[Foundation-l] Donations: anonymous. vs. real name

Mon Dec 19 23:08:43 UTC 2005

Brion,

Thanks.  The comment field would work.  I realize that any changes or new
ideas for the donation system wouldn't make it into this fundraising
campaign, anyway.

As for "people going around saying "I donated a bajillion dollars, therefore
my version of this article should be kept instead of yours". - you're right
and no way should anyone ever equate monetary donations with added
credentials for editing (these need to be earned through contributions of
time and knowledge).  But, it would be nice in my opinion, to nonetheless
make note of donations by users.  I think doing so would play into the idea
of the "gift economy" and help Wikimedia.

-Kmf164

On 12/19/05, Brion Vibber <brion at pobox.com> wrote:
>
> kmf164 wrote:
> > Is there a way to make a donation, under my Wikipedia user name?  Using
> > Paypal, it only gives the option of making an anonymous donation or
> using my
> > real name.  I would like to make a donation, but definitely not under my
> > real name.  I rather make an anonymous donation then nothing.  But,
> would
> > greatly prefer to attribute my donation to my wikipedia name,
> > Kmf164<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Kmf164>.
> > Is it feasible to add this third option for donations through Paypal?
>
> There is a comment field, which is public; they're listed at the daily
> fundraising progress reports at http://fundraising.wikimedia.org/2005q4/
>
> If you like you could put your username in there and mark it as anonymous
> to
> hide your real name from the public lists.
>
> > Aside from my personal preference, I think donations to Wikimedia would
> > increase if they were noted somewhere, along with users' edit histories
> and
> > contributions.  Wikipedia, (as with open source software, in general),
> is
> > based on a "gift economy" (in both time and treasure).  People give of
> their
> > time and knowledge; in exchange they get credit in their edit history
> and
> > elsewhere associated with their username.  Monetary contributions are
> yet
> > another way for people to support the project, who might not have as
> much
> > time to contribute.
> >
> > I think it is important for Wikipedia to also tie financial donations to
> > usernames, so that Wikipedians are recognized for those contributions,
> as
> > well as those of time and knowledge.
>
> On the other hand we really don't want to have people going around saying
> "I
> donated a bajillion dollars, therefore my version of this article should
> be kept
> instead of yours". :)
>
> -- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)
>
>
>
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