Talk:Point Foundation (environment)

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Thoughts on improvements

First, with POINT Foundation, it was always spelled POINT (all caps), not Point. I've already changed the spelling in the article, but could not figure out how to change it in the title. This creates a problem, because attempting to include Wikified references to POINT in other Wikipedia articles will not succeed unless the improper spelling Point is used.

Second, creative luminaries from the San Francisco Bay Area, such as Richard "Dick" Raymond, Stuart Brand, and Michael Phillips (original organizer of Mastercard) were involved with POINT. There obviously others, as well. So information concerning individuals, such as these I've mentioned, can be avenues to info about POINT. I learned this by working up a Draft article about Richard Raymond, finding I couldn't connect to Wikipedia's "Point Foundation" article using the POINT spelling

I'll just add that there were far-reaching effects of POINT's (and the Portola Insitute's) endeavours, in the U.S., Canada, and beyond.Joel Russ (talk) 22:50, 28 October 2024 (UTC)

With technical advice from another Wikipedian, I rectified the issue.Joel Russ (talk) 17:00, 29 October 2024 (UTC)

Dates of activity/inactivity or closure

1) I added a link to Stanford University records of the foundation, which begin in 1968, although the article states that it was established in 1971.

2) The Stanford records do not extend past 1998, although the top page of the website does not say that the foundation was closed. Blainster (talk) 21:52, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for your efforts on this. I'll relate what I know, though I don't claim to be an expert. By the way, I've used the spelling POINT (with caps, which was the way the early POINT Foundation publications spelled it.

I've developed a WP article about Dick Raymond. Concerning POINT, my sources were Andrew Kirk's book Counterculture Green, John Markoff's book Whole Earth, Anna Wiener's New Yorker article "The Complicated Legacy of Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog". All the info I had pointed to 1971 as the incorporation year, since the abundant funds were generated by the sales of the first thick Whole Earth Catalog, published in 1971.

I sent Stewart Brand an email directing him to my WP article, and his email reply said he liked it (I believe he would have corrected the POINT date to 1968, if 1971 was wrong). Also, the aforementioned professor Andrew Kirk read the article and affirmed it. I contacted Dick Raymond's daughter, Camela, directing her to it. She corrected just one bit, which was that Dick co-founded Rayturn Machine in Portland, not in California.

What I've gathered about the Stanford records is that they also include some materials related to Dick Raymond's earlier-established project, the non-profit Portola Institute.Joel Russ (talk) 02:23, 15 March 2026 (UTC)