[WikiEN-l] Re: Wikipedia-logo merchandise: yarn

Sat Aug 7 18:19:42 UTC 2004

Someone could print them out themselves. If they had
the space, the foundation could supply them the
equipment to do the work, get the wholesale t-shirts
delivered, and they could ship them out, based on
orders taken on a special registration page at meta.

Or would that be too much like the wiki way? :)

S

--- "Daniel P.B.Smith" <dpbsmith at verizon.net> wrote:

> >> I agree - CafePress is expensive. But as you
> state, there really 
> >> aren't any
> >> known good alternatives that are cheaper.
> >
> > Random thought- you think ThinkGeek would be
> interested in some sort 
> > of a deal?
> 
> I don't see any point in worrying about it or trying
> to optimize 
> anything.
> 
> If the point is to create public awareness of
> Wikipedia, its presence 
> on the Internet (and frequency of appearance in
> Google search results) 
> is probably a (pause for serious numeric estimation)
> million times more 
> effective than wearing T-shirts. If the point is to
> support Wikipedia, 
> why on earth would I buy a $20 T-shirt worth $10 in
> order to give 
> Wikipedia $5, as opposed to a) donating $20 via
> PayPal (same cost to 
> me, four times the benefit to WIkipedia) or b)
> donating $5 via PayPal 
> (same benefit to Wikipedia, one quarter the cost to
> me)?
> 
> The only reason for having Wikipedia-logo
> merchandise is as a service 
> to those who actually _want_ to wear Wikipedia on
> their sleeve, as it 
> were. Cafepress serves that function adequately.
> 
> Wiki-merchandise will never be a significant factor
> in Wikipedia's 
> financing unless there is a major diversion of
> someone's time and 
> attention from encyclopedia-building to merchandise
> creation and 
> marketing.
> 
> (But what do I know? I was raised by a mom who never
> allowed 
> advertising within the sphere of her personal space.
> No containers of 
> cream were ever placed on the table; the cream was
> always poured first 
> into a pitcher. The idea of staring at Elsie, the
> Borden cow on the 
> breakfast table was anathema to her. No bumper
> stickers on the Smith 
> family car!)
> 
> --
> Daniel P. B. Smith, dpbsmith at verizon.net
> "Elinor Goulding Smith's Great Big Messy Book" is
> now back in print!
> Sample chapter at
> http://world.std.com/~dpbsmith/messy.html
> Buy it at
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1403314063/
> 
> > _______________________________________________
> WikiEN-l mailing list
> WikiEN-l at Wikipedia.org
> http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
> 

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