[Wikipedia-l] ads vs. sponsored bandwidth/hardware?

[Daniel Mayer]

Delirium wrote:
>Just an idea to see what people's views on it would be: 
>I know many people are opposed to ads on Wikipedia, 
>but would those of you opposed to ads in general be 
>more receptive to sponsored bandwidth and/or hardware?  
>For example, a box somewhere that says "bandwidth kindly  
>donated by [donating company]".  Yeah, it's an ad of sorts, 
>but it's a little more neutral and matter-of-fact than most ads: 
>it's simply informing people that the bandwidth of the site 
>they're viewing is being provided free of charge by someone.  
>More like the "powered by Apache" logos at the bottom of 
>some sites than like a typical ad, I think. 

I don't have a problem with that, but then again I don't have a problem with 
Google Adsense ads. But it would probably be best to have a "Sponsors" link 
next to the "Donations" link in MediaWiki's sidebars (compact like so maybe;   
[Donations]/[Sponsors]). [Sponsors] would list all the major hardware and 
grant sponsors. 

We could also list individuals (with their permission) who have contributed 
certain amounts of cash that fall into several different categories. I've 
seen many charities do this. However there is currently no easy way for 
donors to indicate permission for us to list their names.... 

-- Daniel Mayer (aka mav)