[Foundation-l] Rodovid.org, family tree wiki, wishes to become a wiki project

[Ray Saintonge]

Benjamin Webb wrote:

>On 26/03/06, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
>  
>
>>Robert Scott Horning wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Or more to the point, I think that starting a geneology project is
>>>actually going to be a significant source of revenue for the Wikimedia
>>>Foundation rather than being a drag on the resources.  And a geneology
>>>database increases significantly in value as it grows.  I can't say what
>>>the critical number would be, but having over a million names would
>>>certainly be a significant milestone to make any project, and people
>>>have paid some large amounts of money ($1,000's) for much smaller
>>>databases that might have some information they are looking for, or are
>>>even willing to do international travel just to get a few additional
>>>names and references.
>>>      
>>>
>>Probabably so, and by charging very modest fees at that.  The question
>>to ask then, given the massive number of genealogical websites out
>>there, what can we do that will make our site more desirable than all
>>the others.
>>    
>>
>Surely the Wikimedia Foundation isn't going to charge fees, I thought it was
>non-profit. Have I misunderstood what you are saying?
>
Charging fees and being non-profit are not mutually exclusive concepts.  
That idea is one possibility among many. It would be irresponsible to 
lunge forward with such a huge project without some consideration of its 
economics.

Ec