BJörn Lindqvist wrote:
With respect, this is a fairly strange line of argument. Objectively, there is nothing particularly bizarre or strange about Wikipedia as an online community. There are other wikis, there are other collaborative projects, there are other online forums etc etc. So all of that is not in itself a reason to say "Wikipedia is so different that it makes sense for it to continue being different by having no ads".
Or maybe there's an ideological connection between GFDL and adlessness that I (and slashdot, linux.org and others...) don't (yet) see.
There is a very strong connection between adlessness and credibility. Adfree stuff appears to me as much more reputable and trustworthy than other media riddled with ads. I believe that that is one of the reasons for Wikipedia's success. If Wikipedia had ads, there would be absolutely no reason for me, as a reader, to use Wikipedia instead of any other random site. As for the monetary problem, Jimbo definitely is a hero and a saint for funding Wikipedia which probably has costed him a fortune. But he can't be the only philantropical millionare out there who would love to fund Wikipedia.... right?
-- mvh Björn
Right... this said, while Jimbo had made it possible for the project to born and has funded it on his own money for a long time, for which we should all be greatly thankful, I hope you are aware that we are no more using Jimbo's money *at all* to run the site, yes ?
Money right now comes from individual donations in large part, sponsors such as Yahoo, selling DVD's (such as the german one) and tee-shirts.
Q1 income
CafePress Commissions $1,207.71 Credit Card Service $0.00 MoneyBookers Donations $914.19 Other Donations $57,440.14 PayPal Donations $100,853.00 Foreign Exchange Gain $243.93 Interest Income $37.71 TOTAL $160,696.68
Q2 income Wikimania tickets $6,320.95 CafePress Commissions $510.09 Credit Card Service $1.00 MoneyBookers Donations $201.56 Other Donations $64,938.52 PayPal Donations $19,842.96 Foreign Exchange Gain -$2,826.69 Interest Income $77.33 TOTAL $89,065.72
No philanthropical millionaire is helping us right now.
Ant