03 January 2009 Wiki This

I love Wikipedia.

Not only do I use it as a predominant tool for researching assignments (take that University lecturers) but I spend hours upon hours every week reading pages for my own amusement and education. In fact, it’s not uncommon for me to have ten different Wikipedia pages open at once. This week alone I’ve read about a conspiracy theory, a science phenomenon, US Presidential impeachments, a box office flop and my favourite sitcom.

An incredible example demonstrating the power of community, collaboration, and connectivity. Today it is the eighth most popular website on the Internet.

Even more remarkably, Wikipedia has run for eight years with only 23 paid employees and is completely funded through donations.

Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder, has recently released an appeal for donations.

So. For every blog post from now until the end of January that mentions Wikipedia is in need of donations and links back to this post, I will donate $10. I know that’s possibly some form of unethical link baiting, but I figure I will probably make a greater impact using your blog instead of mine.

It’s not going to cure cancer, but I believe it is still a worthy cause.

Posted by Zac Martin
No Comments
  • Matt Granfield
    Posted at January 3, 2009 4:23pm, 03 January Reply

    Two questions:

    a) Can I use my bands MySpace blog?
    b) What’s your Wikipedia editor name?

  • Zac Martin
    Posted at January 3, 2009 4:28pm, 03 January Reply

    a) Go for it.
    b) zacmartin. I would love to be a bigger contributor, unfortunately I only have time to fix mistakes I see.

  • Nudge Marketing
    Posted at January 4, 2009 10:15am, 04 January Reply

    Thats a nice thing to do Zac.. I’m just weighing up whether I should send you broke with hundreds of fake blogger blogs 🙂

  • Paul
    Posted at January 16, 2009 11:08pm, 16 January Reply

    hey Zac,

    I like what you guys discussed in regard to Wikipedia on the podcast. I actually donated to Wikipedia last month ( I think I was having a philanthropic seizure at the time 😉 )
    But on that point I wouldn’t ‘pay’ a yearly subscription to Wikipedia to access its content, however a $30 donation once a year supports Wikipedia in the same but comes with a ‘feel good factor’.

    Social norms at work!

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