[Foundation-l] what do we do in the event the Foundation fails? - Re: Pol...

[Anthony]

On 4/22/07, Walter Vermeir <walter at wikipedia.be> wrote:
> The domain "wikipedia.com" is a potential goldmine for the Wikimedia
> Foundation.
>
> If it would be used for offering a good read only copy of Wikipedia
> *with* moderate advertisement it could be a nice source of income for
> the WMF.
>
> wikipedia.com -> read only with advertisement -> $$$ -> Good for
> everybody, maybe not need anymore to beg to the readers to give money
> wikipedia.org -> stays like it is
>
I've supported this idea for a while now.  Some additions:
wikipedia.com -> shows only stable versions of articles
wikipedia.org -> take it out of the search engines

This would greatly reduce the impact of copyvios, libel, and other
crap, and hopefully would therefore allow for more openness, less
deletion, less page protection, reduced legal liability (assuming the
.com was run by a separate corporation), etc.

It'd have to be structured carefully though, to limit liability and to
adhere to IRS regulations of charities.  Mitch Kapor, who is on the
advisory board, can probably help find the right people to consult
with for this.  Who knows, maybe it's already in the works.  Not like
us mushrooms would find out about it.

Anthony