Wikipedia needs donations to keep going

[Brendan Burgess]

From Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales

Google might have close to a million servers. Yahoo has something like 13,000 staff. We have 679 servers and 95 staff. Wikipedia is the #5 site on the web and serves 450 million different people every month – with billions of page views.
Commerce is fine. Advertising is not evil. But it doesn't belong here. Not in Wikipedia.
Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park. It is like a temple for the mind. It is a place we can all go to think, to learn, to share our knowledge with others.
When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising banners, but I decided to do something different. We’ve worked hard over the years to keep it lean and tight. We fulfill our mission, and leave waste to others.
If everyone reading this donated €5, we would only have to fundraise for one day a year. But not everyone can or will donate. And that's fine. Each year just enough people decide to give.
This year, please consider making a donation of €5, €10, €20 or whatever you can to protect and sustain Wikipedia.
Thanks,
Jimmy Wales
Wikipedia Founder

 

[ClubMan]

They do this every few months. I think of it akin to spam when it appears. I guess I just take free resources such as Wikipedia for granted and want somebody else to work and pay to keep it going...

 

[NorfBank]

Thanks for the reminder.

A tenner donation works out at less than 3c per day for a year.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

I think of it akin to spam when it appears.

I don't think of it as spam at all. I consider spam to be for unwanted commercial stuff.

I wouldn't contribute towards the cost of Wikipedia if I didn't get this gentle reminder.

Brendan

 

[AlastairSC]

Thanks, guys. It was seeing the appeal discussed here that finally convinced me to do something about it.