[Wikimedia-l] TVTropes deletes all pages with "Rape" in title under advertising pressure.

[Andreas Kolbe]

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 9:23 PM, Todd Allen <toddmallen at gmail.com> wrote:

> > Besides, the ones putting pressure on TV Tropes, and who made them take
> the
> > pages down, are Google.
> >
> > That is the same Google who are a major financial contributor to
> Wikimedia.
>
> True. But if Google told WMF "Change Foo and Bar or we'll pull our
> donations," WMF would go straight to the media, get in triple what
> Google contributes from sympathy/outrage donations, and Google would
> be pilloried. And Google's not dumb--they know that. They also know
> that Wikipedia significantly enhances their search results, and that
> their donations to WMF are getting them a very good thing for very
> little investment. The chances are very slim they'd jeopardize that.
>


Are you not being a bit naive here? Seriously, if Google wanted something,
and were willing to pay Wikimedia another half million dollars for it,
they'd talk to Jimbo and other WMF luminaries behind closed doors. And if
they agreed to whatever it is, then the press would just happen to report a
few weeks later that Brin has donated half a million to Wikipedia. And if
WMF refused whatever Google wanted, then there simply wouldn't be an
announcement of a Google donation to that amount at the next fundraiser.

No one in the press would "pillory" Google for not donating half a million
that year. After all, no one is obliged to donate to Wikimedia, including
Google.



> It's unfortunate that TVTropes didn't do the same thing. I imagine, if
> that hit the tech press, they would've found themselves getting a very
> significant amount of support (both financial and moral), and again,
> Google would've gotten pilloried and had to back off. But not taking
> ads means we don't have to be dependent on the whims of advertisers,
> or an ad provider.



Well, there is a slashdot report. Let's see how much Google get pilloried
for their actions with regard to TV Tropes. My prediction: not much.