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I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.

wikimediafoundation.org

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Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.

#51

Post by twelvechairs »

markmccraw wrote: post #13

Given that it costs less than $20 million to run Wikipedia (cite: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/a/ac/FINAL_... ), that seems completely attainable without needing to change the nature of Wikipedia by introducing advertising. A lone rich donor could cover the budget for an entire year, and many people who could afford that wouldn't even be mentioned in Wikipedia, so there would be little opportunity…

Has anyone actually read what they spend their money on? Just about 10% on 'travel expenses' and 'awards and grants' together.... Also (overlapping the previous - but only by $63,000) almost 10% goes to fund-raising activities.... Seems to me (from a distance) that there is plenty of bloat here and these are not things that the average wikipedia user cares about....

And thats not mentioning the over 7 million (40%) on salaries and wages..... I'm not sure you can describe this as a 'small non-profit'....

Sorry if that all sounds cynical - but this is a not-for-profit institution here... I think that they have a duty to provide an efficient (value for money) service, which I am concerned is not being done....

Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.

#52

Post by namdnay »

CharlieA wrote: post #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 b…

The Foundation thought about this, and even did it during the fundraising drives (see http://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Fundraising...). The most (in)famous example was Virgin Unite.

Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.

#53

Post by twelvechairs »

RockyMcNuts wrote: post #19

Not sure which would be less annoying - a few Adsense links clearly marked and off on the side, or the ginormous banner and somewhat overwrought copy.

People seem to forget that wikipedia already has ads - giant ads showing what Jimmy Wales' stylist has managed to conjure up this year, and more importantly very partisan text (note for instance Jimmy Wales assertion as wikipedia 'founder' where his wikipedia page lists him as 'co-founder'....)

Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.

#54

Post by ksri »

aresant wrote: post #25

Brilliant headline. But man, I would love to help Wikipedia optimize their campaign. I know they work on CRO internally but on this page, for instance, I see 30%+ sitting on the table with: a) Fix the headline - Wikimedia's headline is "From Wikipedia programmer Brandon Harris". The OP in this thread fixed by taking the very compelling first line "I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary." Still needs an…

h) I entered my credit card details and submitted, but couldn't proceed because zip code and state are mandatory. I do not stay in the US, so those fields don't make sense to me. You are alienating non US citizens.

Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.

#55

Post by Arjuna »

ksri wrote: post #54
aresant wrote: post #25

Brilliant headline. But man, I would love to help Wikipedia optimize their campaign. I know they work on CRO internally but on this page, for instance, I see 30%+ sitting on the table with: a) Fix the headline - Wikimedia's headline is "From Wikipedia programmer Brandon Harris". The OP in this thread fixed by taking the very compelling first line "I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary." Still needs an…

h) I entered my credit card details and submitted, but couldn't proceed because zip code and state are mandatory. I do not stay in the US, so those fields don't make sense to me. You are alienating non US citizens.

Try this link [1]. It appears to be slightly different from the one in the original submission.

This link allows donations in various currencies, although some are only available via credit card, while others require the use of PayPal.

The credit card details form that displays after clicking "Donate by Credit Card" offers "Outside the U.S." as an option for the "State". Also, there is a "Postal code" field, which is hopefully more friendly for those without a Zip Code. Finally, there is a drop-down list for selecting "Country/Region".

There are also alternative donation methods, described here [2].

[1] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate/Now/en

[2] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give/en

Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.

#56

Post by marquis »

markmccraw wrote: post #13

Given that it costs less than $20 million to run Wikipedia (cite: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/a/ac/FINAL_... ), that seems completely attainable without needing to change the nature of Wikipedia by introducing advertising. A lone rich donor could cover the budget for an entire year, and many people who could afford that wouldn't even be mentioned in Wikipedia, so there would be little opportunity…

The moment ads are permitted on Wikipedia, advertiser conflict begins. We see this all the time on news sites: unintentionally offensive correlated-ads on content that should be free-standing. I believe the Wikipedia Foundation would agree with this and advertising will not become an option.

Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.

#57

Post by dudurocha »

What make me sad about wikipedia is that year after year, they will have to make this 'begging'. And jokes about Jim Wales will appear all over the web, and some more begging, and people complaining about some rich dude who 'only' donate 500 larges.

Well, Wikipedia has to find a sustainable model, they do not want ads or propaganda, but some new model has to be found, books, classes, especial encyclopedias, I don't know. But they need to stop doing this every year.

Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.

#58

Post by castewart »

tikhonj wrote: post #33
Volpe wrote: post #10

Well, 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.

I think you have it backwards--Wikipedia actually faces (in a sense) competition from Google. With Google, I can get my information from millions of disparate sites, each specializing in some niche--if I'm looking to buy a car, I might visit ten or twenty car club websites, for example. Without Google, there would be no good way to find all of the little, disparate sites. Wikipedia, on the other hand, is an organized…

I would love to agree with you, but anytime I want to search Wkipedia I use Google and "(Subject name) Wikipedia) because Wiki's own search blows.

Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.

#59

Post by mousa »

twelvechairs wrote: post #51
markmccraw wrote: post #13

Given that it costs less than $20 million to run Wikipedia (cite: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/a/ac/FINAL_... ), that seems completely attainable without needing to change the nature of Wikipedia by introducing advertising. A lone rich donor could cover the budget for an entire year, and many people who could afford that wouldn't even be mentioned in Wikipedia, so there would be little opportunity…

Has anyone actually read what they spend their money on? Just about 10% on 'travel expenses' and 'awards and grants' together.... Also (overlapping the previous - but only by $63,000) almost 10% goes to fund-raising activities.... Seems to me (from a distance) that there is plenty of bloat here and these are not things that the average wikipedia user cares about.... And thats not mentioning the over 7 million (40%) o…

Those numbers really aren't bad at all. Obviously wages are going to a main expense of a nonprofit that's a giant website.

Re: I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.

#60

Post by mousa »

dudurocha wrote: post #57

What make me sad about wikipedia is that year after year, they will have to make this 'begging'. And jokes about Jim Wales will appear all over the web, and some more begging, and people complaining about some rich dude who 'only' donate 500 larges. Well, Wikipedia has to find a sustainable model, they do not want ads or propaganda, but some new model has to be found, books, classes, especial encyclopedias, I don't k…

It's not really that big a deal for them to this every year. It's just something you have to live with like NPR's fundraising drives, except much less grating. I don't hear people irl complain about it. I know it really irritates many of the entrepreneur types on here that one of the biggest sites on the web is asking for money, but it's perfectly fine for them to have fundraising drives every year.
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