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Wikipedia/Wikimedia are now accepting donations to help keep Wikipedia up and running and pay for all associated costs. Read more about it here:

http://wikimediafoundation.org/w/ind...ouis_Stevenson

Theyre an excellent resource but I wont be donating myself as much as I would like to. I honestly think that they should gain funding from advertisements on Wikipedia, I am sure their userbase wouldnt care less about having advertisements on it to help keep it running, what they could do is give any extra funding from advertisements to a charity if theyre wanting people to know it would be going to yet another good cause.

What are your thoughts and will you be donating yourself?

He said it's because he wants it to be remembered as ''the one good thing'' on the Internet! But we all understand that seductive has to go mainstream eventually! I wouldn't be bothered by some adverts on the corner!

Its only natural progression, theres no way a website can survive solely from donations especially if there is costs involved which with websites there is such as hosting and a site of that size will be running on a lot of servers at once costing a fortune which I dont think donations can match. I believe them having adverts someday will be inevitable, it is the same with any site and having adverts on a site doesnt make it any less good, its simply a way of covering associated costs so theyre not left out of pocket themselves from providing it.

They would make a fortune from advertisements on Wikipedia, Id think so considering their rankings in Google, popularity, resourcefulness and many other things, its the first site I think of if I need some information on something general. I think for them to keep themselves as good then they should use advertisements, probably 3 per page relevant to the content on the page and perhaps give extra money made to a different charity each year.

I know I would still use the site almost daily.

I reckon that Wikipedia ought to have advertisements. They're popular enough for it to be effective, and that way they won't have to rely on donations as much as they said. Really, I think that if they wish for Wikipedia to really be "free" they shouldn't have to ask for donations as a necessity, but as an act of goodwill. Right now it seems as though they are desperate for cash, and want some, when advertising will get them as far and further.

Advertisements look tacky and amateur, although we all know Wikipedia is far from tacky and amateur, I don't think it will keep its appeal.

I personally wouldn't donate, I don't donate for anything on the internet and probably never will do. I'm sure they can find funding from a sponsor or something else? I don't know much about that but they are a really well known popular company?

True, they can probably get their money from a sponsor, but that's along the same lines as advertising. I agree that it would look amateur if they flooded their page with advertisements like many other websites, but if they kept it down to a small few then it could still keep the same image. And besides, it's got a good reputation already.

Well, i don't like wikipedia, I like the concept, but I can't call this website a '' excellent resource ''

I certainly wouldn't use Wikipedia for a school assignment because the information is very subjective, but if you're interested in something then I find that Wikipedia is very helpful. If you wish to get a start on your research then it's very good.