[Foundation-l] Disclaimer on fundraising page

Sat Aug 27 14:33:57 UTC 2005

--- Axel Boldt <axelboldt at yahoo.com> wrote:
> The fundraising page http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Fundraising
> currently carries the following disclaimer:
> 
> "Please note that neither this page nor any link on any Wikimedia site
> pointing to this page should be considered a solicitation to make a
> donation. Our license guarantees that you are, and will continue to be,
> free to use our content regardless of whether you can afford to
> donate."
> 
> To me, this is the worst kind of lawyer speak. Ubiquitous sentences
> like
> "Wikipedia needs your help", "Make a donation" etc. clearly constitute
> a solicitation to make a donation (OED for "solicit": "2.a To entreat
> or petition (a person) for, or to do, something; to urge, importune; to
> ask earnestly or persistently."). 

We can only solicit donations within the state of Florida. Solicitation being
actively *asking* people to donation. It is unclear whether doing so on servers
based in Florida where other *choose* to visit via the web is in fact a
solicitation. So we word things in a way that is informational. Yes, it is true
that we need help. Saying so is not really a solicitation (not a direct one
anyway). If instead we said, "Please donate", then that certainly would be a
solicitation.

We have drifted a bit more into the gray area with this fund drive than in
previous ones with sentences like "We are turning to you again to help make
this happen." I've nixed this sentence from the fund drive letter. 

-- mav

____________________________________________________
Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page 
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs 