Template:Answers/Advertise

Introduction Answers@ For information about the Answers@ process About For information about the Wikimedia Foundation Donors Find out how to donate and information about how your money is spent Press If you're a member of the press looking to contact the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates For information about Wikimedia's international network of affiliated organizations

Where can I learn more about advertising on Wikimedia Foundation projects? The Wikimedia Foundation does not accept advertisement. The Wikimedia Foundation is not against the world of online advertising or against other organizations that host ads, but it does not believe that advertising belongs in a project devoted to education, particularly one that is driven by the values consistent with a balanced, neutral encyclopedia. The global volunteer community has always felt that advertising would have a major effect on our ability to stay neutral and that ultimately ads would weaken the readers' overall confidence in the articles they are reading. Even if advertisers put no pressure on us to slant articles to their favor, readers may fear that they exert an influence, consciously or otherwise. In addition, the Foundation has strong views about reader privacy. Current models for web advertising are inconsistent with these, particularly contextual advertising, which reads the content you are viewing. The Foundation also thinks it intrusive to deliver ads to readers based on their geography. If you'd like to read more about the history of discussions about advertising Wikipedia - including both pros and cons - the volunteer community has written a page about it at w:Wikipedia:Advertisements.