Megan Hernandez <mhernandez@...> writes:
As Lila’s email said, we launched our end of year English fundraising campaign on Tuesday. I wanted to share a little more background on the mechanics of the English Wikipedia campaign, and where we are on our goals this year to-date.
Starting today, banners are being shown to 100% of anonymous readers on English Wikipedia in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Our end of year campaign goal is $20 million. As Lila mentioned, our goal is to serve more powerful reminders to be able to limit the total number of banners each reader sees. We are constantly experimenting with new methods to reach our readers and optimize the donation experience.
I know I used to write an email internally every year, saying our banners are getting out of control, but that's because every year they get bigger and more obscuring of the content. This year, as usual, is not an exception. However, this year the banners didn't just get bigger, the copy seems to be more fear inducing as well.
Today I had a coworker private message me, worried that Wikipedia was in financial trouble. He asked me if the worst happened, would the content still be available so that it could be resurrected? I assured him that Wikimedia is healthy, has reserves, and successfully reaches the budget every year. Basically I said there wasn't much to worry about, because there isn't.
The messaging being used is actively scaring people. This isn't the first person that's asked me about this. When they find out there's not a real problem, their reaction quickly changes. They become angry. They feel manipulated.
My coworker told me that he donates generously every year, which is rare for him because he doesn't often donate to charities. He said this year's ads are putting him off. He doesn't feel like he should donate.
I understand that efficient banner ads are good, because they reduce the number of times people need to see the ad, but it's not great when people stop posting funny banner memes and start asking Wikimedia to switch to an advertising model (seriously, do a quick twitter search).
- Ryan Lane