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

[powercorrupts]

Please read - A personal appeal from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales

Please read this appeal from our founder and then donate to Wikimedia UK using the form opposite. Your donation will go towards supporting the global projects as well as activities in the UK.

I got a lot of funny looks ten years ago when I started talking to people about Wikipedia.

Let’s just say some of the business types were skeptical of the notion that volunteers from all across the world could come together to create a remarkable pool of human knowledge – all for the simple purpose of sharing.

No ads. No profits. No agenda.

A decade after its founding, more than 380 million people use Wikipedia and its sister sites every month - almost a third of the Internet-connected world.

It is the 5th most popular website in the world. The other four have been built and maintained with billions of dollars in investment, huge corporate staffs and relentless marketing.

But, Wikipedia isn’t anything like a commercial website. It is a community creation, written by volunteers making one entry at a time. You are part of our community. And I’m writing today to ask you to protect and sustain Wikipedia.

Together, we can keep it free of charge and free of advertising. We can keep it open – you can use the information in Wikipedia any way you want. We can keep it growing – spreading knowledge everywhere, and inviting participation from everyone.

Each year at this time, we reach out to ask you and others all across the Wikimedia community to help sustain our joint enterprise with a modest donation of $20, $35, $50 or more.

If you value Wikipedia as a source of information – and a source of inspiration – I hope you’ll choose to act right now.

All the best,

Jimmy Wales

Founder, Wikipedia

P.S. Wikipedia is about the power of people like us to do extraordinary things. People like us write Wikipedia, one word at a time. People like us fund it, one donation at a time. It's proof of our collective potential to change the world.

Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited.
Wiki UK Ltd is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827.
The Registered Office is at 23 Cartwright Way, Nottingham, NG9 1RL, United Kingdom

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I can't quite believe he's simply going for the cash this time (and didn't we have a donation push just a while back?) - unless he's worried about someone pulling a plug somewhere. This partly looks like a propaganda campaign to me. Either way, I reckon he's a worried man. He must know the flak he will get. I mean, apart from all the bullshit, asking for £100, £50, £30 or £20? Pound sterling for Christ's sake? Has he been over here lately? And "If you value Wikipedia as a source of information – and a source of inspiration – I hope you’ll choose to act right now." - it's a bit damn pushy.

And what are the "activities in the.. UK"? The bloody dodgy-as-Hell nationalistic 'Chapters', that's what. "It's proof of our collective potential to change the world."

This post has been edited by powercorrupts: Fri 12th November 2010, 5:46pm

[thekohser]

I can't quite believe he's simply going for the cash this time (and didn't we have a donation push just a while back?)

You must be new to Wikipedia. There was indeed a donation push a while back -- one year ago. And the year before that. And the one before that.

It started a couple of weeks early this year, I think. But nothing really earthshattering to see this now. Really, I view it as the standard fare. Why do you seem so perplexed about it?

[powercorrupts]

I can't quite believe he's simply going for the cash this time (and didn't we have a donation push just a while back?)

You must be new to Wikipedia. There was indeed a donation push a while back -- one year ago. And the year before that. And the one before that.

It started a couple of weeks early this year, I think. But nothing really earthshattering to see this now. Really, I view it as the standard fare. Why do you seem so perplexed about it?

The size of the Watchlist advert caught my eye initially - it's huge. And the photoshoot I suppose. And of course the 'Big Project' language - though I haven't perhaps examined all that to quite such a degree in previous pushes (I've been on and off WP for a few years). I can't ever remembering him ask for a hundred quid for sure - even when it wasn't such a rude sum to people. He may as well ask for a grand right now over here they way people are feeling right now. The Conservative Party HQ in London was bust into and taken over by students the other day. Why's he aiming so high? It's interesting that the dollar amounts in his text are a fraction of the sterling figures in the UK donation box. But is clueless when it comes to the UK anyway, I'll concede that.

You say it started earlier this year - is it more of a sustained one this year, or has he suddenly decided to up the anti mid-campaign? It looks to me like he's suddenly changed tack and gone for a bigger hit. Perhaps that creased blue shirt is telling after all?

This post has been edited by powercorrupts: Fri 12th November 2010, 6:29pm

[NuclearWarfare]

You say it started earlier this year - is it more of a sustained one this year, or has he suddenly decided to up the anti mid-campaign? It looks to me like he's suddenly changed tack and gone for a bigger hit.

The Foundation's plan is to go for $16 million this time around, up from $10.6 million last year, $7.4 million the year before that, and $4.6 million the year before that. This isn't exactly hugely groundbreaking news.

As far as size of banner ads go, this doesn't look that much bigger than usual. Perhaps it is the increased use of images, or using the Jimmy banner ads earlier? In years past, they haven't run the Jimmy banner ad + letter until later in the fundraising drive, even though it generally does much better than any other banner. Perhaps they are trying a different tactic this year, now that they are aiming for a ~50% increase in revenue?

[powercorrupts]

You say it started earlier this year - is it more of a sustained one this year, or has he suddenly decided to up the anti mid-campaign? It looks to me like he's suddenly changed tack and gone for a bigger hit.

The Foundation's plan is to go for $16 million this time around, up from $10.6 million last year, $7.4 million the year before that, and $4.6 million the year before that. This isn't exactly hugely groundbreaking news.

As far as size of banner ads go, this doesn't look that much bigger than usual. Perhaps it is the increased use of images, or using the Jimmy banner ads earlier? In years past, they haven't run the Jimmy banner ad + letter until later in the fundraising drive, even though it generally does much better than any other banner. Perhaps they are trying a different tactic this year, now that they are aiming for a ~50% increase in revenue?

But why do they need such an increase? Don't they have a tidy nest egg anyway? What they are asking for from the UK is crazy money right now (and a lot anyway - do the dollar conversion). There is the philosophy of aiming high, but it looks ignorant, greedy, and frankly, needy.

There's no question the adverts have got slicker this year - I wish I could copy the adds and post them here. I've seen 3 now - the blue-eyed 'trust me' close-up, the casual bank manager in the bright blue shirt, and the down an dirty 'loading bay' style snap (still posey and casual). They are tall adds to get those images in. It's a politician's slickness, and I've not seen him go for the personality cult so obviously before.

These are as slick as car ads.

This post has been edited by powercorrupts: Fri 12th November 2010, 9:29pm

[Eva Destruction]

There's no question the adverts have got slicker this year - I wish I could copy the adds and post them here. I've seen 3 now - the blue-eyed 'trust me' close-up, the casual bank manager in the bright blue shirt, and the down an dirty 'loading bay' style snap (still posey and casual). They are tall adds to get those images in. It's a politician's slickness, and I've not seen him go for the personality cult so obviously before.

These are as slick as car ads.

The full set to be used in this campaign are here. I agree that compared to the risible Wikipedia Forever! drive last year, this is at a whole new level.