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)