Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#81

Post by klabb3 » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

tomg wrote: post #39

Goodbye Hacker News. A bunch of extremely well-paid SWEs complain about donating two bucks to a completely free encyclopedia representing hundreds of thousands of volunteer human hours of effort; replacing (sorry, “disrupting”) extremely expensive Britannica books means to me the orange site has lost it’s way.

Do these volunteers get a share of the donations?

> the orange site has lost it’s way

You can change the color in account preferences to any hex color you want.

Jokes aside, I don’t know whether the criticism is valid, but aren’t we all here to find out? Or disagree?

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#82

Post by satvikpendem » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

constantcrying wrote: post #71

satvikpendem wrote: post #49

I read this satirical thread about what would happen if Wikipedia didn't make money from donations and had to get acquired by a company like Comcast and thought, hm, I'd rather that not happen. I donate every year. https://old.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/2ov45h/wp_w...

>I'd rather that not happen. I donate every year. Wikipedia has far more money then they know what to do with, their entire foundation is very affluent and there is no risk of them facing any hardship. Your donations have exactly zero influence on Wikipedia staying up or even staying independent. Your money goes into a web of charities (undisclosed which exactly), at best some poor people might profit of a few percen…

That's okay, I have money to spare.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#83

Post by jmfldn » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

tomg wrote: post #39

Goodbye Hacker News. A bunch of extremely well-paid SWEs complain about donating two bucks to a completely free encyclopedia representing hundreds of thousands of volunteer human hours of effort; replacing (sorry, “disrupting”) extremely expensive Britannica books means to me the orange site has lost it’s way.

Wikipedia is a rare living embodiment of everything the web can be at its best. I consider my recurring payment to them a form of public duty.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#84

Post by constantcrying » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

samtho wrote: post #48

I’ve worked a lot with nonprofits. Having a pool of static funds available is not indicative of sustainability. If you are asking for funds only when you are running out, it is far too late for you.

If they cared about long term sustainability they wouldn't use that money to fund a web of charities. If they were expecting hardships in the distant future you would obviously expect them to cut down on unnecessary spending to focus on keeping the website up and running. Is that happening?

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#85

Post by hacknewslogin » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

tomg wrote: post #39

Goodbye Hacker News. A bunch of extremely well-paid SWEs complain about donating two bucks to a completely free encyclopedia representing hundreds of thousands of volunteer human hours of effort; replacing (sorry, “disrupting”) extremely expensive Britannica books means to me the orange site has lost it’s way.

I'm an underpaid inspector with heavy ADHD. At this point I feel like my chances of breaking into the tech industry are a pipedream. I still enjoy hacker news, especially since I can access it at work.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#86

Post by no_time » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

tomg wrote: post #39

Goodbye Hacker News. A bunch of extremely well-paid SWEs complain about donating two bucks to a completely free encyclopedia representing hundreds of thousands of volunteer human hours of effort; replacing (sorry, “disrupting”) extremely expensive Britannica books means to me the orange site has lost it’s way.

>Goodbye Hacker News.

See you tomorrow

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#87

Post by shp0ngle » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

Nomentatus wrote: post #42

jkrauska wrote: post #37

All the other top websites [1] either are selling my information (Meta) , exist to show me ads (Google), or I pay monthly for (Netflix). Wikipedia runs one of the busiest websites in the world with a staff much smaller than any of those other sites. Like any company -- there's going to be priorities different than mine and waste. But I'm ok being asked to chip in for what I get. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_…

I was okay 'till I donated and got thoroughly spammed by them after that. Not okay with donating there now.

That happens if you donate to ANY cause, ever.

If you give money to, I don’t know, a charity for hungry kids in , they will send you MORE begging mails, not less.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#88

Post by _dain_ » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 4:52 PM UTC

4ggr0 wrote: post #16

rhasejr wrote: post #8

[flagged]

Can you elaborate on that, do you have any sources?

I thought this was well known:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Guy_Macon/Wikipedia_has_C...

Wikipedia hasn't been any credible danger due to lack of funds for at least a decade. They're drowning in money.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#89

Post by geocrasher » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 4:53 PM UTC

flipbrad wrote: post #60

The Foundation is my client, but these views are only my own: This is not to say there's no excess, or that resources couldn't be allocated internally more effectively - I'm not going to put up some kind of strawman - but: 1. I took a 20% pay cut so that I could do more work for the Foundation. Worth it. 2. Posts that say "Wikipedia only has [x] more articles but budget has gone up [y]" are beyond stupid. Any idea ho…

After reading this, I went an donated $10. Wikipedia is one of the most incredible resources on the Internet, and it pains me that it is having such issues. Maybe their messaging should say so.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#90

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 4:53 PM UTC

tomg wrote: post #39

Goodbye Hacker News. A bunch of extremely well-paid SWEs complain about donating two bucks to a completely free encyclopedia representing hundreds of thousands of volunteer human hours of effort; replacing (sorry, “disrupting”) extremely expensive Britannica books means to me the orange site has lost it’s way.

[deleted]