kmf164 wrote:
Is there a way to make a donation, under my Wikipedia
user name? Using
Paypal, it only gives the option of making an anonymous donation or using my
real name. I would like to make a donation, but definitely not under my
real name. I rather make an anonymous donation then nothing. But, would
greatly prefer to attribute my donation to my wikipedia name,
Kmf164<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Kmf164>64>.
Is it feasible to add this third option for donations through Paypal?
There is a comment field, which is public; they're listed at the daily
fundraising progress reports at
http://fundraising.wikimedia.org/2005q4/
If you like you could put your username in there and mark it as anonymous to
hide your real name from the public lists.
Aside from my personal preference, I think donations
to Wikimedia would
increase if they were noted somewhere, along with users' edit histories and
contributions. Wikipedia, (as with open source software, in general), is
based on a "gift economy" (in both time and treasure). People give of their
time and knowledge; in exchange they get credit in their edit history and
elsewhere associated with their username. Monetary contributions are yet
another way for people to support the project, who might not have as much
time to contribute.
I think it is important for Wikipedia to also tie financial donations to
usernames, so that Wikipedians are recognized for those contributions, as
well as those of time and knowledge.
On the other hand we really don't want to have people going around saying "I
donated a bajillion dollars, therefore my version of this article should be kept
instead of yours". :)
-- brion vibber (brion @
pobox.com)