On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 11:49 PM, phoebe ayers <phoebe.w...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Personally speaking: I happen to like this year's banners, more than > last year's. The boxes and disclaimers are clearer, the text is to the > point. And yes, I think the messaging is accurate. This is the text > I'm seeing in the U.S. at the moment: > > "This week we ask our readers to help us. To protect our independence, > we'll never run ads. We survive on donations averaging about $15. Now > is the time we ask. If everyone reading this right now gave $3, our > fundraiser would be done within an hour. Yep, that’s about the price > of buying a programmer a coffee. We’re a small non-profit with costs > of a top website: servers, staff and programs. Wikipedia is something > special. It is like a library or a public park where we can all go to > think and learn. If Wikipedia is useful to you, take one minute to > keep it online and ad-free another year.Thank you." > For me, the problem is with the combined impact of the phrase "ask our readers to help us", the word "survive" and the words "keep it online and ad-free for another year". You already have money to "keep it online and ad-free another year" – not just for another year, but at least another five years. About $50 million in cash and investments, according to the latest financial statement. More than the Foundation has ever had: about $12 million more than this time last year, and $50 million more than in 2009, just five years ago.[1] Keeping Wikipedia online and ad-free is a small part of your budget today. Funding for the continuation of that basic service is in no way in jeopardy. You are above all collecting money to pay for the recent aggressive expansion of software engineering staff. (Also, while I am writing to you, will we ever see the results of the 2012 editor survey, especially the gender split? I and others have made numerous inquiries about this over the past four months, on Meta[2] and on Tilman's various user pages, and the response from the Foundation has been absolute silence.) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation#Finances [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research_talk:Wikipedia_Editor_Survey_2012#Looking_for_survey_results _______________________________________________ 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>
