That's a blog, right ?
Just leave a comment :-))
ant
Bradypus wrote:
Anthere,
Thank you for clarifying that point.
However, on a different subject, I note that the page you refer us to begins
with:
"the Wikimedia Foundation - which owns the online encyclopedia Wikipedia"
Owns? O_o [sigh]
Bradipus
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anthere" <Anthere9(a)yahoo.com>
To: <foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 11:21 AM
Subject: [Foundation-l] About rumors...
>RUMORS
>
>I was away from my computer for 4 days last week, to participate to a
>conference (LIFT) in Switzerland. During this conference, the organiser
>asked me questions about the financial situation of the projects. I
>answered with plain honesty and unfortunately with some words which
>raised the attention of a blogger in the room.
>
>Never mind that the words were taken out of context, never mind the
>smiles that went with the words, the words were out. Twisted.
>
>So, if some of you have heard that Wikipedia might close in 4 months due
>to financial difficulties, these are the words I am talking about.
>
>For more on the discussion on the matter, please see the blog of Mr
>Guissani. I had a long discussion with him on financial matters on
>friday morning.
>
>http://www.lunchoverip.com/2007/02/the_wikimedia_c.html
>
>I think that summarize things pretty well.
>
>---------
>
>BEING INFORMED
>
>The day the WMF will plan to close Wikipedia for lack of funds, believe
>me, you'll know. Before the press.
>
>Will Wikipedia close in 4 months ? NO. NO. AND NO.
>
>---------
>
>TRANSPARENCY AND FIGURES
>
>All of our financial statements for year 2004, 2005 and 2006 are public
>and audited. Please find them here:
>http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Finance_report#Audited_financial_statements
>
>We also have a page where we state our needs for the coming 6 months.
>http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/What_we_need_the_money_for.
>
>(as a reminder, our fiscal year goes from june to june)
>
>TO make it short, we currently have above 1 million (exact figures to
>pick up from Carolyn, perhaps 1,5) in bank, available for use.
>
>Current monthly expenses as of today are about 75 000 dollars.
>We had an (optimistic goal) of hardware investment of 1,6 million before
>june. We can expect bandwidth and hosting costs to naturally follow. We
>also need more human help, at least hiring a permanent executive
>director, a CTO and probably more developers.
>
>Just have a look at the page and do count yourself. If you add current
>daily operations + hardware investment + increase in bandwidth +
>increase in hosting + 3 to 5 additional employees, we are already over
>that 1.5 millions that we have in hand.
>
>So, as of today, I think we can quietly say that
>
>"yes, we have about 3-4 months of operations at hand". Not 6 months. Not
>1 year. Not 2 years. Roughly 3-4 months.
>
>If you look at the bottom of this page,
>(http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/What_we_need_the_money_for#Retained_revenue)
>you'll see that the recommandations of auditors is always to try to have
>6 months of reserve. We are far from it. We have roughly 4 months.
>Having 6 months of reserve is financially wiser.
>
>Did you have a way to know this previously ?
>Yes you did. It was listed in the site notice during the full month of
>fundraising. So, there is nothing new to wikipedians. There might be
>something new to press though.
>
>---------
>
>IS THAT A BIG DEAL ?
>
>I repeat, we are not going to disappear. We have been in worse state in
>the past. Well, in december 2006, some expenses were delayed, delayed
>till the money from the fundraising was flowing in, and we could pay the
>bills.
>
>Someone mentionned image server a few days ago. Image server was planned
>in september hardware quote. But purchase was delayed till december.
>http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution_Hardware_sept_2006
>Because given our cashflow situation, it would have been unreasonable to
>buy the image servers.
>
>
>This should not happen. We should not come to the point where we delay
>hardware investment. We should aim to provide the best service, not just
>the service we can afford.
>
>
>We should not try to pretend we do not need money. We do need more
>money. People at the Foundation are trying to find creative ways to
>collect more, with services (datafeed), royalties from brand use
>(Wikipedia in particular), matching donations etc... but raising the
>money for the projects should not become only the business of 10 or so
>employees. This should be many people concern. Because Wikipedia is not
>the website of a few people, not even the website of the community, it
>is a common good.
>
>ant
>
>
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