A Personal appeal from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, More damned lies from a desperate man? Options

[thekohser]

Yesterday (Day 26 of the campaign) was the lowest revenue yet, less than half of the previous day's intake.

Apparently, the WMF tricked me into making a mistake. They post partial daily data, as the day progresses. So, when I looked at Day 26, it was much worse that how it ended up at the end of the day. It still doesn't look good for the WMF. I'm predicting that by January 5, they'll be at a cumulative total of $9.5 million, which will be well below their goal.

[SB_Johnny]

Yesterday (Day 26 of the campaign) was the lowest revenue yet, less than half of the previous day's intake.

Apparently, the WMF tricked me into making a mistake. They post partial daily data, as the day progresses. So, when I looked at Day 26, it was much worse that how it ended up at the end of the day. It still doesn't look good for the WMF. I'm predicting that by January 5, they'll be at a cumulative total of $9.5 million, which will be well below their goal.

The downward trend is still quite strong though. If they don't hit the goal in time, do they just keep putting more banners up? What if they don't hit it by next November?

Today it's Sue Gardner gracing the top of my watchlist.

[Milton Roe]

Today it's Sue Gardner gracing the top of my watchlist.

I kinda liked the previous babe, who had an appealingly open smile and was easy on the eyes. Now I'm afraid to log on.

[anthony]

Yesterday (Day 26 of the campaign) was the lowest revenue yet, less than half of the previous day's intake.

Apparently, the WMF tricked me into making a mistake. They post partial daily data, as the day progresses. So, when I looked at Day 26, it was much worse that how it ended up at the end of the day. It still doesn't look good for the WMF. I'm predicting that by January 5, they'll be at a cumulative total of $9.5 million, which will be well below their goal.

The downward trend is still quite strong though. If they don't hit the goal in time, do they just keep putting more banners up?

Hasn't it been common for them to not reach their goal? I seem to remember there being a few messages about "oh my god we're not going to reach our goal what are we going to do" a number of years.

[NuclearWarfare]

Yesterday (Day 26 of the campaign) was the lowest revenue yet, less than half of the previous day's intake.

Apparently, the WMF tricked me into making a mistake. They post partial daily data, as the day progresses. So, when I looked at Day 26, it was much worse that how it ended up at the end of the day. It still doesn't look good for the WMF. I'm predicting that by January 5, they'll be at a cumulative total of $9.5 million, which will be well below their goal.

The downward trend is still quite strong though. If they don't hit the goal in time, do they just keep putting more banners up?

Hasn't it been common for them to not reach their goal? I seem to remember there being a few messages about "oh my god we're not going to reach our goal what are we going to do" a number of years.

Not really sure about that, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is a big uptick round around Christmas and then also the last few days before New Year's when people are like "wait, I still have tax deductions I can make this year." Is a graph of last year's donation history up?

[thekohser]

Not really sure about that, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is a big uptick round around Christmas and then also the last few days before New Year's when people are like "wait, I still have tax deductions I can make this year." Is a graph of last year's donation history up?

Nuke, I already pointed that out.

In previous years, there have been panics -- but then Jimbo Claus came and saved the day. They would save their Jimbo shot for the end, right around Christmas. This year, they blew it early, and my how the blogosphere made fun of the self-important Jimbo.

Looks like "Wikipedia Executive Director" Sue Gardner and her thermometer earned an extra $40,000 to $42,000 over what would have been the expected $103,000 today.

[Basil]

It seems that those fools who donate to Wikipedia prefer to click on Jimmy's face rather than press on the hotties.

[thekohser]

It seems that those fools who donate to Wikipedia prefer to click on Jimmy's face rather than press on the hotties.

It seems that the fools who set up the testing statistics don't know what "Donations/Clicks" means, mathematically.

[Herschelkrustofsky]

It seems that those fools who donate to Wikipedia prefer to click on Jimmy's face rather than press on the hotties.

I'm a latecomer to this thread, but has it been noted that Uncyclopedia has good satires of the banners?

[thekohser]

It seems that the WMF is starting to realize they're not going to make it to their goal. At least not in 2010. Jimbo's appeal is now marked "urgent". And, he's heaping on the bullshit heavier than ever:

I'm a volunteer.

I don't get paid a cent for my work at Wikipedia, and neither do our thousands of other volunteer authors and editors. When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising banners, but I decided to do something different.

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. It is a unique human project, the first of its kind in history. It is a humanitarian project to bring a free encyclopedia to every single person on the planet.

Every single person.

If all of Wikipedia's 400 million users would donate $1 each, we would have 20 times the amount of money we need. We're a small organization, and I've worked hard over the years to keep us lean and tight. We fulfill our mission, and leave waste to others.

To do this without resorting to advertising, we need you. It is you who keep this dream alive. It is you who have created Wikipedia. It is you who believe that a place of calm reflection and learning is worth having.

This year, please consider making a donation of $20, $35, $50 or whatever you can to protect and sustain Wikipedia.

Thanks,

Jimmy Wales
Wikipedia Founder

[Jon Awbrey]

Well, he's right about leaving waste to others.

Jon

[EricBarbour]

Seen this before, on nonprofit community radio.
From now on, they'll be just like NPR or Pacifica radio stations--constantly
(and I mean constantly) begging for donations, while never meeting
their artificially inflated "requirements".

Unlike radio stations, websites like Wikipedia are totally ephemeral. A radio
station has a transmitter, a studio, and a listenership, the latter of which grows
as years go by. Campus stations also have the support of their institution, and
usually serve as training facilities for the school's broadcast majors.
What is Wikipedia, a rented office and a bunch of servers in a colocation shop?
Wikipedia could disappear tomorrow, and be totally forgotten by all but a few
fanatics within a few months.

And Google is their primary "supporting affiliate"? I would not trust Google to
deliver a pizza across town. Google is the world's largest, greediest, and most
self-serving advertising company. They are just very, very good at covering up
their slimy tricks. If they turn their back on Wikipedia, say bye-bye, kiddies.

Will Google someday become "glorious search engine of the past" anyway?
It's happened before. Remember how big webrings were, ten years ago?
Remember how popular Geocities, Tripod, and Angelfire were?
Now, all are rapidly fading memories. Even AOL, once the biggest ISP in
the world, is slowly fading out of public consciousness.