On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 11:28 PM, Gwern Branwen gwern0@gmail.com wrote:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/27/wikipedia_charity_not/
"Wiki-fiddling isn't a charitable activity, according to the UK tax man. Revenue and Customs is denying tax privileges that go with charity status to Wikimedia UK, or Wiki UK Limited, as it's officially registered."
Worth noting also is the quiet little redefinition - something isn't charitable activity unless it can get tax breaks.
The exact quote from "the UK tax man", which you include later in your email, is "The production of an encyclopaedia is not the charitable advancement of education..."
The "quiet little redefinition" took place by us Americans. Not that there's anything wrong with that. We Americans managed to fix a lot of strange things about the English language, such as their spelling of "encyclopaedia".