On 9/2/05, Andrew Gray <shimgray(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 02/09/05, Fredrik Johansson <fredrik.johansson(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 9/2/05, Michael Turley
<michael.turley(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> In light of the Katrina disaster and the competing appeals for aid for
the
> victims there, should we consider suspending
the Wikimedia Foundation
> funding drive for a time?
>
> Or do we consider the two causes different enough that it should
continue
as
scheduled?
We're doing our part by providing accessible, neutral, and up-to-date
information about the disaster. The extra traffic costs money...
I've not seen any complaints about the fund drive - but would you
believe someone complained about having the Hurricane Katrina article
linked from /In The News/ on the front page? The mind, she boggles.
For what it's worth, income over the past few days to the fund drive
has been roughly constant. I'd say that indicates it isn't in direct
competition in any way; were we holding a drive for $random_charity,
then perhaps.
OK. I see our value here as pointed out by Fredrik Johansson.
I don't normally see the news, instead preferring to read online and listen
to NPR. Last night and this morning were the first time I'd seen video
footage and photographs of the aftermath, and although I realized how big
the disaster was, I guess today is when the emotional impact struck me.
I hope no one thinks I was suggesting that we're wrong to continue the
scheduled drive. I was listening to a report of the lack of effective relief
efforts while reading Wikipedia's article on Katrina, and noticed our appeal
at the top of the page and I suddenly felt very small. On reflection, even
the goal for our drive is very small as well.
--
Michael Turley
User:Unfocused