[Foundation-l] No, even a couple of Google ads on each page would be a fa...

[Anthony]

On Sun, Nov 7, 2010 at 6:24 PM, Fred Bauder <fredbaud at fairpoint.net> wrote:
>> Between the
>> lack of support for ads in the community and the difficult hurdles
>> that would need to be navigated to not get in trouble with the IRS, I
>> don't see ads ever coming to Wikimedia Foundation websites.
>
> Yes, revenue would have to be used for nonprofit purposes, either ours or
> others, or else.

No.  It would likely require much more than that.  More like the
hurdles that had to be jumped through by the Mozilla
Foundation/Corporation, only more difficult because Wikipedia is
already well-established.

That or you could try to convince the IRS that the advertisements
themselves are part and parcel of the mission to educate the public,
which might actually be possible.

Either way it would take quite a bit of effort on the part of the WMF,
and that combined with the pushback from the community, I just don't
think it'll ever happen.

> I am aware from experience here and elsewhere that even the most obvious
> initiatives can be futile. That is not a reason to not to advance them,
> repeatedly.

I'd argue against you on that one, but it'd probably be futile.