[Foundation-l] Fundraising banner ad

[Erik Moeller]

On 10/23/07, Delirium <delirium at hackish.org> wrote:
> I've been here for nearly 5 years and *I'm* not even sold on that, so I
> could see why not everyone else is either. The servers at
> *.wikipedia.org are not going to shut down if the fundraiser comes short

Probably not. But would you like to turn off article reads because we
can't handle the growth? Yes, we are actually still growing in
traffic, now peaking at nearly 40K hits per second  -- and new servers
have to be paid for and budgeted.

You can see the FY07-08 budget overview here:
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Planned_Spending_Distribution_2007-2008

As you can see, technology is clearly the biggest part. That also
includes finally hiring more developers, contracting work as needed,
etc., so we can actually respond in a timely fashion to requests from
the community, and integrate cool new features that everyone keeps
asking for.

As for programs, yes, those are also planned. We want to reach out and
network with other organizations that (want to) use our content in
intelligent ways. We want to pursue grants that help our projects &
our mission. We want to distribute our work as widely as possible. We
want to increase sustainability through brand licensing and other
business partnerships.

None of these ideas seem controversial. Indeed, we've been talking
about them constantly -- and Board members, including yours truly,
were elected based on the idea of helping to turn them into reality.

What is it that you think needs more explanation?
-- 
Toward Peace, Love & Progress:
Erik

DISCLAIMER: This message does not represent an official position of
the Wikimedia Foundation or its Board of Trustees.