Common Knowledge?: An Ethnography of Wikipedia projects, its budget, the activities of the Wikimedia chapters of volunteers who organize for their own projects, or any individual project. As founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales has a unique relationship with the Wikipedia community. The Wikimedia community has recognized him as a classical authority figure. His primary role is as a spokesperson for the movement. The author describes his role in the Wikimedia movement, asserting 6 years of ethnographic research while also being a community member. Academic criticisms of Wikipedia's overall model are summarized. A reviewer for "Vice" called the book "both primer and detailed study on the habits
Jimmy Wales away in part because of his spending habits, a claim Wales denied. Then-chairperson of the foundation Florence Devouard and former foundation interim Executive Director Brad Patrick denied any wrongdoing by Wales or the foundation, saying that Wales accounted for every expense and that, for items for which he lacked receipts, he paid out of his own pocket; in private, Devouard upbraided Wales for "constantly trying to rewrite the past". Later in March 2008, it was claimed by Jeffrey Vernon Merkey that Wales had edited Merkey's Wikipedia entry to make it more favorable in return for donations to the Wikimedia Foundation,