Talk:Fundraising 2007/2007-10

Question

I was wondering, if for example I bought a photographic camera with the purpose of taking pictures for wikipedia, could I get VAT back ? Thanks if anyone knows about this.83.157.95.231 17:01, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

I live in France by the way. 83.157.95.231 17:02, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

Most likely, no, but please contact Wikimedia France for more help. Cbrown1023 talk 20:08, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Monthly donations

Where is the form for that? Why only one-time gift? --78.106.154.39 09:14, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Most people do not wish to give a new donation every month. However, you are free to suggest that a monthy donation form be added on the Foundation-l mailing list. Cbrown1023 talk 20:14, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

How do you know since the option isn't there? Jeff Carr 21:26, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Why the test about other countries is not english?

I just can't get the purpose. If the person already have read all above, then he ar she understands english - what's the sense in swithching languages?

This will be translated when it is put no the Wiki. However, in most cases, the user *will not* understand what is above, (s)he will just scroll down where (s)he see his country name and read it in his native language. Cbrown1023 talk 20:10, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Can i give cash?

See wikimedia:Fundraising for all ways of making donations. Cbrown1023 talk 20:10, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Tax deductability in the United Kingdom

What is the tax deductability in the united kingdom for giving funds to wikipedia, and other wiki projects?

Please contact Wikimedia UK to see the possible tax-deductibility status. Cbrown1023 talk 20:11, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Project specific fundraising?

Would this be possible for Wikiversity? What would be the best way of going about doing it? Thanks. --Emesee 12:31, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

You may get a better response on the Foundation mailing list. Cary might also know how you should go about this. Cbrown1023 talk 16:00, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

Bastique actually just told me that you probably want to contact Vishal Patel (vpatel [at] wikimedia(dot)org). Cbrown1023 talk 22:36, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

Stop the spam!

Is the plan to have the little counter and PSA on every wikipedia page until 100 people donate or what?

See wikimedia:Fundraising FAQ for more information. Cbrown1023 talk 01:35, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

I am completely unable to this wikia, because after about a half second the entire page transfers to a page blank aside from begging for my money. On the one page that I could get it to stay on the wikia, it constantly flashed the entire page as well as slowing it down, making it impossible to do a damn thing. It can't be too hard to just set up a request for money on the main wikipedia page, and host your accursed begging off site, can it? As it's set up now, it makes the wikipedia pages uglier and destroys the wikia pages.128.211.182.43 21:40, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

This problem isn't caused by Wikimedia, which is separate from Wikia. Please contact me by email to angela at wikia.com with details of your username and which skin you're using so I can try to find out what's causing this. If you can send a screenshot of the page "begging for money", that would be really helpful. All you should be seeing on Wikia is this image and the text "Support Wikimedia's Fundraising Drive" either in the left sidebar or in the footer. Angela 02:07, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Banner ad

I would also like the banner taken down, just having the banner ad on the site is forcing me to use another service other than wiki. Not happy.

Please, for the love of all things holy, take down that absurd banner ad at the top of every Wikipedia page. I've never seen a unanimous agreement among a group larger than 5 on any wiki project ever in less than 20 minutes, but somehow the creator of this scrolling (scrolling!) banner ad has managed to unite us. Thanks from JHMM13 on enwiki, itwiki, and dewiki. 71.76.209.37 23:12, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Hear, hear! It literally makes me sick to my stomach if I try to read the scrolling text. --71.146.33.134 23:14, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

This is not the place to bring complaints about the English Wikipedia. EVula // talk // 23:24, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

It's particular to en:? This is where the Foundation Wiki's Fundraising talk page redirects to (which is where the banner-spam points), so on the face of it, yes, it's exactly the place for these complaints. Alai 23:30, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, I was unaware of how wide the problem was. I've struck out my previous statement. EVula // talk // 00:10, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

I agree. This should be made much, much less obtrusive. I've nuked it with Adblock Plus but that's a very technical solution for the multitudes that rely on this project. 64.60.243.18 01:01, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

As fascinating as it is to be told that 100 million pageviews cost $4k (worth storing away next time someone proposing a page-read-fest bot cites en:WP:PERF as a STFU-conversation-stopper -- I now wonder about 'cheap' redirects that add no utility for searching or linking, numerous other things that are similarly waved off) this does seem outrageously intrusive. Alai 23:25, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

It is intrusive and because this is linked from the English Wikipedia banner and it is the most relevant page concerning it, it makes sense to discuss this here. Wales is free to create a special English Wikipedia page for this and link it from the banner, but he hasn't. -Njyoder 23:28, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Add .fundraiser-box { display: none; } to your monobook.css. Carbon Monoxide 23:32, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

#siteNotice { display: none; } works better ;) 72.204.126.85 08:46, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

This page is the logical arrival point for people who, like me, clik on the banner link in order to find a forum to complain about its extremely intruding nature. There doesn't even seem to be an easy dismiss switch like we're used to for the server messages. I implore somebody to intervene to remedy this horrendously annoying implement! __meco 23:38, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Get Adblock Plus and Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper. I didn't expect such disgraceful abuse of the marquee tag from this source, but at least it can be blacklisted forever in a couple of clicks. 82.36.26.70 23:46, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

EVula, the banner is actually thanks to Special:NoticeLoader at this wiki, powered by an extension and thus hard-coded. But I'd say mail:wikitech-l is a better place to raise objections about this than Meta or Wikipedia. – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs) 00:06, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

I'm not seeing any of this, and I don't have anything in my monobook.css file. Hrm. EVula // talk // 00:10, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Apparently you're not the only one. There's been a few reports over at en-wikipedia that it's not entirely consistent. (I'll try to find the conversation). Cheers, -- Bfigura ^{( talk)} 00:17, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

It's only at the English Wikipedia for the time being, and you'll have to clear your cache in order to see the latest, greatest site notice. But fortunately a Wikipedia admin whipped up a workaround in the site's MediaWiki:Common.js that lets you temporarily hide the banner. – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs) 00:18, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

That was actually reverted once they added a dismiss link to the banner. --Bfigura ^(talk) 00:18, 23 October 2007 (UTC) Whoops. Sorry, the en-wiki common.css was the one that was reverted, and that was thanks to this dismiss button. Bfigura ^(talk) 00:20, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Didn't have to do anything, now I'm seeing it. Ugh... talk about ugly. EVula // talk // 00:24, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

A more targeted option to disable the scrolling only: marquee { -moz-binding: none } for Gecko-based browsers, or marquee { display: none } for everyone. --cesarb 00:36, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

The banner has been adjusted to no longer scroll; see w:Wikipedia:Purge for help on clearing your cache and viewing the updated version. The banner will also be changing more/improved further in the coming hours/days. Cbrown1023 talk 01:34, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

The Banner still looks absolutely terrible. There is no need for the video thumbnail. It is too large. Bad colour. Wrong width. It looks at first glance like Wikipedia has sold out and started showing advertising. Not pretty. Please remove it. The previous banners were totally OK. Why, why, why? --Richard Brady 193.82.139.226 13:18, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

And please, fix the misspelling in the German text: "daß" is properly "dass" since 2004. --Wikipedia user NetRolller 3D 16:49, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Instead of a banner asking for donations, why don't you just have a banner with an ad, and skip the middle step. retarded.

OK - can we PLEASE make the banner ad the size of 1/2 of the screen? I don't think it's big enough right now and it does not take up nearly enough space on each and every page! Yeah, I'm being sarcastic, the banner is ridiculous. And so is that terrible video... Whoever is in charge, next time, rethink these ideas. ;) - Nouanoua: 141.123.115.3 13:23, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

I donated before the banner. Now I don't want to donate anymore. It just bugs me. If I start seeing Wik ads because there is money from the donations, I will be really bummed out. Before the banner, I was telling many about how much I loved Wikipedia. Wik doesn't need much word of mouth passing now because it is coming up so often with the search engines. Can we keep the "eye pollution" down, please? It disturbs my peace of sight. 'Member when there were not so many ads on the web and in earth space? 'Member? Ah, peace. I don't want a war about it. Nah, just peace and quiet. I do love to discuss it. Seems to me that discussions these days could keep the peace... Just saying... Oh, can I edit the ad out for my Wik viewing pleasure? How does one do that? Can we post an edit removal button? Thanks, you guys. I'm a newbie for the editing. This is my first one. Hi.

If you create an account and log-in, there will be a "[Hide this message]" button and that should remove the ad. Cbrown1023 talk 20:53, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Torrent the video...

Silly to consume Wikimedia's bandwidth... someone torrent that video, hear hear! 72.50.64.174 23:24, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Someone's actually youtubed it... that should be close enough 68.101.123.219 16:25, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, as you can see in the #Youtube section. (link included there) Cbrown1023 talk 16:30, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Still claiming he's the sole founder?

If we're going to have an annoying, cliche PSA show up in a scrolling banner ad, can Wales at least correct himself and state that he's a co-founder, not "the founder"? There's a near unanimous agreement on this among the press, Wikiepdians and other commentators on this matter, how is it appropriate that he continue to espouse this self-promoting lie via money received by donations of people who clearly don't agree with it?

It's bad enough that the focus of this PSA is all focused on him. It's quite offensive and anyone who has seen his action in regard to Wikipedia (violating its own core principles) knows that he hardly needs his ego fed any more.

If you must have a PSA: how about a voice over, music (not cheesy) and a better script to read, with pictures and animations related to Wikipedia itself, its contributors, the people who will benefit from free computer with Wikipedia access, etc? Really, the old way was better.

-Njyoder 23:25, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Ah, it does have some of that in the other parts, which I didn't get to because the player wasn't working properly (overloaded?--I had to download the whole ogg). Anyway, the video is far too large and needless high quality for something that short and unspectacular. If you're going to convince people to donate, jokes about pick up lines may be funny, but not that helpful. The intro to OLPC seemed too brief for anyone not acquainted and for those acquainted, it's preaching to the choir. -Njyoder 23:43, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

I actually agree about the pick-up lines. Maybe there could have been some sort of innovative collaborative process whereby the video was put together - too late now though. For the love of wiki I hope the scrolling problem is sorted out soon regardless of options to hide it.

Lieu, not leu

Hello Florence, you misspelled "lieu" as "leu" on this page. Cheers --Alterego 23:31, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Actually, it's probably meant to say "in light of". I corrected it.--Eloquence 23:34, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

thanks :-) Anthere 23:58, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

How to disable the marquee

User:CO pointed out how to disable the fundraiser box: "Add .fundraiser-box { display: none; } to your monobook.css."

Although most viewing it don't really have accounts to do that with and it's not obvious to those that do, I'd think a 'dismiss' link is much better.

-Njyoder 23:46, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

I believe this has been added, reply back here if it has not. Cbrown1023 talk 01:06, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

The banner has been adjusted to no longer scroll; see w:Wikipedia:Purge for help on clearing your cache and viewing the updated version. Cbrown1023 talk 01:33, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Thank you so much for the advice on how to remove this annoying advert Adblock 17:12, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

video restarts halfway through

on firefox 2.0.0.8 with latest plugins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6mCO5lXsSU might be better for you. Martinp23 00:15, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Which donation method has less overhead?

I got hear via the Fundraising banner on WP:EN which links to http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Fundraising

I'm wondering if you could publicize which of the donation methods incurs the least overhead for the Foundation. Paypal vs. Moneybookers vs. Direct deposit vs. Check.

One of my local charities starting doing this (they encourage payment by check rather than CC), and I think it's a great idea to help donors make sure that their money goes to the charity rather than the payment processor.

Thanks! en:User:Moxfyre 00:01, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Apparently they don't care. I was thinking that a check is the best way, but somebody has to process all these checks by hand, so now I'm not sure. --V111P 02:28, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Actually, it's just that we aren't sure yet. Feel free to e-mail User:Cary Bass to see if he has an answer for you. I apologize for the inconvenience. Cbrown1023 talk 15:38, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

That will depend from where that you are and in what currency you are donation. Donation by paypal costs money to paypal, donation by check from outside the USA will also be noet cheap for the WMF. Inside the EU donating to the bank account is free, the WMF gets 100% of the donation.--Walter 13:37, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

tiny police

Feel free to donate any amount you like; these are just suggestions. The amounts here are approximate, and donations of these amounts will not be restricted to the activities described, but will be put into the general Wikimedia operating fund.

... is unreadable on many screens. Please increase the size of that police. Anthere

I'm trying an alternative approach to the font size - does this work better for you?--Eloquence 00:20, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

It seems better to me. (Camino, MacOSX) --Bfigura ^(talk) 00:32, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

better. Anthere 01:05, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Youtube

Hi all - I've uploaded the fundraising video to Youtube, for those who are having difficulties. If those in the know could spam it where necessary, I would be grateful :). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6mCO5lXsSU Martinp23 00:16, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for that, I'm on a computer without .ogg and I couldn't view it, now I've seen it! :-) (I hope someone does spam this! :-P). Cbrown1023 talk 01:05, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Glad it helped! Martinp23 12:45, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

I asked Brion to add it to the landing page, and he did. Thanks for making that copy, Martin. :-) --Eloquence 01:07, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

No problem. Thanks Erik (and Brion!). Martinp23 12:45, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

The link appears to have gone. Martinp23 15:31, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

The scrolling banner is very screen reader-unfriendly

I'm blind and use a recent version of the screen reader JAWS on a fairly fast computer. When I logged into the English Wikipedia this morning, JAWS would take five seconds to respond to each keystroke and I had to struggle to find the dismiss notice with the list links functions to return JAWS to normal. Can we quit the scrolling ads? Graham87 00:30, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

The banner has been adjusted to no longer scroll; see w:Wikipedia:Purge for help on clearing your cache and viewing the updated version. Cbrown1023 talk 01:31, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for that - it reads fine now. Graham87 02:19, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

What does the money go to?

Bandwidth and computers are cheap. So where does all the money go? USers supply all the free content.

Thank you for your question, please read: wikimedia:Planned Spending Distribution 2007-2008 for information on this. Cbrown1023 talk 01:00, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

BTW, bandwidth and computers aren't as cheap as you may think think when you're one of the top 10 most visited websites in the world. I can't remember but I believe the estimated cost for just the servers and bandwidth is over US$ 1 million a year and growing... Nil Einne 09:56, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

from: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Planned_Spending_Distribution_2007-2008 .................follow up: what is this office of the executive director? does that mean this "executive director" is getting 11% of all the money wikipedia gets?

As outlined on the talk page (wikimedia:Talk:Planned Spending Distribution 2007-2008):

• the office of the executive director covers
  • salary of the ED
  • salary of the assistant
  • relocation to San Francisco (eg, travel to SF to select offices etc...)
  • consulting (eg, fundraising consulting, communication consulting, branding consulting etc...)

I hope this helps, if it is still unclear please do not hesitate to ask for a clarification. :-) Cbrown1023 talk 20:56, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Fundraising: Sell A DVD of wikipedia!

How about sell a wikipedia DVD for $30 or so. People would be interested in this.

We actually do sell some DVDs. You can find more information at http://download.wikimedia.org/dvd.html. Thanks! :-) Cbrown1023 talk 01:11, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Giant Wikipedia Globes

Have you ever considered selling that giant rotating Wikipedia globe from the fundraising video? I want one of those for my room! =D

Dude, we can't even figure out how to fix the two wrong characters on the globe because the artist can't find the master file. lol 209.77.205.2 05:50, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

That's incorrect; the artist never lost the master file, but what he doesn't have are various details required to re-render the logo so that aspects of the image appear the same. 77.99.26.81 17:52, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, but still!

link to donations so far

what is the link to the live list of donations thus far? i remember it for last fundraiser, but i have forgotten it since then. JoeSmack 01:54, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

http://donate.wikimedia.org/en/fundcore_browse Cbrown1023 talk 01:56, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

May i suggest putting this somewhere prominently in the banner on WP? I think it is useful and relevant, and reading other comments stokes people to donate. JoeSmack 02:00, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Actually, the comments at the bottom of the notice are actualy other comments made by past donors. The public list of donors is also linked from the different means of making a donation on the fundraising page (linked from the notice). I believe that the organizers of the fundraiser wanted all of the traffic to first go to wikimedia:Fundraising and then branch out from there. Cbrown1023 talk 02:13, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

The arrows might possibly be relabeled... right now "first" gets you the most recent donations while "last" gets you the oldest. Some might find that confusing and a labeling of "most recent" and "earliest" might be better (also using "older"/"newer" instead of "next"/prev" perhaps to make those parallel?) I'm not sure who can edit that particular wiki, I don't think I can... ++Lar: t/c 13:50, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia to contribute literacy?

While I definitely contribute to the project itself, I don't see where Wikipedia contributes to literacy. Why not instead have a book drive or send people in underdeveloped countries to college in developed nations? I don't think Wikipedia is professional enough to make third world countries more literate. One reason is that anyone can edit it and many articles, even "Featured Articles", contain a fair amount of original research. What's the criteria for determining which articles will be chosen? If Wikipedia were edited by professionals or specialists, such as those at Encyclopedia Britannica, I could understand this, but in this instance, I have to decline until I understand the motivation and the criteria for choosing articles better. Currently, it just seems like an advertising plug to promote Wikipedia in underdeveloped nations. That's all I see here. Drumpler 03:33, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

You may be interested in our quality initiatives; see http://quality.wikimedia.org --Eloquence 06:48, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Um BTW, literacy is about being about being able to read and write a language. Whether or not wikipedia articles are factual incorrect doesn't really affect how well they improve literacy. Nil Einne 09:43, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Some folks have asserted that Mao-Chairman's w:little red book was instrumental in raising literacy in the rural China of old. --Hillgentleman 09:51, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Literacy covers far more than being able to read or write (emphasis mine):

Main Entry:

1lit·er·ate 1 a: educated, cultured b: able to read and write2 a: versed in literature or creative writing : literary b: lucid, polished <a literate essay> c: having knowledge or competence <computer-literate> <politically literate> [1]

Of course, I suppose Wikipedia can teach people to read. It then becomes an issue of whether or not what they're learning to read is actually going to be beneficial.

I still suggest a book drive or something of that nature. At least then I'd be more certain of the quality of knowledge they'll be receiving. As someone who has seen some of Wikipedia's "finest" at work, I do know how biased articles can turn out (not to suggest that they're all that bad). Drumpler 20:30, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

BTW, interesting point, Hillgentleman. Although I hope those who don't produce Wikipedia CDs on the spot aren't beaten. ;) Drumpler 20:35, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Firstly are we talking about wikipedia contributing to literacy or being literate? Secondly, I don't like MW (it's a silly American dictionary). I much prefer wikipedia which is why I linked to it... If you do want to use a dictionary I suggest wiktionary:literacy or [2]. Fact is, when someone talks about literacy they primarily mean the ability to read or write. Computer literacy etc are different things but should not be confused with literacy in the common sense. Note that a recent example in the developed would is Harry Potter which is generally believed to have contributed to literacy in Australia and the UK at least (some of the evidence is a bit flimsy or goes to far but I suspect it has had some contribution). While the quality of knowledge gained from HP, being a fictional book about magic and other things may not be great, most people would agree the increase in literacy is a good thing regardless... If you're wondering why literacy is considered important, you may want to check out the article. Nil Einne 10:14, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

wikinews logo on sisterprojects in fundraiser page

Should be image:Wikinews-logo.png not image:Wikinews-logo-en.png. Bawolff 04:17, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Cary has fixed this, thanks for telling us! :-) Cbrown1023 talk 23:40, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Wikimedia Commons has more than 2M of media

Please change the number of media on foundation:Press releases/Funddrive 2007. -- Bryan (talk|commons) 11:23, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

I bumped the file count so it reads "Wikimedia Commons currently has over 2.0 million files and over 55,835 collections." but I am not sure what "collections" are in this context (galleries?) so I left it be. I'll bump that too if someone can remind me what that is counting. ++Lar: t/c 13:38, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Also on statistics: the press-release mentions for Wikisource over 20,000 texts in several language versions but that project currently have 300,000 pages on main namespace. Since today no statistics have made for all wikisources related to works per se versus pages on main namespace, making that statement a bit weird. 555 16:24, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Not sure how to reconcile that, I agree it sounds a bit off at first glance, but it's worth noting that some texts have many many pages. ++Lar: t/c 19:25, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Financial Statement

I will be happy to contribute, however I would like:

-Current financial status -Plans and budget for contributions.

before contributing. The more detailed the above, the more informed decisions and better contributions.

Here is the budget. Planned Spending Distribution 2007-2008 212.71.160.50 18:44, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, that is a link to a page which explains what the Wikimedia Foundation will use your gracious donations for. That page, and all other ones you might be interested in, are linked from the main, wikimedia:Fundraising page. Cbrown1023 talk 19:39, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Please place these two Recent Contributions links where people can find them.

• http://donate.wikimedia.org/en/fundcore_browse
• http://fundraising.wikimedia.org/en/fundcore/list

4.250.33.57 18:51, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your suggestion. However, the second link (to fundraising.wikimedia) is actually the old website, recent and future donations should go to the donate.wikimedia site. Also, the recent contributions page for donate.wikimedia is linked from the sidebar on that site, is there another place that you suggest placing it? Cbrown1023 talk 19:42, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

I suggest that a link to http://donate.wikimedia.org/en/fundcore_browse be placed at http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Fundraising and labeled Recent contributions so the text at the top would read "Fundraising | Appeal from Board Chair | Press Release | FAQ | Donor Privacy Policy | Tax-deductibility of donations | Gift Policy | Planned Spending | Recent contributions". 4.250.198.228 20:04, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

T2050 in Canada?

Why doesn't Wikimedia file a T2050 in Canada to obtain registered status so us Canadians could claim our donations? I would like to add Wikimedia foundation to my annual donation roster but I just can't justify 40%+ of my potential donation getting taken away by the government, when I can donate to Amnesty International tax free.

I think that is planned as part of Wikimedia Canada (but don't quote me on this, I just briefly read the page). Bawolff 06:11, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Confusing numbers are misleading people about how much their donations will accomplish

Specifically, I'm referring to 'If you and 99 other people donate ..'.

Now, if you stop and think about it, you realize that you donating '$40' only provides 1/100 of the "We can deliver 100 million pageviews of free information!", or 40USD=1M page views, 20USD=.5M page views, etc. However, I was reading through the comments and I noticed quite a few people referencing these statistics, but wrongly. One fellow donated 20USD, but was disappointed his donation would only provide 50M page views, while another was thrilled to be able to give back to the tune (40USD) of 100M page views. Another donated 25EUR, writing 'That should cover for about 1000000 pageviews (which I might use up all by myself ;))'

So, I think that line should just be removed and the enumerated amounts accordingly modified. ie, replace the 40USD line with '$40 – We can deliver one million pageviews of free information!', and then increase the units for the others. Sending a student to Wikimania is apparently 2kUSD, so 'If 40 people donate 50USD, we can send a student to Wikimania' and so on. Gwern

I agree. Initially, I missed the "99 others" too. The current form is misleading. For future drives, we should consider restructuring this section. Superm401 | Talk 19:46, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Thank you Wikipedia

I just want to thanks all you guys who help work on this wonderful website because you deserve it and I hope the site keeps expanding!

Thank you very much! You can help us by spreading you love for wikimedia projects (see our web buttons and banners that you can add to your blog/website). guillom 15:08, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Complaint

I strongly dislike the fundraising banner which shows up at every single page. It is outrageous that us, the editors, are constantly annoyed with this banner. PLEASE include a "Dismiss" button, as it was the case with previous such banners. In fact, I donated some money previously, but this time I won't, just because of this annoying policy. 139.18.10.113 07:57, 24 October 2007 (UTC) (en.Wikipedia User:Jakob.scholbach)

You can dismiss most of it. guillom 15:08, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Donation

How can i make donation to you in india?.Inform your chennai(india)address.or tell me your other ways. My mail id : shanku232@gmail.com

There are many different ways you can donate, all of these are outlined on http://donate.wikimedia.org/. You can even donate using Rupees using Moneybookers! :-) Thank you for your donations to Wikipedia and I hope this helps! :-) Cbrown1023 talk 23:49, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Centering the banner

I think the banner would be less ugly if it was centered on the page instead of aligned on the left. Husky 11:04, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Brion answered on the foundation mailing list [3]. guillom 15:04, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Is 2,319 an accurate number?

Has only 2319 people over Wiki's lifetime contributed? I've thought about it and likely will, but I find the number to be shockingly low. Or is the # since the start of the campaign? ==

This figure only means 2,319 people have donated since the beginning of the donations campaign yesterday. guillom 14:58, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Yup, it is only since the number of this campaign. The first time I saw the banner the number was 3. :) That would have been shocking if true. 83.227.141.19 19:04, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Support the most active contributors

Hey, I would like to donate some money to the real power beyond this. I consider that running big project, like wikimedia do, is very expansive, afterall I donated some months ago. But now I would love to donate to people, who spend lot of their time to write articles and moreover share their knowledge to everyone for free. Is there any donation action for this purpouse? --- pheeror

Yes! Some of this guys not less important than Executive Director who have 509 kilodollars, i think 91.76.66.192 14:37, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

(The above comment is nonsense; see more higher up.)--Eloquence 17:25, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Jimbo's Eyes

Please get rid of this. It is astonishingly annoying to see a seemingly-random set of eyes pop up and look at you, scrolling down with you as you read the wikipedia page. If you want to encourage donations, don't annoy the people using the resource...(I apologize if this is in the wrong area, but I cannot find a more appropriate place to mention this at the moment).

What on Earth are you talking about?--Eloquence 17:25, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

I suspect he refers to the video. Many people on YouTube have commented on the sudden close-up of Jimbo's eyes in the video. --124.169.50.204 17:27, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

No, I was referring to the image on this userpage, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Eyessore, which was put up in an apparent rogue edit of the fundraising template (the image appeared in the upper-right corner of the pages). The situation has apparently been corrected since I posted this by KnowledgeHegemony. 70.108.248.114 18:47, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Fundraiser userbox for Wikipedia

I haven't seen any of these on other user's pages so I went ahead and made an "I financially support Wiki projects" user box for Wikipedia. [4]

Just put

{{User:UBX/Donate}}

in your user page after you donate to show everyone you donated!Ataricom 16:18, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for that, there are many more to chose from at Fundraising 2007/web buttons. Cbrown1023 talk 20:27, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Why lots of small donations are really important

http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-October/084183.html is very interesting in helping to understand why lots of small donations are really important to the foundation rather than the same amount of money contributed by fewer people/groups. 4.250.198.228 20:12, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for providing that link. We basically agree with you which is why this year's target is based on the number of donors not donations. You can see wikimedia:Fundraising FAQ for more information. Cbrown1023 talk 20:29, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Though it doesn't appear to give a target for that either: just states that it's being "tracked". Alai 10:49, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Bank Transfer Details

For the banking information you list for your bank in Belgium, are you sure the BIC is correct? That looks like a SWIFT code to me, while BICs are usually numbers. If I'm right, then the easy fix is to change the text "BIC" to "SWIFT".

A BIC-code is a SWIFT-code. BIC is the correct official name for it, SWIFT-code is an also used but incorrect name for it. See w:en:ISO 9362 --Walter 07:53, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Wikia?

I thought that was the point of Wikia? Doesn't that make plenty of money for Wikipedia? Pretty sure Wikipedia owns Wikia.com.--24.250.201.191 03:26, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia is a project of the w:en:Wikimedia Foundation. Wikipedia is founded by w:en:Jimmy Wales. The Wikimedia Foundation is non-commerical. w:en:Wikia is a commerical company co-founded by Jimmy Wales and some other people comming from Wikipedia. But Wikia is not owned by "Wikipedia" or the Wikimedia Foundation. It is just a commercial company that has some of the same people who are also in the gouverment of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Wikia is friendly to the Wikimedia Foundation but is not a construction for making money to fund the Wikimedia Foundation and there projects like Wikipedia. --Walter 08:35, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

More information can be read on the Wikimedia Foundation's press release regarding this issue: wikimedia:Press releases/Wikia, Inc. is not the commercial counterpart to Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation. Cbrown1023 talk 22:09, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

It doesn't make any money anyway. The advertising only covers costs really. 130.216.191.182 08:45, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia was co-founded by Wales as well. -Njyoder 05:43, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Translation of Donation page

I wonder where we can translate the donation page of donate.wikimedia.org to other languages. I cannot find it in Fundraising 2007 or else where. -- Kevinhksouth 13:40, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Now you can: Fundraising 2007/Donate form/Translations. Nikola 16:39, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

---

When translating, should we "translate" dollar values to the currency of the country that is targeted (f.e. If you and 99 other people donate...30 EUR – We can deliver)? Or perhaps put it in parentheses next to dollar value (f.e. If you and 99 other people donate...$40 (30 EUR) – We can deliver)? Nikola 16:39, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Sitenotice translations

What about images like http://upload.wikimedia.org/fundraising/2007/meter-xx.png, for example in Russian? How can we do it? --<Flrn^talk> 15:54, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Please post the translations on m:Fundraising 2007/Text for sitenotice and then ask Brion to update it. Cbrown1023 talk 22:15, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

If we donate money do we get anything in return

From wikimedia:Fundraising FAQ:

If I send you a huge donation, do I get anything special?

Yes. This year, people who donate between USD 10,000 and 24,999 will get a personal phone call from Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia. (You will need to include your phone number with your donation.) People who donate USD 25,000 or more will be treated to dinner with Jimmy.

If you do not fit into those categories, you will just get our sincere thanks and the possibility for your comment to be put in the sitenotice shown on all Wikimedia Foundation pages. Cbrown1023 talk 22:12, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Donate to Wikipedia, not Africa?

How can we donate money specifically to Wikipedia and not have any of it go to Africa? Although the intentions may be good, I would like to avoid funding some tin-pot dictator's genocidal tendencies. --70.162.86.118 02:01, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Money that you donate to us will not be donated directly to Africa as actual money, but will be used to provide children with copies of Wikipedia and items such as that. You needn't work about that money being put into a tin-pot, we will simply donate goods rather than money. Cbrown1023 talk 02:19, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Not that increasing the knowledge and literacy of the populance is probably the best way to ensure 'tin pot dictators' are unable to carry out their 'genocidal tendencies' Nil Einne 10:43, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

• Fundraising 2007/Fundraising FAQ claims that you can specify the use of the donation. Wikimedia is obliged to follow it or refund. Hillgentleman 08:22, 2-6 October 2007 (UTC)

Just make sure you mention in your donation comment that you wish your donation not be used in Africa. We can definitely use any donations you provide for other items, like our technological expenses. Cbrown1023 talk 20:20, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

If you absolutely must restrict the use of your donation, please contact the foundation directly. Donation comments are not read for routing finances. --David Strauss 23:22, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

My mistake, this user can e-mail donate (at) wikimedia (dot) org to contact the Foundation. Cbrown1023 talk 23:39, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Why do you keep deleting posts? Who invited the thought police? `--67.187.4.81 02:36, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Posts should be related to the Fundraiser. Cbrown1023 talk 02:49, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

When did the fundraiser begin? - October 22, 2007 ???

I have donated, as many french wikipedians, the October 22. But as I can see the history of the fundraising begin - the October, 2007, well - but at 20:44 o'clock ! I would like to see my donation on the list. --Paulokoko 07:45, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

How can I add such a fundraising to my wiki ?

How can I add such a fundraising + bar to my own wiki? I've searched a few hours but I seem to search wrong =/ Anyone can help me ?

I do not understand your request, what exactly do you need? Cbrown1023 talk 20:11, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

A farce

This so-called fundraiser is a total farce. If Jimmy Wales really want kids in Africa to grow wise he should donate the funds to UN's organizations. I'd rather see Flash animated ads on Wikipedia than donating a single penny to this megalomaniac.

I wonder how long it takes before my opinion is censored. If you can't take critisism, you shouldn't do this fundraiser at all. --193.216.177.209 14:24, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Um you're donating to the wikimedia foundation not Jimbo Wales... Also althought your criticism is largely offtopic, and besides that the foundation has the right to remove your criticism if they want (you're allowed to criticise, it doesn't mean the foundation has to allow you to use their servers to criticise) can you show me an example of where criticism was deleted because it was criticism? Looking thru the history, the only reversions/removals I saw were of cases of vandalism and also when people put criticism in inapproriate places (like at the top or as part of someone elses post). People who post new sections with clearly signed messages like you did are not reverted. Nil Einne 10:23, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

• His edit was removed by another ip-user, but he reverted himself. As for Wales, with all his megalomania, under-acknowledgement of Larry Sanger, and other quirks, he has made things happen - with the a few million bucks and loads of volunteer helpers. And it seems that he wants to continue making things happen. Hillgentleman 12:18, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I wonder how much of the funds will be spent on assuring quality of the articles. Most WikiPedia articles are like long term discussion boards, where users change the same page, and the changes are logged. But of course, the American WikiPedia editors refuse to see it as a discusion board. But whn you think of it properly, wikipedia is a discussio bord. Also why do they declare their asking price in USD? Is it because they are all American? I preffer to think in Euro.

The foundation is based in the US so thats why it is in USD...

Typo

In the quote that begins with "Knowledge truly is power..." there's a typo. There's an "it" instead of an "is".

Thank You, --birdy geimfyglið _(:> )=| 21:09, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

it is an discussion encycopedia anyone can edit. so u can do the change urslf.

by saying thank you, birdy was telling you that (s)he fixed it and thank you for telling us about the problem. :-) Cbrown1023 talk 23:01, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Credit Card Donations?

How do I go about donating to Wikipedia via a Credit Card payment without creating an account on Paypal etc. Or, more specifically, can I donate via credit card without needing to provide billing address details etc. i.e. Make a donation using only my card details (card holder, card number, expiry date, CVV number)?

Thanks - 27 October 2007

You can donate via PayPal without creating an account there. More information/instructions can be found at wikimedia:Fundraising (the PayPal / Credit Card section). Thank you in advance for your donation! :-) Cbrown1023 talk 19:23, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Special provisions for companies incorporated in tax havens?

My company is incorporated in a tax haven and I was wondering whether I could use contributions to Wikipedia to reduce my existing tax liability to zero. The local tax rules state: "Any contribution towards any foundation, whatever its purpose - including but not limited to the propagation of falsehood and misinformation - may be offset against government dues and taxes". Wikipedia seems to fit this definition like a glove, so presumably I could offset every cent of my donations. Could Wikipedia provide a certificate certifying that it pursues such aims (even though most of us consider them to be self apparent)?

I apologize but the Foundation is not in the business of tax avoidance. I also do not believe that this could be used to reduce your tax liability to zero, however you are free to try but without a written certificate from the Foundation. Cbrown1023 talk 00:08, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Obviously Wikipedia is in the business of facilitating tax avoidance (which is perfectly legal) otherwise the previous comments on tax deduction certificates for the UK authorities would not have been included. Tax evasion, on the other hand, is illegal. The line between the two is something for the lawyers to fight over and depends greatly on national legislation. However, Wikipedia's apparent unwillingness to provide a certificate is suspicious to say the least and makes one wonder whether there is proper IRS oversight of the funds raised by your organization. Perhaps I am the one who should be worried.

...to provide a certificate saying that we are something that we really are not so that you can get a tax break is suspicious? Maybe I am not understanding you correctly and what "previous comments" are you referring to? We are also most certainly registered with the IRS, see our 990 Form: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/c/ce/WMF_2006_Form_990.pdf (it's a pdf). Cbrown1023 talk 12:47, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

I suspect you do: given the comment about "the propagation of falsehood and misinformation", the above seems highly likely to be out-and-out trolling. Alai 13:03, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Please do not feed the trolls. Thank you. --Tango 14:05, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Is direct deposit counted?

Out of curiosity, are those who have donated through direct deposit included in the numbers on the bar (6 235 currently)? And do they appear on the public list of donors? 83.227.141.19 19:57, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

I do not believe that direct deposits or checks received by mail are listed on there. Cbrown1023 talk 20:10, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Of it is included I do not know but I do report the balance and listings of the direct deposit donations to Sue --Walter 13:43, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Who's that guy?

The guy on the banner looks like Osama bin Laden.

It is actually Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia. Cbrown1023 talk 20:02, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Is there a way to get rid of that "play" button overlap? It causes the guy to look strange. Its been disscussed on enwiki several times...

Thank you for your suggestion on improving the logo, can you please add your idea and possibly comment on others' at the English Wikipedia's redesign proposal? Thanks! :-) Cbrown1023 talk 12:20, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Donation Levels

If a donation is made for $200 by 99 people (from my understanding that was the number given) does that mean that the $200 will fund the activity listed in the $200 level the $100 dollar level and so on all the way down to the lowest donation. Or does the $200 just cover the activity specified in the $200 level. Thanks and this site is amazing I am on it everyday, some days for hours just reading on anything anyones heart desires. As well this has solved many household arguments in a house of 6 university male students (all, by the way with hot, hot tempers LOL). Continue the great work and I look forward to participating and donating both now and in the future!!!!!

Ciao

99.241.146.68 11:26, 28 October 2007 (UTC)Chris S.

Thank you for your very kind comments! :-) I believe that the numbers there just express what we can do with the money, it shows people who donate relatively what their dollar amount would do. Below the numbers it also says Feel free to donate any amount you like; these are just suggestions. The amounts here are approximate, and donations of these amounts will not be restricted to the activities described, but will be put into the general Wikimedia operating fund. (If you would like to see the planned spend it is at wikimedia:Planned Spending Distribution 2007-2008.) Cbrown1023 talk 12:23, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes. I'm not sure it reflects what will be done with the money, but, all the same. --Anonymous Dissident^Talk 12:54, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

7000 donators

Out of the hundreds of thousands if not millions only 7000 people donated. Just goes to show how much all your efforts are appreciated :) --85.144.133.46 16:09, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your comment, but actually 7,000 is a lot of people considering our fundraiser started less than a week ago. We are also happy for any and all contributions we may receive. :-) I hope, like you, that many more donate during the rest of the fundraiser. Cbrown1023 talk 16:25, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Amount of donation seeked and % reached....

I would like to know what is the total amount you are looking at and the amount that has been donated so far instead of the # of people who have donated.?

We are not publishing a financial target for this fundraiser, we are more concerned with the people who donate the money rather than how much they have donated (as illustrated by our focus on testimonials, user images, and quotes in the site notice). In regards to the second part of your question, so far we have received over $145,000 since the fundraiser began less than a week ago. Cbrown1023 talk 22:51, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Can you link to a live updating figure of amount donated so far? Just for curiosity.

Unfortunately, I do not believe we have publicly compiled statistics of that sort available (although you can go to #wikimedia-donations on the irc.freenode.net network and type !stats to get the information, if you have access to IRC). The only stastics we have are the number of donors and this is publicly shown in the banner. You are free to view all of the individual donations at http://donate.wikimedia.org/en/fundcore_browse. I apologize for the inconvenience. Cbrown1023 talk 21:00, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia merchandise

Wikipedia for me is not just an encyclopedia but also my first source of reference ahead of Google. I have been donating earlier and will donate again. I would like to know though, why does wikipedia does not sell branded merchandise. I and many like me would love to own them and the monetary benefits could go a big way in the fund raising process.

Because Wikipedia is a charitable organisation, and is not out to get money. There is, however, a variety of merchandise, not sponsered by the Foundation (I think), available, such as T-shirts and whatnot. --Anonymous Dissident^Talk 05:55, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Actually, there is an official CafePress store. You can find it at www.cafepress.com/wikipedia. EVula // talk // ☯ // 06:08, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Thank you very much for your past and prospective donations! :-) Wikimedia and its sale of branded merchandise has been and continues to be a hot topic for discussion, currently (as shown by my two colleagues) Wikipedia sells branded merchandise through Café Press at http://www.cafepress.com/wikipedia. If you do buy merchandise there, 20% of the listed price for each purchased item goes to the Wikimedia Foundation. Thanks again! :-) Cbrown1023 talk 20:37, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Translations of the video

Is there a way to submit a translation of the Wales' marketing speech vid? Jariola 09:43, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Thank you very much for your offer to do this, you can find information on how to translate the subtitles for the video at Fundraising 2007/Video with Jimmy subtitles/Translations. Cbrown1023 talk 20:24, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

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