WikiPedia Begging

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WikiPedia Begging

topr8

12:58 pm on Dec 7, 2017 (gmt 0)

Hi reader in the UK, it seems you use Wikipedia a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but this Thursday we need your help. It's December 7 and time is running out to help in 2017. We’re not salespeople. We’re librarians, archivists, and information junkies. We depend on donations averaging Ł10, but fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just Ł2, the price of your Thursday coffee, Wikipedia could keep thriving. Thank you. — Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia Founder

Dear Jimmy Wales, your editors and contributers have stolen original content from my sites, including images, you have failed to link back or reference my sites as a source and you would also like me to pay you so that you can keep your vanity project going?
no chance!

and by the way, i don't use wikipedia a lot.

engine

2:42 pm on Dec 7, 2017 (gmt 0)

The not-for-profit organisation latest reports are here.

[meta.wikimedia.org...]

Also, here are some recent stats
[businessinsider.com...]

topr8

3:13 pm on Dec 7, 2017 (gmt 0)

i'm not doubting their expenses!

on another tack but only slightly tongue in cheek, i'm not going to contribute to the collapse of humankind! come the singularity, i think wikipedia could easily be one of the building blocks of the super intelligent AI's of the future.

engine

3:32 pm on Dec 7, 2017 (gmt 0)

It already provides some "answers" so it'll be interesting if it continues to get donations from these sources [wikimediafoundation.org...]

lucy24

5:42 pm on Dec 7, 2017 (gmt 0)

This time of year, everyone asks for money. Unfortunately, this time of year nobody has money.

martinibuster

5:59 pm on Dec 7, 2017 (gmt 0)

...i think wikipedia could easily be one of the building blocks of the super intelligent AI's of the future.

Good guessing! Wikipedia has already been used to help train algorithms to understand concepts as well as using link patterns for understanding how concepts relate to each other.

[edited by: martinibuster at 6:36 pm (utc) on Dec 7, 2017]

martinibuster

6:02 pm on Dec 7, 2017 (gmt 0)

Maybe start a campaign to get AOL to purchase Wikipedia with various poison pill requirements that effectively obligate AOL to grind it into the ground like a used cigarette. Worked for DMOZ.

:P <- Tongue in cheek...

:)-Y * Y-:) <-- Two people toasting (clink-clink) with martinis.

brotherhood of LAN

5:07 pm on Dec 8, 2017 (gmt 0)

>AI's of the future

They do 'open source' their structured data : [wikidata.org...]

Which is an offshoot of wikipedia and the knowledge graph that Google uses. IIRC not the same as Google's own knowledge graph as they have their additional datapoints.

The sky is the limit with how people can intelligently use that data. I do kinda agree about a distaste of how wikipedia almost obsoleted a swathe of content sites, but it has its uses too.

I've never donated, probably never will.

buckworks

4:36 am on Dec 9, 2017 (gmt 0)

I'd bet that Wikipedia's current "ask" would be more effective if it were less whiney. They need a copywriter with a better ear for tone.

keyplyr

7:20 am on Dec 9, 2017 (gmt 0)

I agree with the gripes of topr8. I've found rather large chunks of my content on WikiPedia. I've also found what is clearly my content, but reworded a little to avoid getting caught, which is premeditated.

I've had to become an editor (twice) to remove it. Just reporting it to them went ignored.

As for them asking for contributions, I realize Wiki is not just the unethical editors, but in general, a vast body of volunteers working to make information available to the public.

Wasn't that the original intention of the WWW?
(rhetorical)