It would be... tricky to get the idea past the community on Wikipedia, though, would it not? I know a good few administrators who delete any paid articles on sight.
Richard Symonds Wikimedia UK 0207 065 0992
Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
*Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
On 3 October 2012 12:07, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
The idea of setting up some kind of social enterprise is a very interesting one. One other service it could sell, somewhat more controversially, is advice on dealing with problems with Wikipedia articles. I think it is clear that just letting OTRS handle it doesn't really work and people need more support than just an email address they can send things to and get back a lecture on Wikipedia policy and procedure, and judging by the number of attempts we see at setting up for-profit consultancy services for this, it would appear there is a market. (I think there is probably a market of companies and individuals that would be happier paying even if they could get the same thing done for free, just because they feel more confident in a paid service.)
It would be better for a social enterprise of Wikimedians to be providing that paid consultancy than some of the other people trying to offer such services. I did try and draw up a rough business plan for such a consultancy, and I think it could turn a profit. The big unknowns were how much we could charge (I used some PR consultancy chargeout rates I found online as a rough estimate) and how much non-chargable work would be required in order to attract business (if we get people just knocking on the door without any reals sales work required, then it would easily be profitable).
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org