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It may start corrupting them in ways unforeseen to us. >> constant begging for money is far more invasive and offensive to the vast majority of users Those us

It may start corrupting them in ways unforeseen to us. >> constant begging for money is far more invasive and offensive to the vast majority of users Those users do not have to use Wikipedia if it really offends them that much.

downandout 15y ago
Perhaps they should have a popup when you first visit that would give users the option. It would set a cookie with their selection. You have a choice between seeing some highly targeted text ads off to the side of articles, or you can see a massive banner begging for money at the top of every single page that you have to scroll past to find what you wanted. I know which I'd select.
- tommorris 15y ago
  It's not just about you, it's about everyone. Back in 2002, the mere suggestion of advertising revenue led to the complete exodus of Spanish editors. http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-01/20/wikipedia-spanish-fork?page=all http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-01/20/wikipedia-spa... If Wikipedia introduced advertising, a huge number of the people who write and maintain Wikipedia would stop contributing on the spot. Lack of advertising is fundamental to the projects.
- jaipilot747 15y ago
  Out of curiosity, which would you select?
  - downandout 15y ago
    :)
- felipemnoa 15y ago
  You can close the fund raising banner by clicking on the x. >>You have a choice between seeing some highly targeted text ads off to the side of articles, or you can see a massive banner begging for money at the top of every single page that you have to scroll past to find what you wanted. So you will instead have businesses begging you (trying to sell you) to buy their stuff or use their services. Right now wikipedia exists only because of its volunteers across the world and because of individual contributions. It makes it feel like it really belongs to us, the citizens of the world. My gut feeling tells me that having ads will corrupt the overall organization. It will make people care less, more indifferent to wikipedia. The amount of money they raise each year is really nothing compared to the amount of time that tens of thousands of editors contribute each year. It would probably alienate a huge number of contributors and without them no matter how much money they are able to raise Wikipedia would surely decline in quality and eventually cease to exist. So you see, selling themselves could and probably will corrupt wikipedia eventually. This is just a gut feeling though.
  - downandout 15y ago
    I'd much rather be offered products and services that are relevant to whatever I happened to be looking for at the time, than someone begging me for change indiscriminately. As to your point about clicking the X, you'd be amazed at the number of computer novices that don't understand that.

downandout 15y ago

Perhaps they should have a popup when you first visit that would give users the option. It would set a cookie with their selection. You have a choice between seeing some highly targeted text ads off to the side of articles, or you can see a massive banner begging for money at the top of every single page that you have to scroll past to find what you wanted. I know which I'd select.

tommorris 15y ago
It's not just about you, it's about everyone. Back in 2002, the mere suggestion of advertising revenue led to the complete exodus of Spanish editors. http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-01/20/wikipedia-spanish-fork?page=all http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-01/20/wikipedia-spa... If Wikipedia introduced advertising, a huge number of the people who write and maintain Wikipedia would stop contributing on the spot. Lack of advertising is fundamental to the projects.
jaipilot747 15y ago
Out of curiosity, which would you select?
- downandout 15y ago
  :)
felipemnoa 15y ago
You can close the fund raising banner by clicking on the x. >>You have a choice between seeing some highly targeted text ads off to the side of articles, or you can see a massive banner begging for money at the top of every single page that you have to scroll past to find what you wanted. So you will instead have businesses begging you (trying to sell you) to buy their stuff or use their services. Right now wikipedia exists only because of its volunteers across the world and because of individual contributions. It makes it feel like it really belongs to us, the citizens of the world. My gut feeling tells me that having ads will corrupt the overall organization. It will make people care less, more indifferent to wikipedia. The amount of money they raise each year is really nothing compared to the amount of time that tens of thousands of editors contribute each year. It would probably alienate a huge number of contributors and without them no matter how much money they are able to raise Wikipedia would surely decline in quality and eventually cease to exist. So you see, selling themselves could and probably will corrupt wikipedia eventually. This is just a gut feeling though.
- downandout 15y ago
  I'd much rather be offered products and services that are relevant to whatever I happened to be looking for at the time, than someone begging me for change indiscriminately. As to your point about clicking the X, you'd be amazed at the number of computer novices that don't understand that.