Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's still sky-high to most of the world outside the US
Yep. This is why I don't leave tips at US restaurants, because the servers' base $3/hour salary is still "sky high" compared to a comparable job in Sri Lanka. /s
Wikipedia is swimming in money–why is it begging people to donate?
401–410 of 619 posts
Re: Wikipedia is swimming in money–why is it begging people to donate?
#402Earlier quoted context omitted.
I survived by doing landscaping and construction labor. You really know you're earning your nickels and dimes in the Florida summers when you work those jobs. Imaging a universe where people make $500k+ is pretty easy. I mean, let's be serious for just a minute. This is a tech focused community. Programming, IT, computer science, you didnt really get into this line of work because of the glamour, the guaranteed spot…
Have you considered the possibility that there are those who were drawn to that screen, and making it do what they want, at very young age, and never lost that sense of wonder and accomplishment when it did? I do think that the sky high salaries are ridiculous compared to societal contributions of, say, a nurse or a teacher. But I also like very much that I get them for doing a job that I still do with a small on my…
Re: Wikipedia is swimming in money–why is it begging people to donate?
#403Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not true at all, most Western Europe 100k$ (80k EUR) is barely above average, you'd still be firmly middle class even on two such incomes, sky high would be at least twice that much.
80k annually works out to 6700 EUR/m If Wikipedia(1) is semi-accurate, no (ZERO) major European county surpasses this. Not even Switzerland which clocks in at 70k EUR. And that's average, the mean is even lower due to skew by those making top money. (1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_...
Re: Wikipedia is swimming in money–why is it begging people to donate?
#404Earlier quoted context omitted.
The average software developer salary in Germany is €50 000 per year, just to take one western country as an example. I doubt Wikipedia would be much worse with European developers. American IT salaries are not the norm, and they're a bit insane. When your budget consists of donations, I think it's disrespectful to spend it on frivolous things like San Francisco salaries. The average programmer salary in Sweden is $5…
Seems like it’s Eurpoean incomes that are insanely low, why not get outraged about that? Your attitude creates a race to the bottom.
Re: Wikipedia is swimming in money–why is it begging people to donate?
#405Earlier quoted context omitted.
The average software developer salary in Germany is €50 000 per year, just to take one western country as an example. I doubt Wikipedia would be much worse with European developers. American IT salaries are not the norm, and they're a bit insane. When your budget consists of donations, I think it's disrespectful to spend it on frivolous things like San Francisco salaries. The average programmer salary in Sweden is $5…
If you pay average salary you get average work (or below). Good programmers in Germany do not work for €50.000. I'm based in Iceland and do contract work for German companies, and I assure you none of the people I work with are even close to €50.000. Perhaps because they're not average but good. Here in Iceland €50.000 might possibly get you a recent graduate. Myself, I wouldn't hire a programmer at that low pay thou…
Re: Wikipedia is swimming in money–why is it begging people to donate?
#406Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because 10 years earlier WMF's expenses were $10M/year, and it's pretty debatable if they're delivering 10x more today than they were back then.
The thing that gets me is the Archive.org only has approximately $20 million USD of revenue and they run a system that is much more data intensive. The wayback machine alone is a data crunching monster and it is done for a small fraction of WMF.
Re: Wikipedia is swimming in money–why is it begging people to donate?
#407I was surprised to discover the staff is over 350 people, including over 250 employees (the rest are contractors).
You can get some idea of the scope looking at this:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_staff_a...
Re: Wikipedia is swimming in money–why is it begging people to donate?
#408Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not true at all, most Western Europe 100k$ (80k EUR) is barely above average, you'd still be firmly middle class even on two such incomes, sky high would be at least twice that much.
80k annually works out to 6700 EUR/m If Wikipedia(1) is semi-accurate, no (ZERO) major European county surpasses this. Not even Switzerland which clocks in at 70k EUR. And that's average, the mean is even lower due to skew by those making top money. (1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_...
And slap 20-25% VAT on top.
That money is really not that much, a generalist MD would make that for eg.
Re: Wikipedia is swimming in money–why is it begging people to donate?
#409Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not true at all, most Western Europe 100k$ (80k EUR) is barely above average, you'd still be firmly middle class even on two such incomes, sky high would be at least twice that much.
What? In Germany an income of 80k EUR will put you into the top 10% of all earners, so you will be upper class. Especially on two such incomes.
Sky high is at least top 1%. Maybe top 5% in high income areas.
In Eastern Europe you begin to approach this at 80k.
Re: Wikipedia is swimming in money–why is it begging people to donate?
#410Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not true at all, most Western Europe 100k$ (80k EUR) is barely above average, you'd still be firmly middle class even on two such incomes, sky high would be at least twice that much.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. Average salaries in WE are 25-40k.