Right, I think the personal appeal aspect of it makes sense, because people
are much more likely to be motivated by a humanized plea than by a faceless
organization. That said, a better way to do it would be to have personal
appeals from Wikipedians from around the world, and rotate them, in
different languages, etc.

On Wed, Nov 17, 2010 at 4:58 PM, Courtney Thurston
<[email protected]>wrote:

>  I feel the same. I actively edit Wikipedia, and it's appalling even as an
> editor. It's actually become kind of a meme within the community.
> There's not much I can elaborate on, but yes, the fundraising campaign is
> fairly unprofessional and misleading- it seems to further the "Wikipedia has
> an editor-in-chief" theory. It's too centered on Jimmy, and lesser so on the
> community as it should be.
>
> ~Courtney Thurston
> > Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:44:01 -0800
> > From: [email protected]
> > To: [email protected]
> > Subject: [FC-discuss] "Personal appeal from Jimmy Wales"
>
> >
> > I'm a long-time, low-dollar donor to Wikimedia and I'm really turned
> > off by the current fundraising campaign. The photos of Jimmy Wales on
> > Wikipedia seem to position him at the center of the project whereas my
> > motivation for donating in the past a feeling of personal investment.
> > I donate because I want to sustain a project on which I rely and in
> > which I have contributed editorial labor. I never think of Wikipedia
> > as Jimmy Wales' project; it's my / our project.
> >
> > But perhaps I am in the minority? The "appeal" effectively inspired
> > some serious donations: 430,000$ in a day.
> >
> >
> http://www.mediabistro.com/baynewser/wikipedia/_personal_appeal_from_jimmy_wales_nets_wikipedia_430k_in_24_hours_146427.asp
> >
> > Anyone else have thoughts on this fundraising campaign? Interesting
> > links? I haven't seen much discussion of it and I'm curious to know if
> > I'm missing the conversation.
> >
> > Apparently, the "personal appeal" is working -- why?
> >
> > Kevin
> > _______________________________________________
> > Discuss mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> > FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss
>
> _______________________________________________
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