"I got a lot of funny looks ten years ago when I started talking to people about Wikipedia. Let’s just say some people were skeptical of the notion that volunteers from all across the world could come together to create a remarkable pool of human knowledge – all for the simple purpose of sharing.
No ads. No agenda. No strings attached.
A decade after its founding, nearly 400 million people use Wikipedia and its sister sites every month - almost a third of the Internet-connected world.
It is the 5th most popular website in the world - but Wikipedia isn’t anything like a commercial website. It is a community creation, written by volunteers making one entry at a time. You are part of our community. And I’m writing today to ask you to protect and sustain Wikipedia.
Together, we can keep it free of charge and free of advertising. We can keep it open – you can use the information in Wikipedia any way you want. We can keep it growing – spreading knowledge everywhere, and inviting participation from everyone.
Each year at this time, we reach out to ask you and others all across the Wikimedia community to help sustain our joint enterprise with a modest donation of $20, $35, $50 or more.
If you value Wikipedia as a source of information – and a source of inspiration – I hope you’ll choose to act right now.
All the best,
Jimmy Wales
Founder, Wikipedia
P.S. Wikipedia is about the power of people like us to do extraordinary things. People like us write Wikipedia, one word at a time. People like us fund it, one donation at a time. It's proof of our collective potential to change the world."
No ads. No agenda. No strings attached.
A decade after its founding, nearly 400 million people use Wikipedia and its sister sites every month - almost a third of the Internet-connected world.
It is the 5th most popular website in the world - but Wikipedia isn’t anything like a commercial website. It is a community creation, written by volunteers making one entry at a time. You are part of our community. And I’m writing today to ask you to protect and sustain Wikipedia.
Together, we can keep it free of charge and free of advertising. We can keep it open – you can use the information in Wikipedia any way you want. We can keep it growing – spreading knowledge everywhere, and inviting participation from everyone.
Each year at this time, we reach out to ask you and others all across the Wikimedia community to help sustain our joint enterprise with a modest donation of $20, $35, $50 or more.
If you value Wikipedia as a source of information – and a source of inspiration – I hope you’ll choose to act right now.
All the best,
Jimmy Wales
Founder, Wikipedia
P.S. Wikipedia is about the power of people like us to do extraordinary things. People like us write Wikipedia, one word at a time. People like us fund it, one donation at a time. It's proof of our collective potential to change the world."
I think its a little corny but it does have a point. As much as teachers hate when students use wikipedia as a reference, I think its a very valuable site, and evidently a very popular site as well. I wouldn't go as far as to actually donate to it, but I would be pretty upset if I had to pay to start using it. I'm sure it would be a lot different if that was the case.
What do you guys think about this? Would you consider donating to it? Would you still use Wikipedia if it charged a fee?
I probably would not use wikipedia if they charged a fee...I know a lot of other people that wouldn't pay for it too. I am curious to see how many people actually donate to them. I feel like there are so many other search engines people could use besides wikipedia, so why pay for its upkeep?
ReplyDeleteWhy pay for something when someone else is going to copy Wikipedia eventually and make it free?
ReplyDeleteI understand the 'personal appeal' but I do not think it will produce much revenue for them. However, there definitely are people who would donate just becuase they feel it is the right thing to do, legally, I guess.
I usually use Wikipedia for many of my assignments, your right teachers really do hate it though, frequently claiming its not a "credible" source.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what I am writiing about I always glance at the Wikipedia page first. It gives a great overview. And while there is some commentary on there that may be biased or just an opinnion I think those are usually obvious. I think that Wikipedia should be given a bit more credit. Even if you are not using Wikipedia as the main source the links at the bottom are and they are extremely useful.
ReplyDeleteI would donate but I agree with Matt. There is no way I would not pay unless it was very minimal fee or I would wait for another site to pop up.