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Save Wikileaks -- donate now or lost it forever

wikileaks.org

11–20 of 31 posts

Re: Save Wikileaks -- donate now or lost it forever

#11

Given all the upvotes on this post, I'm guessing I'm in the minority. But, I'm not a fan of wikileaks' ethics. Whistler blowers are important, and I have a lot of respect for their bravery, but wikileaks feels like a metalayer on top of whistle blowing that feels slightly gamey and a little celebratory.

It's rather unavoidable to venture a bit into self-righteousness or vanity when you voluntarily act on ideals. If wikileaks somehow maneuvered into to being the only repository for whistle-blowers, then certainly, their pride would do their a mission a grave disservice. Still, whistle-blowers find few places of refuge these days, and wikileaks has demonstrated substantial effectiveness in being just that. Actively protecting/encouraging whistle-blowers out of idealism, while also acknowledging the consequences of vigilantes pursuing such ideals (collecting too many eggs in too few baskets), need not be mutually exclusive. It's a zero-sum game, otherwise.

Re: Save Wikileaks -- donate now or lost it forever

#13
>>We have raised just over $130,000 for this year but can not meaningfully continue operations until costs are covered. These amount to just under $200,000 PA. If staff are paid, our yearly budget is $600,000.

So does that mean the staff costs $400,000? If so, it's basically like they're saying "hey can you also pay for the 4 of us to live pretty for the year too?"

Edit: To be clear, I don't know how many people are in said staff.

Re: Save Wikileaks -- donate now or lost it forever

#14
post #8

Why would their costs be so high? They should post a breakdown of where the money's going.

I posted their call for volunteers several weeks ago:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1023663

They never even replied to my email offering help, or to anyone else as far as I can tell. I'm still a supporter of their mission, but the organization seems pretty flakey.

Re: Save Wikileaks -- donate now or lost it forever

#16
post #3

Currently a poor CS student but I still donated 25 dollars. Wikileaks is one of only a handful of media organizations actually making a difference in the world; it needs to be supported.

I too think they're worth a few bucks. I found multiple releases of significant public interest there last year.

Re: Save Wikileaks -- donate now or lost it forever

#17
post #8

Why would their costs be so high? They should post a breakdown of where the money's going.

Through your support we have exposed significant injustice around the world—successfully fighting off over 100 legal attacks in the process.

Perhaps legal fees? They have volunteers, but I imagine there are more fees than just lawyers when you defend so many legal attacks. Although I would like to know more as well.

Re: Save Wikileaks -- donate now or lost it forever

#18
post #8

Why would their costs be so high? They should post a breakdown of where the money's going.

I posted their call for volunteers several weeks ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1023663 They never even replied to my email offering help, or to anyone else as far as I can tell. I'm still a supporter of their mission, but the organization seems pretty flakey.

I remember your post, and thought this might have been a dupe; however, it sounds the same, with the same lack of details. Did anyone receive responses to their offers of technical help?
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