How many times does this have to be pounded home? If you put ads in WP or any other project, there would be a fork. Look at the Spanish WP if you don't believe me. However why don't we look at a opt in adsense skin? ----- Original Message ---- From: Nathan <nawrich(a)gmail.com> To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 1:23:32 PM Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Advertisements? To answer White Cat: an encyclopedia that efficiently and effectively accomplishes its mission - not simply maintenance of the status quo. The ultimate goal is not "longterm web hosting of a web based encyclopedia" its "distribute the sum of human knowledge, free, to all people." Its a big vision, and its apparent that the big vision is not shared by all who contribute - many construe only the narrow responsibility of keeping the lights on. There is far more that can and should be done, and Wikimedia is in a unique position to go much, much further towards accomplishing such a broad goal than we are now. A hundred Wikimedia Academies, conferences at universities around the world to involve content experts in specific fields, the fast and responsive development of new features, etc. There are many, many other worthy ideas that deserve consideration and attention from those who can provide serious support. If we wanted to have that capacity, we could have it. The single most important aspect of the revenue impact from advertising would be the preservation of Wikimedia and its projects for the duration - right now, each year is a question that we rely on individual donors to answer. Its just not necessary - when we have the tools to guarantee Wikimedia survives and pursues its missions for decades to come, why do we let it hang on the precipice year after year instead? I honestly do not understand the point of view that any ads in articlespace whatsoever immediately compromises all of our content. I don't even see evidence to reflect the notion that all of our contributors will immediately fork. I think the prospect of a severe fork of the English Wikipedia is rather slim, to tell you the truth, and any fork would immediately become obscure and useless for most purposes. What is the difficulty with distinguishing between "content" and "stuff alongside content"? All of our readers do this effortlessly throughout their day - in fact, a significant portion of them probably think there already are ads somewhere on Wikipedia. The reactionary opposition to advertising in any form needs to stop - it is uninformed, because no comprehensive investigation of what is involved and what the community thinks has ever been performed. It claims the authority of a majority where no evidence of such majority exists. At least permit the Board and staff to look into the possibility without demanding a preemptive statement that advertising is evil. Something that hurts no one, does not negatively impact our actual content or our community and ensures the survival and expansion of Wikimedia is not evil on its face. Nathan On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 3:56 PM, White Cat <wikipedia.kawaii.neko(a)gmail.com> wrote: _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l