[Foundation-l] No, even a couple of Google ads on each page would be a fatally bad idea

[Zack Exley]

On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 5:18 PM, Ziko van Dijk <zvandijk at googlemail.com>wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Adverts do not make content wrong, but create mistrust.
>

They also create confusion. Not long ago I lent my computer to a 15 year-old
family friend who did not have Internet access at home and who wanted to
search online for a Summer job. Watching him, it was clear that he couldn't
tell the difference between the ads and the real job listings. He followed
many links to scam websites. Our 400 million users include a lot of people
like him who are new to the web.

Another note on ads: We do actually run ads once a year -- for ourself. If
"leaving money on the table" was something the Wikimedia movement cared
about, we could run donation requests all year long. My guess is we'd make
at least close to what Google ads would pay. Thankfully, not too many people
are worried how much money the table gets to keep.

Zack



> Have a look what Lawrence Lessig tells about:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHma3ZQRVoA
>
> Kind regards
> Ziko
>
>
>
> 2010/11/5 Cool Hand Luke <User.CoolHandLuke at gmail.com>:
> > This was manifestly not a "fatal" idea.  In fact, it appears they
> concluded
> > that *operating on donations *would be fatal.  Moral of the story:
> Wikipedia
> > is different.
> >
> > Considering how much spam we receive, and how long some of it persists, I
> > sometimes wonder if we haven't miscalculated the costs and benefits.  For
> > example, WMF could be getting something like $30 per-click on ads in
> > articles like Mesothelioma.  Ad money instead goes to enterprising
> spammers
> > who sometimes succeed in placing their links in high-traffic or high
> value
> > articles.
> >
> > Frank
> >
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 12:02 PM, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> ... and compromise content, as TV Tropes found out:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/TheSituation?from=Main.TheGoogleIncident
> >>
> >>
> >> - d.
> >>
> >>
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>
>
>
> --
> Ziko van Dijk
> Niederlande
>
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