Oleg Alexandrov wrote:
I have been a Wikipedian for five years. I am an administrator, I have written tens of articles, created hundreds of pictures, and made tens of thousands of edits. I love Wikipedia and all that it represents.
I find the current "WIKIPEDIA FOREVER" banner to be creepy. I don't have good words to express it, but it does not feel the right way of soliciting donations.
I would call upon the Wikipedians responsible for the banner to give it a deep thought about what message they want to convey to the millions of visitors to the site. Thank you.
I understand your sentiments perfectly, I have been at it for nearly eight years. Those of us who have been doing this a long time are more committed to the idea than to the organization. It's the difference between amateur and professional sports. In amateur sports the important thing is participation and having fun at it without worrying too much about making mistakes. In professional sports image and conformity become more important, and the kind of boosterism that you criticize becomes the norm. When we start to believe that something is "forever" we lose our ability to renew.
Ec