On 2007.10.23 15:06:25 +0200, Oskar Sigvardsson oskarsigvardsson@gmail.com scribbled 0 lines:
This is somewhat off-topic, but I'd like to remind all of you hard-working stiffs who do nothing all day but argue over tiny points of wikipedia policy and generally spends your day fighting other editors to check out the comments left by those who have donated:
http://donate.wikimedia.org/en/fundcore_browse
It is one of my favourite distractions during fundraising season. Instead of all that "Wikipedia can't be trusted!" and "Wikipedians are run by an evil cabal that is out to destroy me!" you get to hear what normal people really think about us. Like:
"Thank you Wikipedia! The best web-site and project ever!"
"Thanks for hours of interesting reading. I wish you many more years of enlightening the world."
"Thanks for not censoring important information (e.g. civil rights) like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft have done in China."
"I wish I could give more."
That last one was from someone who gave $100. Some are just plain fun:
"If you think about giving to Wikipedia, ask yourself "What would Jesus do ?""
That's right, anonymous dude from the UK who gave £10, Jesus WOULD donate to Wikipedia!
--Oskar
Personally, one of the comments in a similar vein that I treasure most comes from http://lispmeister.com/blog/citations/synthesis-massalin.html:
"Later that same day I did a quick check on Wikipedia to read up on the current state of the art. I was surprised to find a link to a paper about self modifying kernel code by Henry Massalin. Reading his PhD thesis about the Synthesis kernel, like learning Lisp, is a mind altering experience. This guy is a genius!"
(I probably don't need to mention that it was I who tracked down that paper and linked to it.)
-- gwern domestic .li zone W50 Tyrell ABC SFPD NSES Halibut Corporate