[Wikimedia-l] "Adopt a page"

[Craig Franklin]

It comes down to asking what the purpose of the Foundation and a project
like Wikipedia is.  Is it to produce a free source of knowledge, or is to
promote volunteerism?  If it's possible to build a better encyclopædia by
encouraging paid editing or allowing for-profit entities to sponsor a
particular page, then that's a possibility that we ought to make ourselves
open to.  Volunteerism, of course, has served the movement well and got us
to where we find ourselves today, but it is not and should not be
considered an end unto itself.

Of course, as has been pointed out, there are potential pitfalls with this
model that have been discussed many times - there are many potential COI
issues, and paid editing in some areas may discourage unpaid editing in
others.  However, I think it would be unwise simply to dismiss those sort
of possibilities out of hand.

Cheers,
Craig Franklin

On 30 March 2013 11:29, Thomas Morton <morton.thomas at googlemail.com> wrote:

> It's a weird dichotomy.
>
> I've spent several hundred quid on source material for my current topic
> area. I could easily have spent several grand.
>
> Paid editing is a major issue, because it conflicts with our culture
>
> But if someone were able to buy my sources then it would be of huge
> benefit.
>
> And, controversially, if someone could fund me one day a week to write
> these articles I could likely expand from one GA per month to covering this
> entire field in GAs in a year.
>
> Without that it will take me a good five years
>
> I've come recently to see that funding article work is not inherently an
> awful thing. But it needs to be done with extreme care to protect our
> ideals and neutrality. And that is a HARD problem.
>
> Tom
>
> On Saturday, March 30, 2013, Thomas Dalton wrote:
>
> > On Mar 30, 2013 1:04 AM, "Mono" <monomium at gmail.com <javascript:;>>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > How so?
> >
> > It would be completely against our culture. Wikipedia is a volunteer
> > written encyclopedia.
> >
> > You would end up with a two-tier system of paid editors and unpaid
> editors.
> > There would inevitably be a lot of conflict between those groups. The
> whole
> > concept would be extremely divisive.
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