As anyone who uses Wikipedia knows, they’ve been running their version of the NPR Fund Drive lately, with a big banner running across the top of everything you look up on Wikipedia. This was especially amusing for me when I was looking up Pol Pot last night after reading a story about his underlings going on trial in Cambodia. When I opened the page, it had a picture of some guy in the banner plea for funds, and directly under his picture it said: “Pol Pot”.
Um, maybe they ought to move the picture to the right or something. Because, couldn’t encyclopedia competitors use stuff like this as an attack ad? They could search for the page on Adolf Hitler, and then have Jimmy Wales’ picture above it (in an actually accurate snapshot of the webpage), and then say: “Did you know that Wikipedia was run by Hitler?” (Because it would say “Adolf Hitler” right under his picture! And this could happen easily by accident with the way they’re doing it right now!)
But I suppose this is all a moot point: for if Wikipedia wasn’t free, then nobody would use it anymore; so in a way, it’s really just an empty threat. If they charged money, then a new Wikipedia-type service would arrive, and they’d go under. Eventually, they’ll have to add advertising to stay alive, and then the only real concern will be to make sure they don’t have a Pepsi ad on the page about Coca Cola, etc. So why bother us? We already write all their stuff; now we have to pay for it too? Whatever!
