[HN Gopher] Poll of Wikipedians concludes: Wikimedia fundraising...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Poll of Wikipedians concludes: Wikimedia fundraising emails are
       misleading
        
       Author : akolbe
       Score  : 131 points
       Date   : 2022-09-04 15:19 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (lists.wikimedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (lists.wikimedia.org)
        
       | mgdlbp wrote:
       | The Wikimedia Foundation's formal community survey (this year's
       | report to be released next month; last and previous years'
       | available): https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Insights
       | 
       | and other surveys:
       | https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Editor_surveys
       | 
       | Edit: Wikimedia's surveys don't cover the issue in the OP, but it
       | has been raised as a question for candidates in the ongoing
       | Wikimedia Board community vote (until 2022-09-06):
       | https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_electio...
        
       | pxeger1 wrote:
       | The emails in question:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AVilla...
        
         | oli5679 wrote:
         | I'd be really interested in seeing a breakdown of the salary
         | expense by role and project.
         | 
         | $67m is a lot of people!
        
           | xtreak29 wrote:
           | Some breakdown and comparison over the years https://meta.m.w
           | ikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_salar...
        
       | SiempreViernes wrote:
       | This is not a poll, this is someone who is very critical how
       | wikimedia spends its money putting out an "opinions welcome" box
       | on what amounts to a public square.
       | 
       | Then they get very argumentative when someone says the mails look
       | fine:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AVilla...
       | 
       | So yeah, not a poll.
        
         | bawolff wrote:
         | Not really an unbiased poll, but there has been a clear trend
         | of increased discontent among wikipedia editors over the
         | wording of fundraiser messages.
        
         | yorwba wrote:
         | Isn't the usual collective decision-making process at Wikipedia
         | to post somewhere to have a vote while exchanging arguments and
         | counterarguments below?
         | 
         | I fail to see how this is not a poll.
        
         | a-nikolaev wrote:
         | I think, Wikimedia's fundraising message should include the
         | amount of money they have, the expenses they expect for the
         | coming years (with a basic breakdown of how it is going to be
         | spent), as well as a link to a detailed report of how much
         | money they got and how they were spent for the previous years.
         | Basically be transparent, b/c someone might want to spend their
         | money on a different web project they like.
        
           | pen2l wrote:
           | Forgive me if I'm wrong, but aren't non-profit organizations
           | obligated to have much of this public? Because if they
           | aren't, then the non-profit organization is incredibly ripe
           | for fraud and I wonder how many have already chosen the NPO
           | structure for ill intents.
           | 
           | The line, in some ways, is thin between a non-profit and a
           | for-profit organization, when executives e.g. Mitchell Baker
           | of Mozilla foundation, can command such large salaries and
           | irresponsible spending. If abuse is as rife in non-profit
           | structured organizations as it appears, IRS had better
           | burnish its hammer and commit to resolutory action.
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | jonas21 wrote:
             | Yes, all tax-exempt organizations in the US are required to
             | publish a copy of IRS Form 990. This includes a breakdown
             | of income, expenses (including executive compensation), and
             | assets.
             | 
             | The Wikimedia Foundation also publishes audited financial
             | statements and a plan for the coming year. All of this is
             | available here [1], which is the first result when you
             | Google "wikipedia financials".
             | 
             | [1] https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/financial-
             | reports/
        
             | yunohn wrote:
             | > but aren't non-profit organizations obligated to have
             | much of this public
             | 
             | Yes, they are legally obligated to disclose their finances.
             | OP's point was it should be part of their fundraising
             | message too.
        
             | lumost wrote:
             | Anecdotally, most non profits I've encountered operate in
             | this way. Someone who is already wealthy, runs the show and
             | pays themselves an egregious salary. They then hire lots of
             | idealistic folks who either have money already or are ok
             | being exploited due to idealistic bias.
             | 
             | No one who "works" for the non profit gets paid reasonably
             | except the executives, who are paid exorbitant wages.
        
               | michaelo7 wrote:
               | Wikimedia (the parent of Wikipedia) pays most people at
               | Wikimedia very generously. The issue is most people
               | involved, outside of tech, contribute little or nothing
               | to Wikipedia which is the reason people are donating.
        
               | hammyhavoc wrote:
               | Sounds similar to Mozilla/MZLA with Thunderbird blog
               | gimmicks of non-FOSS AI-generated wallpapers and a
               | podcast. For an email client.
        
               | foundart wrote:
               | Echo Rita? From the context I assume it means large. Is
               | that correct? What is the origin of that phrase?
        
               | squiffsquiff wrote:
               | Probably originated using speech to text recognition
               | rather than a keyboard
        
               | RickHull wrote:
               | I'm guessing "egregious"
        
               | lumost wrote:
               | Aye - not sure what language model came up with that
               | (mobile keyboard)
        
             | a-nikolaev wrote:
             | I think, Wiki fundraising message should be more
             | informational, not an emotional cry for help and money. I
             | myself don't want to be manipulated, give me the numbers
             | and what you want to do with my money.
        
         | gurchik wrote:
         | > Then they get very argumentative when someone says the mails
         | look fine
         | 
         | Are you referring to this?
         | 
         | > Thanks for commenting. Unfortunately though I have to
         | disagree, The Land. In my view, getting people on very limited
         | incomes to donate $2 they can't afford, by making them "believe
         | that Wikipedia is in trouble and that they need to give money
         | to keep it online", is unethical. All the more so if it's done
         | in part to raise WMF executives' compensation to $350K and
         | beyond (bear in mind that these salary figures are two years
         | old). It's worth mentioning that some of those salaries have
         | been rising steeply, even as the WMF claimed to be in urgent
         | need of money. Compare the entries here in the 2020 Form 990 to
         | the corresponding entries here in the 2018 form. As far as I
         | can make out: the CEO's total compensation incl. benefits
         | increased by 7% (to $423,318), the DGC's and GC's by 10%, the
         | CFO's by 11%, the CTO's by 17%, the CAO's by 22%, the CCO's by
         | 25%, the CT/CO's by 28%, and the CPO's by 32% - all over a two-
         | year period when the annual inflation rate in the US was at 2%
        
           | lkrubner wrote:
           | $350K does not strike me as a lot of money for top executives
           | at an organization as large as Wikimedia. In 2022, I've got
           | startups (30 to 50 employees) offering me $225,000 to work as
           | a software architect. At a larger organization I would expect
           | $350k and I would expect the top executives to get paid more
           | than me. If Wikimedia are hiring executives who could make $1
           | million a year somewhere, who then work for $300k-$400k, the
           | question comes up how much charity and sacrifice is it okay
           | to expect from these executives. Should they think of this as
           | a business or a charity? If they are working for less than
           | what they would get at a different organization, then they
           | are also making something of a sacrifice for the sake of
           | Wikimedia. Which is fine, but I also understand why they
           | would push for more money. In the end, the big question is,
           | how much should Wikimedia professionalize? How much should it
           | exist just as an idealistic experiment, versus how much
           | should it be put on the basis of a stable business?
        
             | yunohn wrote:
             | > How much should it exist just as an idealistic
             | experiment, versus how much should it be put on the basis
             | of a stable business?
             | 
             | Wikipedia is sustained by the volunteers, not the corporate
             | bureaucrats. They existed before the c-level salary
             | increases, but might flee as peak corporatism occurs.
        
             | akolbe wrote:
             | I feel really sorry for these executives who have to decide
             | whether to earn $300,000 or $1M. :))
             | 
             | Joking aside, a person in the US agreeing to earn $300,000
             | rather than $350,000 - to a very large extent off the value
             | created by volunteer labour, and off the public's donations
             | - is not what I would call "charity" or a "sacrifice".
             | 
             | I would remind you that some of this money is raised in
             | India, South Africa and Latin America - by telling people
             | there money is needed to "keep Wikipedia online" for them.
             | 
             | Now, a real sacrifice by an American is when a senior with
             | $18 to his name promises to donate to Wikimedia as soon as
             | his social security check clears, as this fellow did:
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_d
             | e...
             | 
             | I wish he hadn't been pressured into making that promise!
             | 
             | Many of the small donations funding these salaries do
             | actually come from people for whom donating that small
             | amount really _is_ a sacrifice. These phrases, about how it
             | 's "awkward" to ask, how Wikipedia has "no choice but to
             | turn to you", they speak to them most of all, because they
             | can relate to this situation.
             | 
             | This is from an unpaid Wikipedia volunteer on the Volunteer
             | Response Team: "I can't go into the specifics, but as a VRT
             | agent I've received numerous emails from people on limited
             | incomes who are donating money they need because they
             | believe that Wikipedia is in trouble and that they need to
             | give money to keep it online. I'm absolutely disgusted by
             | this, and I think it will catch up to us in the long-run,
             | as people won't want to give once they realize how
             | deceptive these campaigns are."
             | 
             | https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Fundraisi
             | n...
             | 
             | So, please, if it's a question of brownie points for
             | "charity" and "sacrifice", these executives are hardly at
             | the front of the queue.
             | 
             | There is not even any good reason for many of these staff
             | positions to go to people in the US. Most of these are
             | remote jobs. They could just as easily be done by someone
             | in India, Poland or Singapore, and at a fraction of the
             | cost.
             | 
             | Let the people who are after that $1M-dollar job go to a
             | for-profit company. Wikipedia doesn't need them.
        
               | opportune wrote:
               | Wikimedia HQ is in San Francisco. There are many 25 year
               | old code monkeys here making more than the Wikimedia
               | executive team. Sure, as of the last few years the world
               | has changed enough that I agree it makes sense for
               | Wikimedia to defrag and go remote, but until COVID it
               | made complete sense for a technology-focused nonprofit to
               | make its HQ in the Bay Area. It still does, BTW - it's
               | never as simple as just hiring a remote team in Poland or
               | India to cut costs.
               | 
               | I don't think it would be bad per-se for the CEO to make
               | up to $1M or for senior individuals to be making over
               | $300k, or even for line developers to make up to around
               | $200k. That is the cost of doing business, and I don't
               | think Wikimedia should have to pay employees far below
               | market rates just because it's a non-profit.
               | 
               | That said, I completely agree with you that Wikimedia is
               | way overzealous in asking for donations and it's
               | sickening how they make people think Wikimedia
               | desperately needs the money to continue operating
               | Wikipedia when they just don't. Wikimedia actually funds
               | a lot of stuff that, as someone that mostly just cares
               | about Wikipedia, seems completely unnecessary. I'd much
               | rather they cut the fluff and stop freaking people out
               | (maybe change their strategy to soliciting donations from
               | whales or at least a less aggressive banner) but I'd have
               | no problem if they raised individuals' comp, within
               | reason.
        
               | gurchik wrote:
               | > I completely agree with you that Wikimedia is way
               | overzealous in asking for donations and it's sickening
               | how they make people think Wikimedia desperately needs
               | the money to continue operating Wikipedia when they just
               | don't.
               | 
               | Before going further, I want to say that you and I agree.
               | I just want to add a bit more context to some of the
               | details in your response.
               | 
               | > Wikimedia HQ is in San Francisco. There are many 25
               | year old code monkeys here making more than the Wikimedia
               | executive team.
               | 
               | This is true, but most Wikimedia employees don't live in
               | SF. This page[1] says that half of the people working on
               | teams based in the SF office were actually working
               | remotely, and this sentence was added to the page in
               | 2018.
               | 
               | > I don't think Wikimedia should have to pay employees
               | far below market rates just because it's a non-profit.
               | 
               | Unfortunately this is already true. It looks like the
               | average salary for a senior software developer at WMF is
               | 132k[2]. When you consider that up to half of the
               | employees live in SF, that is far below market rate.
               | 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia
               | _offices&diff=prev&oldid=17858253       2.
               | https://www.levels.fyi/companies/wikimedia-
               | foundation/salaries/software-engineer
        
             | secondcoming wrote:
             | What do they do though? Wikipedia is a product where
             | volunteers edit content free of charge. Sure there are some
             | infrastructure costs, but why does it need so many C-level
             | executives? Looks like a gravy train to me
        
             | Dma54rhs wrote:
             | Its more than Wolkswagen average executive salary in
             | Germany. These numbers look obscene to anyone besides the
             | privileged SV bros.
        
             | jackmott wrote:
        
             | rkagerer wrote:
             | Does Wikimedia need "best of the best" execs, or simply
             | competent and stable leadership? Most of their value and
             | lifeblood (content) comes from volunteers who would
             | probably keep doing it even if a likeable monkey were on
             | top.
        
               | bawolff wrote:
               | Honestly, i feel that the dysfunctional c-levels at WMF
               | has cost the org much more in wasted time than what the
               | higher salary would have cost.
               | 
               | [Note, i used to work there many years ago. My opinions
               | might not apply to the current leadership]
        
       | nmstoker wrote:
       | To me the crisis is less about funding (since despite the traffic
       | it can operate on a fairly lean budget), and instead more the
       | range of people who will edit Wikipedia articles.
        
       | wodenokoto wrote:
       | The wording in this years fundraising really pushed my buttons
       | too.
       | 
       | > 98% of our readers don't give; they simply look the other way
       | when we ask for an annual donation.
       | 
       | This is why I donated in the past: because it is a resource that
       | gives freely to the world.
       | 
       | This wording shames non-doners and as a free resource for
       | spreading knowledge to humanity I don't think it is fair to shame
       | the target audience.
        
         | williamtrask wrote:
         | I'll take that over advertising any day of the week. This isn't
         | remotely as misleading or damaging as half the ads I see on
         | Facebook or Instagram every day.
        
           | layer8 wrote:
           | It's disingenuous and manipulative, which makes one wonder
           | what else they are disingenuous and manipulative about. For
           | an alleged nonprofit, it leaves a bad taste.
        
             | sph wrote:
             | Seconding GP, I'd rather have a misleading plea message
             | than them trying to extract money out of my attention or
             | data through ads. _That_ is manipulative, even though we as
             | society are pretty used to it.
             | 
             | What annoys me the most is that I've been donating to
             | Wikipedia for over a decade and I still got the plea
             | message, but if I click that little X button I don't see it
             | anymore. Big deal.
        
             | acheron wrote:
             | They're disingenuous about claiming they need money for
             | Wikipedia. They have way more than enough money for
             | Wikipedia, they need more donations for their other random
             | projects.
        
               | bawolff wrote:
               | This is a bit misleading. The money is mostly going to
               | projects to improve wikipedia. Which is different from
               | just keeping the site up, but its not like the money is
               | being spent on things totally unrelated.
        
         | jackmott wrote:
        
       | nevrherd wrote:
        
       | gurchik wrote:
       | > 31% of your gift will be used to support the volunteers who
       | share their knowledge with you for free every day.
       | 
       | What exactly does this mean? I can't find any breakdown of how
       | donations are allocated, so I don't know how this money is
       | supporting the volunteers. I think this has been worded in a way
       | that makes donators think the money is being paid to volunteers
       | which I don't believe is the case for 99.9% of contributors (if
       | not 100%?). Instead I think it's more likely that "supporting the
       | volunteers" includes efforts that indirectly support them, like
       | hosting in-person events.
        
       | unethical_ban wrote:
       | I understand the benefit of recurring supporters and of
       | maintaining in the public conscience the reminder that this is a
       | publicly funded resource of the commons.
       | 
       | There is no excuse though, to pleading for money in a way that
       | suggests dire straits.
       | 
       | What if an organization made a deal with people, to get them
       | subscribed for something like $2 a year with a 'burst' up to the
       | cap set by the user that triggers at some funding floor?
       | 
       | $2/year until our endowment goes down to $30 million, then
       | $10/year until it gets above $50 million.
        
       | avg_dev wrote:
       | > In fact, however, the Wikimedia Foundation is richer than ever.
       | Its assets and reserves (including an Endowment with the Tides
       | Foundation now holding well over $100 million) have increased
       | fivefold since 2015, and stood at an estimated $400 million at
       | the end of March 2022.
       | 
       | Fucks sakes. I just made a very sizable donation to them based on
       | the huge banner ad that popped up and the fact that I use
       | Wikipedia on a pretty much daily basis. Fuck me for trying to do
       | the right thing. I'm sorry for the language. Honestly I'm really
       | pissed off about it. I work for a living and where I live there's
       | no taxable donation for this so it was just me trying to do
       | something good. Well I guess when I calm down a bit I'll try to
       | learn my lesson.
        
         | Scarblac wrote:
         | You still get a lot of use out of what they offer for free.
        
         | akolbe wrote:
         | See the Donations FAQ:
         | 
         | https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/FAQ
         | 
         | This says:
         | 
         | ----------------
         | 
         | What is your refund policy?
         | 
         | If for any reason you wish to have your donation refunded,
         | please contact us via email at donate@wikimedia.org[1] and
         | include the following information:
         | 
         | Full name of donor
         | 
         | Date of donation -- All refund requests must be made within 90
         | days of donation
         | 
         | Amount donated
         | 
         | Payment method used -- Do not include credit card numbers in
         | your email
         | 
         | Country of origin
         | 
         | Reason for the refund
         | 
         | All refunds will be processed as quickly as possible, but
         | processing times may vary depending on the payment method.
         | Please note: Some payment methods may not support refunds or
         | require refunds to be made through the payment method (card)
         | utilized, prompting additional information to process your
         | refund.
         | 
         | [1] Due to the volume of inquiries we receive, we use Zendesk
         | as a donor response platform. By emailing donate@wikimedia.org,
         | you understand that your information will be processed by the
         | Zendesk Group in accordance with Zendesk's terms. Users from
         | the following countries should consult Section A of Zendesk's
         | privacy policy for more information about Zendesk's country-
         | specific practices: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New
         | Zealand, and Singapore.
        
       | dcow wrote:
       | What is Wikimedia supposed to do? Only fundraise when they run
       | out of money? That's a recipe for failure and I quite hope
       | Wikimedia... doesn't. If you donate to Wikimedia you _are_
       | helping keep them free. The raw size of their endowment doesn 't
       | matter, nobody actively spends down their endowment on operating
       | costs because it's not sustainable. Operating costs come from at
       | most like 3-6% of your endowment. The wording is not manipulative
       | by any stretch of the imagination.
        
         | opportune wrote:
         | Wikimedia has plenty of whale donors that aren't making spur of
         | the moment donations based on banner ads.
         | 
         | Wikimedia spends plenty of money on things that aren't growing
         | their endowment or operating Wikipedia.
         | 
         | I don't think anybody is asking Wikimedia to stop fundraising,
         | just to be less deceptive and less zealous. Especially if the
         | money is going to things like grants to other nonprofits or
         | developing less-familiar parts of wikimedia that donors likely
         | don't care about.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | ninth_ant wrote:
         | The manipulation is in the lack of distinction between
         | Wikimedia and Wikipedia. Wikipedia requires very little
         | funding, but is also the most popular product of Wikimedia.
         | 
         | Read the emails yourself:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AVilla...
         | 
         | They are playing off the public appeal of Wikipedia ---
         | Wikipedia dominates the branding and word usage of the emails.
         | It implies, falsely, that Wikipedia is verging on needing to
         | run ads or run out of funds shorty. It's Wikimedia that needs
         | the funding to stay operational, largely for products that are
         | not Wikipedia.
         | 
         | What are Wikimedia supposed to do? They could be honest in
         | their communications, and be more clear what they are raising
         | funds for.
        
           | bawolff wrote:
           | This isn't true. Most of software dev work is still going to
           | wikipedia or stuff that is generic. The other products do not
           | get much love (other than wikidata)
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | The Wikimedia Foundation wants to expand. Expand into other areas
       | that are more labor-intensive. Wikimedia Foundation expenses:
       | 
       | * $44,963,013 53% Support for Wikipedia.org
       | 
       | * $39,162,136 46% Grantmaking and Program Development
       | 
       | The growth is in the non-Wikipedia operations.
        
         | bawolff wrote:
         | Not a new thing. Also plenty of grants are probably for things
         | you would consider supporting wikipedia, and parts of "support
         | wikipedia.org" are probably for things you would think arent
         | about wikipedia.
        
         | garaetjjte wrote:
         | Yet the banners are worded like they are struggling to keep the
         | servers running.
        
       | lizardactivist wrote:
       | I think this is just the organizational equivalent of having a
       | buffer rather than living "paycheck to paycheck".
       | 
       | When Wikipedia has cash reserves a hundred times its yearly
       | expenses, I'll listen.
        
         | gred wrote:
         | From the article:
         | 
         | > In 2007, the year Wikipedia first became a top-ten website
         | serving the world, the Foundation reported total annual
         | expenses of $2 million.
         | 
         | > The Wikimedia Foundation is richer than ever. Its assets and
         | reserves [...] have increased fivefold since 2015, and stood at
         | an estimated $400 million at the end of March 2022.
         | 
         | I'm sure the "mission" has expanded and costs are higher these
         | days, but 200x baseline costs is pretty comfy.
        
           | fisherjeff wrote:
           | I find it a bit "unethical and misleading" of the author to
           | list 2007 expenses and 2022 assets. As a sibling comment
           | points out, it's really only <4x current annual expenditures,
           | which, leaving aside disagreements on whether that level of
           | spending is justifiable, doesn't seem unreasonable.
        
             | jefftk wrote:
             | I think they are using 2007 expenses to give a ballpark
             | estimate for what "running basic Wikipedia" costs? That's
             | back before the foundation dramatically expanded their
             | activities.
        
             | yunohn wrote:
             | > current annual expenditures
             | 
             | The vast majority is salaries, not operating costs.
        
         | crote wrote:
         | They aren't far off.
         | 
         | At the moment, they have EUR250M in assets, and a further
         | EUR100M endowment. Their assets have increased by double-digit
         | millions every year for a decade.
         | 
         | In my opinion, the yearly fundraising campaign is highly
         | disingenuous. Basically, they are begging for money, claiming
         | it is to "keep Wikipedia running". In reality, Wikipedia-the-
         | website is an unlimited cash cow used to fund tangentially
         | related pet projects at the Wikimedia Foundation. In 2008, the
         | expenses were EUR5.6M. 2021 expenses are up to EUR112M - and I
         | can _guarantee_ page views did not increase 20-fold!
         | 
         | At the moment, hosting costs are about EUR3M / year. Let's
         | round that up to EUR10M for sysadmin and development salaries,
         | and they currently have enough money to keep _Wikipedia_
         | running for 35 years.
         | 
         | I'd be more than happy to donate to keep Wikipedia itself
         | alive, but at the moment donating money to them is basically
         | the same as throwing money in a bottomless pit.
        
           | bawolff wrote:
           | > At the moment, hosting costs are about EUR3M / year. Let's
           | round that up to EUR10M for sysadmin and development salaries
           | 
           | That rounding up makes no sense and is unrealistic.
        
           | ninth_ant wrote:
           | And look at how the emails stress Wikipedia: in the "how your
           | money is spent" section, specifically using bold in the
           | phrase suggesting Wikipedia, and dropping the bold to
           | reference the other products.
           | 
           | It's extremely misleading at best, given the numbers you
           | cite.
        
           | abbe98 wrote:
           | Wikimedia does much more than just host Wikipedia. Even if
           | they didn't host Wikipedia I would personally gladly donate
           | to their legal and lobbying efforts.
           | 
           | Only in Sweden where I live they have greatly contributed to
           | freedom of panorama and ensuring public domain material
           | remains in the public domain when digitized. They work
           | towards things like these all across the world.
        
             | colinmhayes wrote:
             | That's fine, but I'm not interested in giving them money
             | for anything other than making sure the website is running
             | and has the support staff it needs. Their fundraising
             | material makes it look like the money will be used for that
             | when the reality is it will be used for other, practically
             | unrelated things.
        
               | bawolff wrote:
               | I mean freedom of panorama is pretty directly related, as
               | wikipedia needs to have users be legally allowed to
               | upload images.
        
             | zugi wrote:
             | Thanks for pointing that out, but I see that as more
             | evidence of deception. If I'm asked to donate to keep
             | wikipedia free, I don't expect my donations to go to
             | political lobbying on issues that I may or may not care
             | about, and may or may not even agree with.
        
               | abbe98 wrote:
               | Actually both of the cases in question started as legal
               | cases in which Wikimedia funded the defense of users who
               | were being sued for contributing.
        
       | 0thgen wrote:
       | Anyone else see stuff like this and think: "Yea but it's
       | wikipedia, they deserve whatever funding they want"
       | 
       | I get they can probably be closer to perfect as an organization,
       | but I'm still always left feeling that wikipedia was one of the
       | top 3 things to come out of the invention of the internet
        
         | akolbe wrote:
         | That's at the heart of the issue. From a distance, it always
         | feels uncharitable to many people to criticise anything about
         | Wikipedia at all.
         | 
         | But bear in mind this criticism comes from Wikipedians - some
         | of the people who actually wrote the encyclopedia you love, and
         | did so for free - and it criticises Wikimedia, not Wikipedia.
         | They are not the same thing.
         | 
         | Most of the Wikimedia executives are recent arrivals who only
         | came once there was money. They have never written a Wikipedia
         | article. Some can't even figure out how to leave a talk page
         | message, and they couldn't tell you which side of a diff shows
         | the new version of an article and which the old.
        
       | jl6 wrote:
       | > 98% of our readers don't give
       | 
       | I'm actually kinda surprised that 2% of readers _do_ give. That's
       | more than 5x the rate at which people click on banner ads, and
       | we're talking not just about people clicking but about them
       | actually parting with real money.
        
         | esclerofilo wrote:
         | It's easy to feel thankful to Wikipedia, motivating you to
         | donate.
        
           | shepherdjerred wrote:
           | Wikipedia is among the greatest accomplishments of humanity.
           | Anyone with an internet connection can learn about anything.
           | 
           | That's not to say that Wikipedia is perfect, but it is
           | certainly amazing.
        
       | pxeger1 wrote:
       | Here is Wikimedia's 2021 finanical report:
       | https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/annualreport/2020-2021...
        
         | akira2501 wrote:
         | Just thinking of other non profits I've glanced at this does
         | feel a little lopsided. $67m salary plus $12m professional
         | expenses all to get $10m out the door on actual operations?
         | 
         | What am I missing?
        
           | pxeger1 wrote:
           | WMF's "operations costs" that don't count as salaries are
           | probably basically just the costs of server hosting etc. They
           | don't do charity work like prototypical non-profits.
        
           | stonogo wrote:
           | You missed nothing. It's a "jobs for the boys" jackpot.
        
           | bawolff wrote:
           | Software developers are more expensive than other fields.
        
             | q-big wrote:
             | > Software developers are more expensive than other fields.
             | 
             | Software developers _in the Bay Area_ are more expensive
             | than other fields.
        
               | bawolff wrote:
               | Software devs in bay area are more expensive than non-bay
               | area, but even outside bay area they are still higher
               | than the average profession.
        
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