[Wikipedia-l] Phase III name change to MediaWiki and separate press releases

[Jimmy Wales]

Ray Saintonge wrote:
> No.  We aren't '''going''' non-profit; we always have been.

In spirit, yes.  In fact, yes.  But in the law, Wikipedia was just a
project of Bomis, Inc., a for-profit corporation.

>  Incorporating Wikimedia is an administrative action which probably 
> doesn't mean much to the general public.

I think it means a lot to a lot of people.  There was significant
distrust of me for a long time.  For one thing, people are not willing
to 'donate' money to a for-profit corporation, and with good reason.

> Stressing that we have a quarter million articles appeals to the 
> bandwagon effect.  Remarking about our competitive position in relation 
> to other on-line encyclopedias makes sense because because it draws 
> people into a competition where they can feel a part of the winning 
> team.  Being mentioned by CNN means something; being high rated by Alexa 
> is noteworthy; having a news article say, "These guys know their stuff," 
> says something about our credibility.

I do agree with all of this.

> Even more important is stressing our core principles of NPOV and making 
> knowledge broadly and freely available to everybody.  Stressing also 
> that participants can share the responsibility of safeguarding those 
> core principles is a further strength.

That's right, but we can't put too much into a press release.  For a
press release to get press, it has to be "punchy", it has to have a
"hook", a storyline that attracts the attention of journalists.

--Jimbo