[Wikipedia-l] Re: Google Adwords

[GreenMountain]

Are ads going to be requried to pay for wikipedia, or will we be
able to exist without them?  I think it would be *extremely*
detrimental to the NPOV state of many articles, if we included
ads anywhere on the site.  Consumer Reports magazine does not
include ads, as they do not want to be in any way tainted by
sponsers.  I think we should follow suit and prevent future
problems.  Also, I am sure that it would cause many valuable
contributers to leave wikipedia for other encyclopedias, which
might mean the death of wikipedia if enough people branch off. 
I understand that ads would solve our present money problems,
but I think in the long run, it would cause many problems.  We
have enough NPOV problems as it is, and I can only see this
causing more.  I would rather see wikipedia down every other day
without ads, then to see ads everyday on wikipedia.

Jimmy Wales writes:

> I should add that I'm just answering questions about factual matters
> to the best of my ability, not advocating anything at all.
> 
> Chuck Smith wrote:
>> 1) Would this be the same amount of money if we only
>> showed ads to those who weren't logged in?
> 
> Yes, I think so.  Others are more qualified than I am to say for sure,
> but my sense of it is that the vast majority of pageviews are to
> people who are not logged in.  People log in when they want to edit,
> and lots more people view than edit.
> 
> Also, I think that an easy one-click "turn off all ads permanently"
> link that sets a longterm no-ads cookie would not appreciably affect
> the revenue, either, since lots of people wouldn't care.
> 
>> 2) Did you only include the English Wikipedia in your
>> calculations?  I wouldn't want to impose this on other
>> languages.
> 
> Yes, that's just for en.  The number is based on my own experience.  I
> could compile a keyword frequency list and send it off for an
> analysis, I think, and then the estimate would be better.
> 
>> 3) Would Brion Vibber still leave the Wikipedia
>> because of the ads to users who aren't logged in when
>> he would have a full-time position at Wikipedia?
> 
> He might.  And so might a lot of other important contributors.  A fork
> is even possible.  A successful fork is even possible.  All of those
> outcomes would be extremely bad, in my opinion.
> 
> --Jimbo
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