Is there any sustainable way to operate Wikipedia without donations?

mrc

New Member
I am thinking about how a hypothetical Wikipedia can function without donation, but full dependence on revenue from 'sales' (I don't know what that should be).<br />
Four question that strike my mind are<br />
1. What medium can it use to collect money from the public (if policies and general conduct remain the same as present)?<br />
2. What can determine the revenue that the content developer should receive (per post)?<br />
3. How will a audit team be put in place to review the content and decide if such should be uploaded to the web page (and the provider be paid)?<br />
4. What policies could be put in place to assure providers that their content is in safe hands?<br />
This is just a mental exercise to understand the limits of mass collaboration.<br />
Any ideas would be appreciated.<br />
Thanks.<br />
 

FredBauder

New Member
The problem is that there is a consensus among Wikipedia volunteers not to rely on sales, not that it wouldn't work. Take cheese and it's varieties. Where better to put an advertisement than on the article about your type of cheese; likewise with automobiles, computers, airlines, and on and on? No guessing based on algorithms; people wouldn't be looking at the article on olive oil if they weren't interested in it.

So Wikipedia left a hundred billion dollars on the table...

The medium is to collect money from advertisers who would be happy to have an ad on the Wikipedia article about their products. Money for internet advertising can be paid on a negotiated rate or per click. Ads could be audited for content, or just left up to the advertiser.

As said, such a scheme is beyond the limits of mass collaboration, perhaps because it is obvious that if you throw billions into the mix objectivity goes out the window. If Microsoft or Wal-Mart is paying Wikipedia tens of millions a year for ads, how is the article on either going to be half-way objective?
 
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