[WikiEN-l] Re: Ads on Wikipedia?

Mon Jan 2 11:11:24 UTC 2006

BJörn Lindqvist wrote:
>>With respect, this is a fairly strange line of argument. Objectively,
>>there is nothing particularly bizarre or strange about Wikipedia as an
>>online community. There are other wikis, there are other collaborative
>>projects, there are other online forums etc etc. So all of that is not
>>in itself a reason to say "Wikipedia is so different that it makes sense
>>for it to continue being different by having no ads".
>>
>>Or maybe there's an ideological connection between GFDL and adlessness
>>that I (and slashdot, linux.org and others...) don't (yet) see.
> 
> 
> There is a very strong connection between adlessness and credibility.
> Adfree stuff appears to me as much more reputable and trustworthy than
> other media riddled with ads. I believe that that is one of the
> reasons for Wikipedia's success. If Wikipedia had ads, there would be
> absolutely no reason for me, as a reader, to use Wikipedia instead of
> any other random site. As for the monetary problem, Jimbo definitely
> is a hero and a saint for funding Wikipedia which probably has costed
> him a fortune. But he can't be the only philantropical millionare out
> there who would love to fund Wikipedia.... right?
> 
> --
> mvh Björn

Right... this said, while Jimbo had made it possible for the project to 
born and has funded it on his own money for a long time, for which we 
should all be greatly thankful, I hope you are aware that we are no more 
using Jimbo's money *at all* to run the site, yes ?

Money right now comes from individual donations in large part, sponsors 
such as Yahoo, selling DVD's (such as the german one) and tee-shirts.

Q1 income

CafePress Commissions  $1,207.71
Credit Card Service    $0.00
MoneyBookers Donations $914.19
Other Donations        $57,440.14
PayPal Donations       $100,853.00
Foreign Exchange Gain  $243.93
Interest Income        $37.71
TOTAL                  $160,696.68

Q2 income
Wikimania tickets      $6,320.95
CafePress Commissions  $510.09
Credit Card Service    $1.00
MoneyBookers Donations $201.56
Other Donations        $64,938.52
PayPal Donations       $19,842.96
Foreign Exchange Gain  -$2,826.69
Interest Income        $77.33
TOTAL                  $89,065.72

No philanthropical millionaire is helping us right now.

Ant