Wikipedia: Does it have a future?

[effenberg0x0]

Mostly everyone I know uses Wikipedia. Or at least I have this impression. Every now and then we see their banners asking for a donation to keep them alive.

Well, as a foundation, they have every right to live on donations, sure, but given the constant growth in their demand for IT resources and people needed to run them, isn't it about time they change and try to think of a new business model?

I have donated a couple times, including again today, but, in the long run, I'm sadly failing to see a future for them. And I do believe the world is better with Wikipedia than without it.

Do you believe Wikipedia will always make it, or will they eventually have no option but to change business model? Or simply die in the near future?

Regards,
Effenberg

[3Miro]

I think every year so far they have managed to gather more money then than the year before. I don't see them going away any time soon.

[forrestcupp]

When you click on the banner, one of the things it says is that they will only raise money until they get what they need for the year, then they will stop trying to raise money for the rest of the year. Well, they have had banners all year, and there are only 4 days left this year, counting today. So it appears to me that they aren't raising as much as they need in a year.

Wikipedia is not going to die off. I'll bet that even though they say there is no place for ads there, they would go that way before they let it just die. In my opinion, if I have to look at a huge ad all year of them begging me for money, how could it be any worse on me for them to exchange that for a real ad that will generate revenue for them?

[BC59]

Wikipedia is too good to be free. Something is going on.

[Copper Bezel]

Yeah, even if they had to go the banner ad route, they're not going anywhere. But I wouldn't be surprised if they could maintain the public radio model indefinitely, either. It's a small operation and hugely relied upon. If they're struggling, someone big with a stake will step in.

I think the biggest threat is that they could become victims of their own success - there are cases now where the kinds of resources they call on as sources (say, newspapers) are citing Wikipedia themselves (so the scenario becomes equivalent to Wikipedia citing itself.) I could see that sort of problem beginning to degrade Wikipedia's overall quality and reliability.

In any case, Wikipedia is simply the most important educational tool that exists as a result of the information age. I don't see it going anywhere.

[3Miro]

When you click on the banner, one of the things it says is that they will only raise money until they get what they need for the year, then they will stop trying to raise money for the rest of the year. Well, they have had banners all year, and there are only 4 days left this year, counting today. So it appears to me that they aren't raising as much as they need in a year.

Wikipedia is not going to die off. I'll bet that even though they say there is no place for ads there, they would go that way before they let it just die. In my opinion, if I have to look at a huge ad all year of them begging me for money, how could it be any worse on me for them to exchange that for a real ad that will generate revenue for them?

Most organizations don't align the fiscal and calendar years. Their fiscal year (which is the only thing that counts towards the money) may start in February or even March.

[forrestcupp]

Most organizations don't align the fiscal and calendar years. Their fiscal year (which is the only thing that counts towards the money) may start in February or even March.

I wonder when theirs starts. I couldn't quickly find anything on that.

[3Miro]

I wonder when theirs starts. I couldn't quickly find anything on that.

I just got an e-mail from them. Surprisingly it is Dec 31 and they are having trouble getting enough money.

[Brucevdk]

I have become a little bit disillusioned with Wikipedia. Both from the perspective of a contributor and a user.

I've been using Wikipedia since at least 2005 and in the past I have made several small donations.

My own contributions over the years have been relatively minor (general copy-editing, reverting vandalism) though I did work intensely on one specific article back in 2010.

As a contributor I guess it has to do with the (perception of) rampant vandalism, having to defend your contributions all the time (revert wars, speedy deletions etc.) and the fact that something you contribute might disappear or be distorted over time.

As a user I have the idea that I'm not using it as much as I used to. Wikipedia is by far the broadest general knowledge base out there so I probably do look at it from time to time. And I do think it's extremely important to centralize knowledge... But lately I seem to be getting more and more of my information from other more specific sources.

The thing is Wikipedia right now isn't helping me make sense of the world. For example, I've started researching the current state of the Semantic Web yesterday and I just don't find the Wikipedia article on it that useful. It's not even giving me a very good starting point.

I really really want to love Wikipedia, but right now it just doesn't excite me that much.

[sanderd17]

Tbh, I don't care about wikipedia. But I do care about the data they have. That dat will live for ever, even if Wikipedia dies.

When wikipedia dies, there will only be a short period of confusion about who will take the task of hosting it.