Just a quick question.

Isn't it the case that Google Adsense (and similar programs) basically cut the tie between specific advertisers and specific publications? As I understand it, the ads are dynamically generated by Google--neither the advertiser nor the website owner have much say in placement, nor do the advertiser or website owner have any contact with one another.

If this is so, it's pretty hard for me to understand how putting Adsense ads on Wikipedia pages could ever lead to any of the editorial-influence scenarios being described here. Adsense makes the "wall" between editorial and advertising that stronger than it already is (and I work for a magazine where it is very strong without Adsense).

Best,

Marshall Poe, Ph.D. The Atlantic Monthly 600 New Hampshire Ave. NW Washington, DC 20037 202-266-6511 mpoe@theatlantic.com -----Original Message----- From: foundation-l-bounces@wikimedia.org [mailto:foundation-l-bounces@wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Anthony DiPierro Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 12:23 PM To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Benefits of advertising (was Re: Our exponentiallyincreasing costs)

On 10/24/05, Tim Starling t.starling@physics.unimelb.edu.au wrote:

Neil Harris wrote:

...

Hmm. 2500 hits/sec * 86400 secs/day * $1 CPM = $216,000 / _day_, or $78,000,000+/year. Have you considered that the Wikimedia foundation

...

board might be aware of this, and that its decision not to put up advertising might be a principled decision, rather than motivated by

...

"fear of money"?

We don't have 2500 hits/sec, we have 2500 requests/sec, i.e. including

images, stylesheets, etc. The difference is roughly a factor of 3. The

income would thus be closer to $26M.

By these figures, we could cover our current operating costs by putting

ads on the site for two weeks per year. I'm not sure if it's a good idea though.

Alternatively, if just 5% of people *opted in* to advertisements, we'd be set, and could use the donated money on other things (and wouldn't have to run the ad begging for donations). Personally I'd rather see targetted ads at the bottom of the page than requests for donations at the top. Isn't it possible that 5% of Wikipedians are like me in this respect? I really don't see the reason not to try it, other than a fear of money. Or in the case of Jimbo, the fact that he promised not to do it until the community agrees. _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l