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Wikimedia Endowment Gets New $1 Million Backing From Amazon (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the further-development dept.

Amazon has donated $1 million to the Wikimedia Endowment, a fund supporting Wikipedia, the e-commerce giant said this week. From a report: The gift was intended to support Wikipedia and its nonprofit parent Wikimedia, which Amazon relies on for answers on its Alexa voice assistant. It was Amazon's first ever to the free online information and education organization. "We are grateful for Amazon's support, and hope this marks the beginning of a long-term partnership to supporting Wikipedia's future," Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said in a statement.

12 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. 1 million dollars by Danathar · · Score: 2

    Wow Amazon! Big of you to pull a quarter out of your pocket and plink it into the donation jar...

    1. Re:1 million dollars by Halueth · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They could also have done nothing. Sometimes it's just a time to be grateful; not every action by $bigcorp deserves a sour face... At least them Wiki folks can keep their servers humming along a bit longer, which is a good thing(tm).

    2. Re:1 million dollars by alvinrod · · Score: 4, Informative

      This isn't exactly a huge deal for the Wikimedia foundation anyways. If you look at their financial reports, they've got plenty of money.

    3. Re:1 million dollars by DerekLyons · · Score: 2

      At least them Wiki folks can keep their servers humming along a bit longer

      Yeah, instead of having fifteen years of operating capital in the bank, now they have fifteen and a couple of months. Seriously, despite they hype they generate with their annual begging campaigns the Wikimedia Foundation/Wikipedia are swimming in buckets of cash.

  2. Expenses by balsy2001 · · Score: 1

    Why does wikipedia need so much money? Isn’t most of the work done by unpaid people? I get there are servers and power etc, but they could have donated use of AWS. If they had free servers they would have to constantly be running a fund raising campaign.

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    1. Re:Expenses by balsy2001 · · Score: 1

      *wouldn’t

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    2. Re:Expenses by GuB-42 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Servers represent only 6% of Wikimedia foundation operating expenses. Staff is about 50%. For the details, see for yourself.

      https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik...

  3. It's not the money by xack · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Wikip(m)edia has tons of money due to the regular begging campaigns it puts on it's website. Wikipedia instead could do with professional administrators with social skills (Unlike the abusive ones they have now) plus get rid of the notability policy and allow the true sum of human knowledge. I reckon Amazon with it's large AWS/S3 infrastructure and it's large amount of books could source a more reliable free encyclopedia.

  4. Re:It's not the books. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Like this?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Components_of_medieval_armour
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Components_of_medieval_armour#/media/File:Gothic_armour_with_list_of_elements.jpg

  5. Walk Away from CoCs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Free Software developers of the world, open your eyes! Our communities are bring raped, our work pillaged.

    Detestable villains - mean spirited, bigoted, belligerent, vicious - are using underhanded tricks to force hypocritical "Codes of Conduct" on the projects we built.

    The only purpose of these CoCs is to allow so-called "Progressives" to conduct witch hunts against anyone who opposes them. Thereby they plan to steal our work for their shadowy corporate paymasters.

    You can readily tell these CoCs are not about "just being nice" - because they are ALWAYS supported by the very LEAST NICE, most aggressively mean and shamelessly bigoted people you can imagine.

    If a project to which you contribute has been raped by CoC-mongers there is a simple solution: WALK AWAY. Never contribute again. If you have a patch almost ready, count the time you spent on it as a loss and throw it away. If you see a security issue, remain silent and do nothing. IT'S NO LONGER YOUR PROJECT. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME THERE.

    If you are evaluating new software, don't even consider any projects burdened under the tyranny of a CoC. It doesn't matter if they are technically superior - just don't consider them. Never be openly political, always make up a technical reason for rejecting CoCed projects.

    Don't argue in public about the CoC. Doing so only exposes you to needless risk. You might be dis-employed, blackballed, and even set up for a #MeToo purge. Just stay far away.

    Comrades: Individually we are powerless, and easily crushed beneath the iron boot of Corporate Social Just-Us. But together in solidarity we are millions and we are strong. The very Internet itself depends on our collective labor. If we stop working, the internet stops working.

    Free Software developers, save yourselves and save your communities! Just WALK AWAY from any project with a CoC. Without our labor they are nothing.

  6. Wikipedia editors are unpaid by AnthonywC · · Score: 1

    Amazon can just paid for all their hosting cost and Wikipedia should have zero expense. The $ going to Wikipedia ain't going to the editors, it is going to some board of directors and other big shot who probably doesn't even normally edit any article.

  7. Wikimedia Endowment by annysmithh · · Score: 1

    The main problem was that voice assistants were now serving as intermediaries between people and the encyclopedia, reducing the chances that people would contribute as publishers or respond to donation campaigns.

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