Wikipedia Meets $16M Budget Goal 255
netbuzz writes "Thanks to some 630,000 individual contributions that averaged $22 apiece, Wikipedia has reached its fundraising goal of $16 million, founder Jimmy Wales announced over the weekend. Writes Wales, '... this year is a little more incredible than most because this year we celebrate Wikipedia's tenth anniversary. It's so important that we kick the year off just like this: by fully funding the Wikimedia Foundation's budget to support Wikipedia and all the sister projects as we head into the next decade of our work together.' The online encyclopedia now boasts of being the Internet's fifth largest site, which renews questioning by some as to whether it can afford over the long haul to stand by its policy of refusing advertising."
Re:I don't normally say this, but... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Bad Maths [citation needed] (Score:4, Informative)
TFA says:
More than 500,000 donations averaging $22 apiece were made to the Wikimedia Foundation, while local Wikipedia chapters generated another 130,000 gifts worldwide.
The summary is incorrect.
Re:I don't normally say this, but... (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, and after Wikipedia has become dependend on the income from Google they can start changing the policy as they wish.
So Wikipedia should ask for the policy to be specified contractually, with a specified re-negotiation interval and a defined re-negotiation process that requires mutual agreement for any changes. The contract should also specify that either party may walk away, but that, say, six months' notice is required. That would give Google an out, but ensure that Wikipedia has time to restructure their fundraising.
Really, all of these sorts of problems can be solved. This is what contract negotiation is for.
Jimmy Wales Not "The Founder" (Score:5, Informative)
Obligatory just-to-try-set-the-record-straight (as the summary perpetuates the common myth) Jimmy Wales isn't "the" founder of Wikipedia, he didn't come up with the idea for Wikipedia, didn't agree with the idea initially and had to be convinced, didn't come up with the name, didn't build the initial software, and didn't create the first Wikipedia community. Most of the credit for all of the above goes to co-founder Larry Sanger; in the beginning Wales acknowledged this but he has since been attempting to rewrite history by going around marketing himself as "the founder" of Wikipedia. He is at very best "co-founder".
http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/archives/001424.html [sethf.com]
I just believe strongly in credit where credit is due, and in not taking credit for other people's work.