[Wikipedia-l] Header donation solicitation is a good idea for fundraising drive

Mon Oct 6 05:47:49 UTC 2003

This was done by Brion as a quick experiment on the English Wikipedia. Two 
users loudly complained on the village pump and many more said it was a great 
idea. Count me in the latter group. 

Given the fact that so many readers enter Wikipedia through Google (thus 
bypassing the Main Page), I think this would be an excellent way for us to 
perform all our future (annual? quarterly?) donation drives. 

Yes it is a bit annoying, but not nearly as annoying as US public radio drives 
that actually interrupt content for periods of time. Also, a little annoyance 
works wonders in encouraging people to donate; The donation text in small 
font below "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia" (or corresponding other 
language/project message) is a great way to subtly nudge those with the means 
to help us keep going. 

When the drive is over the header text should be removed but the new "Donate" 
link in the side bar should remain. The cache, however, needs to be updated 
before the month long drive starts (it will start as soon as the press 
release is distributed). Therefore I propose this, or a similar, message be 
displayed:

   Help us buy a new database server. [Donate today!].

[Donate today!] would be a link to http://wikimediafoundation.org/fundraising/

-- Daniel Mayer (aka mav)