[Foundation-l] Answers.com and Wikimedia Foundation to Form New Partnership

[Ray Saintonge]

Chris Jenkinson wrote:

> Jimmy Wales wrote:
>
>> Will the Wikimedia Foundation ever accept money to change the content of
>> the articles?  Not as long as I'm alive, ok?  Anyone who thinks
>> otherwise should check their premises and remember who I am and what I'm
>> doing and how I spend my life.
>
> Forgive my scepticism, but if we start accepting advertising and 
> become reliant on it, it isn't unknown for the company who is 
> advertising to pull their adverts, cutting Wikimedia's revenue.
>
> A lack of adverts is one of the reasons why Wikipedia can be neutral. 
> If we become reliant on others for our existence, they can exert 
> influence over our content. I don't want to see us go down that route.

That problem has more to do with dependancy than advertising.  This is 
why diversification is important.  Just as dangerous as it might be to 
depend exclusively on donations, so too is it to depend on a single 
advertiser.  One avoids exclusive arrangements so that if one advertiser 
fails there remain others to pick up the slack, or there is enough in 
contingency reserves to tide us over until a replacement can be found.

Ec