[Foundation-l] About rumors...

[Bradypus]

A comment? Hey, why not :-)
I didn't think of that, I was looking for the "modify" button ;-)

Done: 
http://www.lunchoverip.com/2007/02/the_wikimedia_c.html#comment-60768236
(I sure hope I did no make any mistake in my comment)

Bradipus

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Anthere" <Anthere9 at yahoo.com>
To: <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2007 2:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] About rumors...


> That's a blog, right ?
>
> Just leave a comment :-))
>
>
> ant
>
>
> Bradypus wrote:
>> Anthere,
>>
>> Thank you for clarifying that point.
>> However, on a different subject, I note that the page you refer us to 
>> begins
>> with:
>> "the Wikimedia Foundation - which owns the online encyclopedia Wikipedia"
>>
>> Owns? O_o  [sigh]
>>
>> Bradipus
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Anthere" <Anthere9 at yahoo.com>
>> To: <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
>> Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 11:21 AM
>> Subject: [Foundation-l] About rumors...
>>
>>
>>
>>>RUMORS
>>>
>>>I was away from my computer for 4 days last week, to participate to a
>>>conference (LIFT) in Switzerland. During this conference, the organiser
>>>asked me questions about the financial situation of the projects. I
>>>answered with plain honesty and unfortunately with some words which
>>>raised the attention of a blogger in the room.
>>>
>>>Never mind that the words were taken out of context, never mind the
>>>smiles that went with the words, the words were out. Twisted.
>>>
>>>So, if some of you have heard that Wikipedia might close in 4 months due
>>>to financial difficulties, these are the words I am talking about.
>>>
>>>For more on the discussion on the matter, please see the blog of Mr
>>>Guissani. I had a long discussion with him on financial matters on
>>>friday morning.
>>>
>>>http://www.lunchoverip.com/2007/02/the_wikimedia_c.html
>>>
>>>I think that summarize things pretty well.
>>>
>>>---------
>>>
>>>BEING INFORMED
>>>
>>>The day the WMF will plan to close Wikipedia for lack of funds, believe
>>>me, you'll know. Before the press.
>>>
>>>Will Wikipedia close in 4 months ? NO. NO. AND NO.
>>>
>>>---------
>>>
>>>TRANSPARENCY AND FIGURES
>>>
>>>All of our financial statements for year 2004, 2005 and 2006 are public
>>>and audited. Please find them here:
>>>http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Finance_report#Audited_financial_statements
>>>
>>>We also have a page where we state our needs for the coming 6 months.
>>>http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/What_we_need_the_money_for.
>>>
>>>(as a reminder, our fiscal year goes from june to june)
>>>
>>>TO make it short, we currently have above 1 million (exact figures to
>>>pick up from Carolyn, perhaps 1,5) in bank, available for use.
>>>
>>>Current monthly expenses as of today are about 75 000 dollars.
>>>We had an (optimistic goal) of hardware investment of 1,6 million before
>>>june. We can expect bandwidth and hosting costs to naturally follow. We
>>>also need more human help, at least hiring a permanent executive
>>>director, a CTO and probably more developers.
>>>
>>>Just have a look at the page and do count yourself. If you add current
>>>daily operations + hardware investment + increase in bandwidth +
>>>increase in hosting + 3 to 5 additional employees, we are already over
>>>that 1.5 millions that we have in hand.
>>>
>>>So, as of today, I think we can quietly say that
>>>
>>>"yes, we have about 3-4 months of operations at hand". Not 6 months. Not
>>>1 year. Not 2 years. Roughly 3-4 months.
>>>
>>>If you look at the bottom of this page,
>>>(http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/What_we_need_the_money_for#Retained_revenue)
>>>you'll see that the recommandations of auditors is always to try to have
>>>6 months of reserve. We are far from it. We have roughly 4 months.
>>>Having 6 months of reserve is financially wiser.
>>>
>>>Did you have a way to know this previously ?
>>>Yes you did. It was listed in the site notice during the full month of
>>>fundraising. So, there is nothing new to wikipedians. There might be
>>>something new to press though.
>>>
>>>---------
>>>
>>>IS THAT A BIG DEAL ?
>>>
>>>I repeat, we are not going to disappear. We have been in worse state in
>>>the past. Well, in december 2006, some expenses were delayed, delayed
>>>till the money from the fundraising was flowing in, and we could pay the
>>>bills.
>>>
>>>Someone mentionned image server a few days ago. Image server was planned
>>>in september hardware quote. But purchase was delayed till december.
>>>http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution_Hardware_sept_2006
>>>Because given our cashflow situation, it would have been unreasonable to
>>>buy the image servers.
>>>
>>>
>>>This should not happen. We should not come to the point where we delay
>>>hardware investment. We should aim to provide the best service, not just
>>>the service we can afford.
>>>
>>>
>>>We should not try to pretend we do not need money. We do need more
>>>money. People at the Foundation are trying to find creative ways to
>>>collect more, with services (datafeed), royalties from brand use
>>>(Wikipedia in particular), matching donations etc... but raising the
>>>money for the projects should not become only the business of 10 or so
>>>employees. This should be many people concern. Because Wikipedia is not
>>>the website of a few people, not even the website of the community, it
>>>is a common good.
>>>
>>>ant
>>>
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>foundation-l mailing list
>>>foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>>>http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>>>
>
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