2d ago

Do you donate to Wikipedia?

65 comments

5 usd a month

I think like Archive.org deserve a bit more attention as I feel Wikipedia is doing good enough.

I have done so on occasion.
I get quite a lot of good out of Wikipedia.

According to the wikimedia foundation the costs for hosting the service are covered for the next decades. Most of their money goes to lobbying and other political efforts.
So no. I like their website and am happy to help keep that funded but for now they don’t need help doing that
- I would like to add that the Internet Archive otoh is on treacherous water and could use some of the dono.
- Not just political efforts - for example they fund their outreach programs and workshops for disadvantaged people to get their specialized knowledge onto Wikipedia.
  But yeah, hosting is already funded therefore I dont currently feel the need to donate to Wikimedia.

Not regularly, but once or twice. I think a lot more people should donate to the internet archive though.

Every so often, yeah. Usually $10-$20CAD or so.

Nope. But that's just because I'm wayward and perpetually broke. If I had my shit together I for sure would because it's been one of my main sources of information through the years, whether it's an interesting article or lists of things to collect / watch / listen to. And it's not enshitified or tacky and provides information in text form and not video form. So if it stays that way, the magical future me that is finally financially stable definitely will.

Once a year, $10 or so

When they plaster that "If everyone reading this donated $x.yz right now, we'd be done within the hour" message I'll usually donate exactly the amount it says.

Every single year.

I donate monthly to Wikipedia, Signal, and Octoprint.
Probably cheaper than Netflix too nowadays.
- Hey! Fuck yeah, Octoprint! I'm a Patreon supporter and love the development. That shit about plugin manipulation was the catalyst to my contribution and highly recommend that platform for all new 3D printing enthusiasts!
- I give to wiki, but recently convinced my wife we don't need Netflix. Feels great tbh

I have in the past. I don't donate that much or that often as they are well funded and would like to help other projects as well. I don't make good money, so I often don't give more than a few dollars, but will try and do so recurring.

I barely have money to keep myself alive, let alone the sum of all human knowledge's website.
- The sum of some human knowledge. Wikipedia is strongly west-biased in its content, and more explicitly anglo-biased. There's loads of information it hasn't even an inkling of.
  Note: this is not Wikipedia's fault. I'm just addressing the "all human knowledge" thing that people keep using when describing Wikipedia. It's not.
  
  Is there any equivalent in non-Western countries?
  
  Which is actually where donating to them can help. They fund editathons, outreach efforts, events, and conferences, some of which explicitly focus on getting information into Wikipedia from underrepresented areas or people.
  
  Smells like an opportunity to me!
  If you go all in and work really hard, I bet you could make 10 of dollars. Maybe even 20 over time.

Yes. It's important.

Occasionally
- Ever play roulette?

Yeah, each year 😄

I would, if I got money. Even if most money goes to lobbying, as another user said.

I used to until they started getting naggy over email and started guilt trippy on their donation messages.

I have in the past, yes.

I read that Wikipedia is totally solvent. It needs no money.
However, I have also read that the Wikimedia foundation (which runs Wikipedia) uses a lot of money on other things, including giving money to other nonprofits..
Further reading:
Wikimedia Spending
"Wikipedia has cancer"
- While I do wish they’d cut back their spending in order to build up enough of an endowment to be good forever, that whole thread just reads like a crappy hit piece where someone is mad that Wikimedia contributes to social and more liberal causes.
  My opinion is probably different than a lot of folks’. But when we’ve got billionaires using their ridiculous amounts of money to buy the United States and trying to do the same elsewhere in the world, I’d rather keep supporting an org that aligns with beliefs that aren’t fascist, racist, evil, etc. and Wikipedia is one of the best parts of the internet still, so I like supporting them in general.
  That being said, I appreciate the read, it was interesting.

Yes. A decent amount per month and my company matches.

Yes, monthly.
- Same here
- Same

About once a year I do something like $25. It’s about the time of year I do my NPR donation and anything else I have been procrastinating.

Yup
I haven't donated recently but am planning to do so again once I've found a stable job

Seems like everyone with an AI chatbot should be giving them billions

When I can. It’s an important source and has helped me out a lot. Plus where would I be without my Wikipedia rabbit hole dives

Yes, I usually do so at the end-of-the-year funding drive they always have between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The amount generally varies based on how much I’ve used it each year and how generous I feel, but I do think it’s a useful service, and I don’t want to see them having to resort to showing advertisements in order to pay their bills.

Yeah during the donation drive $5 or whatever the number they are asking for

I've donated information but never money.

I do. I donate $5 or $10 every few months and I add the $1 donation to Wikimedia with my PayPal transactions.
I also donate to NPR periodically, PBS and my local food bank monthly.

I donated $5 to them once. I plan to donate more to them when I get the money.

Yes, been doing it for years.

I did, a few times. Small amounts, but i think it's important to contribute.

They, like most western institutions, don't accept any currency I have access to nor any payment medium I can use.
So, no.
Would I?
Yes. Every time I see some political/corporate whack job take potshots at Wikipedia with threats or with calls to brigade it, I would give up something in my monthly mad money spending and put it on Wikipedia. It's not a perfect institution by a long shot, but it's faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar better than any institution filled with political whack jobs.
- Zimbabwe dollars?
  
  Chinese RMB.

I'd rather die

I’ve heard some of the money goes to questionable people
- Yeah but Elon Musk hates them so they get my money.
- Heard from whom? How much of the money? Which questionable people? Vaguebook much?
  
  I remember seeing about it in a show from the German public broadcast which presents their journalistic work in a satirical way.
  In short: People who do the actual work on wikipedia (writing articles, admins, moderators) do not get paid. The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), an NGO from America, gets the donation money. Managers in that NGO are rich and earn a lot of money every year. They don't need the donation money to run the website. With the money available to them right now, they could host Wikipedia (with its high traffic) for many more years.
  I didn't find the episode of the show, unfortunately, but many articles covering it.
  Here's one I think sums it up well: https://unherd.com/newsroom/the-next-time-wikipedia-asks-for-a-donation-ignore-it/
  Here's a thread on Hacker News with more links and comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34106982
  I recommend doing some research yourself. There are many articles on various websites. Search for "wikipedia donation scam" or something similar.
  
  P.S. I upvoted you to counter the downvotes. You're a victim of a campaign and I'm feeling in a generous mood today after a nice long weekend.
- There's always someone out there who will say that about anything. And there are always questionable people who would take advantage of others charity. Don't let that stop you from trying to spread good.
  
  It's sad but the actual people spreading the good don't see a penny. I've elaborated in another comment: https://europe.pub/post/1056976/1290065

65 comments