Wikipedia donations

[Kaido]

Received this email today:

Thank you for helping keep Wikipedia online and ad-free. It's been a year since you donated and a year since we've asked. This is your annual reminder.

Not the appropriate use of this meme, but the visual fits:

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/103/740/Me Gusta.png?1318992465

 

[Printer Bandit]

put up ads and be done with it.

 

[lxskllr]

Too short on cash this year. I won't be making any donations unless I luck into some litecoins.

 

[Leros]

I donate to Wikipedia every year. I'd hate to see it get covered in ads.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

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]

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.

 

[brianmanahan]

i donated 3$ the other day!

big spender, i admit that :awe:

 

[lxskllr]

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]

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]

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

 

[Kaido]

#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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[ch33zw1z]

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]

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]

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]

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]

I've donated on multiple occasions. They're on of the last remaining corners of the web devoid of ads and trackers.

 

[Tweak155]

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]

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]

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.

 

[John Connor]

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.

All about the land man. Those wide open spaces! LOL