[Foundation-l] 300 Euro for excellent Articles: an experiment

Thu Aug 18 15:16:28 UTC 2005

In a message dated 8/18/2005 11:03:44 AM Eastern Daylight Time,  
gerard.meijssen at gmail.com writes:

However,  your assertion that we are doing a great job for all people on 
this planet  is very debatable. We have little or no content for many 
languages and I  would think it a fallacy to reject paying for content in 
languages like  Bambara or Ossetian out of hand just because we can get 
content in  languages like English, Dutch or Plattdüütsch. The defenition 
of Wikipedia  is: *"Wikipedia* is a project to build free encyclopedias 
in all languages  of the world based on a neutral point of view." 
Which is why I have been active in my capacity as grants coordinator to  
speak to the relevant parties (Guaka, for instance) to figure out ways to  promote 
articles in those languages. In fact, Gerard, much of the Africa  scholarship 
project idea was mine. I would not compare fostering languages with  Bambara 
to helping individuals in affluent countries promote their personal  websites. 

On  
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia it does not say that we will  
always be a volunteer organisation. If anything, we are slowly getting  
more professionals in to make sure that what we do will grow and  
prosper. 
Yes, we need professionals, in organizational capacities. We do not need  
professionals to write articles. In fact, our strength is that we do not rely on  
professionals to do that.

The  discussion on paying for content has been going on for 
quite some time.  Many people are really happy that there is some 
movement in getting  content in languages like Bambara or Ossetian. In my 
opinion, it makes  more sense to spend money on Bambara than on 
Plattdüütsch. Research on  languages like Bambara are comparatively so  
underfunded.

See my comments above. This is very different from paying for content by  
corporations or large groups for promotional purposes. My track record proves  
that I support one, if not the other. 

Danny