[WikiEN-l] fundraising

[Gwern Branwen]

On 2007.10.23 15:06:25 +0200, Oskar Sigvardsson <oskarsigvardsson at gmail.com> scribbled 0 lines:
> This is somewhat off-topic, but I'd like to remind all of you
> hard-working stiffs who do nothing all day but argue over tiny points
> of wikipedia policy and generally spends your day fighting other
> editors to check out the comments left by those who have donated:
>
> http://donate.wikimedia.org/en/fundcore_browse
>
> It is one of my favourite distractions during fundraising season.
> Instead of all that "Wikipedia can't be trusted!" and "Wikipedians are
> run by an evil cabal that is out to destroy me!" you get to hear what
> normal people really think about us. Like:
>
> "Thank you Wikipedia! The best web-site and project ever!"
>
> "Thanks for hours of interesting reading. I wish you many more years
> of enlightening the world."
>
> "Thanks for not censoring important information (e.g. civil rights)
> like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft have done in China."
>
> "I wish I could give more."
>
> That last one was from someone who gave $100. Some are just plain fun:
>
> "If you think about giving to Wikipedia, ask yourself "What would Jesus do ?""
>
> That's right, anonymous dude from the UK who gave £10, Jesus WOULD
> donate to Wikipedia!
>
> --Oskar

Personally, one of the comments in a similar vein that I treasure most comes from <http://lispmeister.com/blog/citations/synthesis-massalin.html>:

"Later that same day I did a quick check on Wikipedia to read up on the current state of the art. I was surprised to find a link to a paper about self modifying kernel code by Henry Massalin. Reading his PhD thesis about the Synthesis kernel, like learning Lisp, is a mind altering experience. This guy is a genius!"

(I probably don't need to mention that it was I who tracked down that paper and linked to it.)

--
gwern
domestic .li zone W50 Tyrell ABC SFPD NSES Halibut Corporate
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/attachments/20071023/2bc9ec13/attachment-0001.pgp