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Wikipedia On the Brink? Or Crying Wolf?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the all-about-the-benjamins dept.

netbuzz writes "Might Wikipedia 'disappear' three or four months from now absent a major infusion of cash donations? The suggestion has been made by Florence Devouard, chairwoman of the Wikimedia Foundation. And while her spokesperson has since backpedaled off that dire prediction, there can be little doubt that the encyclopedia anyone can edit could use a few more benefactors to go along with all those editors."

4 of 380 comments (clear)

  1. Why do they need donations? by Mikesch · · Score: 0, Troll

    Can't someone just edit the Wikipedia article to say that they have enough donations to last until the human/robot apocalypse?

    We'll be reading it in Wikipedia so we know it must be a fact.

  2. Haha ! by Joebert · · Score: 0, Troll

    Damn hippies.

    --
    Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
  3. It's an old saying... by petrus4 · · Score: 0, Troll

    That which is worthwhile survives...that which is not, passes away.

    As I've written before, Wikipedia lost its' way quite some time ago now. I'm guessing that if few people are contributing financially, it's because people who otherwise might contribute are realising that their money would not go to something genuinely worth paying for.

    The Wiki in general was one of the forerunner fads of Web 2.0, but it seems to have faded in the same way that a lot of things do. People realised that having anyone being able to edit articles interfered with their biases and prejudices, which they didn't want. People being able to write anything means that people can potentially write the truth...which was certain to become terminally unpopular sooner or later, given human nature.

    Wikipedia has proven that it is unable to live with integrity...so it should be allowed to die.

  4. Re:It begins by reed · · Score: 0, Troll

    The downfall of Web 2.0: people realising that they're providing all the content that's making the site owners rich^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H costing the site owners money for hosting and bandwidth. Fixed that for you.