Wikipedia is doing a fund drive. Do you regard it as contributing to the common good

[ConsAreLiars]

(and building the commons), or negatively. (Well, I guess a few could say "both." Feel free to add your comment.)

For myself, I've found it to be a quite remarkable and valuable resource and I am wholly in sync with the spirit of cooperatively working and building together to help others. Of course, a few topics turn into ideological battlefields and pages get re-written frantically by fanatics and paid partisans until those crazies get blocked. But, my experience is that in areas I regard myself as fairly expert in, the contributors were far more expert, and I learned more.

Anyway, I contributed a small amount. I found some broken links and fixed them, and I gave some to the fundraiser.

The appeal is at http://blog.wikimedia.org/blog/2010/11/14/2010-contribution/

Wikipedia and its sister sites champion a mission of effectively disseminating knowledge, free for use, free of copyright, and free of external advertising. Since its founding in 2001, the site has grown to 17 million articles in over 270 languages, and for many of those languages, Wikipedia is the only encyclopedia ever written. Wikipedia, and all the Wikimedia projects, are always there when we need them; for students, educators, professionals and curious minds worldwide, these projects are simply the most convenient and readily accessible sources of information.

This year’s fundraising goal is an ambitious one – $16 million over two months. Wikimedia sites are the 5th most visited web properties worldwide (visited by about 400 million people each month), and Wikimedia is the only non-profit organization in the top 10. Since 2007 our readership has doubled, with this past September seeing our highest traffic yet. With this incredible feat comes an enormous duty: to maintain the infrastructure necessary to keep these sites free, stable, and running smoothly, while also continually improving the systems and architecture behind them.

For more information about where your donations go, see this year’s annual plan. {edit to note the link is http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/d/dd/2010-11_Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan_FINAL_FOR_WEBSITE.pdf }

Since the beginning, our fundraising model has been based on the support of our community of readers and editors – we have received more than 500,000 donations in the lifetime of the Foundation, averaging about $33 each. Will you join us today by making a donation to financially underwrite Wikipedia and its sister sites?

We have worked with almost a thousand community volunteers to develop this year’s fundraiser as a community driven contribution campaign. These exceptional volunteers have helped to develop messaging, design banners, write appeals, and conduct tests of our ideas.

I wish I had more ability to help and contribute, but doing a little is better than doing less, and I don't have numbers, but it seems to me that the reality based community uses it a lot and the RWers hate and denounce it because facts are not welcome there.

Anyway, they could use a few bucks as well as more people helping edit and monitor the pages. I think it is the best thing since free public libraries, but others see it as a threat.

(edit one typo)

[OneGrassRoot]

1. Yes, I do...

And I also "am wholly in sync with the spirit of cooperatively working and building together to help others."

:thumbsup:

Thanks for this info. :)

DU and Wikipedia shall get a donation when a check comes in....

:hi:

[ConsAreLiars]

4. "building together to help others"

For me that defines what is the best and most survival-essential aspect of what is all lumped together as "human nature." The insane haters claim homicidal fear and war and and pillaging and plundering and kill-the-other are defining, and those certainly define them.

[OneGrassRoot]

8. I stumbled upon this quote recently....

and it really nailed the core difference in how those who consider themselves progressive, versus conservatives, see the world:

“Liberalism is trust of the people, tempered by prudence; conservatism, distrust of people, tempered by fear." ~ William Gladstone


:)

[realisticphish]

2. I think wikipedia is brilliant

if I had a cent to spare, they'd be getting a donation. Sadly...

[ConsAreLiars]

6. Use and share the resources the Wiki projext is providing with your friends.

even those you barel6y know when reasonable. That will be an important contribution. A starting point: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Our_projects . There is far more than the -pedia, and a lot you might want to help share.

[physioex]

3. Yes,,,,,

I did send in a check two days ago. Glad to support wikipedia.

[tularetom]

5. I use it a LOT

And since I've pretty much stopped contributing to political campaigns I guess I could kick in a few bucks.

I know it's been misused at times as a vehicle for propagandizing but it's still the only place I know of to get information on a wide variety of topics.

In one day I looked up (1) foot and mouth virus in goats, (2) kinetic energy of a ball fired from a muzzleloader, (3) the cast of an old BBC comedy series, and (4) the construction of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir up the road a bit from here.

I didn't get everything I needed directly from Wikipedia but it was my starting point for all topics and it pointed me in the right direction in every case.

[ConsAreLiars]

7. "it was my starting point for all topics"

Exactly. Check things out, think, check references, the same stuff everyone should do all the time everywhere, even in the NYT and DU. Wikipedia does fixes. while the others let garbage last forever.

[Jamastiene]

9. One of my most favorite hobbies nowadays is

to go to Wikipedia, click on Random article, and just start reading.

Sometimes, while I am on whatever random page, I find links within the page that look interesting to me. I click those and open them in a new tab, then continue reading that page. Later, I go read the next topic.

Most of the time, I end up reading until the sun comes up.

When I was a little kid, I read almost every book in our large home library, except the dictionary(Webster's Unabridged) and the set of encyclopedias (Funk & Wagnalls). By the time I finished reading them all, Reagan was president and we could not afford to buy more books. It was all we could do to keep the house at that point, to be honest.

Finally, I asked for another new book anyhow as a special present, maybe, pretty please. When my mother learned I had skipped reading the encyclopedias and the dictionary, she said finish those first. So, I read the encyclopedias from beginning to end, then I read the dictionary from beginning to end, then got a new book and several more other new books later.

Wikipedia, to me, is a more complete set of encyclopedias, one that I haven't been able to "finish" reading yet.

I hope it continues to grow. I can't wait until the day comes that they have a complete news section and spread out to include even more than areas of interest.

I was unhappy when I saw the Zahra Baker page had been deleted though. The reason listed was that it was just a small local news story and not a worthy topic. I disagree with that decision. That case is going to continue to be a notorious case of child abuse, fraud, obstruction of justice, and murder. It is an international story as well. I do believe the page would have been worth keeping. I have a gut feeling that, in time, they will change their minds on that one and un-delete the page.

Other than that, I'm pretty pleased with Wikipedia.