[Foundation-l] About rumors...

Sat Feb 17 13:04:43 UTC 2007

That's a blog, right ?

Just leave a comment :-))

ant

Bradypus wrote:
> Anthere,
> 
> Thank you for clarifying that point.
> However, on a different subject, I note that the page you refer us to begins 
> with:
> "the Wikimedia Foundation - which owns the online encyclopedia Wikipedia"
> 
> Owns? O_o  [sigh]
> 
> Bradipus
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Anthere" <Anthere9 at yahoo.com>
> To: <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 11:21 AM
> Subject: [Foundation-l] About rumors...
> 
> 
> 
>>RUMORS
>>
>>I was away from my computer for 4 days last week, to participate to a
>>conference (LIFT) in Switzerland. During this conference, the organiser
>>asked me questions about the financial situation of the projects. I
>>answered with plain honesty and unfortunately with some words which
>>raised the attention of a blogger in the room.
>>
>>Never mind that the words were taken out of context, never mind the
>>smiles that went with the words, the words were out. Twisted.
>>
>>So, if some of you have heard that Wikipedia might close in 4 months due
>>to financial difficulties, these are the words I am talking about.
>>
>>For more on the discussion on the matter, please see the blog of Mr
>>Guissani. I had a long discussion with him on financial matters on
>>friday morning.
>>
>>http://www.lunchoverip.com/2007/02/the_wikimedia_c.html
>>
>>I think that summarize things pretty well.
>>
>>---------
>>
>>BEING INFORMED
>>
>>The day the WMF will plan to close Wikipedia for lack of funds, believe
>>me, you'll know. Before the press.
>>
>>Will Wikipedia close in 4 months ? NO. NO. AND NO.
>>
>>---------
>>
>>TRANSPARENCY AND FIGURES
>>
>>All of our financial statements for year 2004, 2005 and 2006 are public
>>and audited. Please find them here:
>>http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Finance_report#Audited_financial_statements
>>
>>We also have a page where we state our needs for the coming 6 months.
>>http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/What_we_need_the_money_for.
>>
>>(as a reminder, our fiscal year goes from june to june)
>>
>>TO make it short, we currently have above 1 million (exact figures to
>>pick up from Carolyn, perhaps 1,5) in bank, available for use.
>>
>>Current monthly expenses as of today are about 75 000 dollars.
>>We had an (optimistic goal) of hardware investment of 1,6 million before
>>june. We can expect bandwidth and hosting costs to naturally follow. We
>>also need more human help, at least hiring a permanent executive
>>director, a CTO and probably more developers.
>>
>>Just have a look at the page and do count yourself. If you add current
>>daily operations + hardware investment + increase in bandwidth +
>>increase in hosting + 3 to 5 additional employees, we are already over
>>that 1.5 millions that we have in hand.
>>
>>So, as of today, I think we can quietly say that
>>
>>"yes, we have about 3-4 months of operations at hand". Not 6 months. Not
>>1 year. Not 2 years. Roughly 3-4 months.
>>
>>If you look at the bottom of this page,
>>(http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/What_we_need_the_money_for#Retained_revenue)
>>you'll see that the recommandations of auditors is always to try to have
>>6 months of reserve. We are far from it. We have roughly 4 months.
>>Having 6 months of reserve is financially wiser.
>>
>>Did you have a way to know this previously ?
>>Yes you did. It was listed in the site notice during the full month of
>>fundraising. So, there is nothing new to wikipedians. There might be
>>something new to press though.
>>
>>---------
>>
>>IS THAT A BIG DEAL ?
>>
>>I repeat, we are not going to disappear. We have been in worse state in
>>the past. Well, in december 2006, some expenses were delayed, delayed
>>till the money from the fundraising was flowing in, and we could pay the
>>bills.
>>
>>Someone mentionned image server a few days ago. Image server was planned
>>in september hardware quote. But purchase was delayed till december.
>>http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution_Hardware_sept_2006
>>Because given our cashflow situation, it would have been unreasonable to
>>buy the image servers.
>>
>>
>>This should not happen. We should not come to the point where we delay
>>hardware investment. We should aim to provide the best service, not just
>>the service we can afford.
>>
>>
>>We should not try to pretend we do not need money. We do need more
>>money. People at the Foundation are trying to find creative ways to
>>collect more, with services (datafeed), royalties from brand use
>>(Wikipedia in particular), matching donations etc... but raising the
>>money for the projects should not become only the business of 10 or so
>>employees. This should be many people concern. Because Wikipedia is not
>>the website of a few people, not even the website of the community, it
>>is a common good.
>>
>>ant
>>
>>
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>>