I would assume you are also going to provide some input some comment into the discussion other than just dumping a pile of quotes in here?
On 3 December 2015 at 07:06, Lisa Gruwell <lgruw...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > I thought this might be a good point in the conversation to share some of > the comments we have received from donors over the past day and a half. I > think they really appreciate all of your work: > > > Wikipedia has provided an unfathomable outlet for the inexhaustible chorus > of "why? why? why?" that has run through my brain since I was old enough to > think. I also believe its a factor in why I am currently in the eligible > Jeopardy! contestant pool. In short, thanks Wikipedia. > > Wikipedia helps me almost daily, I cannot count the number of times me and > friends have been debating the answer to life, the universe and everything > (42, in case you were wondering!) and Wikipedia has dispelled the > discrepancies in one or more of our arguments. Thanks to wiki, we have been > able to convince each other we were wrong, and educate on topics we have > never considered. Wiki is very important, and for this I will continue to > donate as long as I can afford to. The more the world has open access to > information for free, the sooner mankind will get along. Wikipedia is > making the world a better place one article at a time. Thank you. > > I've had a roadrunner and wild turkey with poults in my yard and I've used > Wiki to obtain information about them. > > There was a time I used to get embarrassed due to lack of general > knowledge. Wikipedia gave me confidence. Thank you. > > well, over time, using it became a reflex, like breathing but when i pause > to think about it, it is one of the source of knowledge I use most and I am > the better for it. > > It's one of a tiny number of fund raising calls that I respond to. The > charter or quest of Wikipedia , I think is among the highest ideals that > humans can aspire to. > > Wikipedia is the first point of call for any research i am performing, > especially on a new subject. It has been a life-saver on more than one > occasions > > Wikipedia is part of my information ecosystem. It's like a road map for new > intellectual territory. > > There was (more than) one time when I needed to know if some dumb obscure > TV actor from the 70s was still alive and Wikipedia was there for me. Plus > all the other times when I just need a quick bit of info: size of a > country's population, name of a president, details about a math function; > it's endless. > > Helped me with my uni degree, gave me medical information on health > problems, let me learn new things about animals that I like :D Helps me > answer questions from my kid about the world that I want to give her, but > don't know the answers to > > I think you're the only organisation that can fundraise that way and you > deserve it. > > My older sister doesn't have a computer (she's 82), so we talk on the phone > and I look up stuff for her. It's a nice way to spend time with her, and it > brings us together > > As a journalist and travel writer, this online research is often my first > port of call. For a quick scan of even just the most basic information > about a topic, I used to have to walk down to the basement of the national > television building I worked in to ask the archivist to dig out a series of > reference books that applied to my topic. Sometimes the books were already > in use by someone else, which meant I had to wait even longer or beg the > person to share the book with me. Now, I just Google it and often end up on > Wikipedia. While I always still double check everything I read on these > pages and use other sources for my actual fact finding, it no longer takes > hours or days to get started with my research > > I've lost many bets because of wikipedia. So because of you I have looked > stupider than if you didn't exist > > Wikipedia is the first step in any student's research. When it comes to > education, Wikipedia is the real MVP! > > As a student, Wikipedia is a goldmine. I love you guys. > > I use it for everything from government and politics to celebrities and tv > shows to authors and books. There's a facebook group I'm a part of called > "Cool Freaks' Wikipedia Club." People post weird, strange, interesting > wikipedia pages they've found. Basically, wikipedia is awesome! (I'd really > love there to be an accuracy scale though, since I usually end up > researching stuff after I read the wikipedia page, just to make sure it's > correct.) > > I'm an engineer. I was not the smartest nor the dumbest in uni. I was > average and over the years I forget concepts/theories/formulae all the time > and I use Wikipedia to give my memory the nudge it needs to get back on > track. Thank you. > > It is my main source of information. > > Taking AP Physics in high school I would constantly get confused with all > of the unites and what they actually measured. Joules, watts, newton's, > difference between power and work. Lucky wiki saved that day with wonderful > articles that explained what everything meant. It helped me solidify my > foundation in physics, helping me to conquer a college level class at the > age of 16. > > Keeps Me from lying awake at night wondering about past events & historical > data > > it is just just always super handy > > I see Wikipedia as my knowledgeable friend which knows everything on every > topic. For example, once I was really confused about red giants in > astronomy, but Wikipedia saved me. > > life is better with it than without it. > > One of the nicest things about Wikipedia is the explicit information about > local places -- especially for off-the-beaten-track places in the U.S. > which are overlooked by guide books. For example, when I had some spare > time in the SF Bay Area, I having a delightful adventure, finding an > obscure wine-tasting area and great descriptions of museums which match my > offbeat tastes, such as The Museum of Computer History in Mountain View, > California. It is also a great way to find public domain pictures for > lectures and to find out where my students are starting, as a baseline. > > It is my "Encyclopedia" > > Writing this I've just turned 28. I was perhaps among the first > schoolchildren to hear "Don't cite Wikipedia; it's unreliable as a source!" > by their teachers. Even back then in high school I knew that Wikipedia was > important. Before I had left for college I had started my own axiom - > "Wikipedia LEADS to the source!" I use Wikipedia every day of my life. I've > taken it as a natural given, like it is a simple fact of our daily lives > now. If I want to understand any subject with more clarity or depth (which > I almost always do) I type it into Wikipedia. I am continually using it > throughout the day to learn and re-learn and enrich my life. -but this is > just me. I fully believe that Wikipedia will be how the younger generations > will grow up in the future. In the past, kids would ask embarrassing > questions of their friends or family, or maybe not at all - questions of > sex and medical issues would torture young minds and could even lead to > trauma and great frustration...but now any child can access Wikipedia and > have the Whole of Human Knowledge at their fingertips to learn at their own > pace. With Wikipedia, we've become our own parents, teaching each other all > that we know; information is shared globally, and freely, in an unending > and beautiful cycle. Truly, as romantically tragic as it may sound, > Wikipedia is one of the few things that gives me hope for the future; as it > shows people coming together in such a glorious way. > > On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 12:45 PM, Pine W <wiki.p...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Trillium, in the "administrative set", I think you'll find that almost > all > > of us produced content prior to our involvement in organizational > matters. > > Those of us who have formal roles wouldn't be trusted with keys to the > > kingdom if we lacked track records of positive contributions to the > > encyclopedia. The exceptions are for WMF staff and affiliate staff who > > weren't hired from within the community; an ongoing issue is the need to > > acculturate these staff into the ways of the Wiki and to educate them > about > > our (often complex) ways, while leveraging the value that they can bring > to > > Wikimedia organizations in areas like legal advocacy, visual design, > press > > communications, tech ops, etc. > > > > Viewers, content contributors, funders, volunteer tech and organizational > > leaders, and paid staff are all necessary parts of the Wikimedia > ecosystem. > > These groups and individuals interact in complex and intricate ways, and > > changes to the ecosystem are always in motion. > > > > Pine > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
