Comment by blululu

9 days ago

Just piling in to this because it needs to be stated with emphasis. Wikipedia foundation is not Wikipedia. Their donation campaigns are highly deceptive. Pennies on the dollar will go to supporting and maintaining the actual encyclopedia. WMF is as much a liability to the encyclopedia as a beneficiary.

I've heard this before, but I've not seen anyone go into detail on it (until now)

I want to help fund Wikipedia. Is there a better way I can do that?

  • I have different reasoning than the parent commenter. Why do you want to help fund Wikipedia? It is in no danger at all. Funding it even more lavishly probably won't help it achieve its goals more effectively; it's dependent (by design, and for good reason) on volunteer effort, which is the real bottleneck.

    • > Why do you want to help fund Wikipedia?

      Because it's a very valuable resource that I use every day.

      Without a solid base of grassroots funding, nonprofits are vulnerable to takeover by entities with ulterior motives.

      > It is in no danger at all.

      Given what's going on at WMF right now, it sure seems like it is!

      1 reply →

  • If you want to help Wikipedia, the best thing you can do is contribute to articles. Time and expertise is always going to be a more valuable donation than anything monentary.