don't I trust Merkey? Because I've read his post-donation Wikipedia entry. Even after filtering the freetard hysteria from his open-source enemies, the guy's record says "crank" to me.

The latest well-placed tip on Wikipedia alpha male Jimmy Wales: