Wikipedia donations

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,057
10,547
126
Too short on cash this year. I won't be making any donations unless I luck into some litecoins.
 

Leros

Lifer
Jul 11, 2004
21,867
7
81
I donate to Wikipedia every year. I'd hate to see it get covered in ads.
 

Mr. Pedantic

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2010
5,027
0
76
Wikipedia is pretty much the only non-profit I actually donate to. To be perfectly honest, I think it's more important that I give Wikipedia 20 minutes more uptime (or however much I gave) than it is for me to pay for a scientist's micropipette tips or for someone to dress up as a clown to make sick kids laugh.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,584
13,805
126
www.anyf.ca
I donated too some time last year, I might donate again this year.

Come to think of it I have not donated much money at all this year, I should maybe get that done this month. Need to give to my church, and the animal shelter too, and a few local charities. I'm really weary about giving to the big charities like the Red Cross though, after hearing how much some of their execs make. So I stick to smaller/more specific causes. Wikipedia is a good one.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,057
10,547
126
i donated 3$ the other day!

big spender, i admit that :awe:

#MINO

It all helps. If every user gave $1, they could probably buy Iceland, and host their servers there. Run them off geothermal to save money.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,584
13,805
126
www.anyf.ca
Iceland would be an awesome place for a data centre. I find it odd that Texas, being ridiculously hot, is where most of the data centres are.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
51,576
7,246
136
put up ads and be done with it.

Yup. I'm totally fine with ads on Wikipedia, like relevant Google Ads or something. They'd make a truckload of money and not have to do pity appeals every year. I'm happy to donate because it's a great resource for me and a few bucks isn't going to kill me, but that email was mildly offense - 'this is your annual reminder to donate'? Seriously? I gave you a few bucks one time and now you're going to act like it's my obligation every year? Ugh.

Maybe it's just the wording...if they had buttered me up and done some Marketing 101 with something like, "Thank you for your previous contribution - your donation was very important to us and helped us keep our growing site alive for another year. As we move into the coming year, we are facing the same financial hurdles and are in need your assistance again. We would appreciate it if you would consider an additional donation; your philanthropy will help us keep this resource available for the benefit of mankind in 2014. Please click here for a $5, $10, or $25 donation". See, it's not that hard to sucker me into donating, just make it sound like my help was valued and is needed again :p
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
51,576
7,246
136
#MINO

It all helps. If every user gave $1, they could probably buy Iceland, and host their servers there. Run them off geothermal to save money.

Haha! Although Greece would probably be a better deal at this point :biggrin:

I'd like it more if they did a Kickstarter type of donation - send you a cool Wikipedia sticker to slap on your car/desktop tower/laptop in exchange for a $10 donation or something. Or have tiers - $5 is just a donation, $10 is a sticker, $15 is a Wikipedia Livestrong-style braclet, $25 is a Wikipedia-branded USB stick, etc. Make it win/win - you're making a profit on small items and the donater gets a double whammy of both a warm-fuzzy feeling of donating & something small to look forward to in the mail. And even beef it up - $50 gets you a 32gb USB stick with the 9.5gb compressed file of the Wikipedia database dump; $150 gets you a 500gb 2.5" USB hard drive with the 44gb uncompressed Wikipedia database dump. Lots of things they could do to kind of make it consumer-friendly to donate.
 

Meghan54

Lifer
Oct 18, 2009
11,684
5,228
136
Iceland would be an awesome place for a data centre. I find it odd that Texas, being ridiculously hot, is where most of the data centres are.


You cannot stretch your mind beyond the misconception that Texas is "ridiculously hot"? Never considered having access to cheaper than average energy costs, very low labor costs and low land costs could be part of where data centers are located?

Naaa...it's only the weather that matters. :whiste:
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
51,576
7,246
136
I donated too some time last year, I might donate again this year.

Come to think of it I have not donated much money at all this year, I should maybe get that done this month. Need to give to my church, and the animal shelter too, and a few local charities. I'm really weary about giving to the big charities like the Red Cross though, after hearing how much some of their execs make. So I stick to smaller/more specific causes. Wikipedia is a good one.

Well, part of it is visible results. If you donate to Wikipedia, you know the problem is real and that the donation is going to support a good cause you believe in, like giving a few bucks to a homeless guy on the street - even if he only goes off & buys booze with it, the bottom line is you helped someone in need get through the day a little better, so that's something! Haha.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
51,576
7,246
136
You cannot stretch your mind beyond the misconception that Texas is "ridiculously hot"? Never considered having access to cheaper than average energy costs, very low labor costs and low land costs could be part of where data centers are located?

Naaa...it's only the weather that matters. :whiste:

Not to mention all of the available land & sun for solar & wind farms!
 

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
You cannot stretch your mind beyond the misconception that Texas is "ridiculously hot"? Never considered having access to cheaper than average energy costs, very low labor costs and low land costs could be part of where data centers are located?

Naaa...it's only the weather that matters. :whiste:

Well the weather and energy costs are directly related. Hotter temperatures means more cooling is required which means more electricity is required.
If you had a place with 20c/kW energy costs that was 10c/50f most of the year, and somewhere else with 10c/kW energy costs that was 30c/86f most of the year, then the place with 20c/kW might be cheaper to run because it would require a lot less energy for cooling.
 

T9D

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2001
5,320
6
0
The banner said if everyone gave $3 they would be done. Then they say they have 500 million users. WTH so they want 1.5 billion dollars?? That seems a little over the top and like seriously greedy even.

They need to just put ads in. But it sounds like they are making more money just getting donations. Doesn't seem like you are donating to a good cause, you're lining the pockets of another greedy business.
 
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ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
39,752
20,326
146
Wikipedia is pretty much the only non-profit I actually donate to.

same. I gave them a few bucks last year, and will do it again this year. out of all the resources on the web, I feel wikipedia is one of the most valuable.
 

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
39,752
20,326
146
They need to just put ads in. But it sounds like they are making more money just getting donations. Doesn't seem like you are donating to a good cause, you're lining the pockets of another greedy business.

Ads will line their pockets as well, I'd rather not see shitty ads everytime I go there.

shit man, with the amount of time I spend on AT...I would donate a few bucks here if the ads would get removed.

yea, yea, I know...adblock plus for the win...
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,679
119
106
The banner said if everyone gave $3 they would be done. Then they say they have 500 million users. WTH so they want 1.5 billion dollars?? That seems a little over the top and like seriously greedy even.

If everyone reading this right now gave $3, our fundraiser would be done within an hour

Who is more obnoxious, "T9D" or wikipedia? Vote now
 

bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
6,605
3
81
T9D, definitely.

They should sell ads, but in the right way I bet they could pull 1m a month with a banner ad on the front page. They wouldn't need to do an ad anywhere else. Every company would be fighting for the 1 space on one of the internets most visited page.
 

crashtestdummy

Platinum Member
Feb 18, 2010
2,893
0
0
I've donated on multiple occasions. They're on of the last remaining corners of the web devoid of ads and trackers.
 

Tweak155

Lifer
Sep 23, 2003
11,449
264
126
I donated to Wiki, and I rarely donate to anything because I just don't plain trust most organizations.

At least with Wiki, I'm getting use from their site regularly.
 

Pray To Jesus

Diamond Member
Mar 14, 2011
3,622
0
0
Wiki didn't even bother to lube you up first. They already know you are going to bend over and take it like a bitch in heat.
 

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
I think it's more important that I give Wikipedia 20 minutes more uptime (or however much I gave) than it is for me to pay for a scientist's micropipette tips

Yeah, that's the gubermint's job!

Although they've been slacking lately.:colbert: