Wikipedia needs help. Yes, it's about $$$.

[SamTexas]

I'm doing a small favor to Wikipedia, one of my favorite websites. Hope you guys don't mind.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jimmy Wales <donate@wikimedia.org>
Date: Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 12:49 PM
Subject: Can you share this?
To: xxxxxx@gmail.com


Dear SamTexas,

Here's how the Wikipedia fundraiser works: Every year we raise just the funds that we need, and then we stop.

Because you and so many other Wikipedia readers donated over the past weeks, we are very close to raising our goal for this year by December 31 -- but we're not quite there yet.

You've already done your part this year. Thank you so much. But you can help us again by forwarding this email to a friend who you know relies on Wikipedia and asking that person to help us reach our goal today by clicking here and making a donation.

https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/L11_1227_EMR_JW/en/US?uselang=en&utm_campaign=20111228EM2.en.US&utm_medium=email&utm_source=email2.USD.50

If everyone reading this email forwarded it to just one friend, we think that would be enough to let us end the fundraiser today.

Of course, we wouldn't turn you down if you wanted to make a second donation or a monthly gift.

Google might have close to a million servers. Yahoo has something like 13,000 staff. We have 679 servers and 95 staff.

Wikipedia is the #5 site on the web and serves 470 million different people every month – with billions of page views.

Commerce is fine. Advertising is not evil. But it doesn't belong here. Not in Wikipedia. Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park. It is like a temple for the mind. It is a place we can all go to think, to learn, to share our knowledge with others.

When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising, but I decided to do something different. We’ve worked hard over the years to keep it lean and tight. We fulfill our mission, and leave waste to others.

Thanks again for your support this year. Please help spread the word by forwarding this email to someone you know.

Thanks,
Jimmy Wales
Wikipedia Founder

You are receiving this email as a valued donor of the Wikimedia Foundation. If you do not wish to receive any future emails from the Wikimedia Foundation, unsubscribe instantly.

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 98204
Washington, DC 20090-8204
United States of America

 

[neptronix]

I always donate to wikipedia. However, one thing i might mention is that i think they ended their pledge drive by now.
They raised a million dollars over what they needed this year. that's pretty damn impressive. Faith in humanity: refreshed

 

[dingoEsride]

I'm doing a small favor to Wikipedia, one of my favorite websites. Hope you guys don't mind.

One of my favorite sites too, did my bit

 

[SamTexas]

One of my favorite sites too, did my bit

That's great! Now I can reply to Jimmy Wales and say "mission accomplished!".

Seriously, Wikipedia has come a long long way. I remember using it when it first started. What a piece of junk, I said to myself. Most (if not all) articles were poorly written. The actual content were full of errors, speculations abounded. I gave up and did not try it again for another 2 or 3 years. What a change! Now it's just perfect (or close to perfect.)