Wikipedia fund request

RandallFlagg

"To all our readers in the UK, We will get straight to the point: This Wednesday we ask you to protect Wikipedia's independence. It's December 6 and time is running out to help in 2017. We depend on donations averaging about £10. Only a tiny portion of our readers give. If everyone reading this gave £2, we could keep Wikipedia thriving for years to come. The price of your Wednesday coffee is all we need. When I made Wikipedia a non-profit, people warned me I’d regret it. Over a decade later, it’s the only top ten site run by a non-profit and a community of volunteers. Has it crossed my mind how much we could have made if it had ads? Sure. But we wouldn’t be able to trust it. The heart and soul of Wikipedia is a community of people working passionately to bring you unlimited access to reliable, neutral information. Please help keep Wikipedia growing. Thank you. — Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia Founder"

I don't drink coffee...

Legionreturns

I don't use it... I'm a teacher, it's the enemy of hard work! Let it die I say!   

BigBearKris

It doesn't say: pay us instead of paying for your Wednesday coffee. It's the 'amount of money' that said coffee costs. 

(Which of course varies greatly).

Flink_Poyd

RandallFlagg said:

"To all our readers in the UK, We will get straight to the point: This Wednesday we ask you to protect Wikipedia's independence. It's December 6 and time is running out to help in 2017. We depend on donations averaging about £10. Only a tiny portion of our readers give. If everyone reading this gave £2, we could keep Wikipedia thriving for years to come. The price of your Wednesday coffee is all we need. When I made Wikipedia a non-profit, people warned me I’d regret it. Over a decade later, it’s the only top ten site run by a non-profit and a community of volunteers. Has it crossed my mind how much we could have made if it had ads? Sure. But we wouldn’t be able to trust it. The heart and soul of Wikipedia is a community of people working passionately to bring you unlimited access to reliable, neutral information. Please help keep Wikipedia growing. Thank you. — Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia Founder"

I don't drink coffee...

I do, just never on a Wednesday

Kilgore

I consider myself sufficiently well informed without having to consult Wikipedia. 
Whales has some nerve, begging for money, while he's living it up at the Ecuadorian embassy.

ThorpyFX

I donate a little every year. I used it on my Masters as a first pass to read in broad terms about a subject. Since then I still use it every week at least and sometimes lose whole evenings falling down a rabbit hole of topic reading. so £5 is worth it to me for the entertainment alone.

Phil_aka_Pip

I don't mind donating a little now and then. It helps me find out about stuff.

speshul91

I just ask the woman, they seem to think they know everything. 

SteveRobinson

I've given in the past but I believe that they are very well funded and don't actually need our cash.

I met Jimmy Wales once, nice guy.

thumpingrug

I have donated.  i use Wiki a lot both personal use and at work (often how different drugs interact).  I find the information well presented and easy to understand quickly so great for getting up to speed on something quickly.  I dont care how well funded they are they provide a valuable product that I am happy to part with a couple fo quid every now and again to get an advert free service.  I do the same here for similar reasons.

ICBM

I donate something - usually a fiver, £2 seems too little and a tenner too much for some reason - when they ask, which seems to be about once a year. It's definitely not the fount of all knowledge, but I find it very useful, and I'd rather it stayed ad-free.

Sassafras

I love wiki. It's important to keep it alive.
It's not perfect but it's bloody handy.

axisus

I gave up coffee so does that make me exempt?

To be honest, I only use the site as it is often forced to the top of searches. I don't particularly care where I get my info from and I don't plan to pay whilst it is free info elsewhere. 

ToneControl

I chip in

quarky

It's that time of year again. As the Christmas lights go up, Wikipedia's donation drive kicks off. Wikipedia claims that the donations are needed to keep the site online. Guilt-tripped journalists including Heather Brooke and Toby Young have contributed to Wikipedia in the belief that donations help fund operating costs. Students, who are already heavily in debt, are urged to donate in case Wikipedia "disappears".

But what Wikipedia doesn't tell us is that it is awash with cash - and raises far more money each year than it needs to keep operating.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/20/cash_rich_wikipedia_chugging/

I have done quite a bit of editing (and created a few pages!) in the past, but don't donate money.

thomasross20

I chipped in once.

TheMarlin

It’s a dodgy info source,unreliable and full of bull crap.

I wouldn’t give them a penny 

Legionreturns

quarky said:

It's that time of year again. As the Christmas lights go up, Wikipedia's donation drive kicks off. Wikipedia claims that the donations are needed to keep the site online. Guilt-tripped journalists including Heather Brooke and Toby Young have contributed to Wikipedia in the belief that donations help fund operating costs. Students, who are already heavily in debt, are urged to donate in case Wikipedia "disappears".

But what Wikipedia doesn't tell us is that it is awash with cash - and raises far more money each year than it needs to keep operating.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/20/cash_rich_wikipedia_chugging/

I have done quite a bit of editing (and created a few pages!) in the past, but don't donate money.

That's an interesting read. 

I don't respond well to begging emails / pop ups or phone calls. I tend to support local causes of my choosing, either by donating or more often volunteering. I find the bigger ones wasteful and dodgy 

57Deluxe

Won't get any support from me. The times I have taken to add hard and qualified actual fact to the site only for some arse to come along and remove it with a reason that shows they know Jack about the subject.

TheMarlin

57Deluxe said:

Won't get any support from me. The times I have taken to add hard and qualified actual fact to the site only for some arse to come along and remove it with a reason that shows they know Jack about the subject.

My experience exactly.  I swear some topics are
flagged.  Changes are reverted back to nonsense and inaccuracies in days, sometimes hours. 

menamestom

TheMarlin said:

It’s a dodgy info source,unreliable and full of bull crap.

I don’t think anything on the web can ever be 100% accurate, but furthermore depending on your world view, many people would think it’s completely wrong anyway.   For example, if you are a creationist ir conspiracist etc, it be the work of the devil or dark forces.   Or is it just the basic info on more mundane subjects as well?

Got to admit I’ve not challenged it in any great detail, but neither would I take everything as absolute truth, but I like it’s broadly scientific approach and in the age of David Wolfe, Info Wars, Food Babe, Natural News etc it’s far more open and logical.   At least it’s asking for money rather than back door advertising and being open to interigation.   But that’s a minefield in itself, I suppose.