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redditWikipedia is raising $7.5 million?
Trust Wikipedia?
Just to be safe, you should be aware that anyone can edit a Wikipedia article, and so you should never give too much trust to anything you find on Wikipedia. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use Wikipedia. It means you should just be aware of what Wikipedia is, and how to use it. For example, you can check the bibliographic references/links (at the bottom of each Wikipedia entry’s page). Or use it as a starting point to get some search terms to do some web searching for a more stable trustworthy source. For example, if I was looking up info about a health or nutrition topic, I might read Wikipedia first, then search (harvard health [search term]) or WebMD.
In my daily life, wikipedia.org is one of my most use sites, up there with google.com. If I want an overview about any topic, I often google (wikipedia [search term]). For example, I might google/search both (wikipedia Microsoft Office) and (Microsoft Office).
I also feel like the information is generally reliable. At least compared to some random blog (hey wait a minute, this is some random blog :-p). In fact, if you just do some random google search, I think you’ll often be more likely to run into spam or unreliable info.
Donate to Wikipedia?
Wikipedia is now collecting small donations, with a goal of $7.5 million. And from there web page, it looks like they are at least trying to appear very public and open about what the money is being spent on:
From page 15 of ( http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/a/a3/2009-10_Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan_FINAL_July2.pdf )
I noticed on pg-18, it says: (Final year of Sloan three-year grant puts pressure on revenue-generating staff for 2010-11. Response: Continue to focus on growing small individual gifts, while additionally seeking unrestricted grants.)
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/FAQ/en
Your donation is worth more than it costs you
If you give $100 (or more), then the Omidyar Network will match your $100. And you get a tax deduction. Your company might also match the donation (AMD does, or at least did at some point). If we assume you give $100 and are in the 25% tax bracket, then… In my example, basically, you could give $75, and wikipedia gets a $300 donation out of it.
Wikipedia – why not rely less on donations?
One thing I’m very curious about with Wikipedia is why they don’t try some other revenue generation methods. I found an article about the advertisement issue ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Advertisements ). But I’m also curious why they don’t try selling software, such as a robust official Wikipedia iPhone OS app that they could market as a donation (in this example, maybe Apple would be kind enough to not charge them 30%). Or other software, such as a desktop application.
Pem (Admin) :: Nov.19.2009 :: Internet / Web :: No Comments »
