I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.
wikimediafoundation.org
I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.
1–10 of 71 posts
Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.
#2"We don’t run ads because doing so would sacrifice our independence. The site is not and should never be a propaganda tool."
I really don't understand wikipedia's continued hesitation to accept advertising--nor the argument that it would sacrifice their independence--anyone can edit it already, so I question whether sponsorship needs to have any impact on article content whatsoever.
What's the problem with having a banner at the top saying "Wikipedia is brought to you today by McDonalds..." just something small, as a way of saying that they care about free access to knowledge too.
Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.
#3There are several great organizations that have no way to make money, so they rely on donations. Wikipedia isn't in that situation. They could sell ads that were clearly marked as such. A simple small text ad on each page would give them more money than they would ever need.
They're costs seem to be low enough and the value of ad space is high enough that they wouldn't have to put up with anyone trying to extort them or take away there independence.
If they are worried that the surplus of money would corrupt their organization, then they can give the surplus away or just limit the number of ads they sell (but maybe hire a couple more devs first).
That is why I will not donate.
Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.
#4"We don’t run ads because doing so would sacrifice our independence. The site is not and should never be a propaganda tool." I really don't understand wikipedia's continued hesitation to accept advertising--nor the argument that it would sacrifice their independence--anyone can edit it already, so I question whether sponsorship needs to have any impact on article content whatsoever. What's the problem with having a b…
I mostly agree.
On the other hand, I would block any ad they posted, so I'm not sure how much my opinion should count.
Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.
#5I don't get the reluctance to use advertising. Wikipedia could place one small, unobtrusive text ad on each page and they would have more than enough money to operate their business and pay their employees what they deserve. If there's money left over, they could offer scholarships or make charitable donations. I don't think that placing small ads on a page in an effort to keep information free and prosperous amounts to propaganda or a loss of independence.
Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.
#6"We don’t run ads because doing so would sacrifice our independence. The site is not and should never be a propaganda tool." I really don't understand wikipedia's continued hesitation to accept advertising--nor the argument that it would sacrifice their independence--anyone can edit it already, so I question whether sponsorship needs to have any impact on article content whatsoever. What's the problem with having a b…
The problem is perception. With ads, there is the possibility of influence, so there is also the possibility that readers would trust wikipedia less.
Although I would prefer that they take ads rather than disappear.
Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.
#7"We don’t run ads because doing so would sacrifice our independence. The site is not and should never be a propaganda tool." I really don't understand wikipedia's continued hesitation to accept advertising--nor the argument that it would sacrifice their independence--anyone can edit it already, so I question whether sponsorship needs to have any impact on article content whatsoever. What's the problem with having a b…
> I really don't understand wikipedia's continued hesitation to accept advertising
Try to think of an example where editorial maintained independence from the sales department.
My favorite example from dead-tree newspapers: For all the noise they make about the sacredness of editorial, I don't think it was a coincidence that the number of articles about the bubble in real estate were inversely proportional to RE advertising dollars.
Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.
#8I don't get the reluctance to use advertising. Wikipedia could place one small, unobtrusive text ad on each page and they would have more than enough money to operate their business and pay their employees what they deserve. If there's money left over, they could offer scholarships or make charitable donations. I don't think that placing small ads on a page in an effort to keep information free and prosperous amounts…
As if you need to buy ad space to put propaganda on Wikipedia.
Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.
#9"We don’t run ads because doing so would sacrifice our independence. The site is not and should never be a propaganda tool." I really don't understand wikipedia's continued hesitation to accept advertising--nor the argument that it would sacrifice their independence--anyone can edit it already, so I question whether sponsorship needs to have any impact on article content whatsoever. What's the problem with having a b…
I mostly agree. On the other hand, I would block any ad they posted, so I'm not sure how much my opinion should count.
Honest question, how would you have them get paid for your use of their service?
Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.
#10Well, a little bit of self-glorification is okay...
But seriously, is it wikipedia that's giving people access to knowledge or is it google (and other search engines)?
Without google, I'd guess wikipedia would get a fraction of the traffic it gets now. There is no use building a massive repository of knowledge if no one can navigate it easily.