[Foundation-l] Fundraising & Networking updates

[Rich Holton]

On Jan 16, 2008 7:17 AM, Chad <innocentkiller at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Jan 16, 2008 4:39 AM, Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> > On 1/15/08, simonpedia <simon at cols.com.au> wrote:
> > > 1.           I know that advertising is a no no, even though when a do
> a
> > > Google on most organisations/companies it brings me back a Wikipedia
> page,
> > > usually in the top five, adorned with a company logo. This advertising
> (or
> > > product placement) goes on for many products and services, from
> aeroplanes
> > > to universities. Is there any reason the WMF wouldn't create a
> > > company/product templates, so it's made plain to an occasional reader,
> and
> > > charge for it?
> >
> > I think this is a very odd definition of "advertising" or "product
> > placement"; the logos are there because these are the official
> > identifying marks of the company, and thereby add to a comprehensive
> > encyclopedic description thereof. They are added by our readers under
> > "fair use", and there's no top down decision that we want them - it's
> > the community that judges them to have informational value. Turning
> > this into any kind of officially sponsored content seems highly
> > problematic, as it would blur the line between content and ads much
> > more than even Google ads would.
>
> I don't. For any company you Google who happens to have a Wikipedia
> article, you see a page with their logo and a company description.
> Now, it may be a neutral description, but the company is still there.
> People pay SEOs truckloads of money to get that kind of Google
> ranking for their companies, and an entire industry has emerged
> from search engines (as you know). You mean to tell me that these
> companies who are otherwise paying very heavily to get that top-ranked
> spot aren't getting free advertising from us? We may not be getting paid
> for it, but companies left and right are advertising all over Wikipedia
> and
> this must stop.
>
> Chad
>
> What is it that you want to stop? Are you suggesting that we remove all
company articles? Or just their logos?

Even without company logos, the wikipedia article may still rank high on
search engine results. Is that significantly better?

And, why should we change our practices because of the practices of search
engines?