[Foundation-l] Answers.com and Wikimedia Foundation to Form NewPartnership

Tue Oct 25 21:04:39 UTC 2005

GerardM wrote:

>On 10/25/05, Robert Scott Horning <robert_horning at netzero.net> wrote:
>  
>
>>Delirium wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Anthony DiPierro wrote:
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>I can't for the life of me understand why people "a bunch of editors
>>>>        
>>>>
>>and
>>    
>>
>>>>readers" would leave over something like this. I also don't think
>>>>it'd be a
>>>>bad thing to get rid of the people who think this way.
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>Well, if the Foundation really wanted to find out, they could issue an
>>>ultimatum---we're starting GoogleAds tomorrow, and anyone opposed to
>>>advertising on Wikipedia can get out (and good riddance!).
>>>
>>>Of course, they are unlikely to do so. =]
>>>
>>>-Mark
>>>      
>>>
>>Attitudes like this are going to destroy the project entirely. I guess
>>you don't care about the fact that your actions are encouraging large
>>scale emmigration from Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, and
>>forking of contents. It doesn't matter if this action with Answer.com<http://Answer.com>
>>was good or bad, an attitude like this where you can good riddance to
>>people who don't agree with you is contrary to what this community has
>>been about.
>>    
>>
>
>
>As much as you are entitled to an opinion, Anthony and Mark have an equal
>right to their opinion. They do not expect people to leave in the first
>place over having ads or not. To their opinion extremely few people would
>walk away and these are in his opinion extremist that we may be better of
>without. Now by painting the other party as having an anti community
>attitude is over the top.
>  
>
To be clear, I was actually responding to Anthony's message by taking 
the opposite view---I'm quite anti-advertisements.  He suggested that 
only a few people would leave if we put ads on, and we'd be better off 
without them anyway.  I was saying that there's an easy way to find out, 
but I doubt the board will do it---perhaps what I should have added 
explicitly is that they won't do that because they're smart enough not 
to (even if they thought it was a good idea, which they almost certainly 
don't).  I do think quite a lot of good editors would leave if GoogleAds 
were put on Wikipedia, and not just a few extremists that we'd be better 
off without.

-Mark