Thread: Wikipedia charging?

On Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:58:39 -0600, Stu <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> I got an email from an acquaintance with something strange info in it,
> seems Wikipedia may be in the process to start charging for their
> service.
> Isn't Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, with its content from users
> from all over the internet, this content given freely to help build
> Wikipedia's site and search engine position? Has anyone heard this
> rumor as well, just wondering if it could be true or just that a
> rumor? This person is quite reputable and accurate in the rumor
> department.

Anyone who asks Google a question and gets Wikipedia as a hit is aware
of what's going on. It's at the top of every front page.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia> Read the plea. They aren't
charging, they aren't even turning shareware, they're just asking for
donations... like a lot of freeware does. Use it the same way you
always have - or not.

--

Never trust a dog to watch your food.

"Stu" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
>
> I got an email from an acquaintance with something strange info in it,
> seems Wikipedia may be in the process to start charging for their
> service.
> Isn't Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, with its content from users
> from all over the internet, this content given freely to help build
> Wikipedia's site and search engine position? Has anyone heard this
> rumor as well, just wondering if it could be true or just that a
> rumor? This person is quite reputable and accurate in the rumor
> department.

I guess you never look at Wikipedia. If you did, you'd know the truth, and
if you don't, why would you care?

In article <[email protected]>,
Stu <[email protected]> wrote:

> I got an email from an acquaintance with something strange info in it,
> seems Wikipedia may be in the process to start charging for their
> service.
> Isn't Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, with its content from users
> from all over the internet, this content given freely to help build
> Wikipedia's site and search engine position? Has anyone heard this
> rumor as well, just wondering if it could be true or just that a
> rumor? This person is quite reputable and accurate in the rumor
> department.

Did the bottom of the Email say to forward it to everybody in your
address book?

:-)

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA
[email protected]

"Stu" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
>
> I got an email from an acquaintance with something strange info in it,
> seems Wikipedia may be in the process to start charging for their
> service.
> Isn't Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, with its content from users
> from all over the internet, this content given freely to help build
> Wikipedia's site and search engine position? Has anyone heard this
> rumor as well, just wondering if it could be true or just that a
> rumor? This person is quite reputable and accurate in the rumor
> department.

I have not heard this but they have been asking for donations for some time.

I do know that Encyclopaedia Britannica only allows you to view so much and
after that they want to charge you. Now I would be fine with this if you
could pay for say...a week at a time. But they want you to sign up for a
year or two and pay for it weekly.

"Dan Abel" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Stu <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I got an email from an acquaintance with something strange info in it,
>> seems Wikipedia may be in the process to start charging for their
>> service.
>> Isn't Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, with its content from users
>> from all over the internet, this content given freely to help build
>> Wikipedia's site and search engine position? Has anyone heard this
>> rumor as well, just wondering if it could be true or just that a
>> rumor? This person is quite reputable and accurate in the rumor
>> department.
>
> Did the bottom of the Email say to forward it to everybody in your
> address book?
>
> :-)

Hehehe. If you do that, Bill Gates might buy you a free dinner from
Applebee's!

On Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:21:01 -0800, Dan Abel <dabel@sonic[email protected]> wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>,
> Stu <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I got an email from an acquaintance with something strange info in it,
>> seems Wikipedia may be in the process to start charging for their
>> service.
>> Isn't Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, with its content from users
>> from all over the internet, this content given freely to help build
>> Wikipedia's site and search engine position? Has anyone heard this
>> rumor as well, just wondering if it could be true or just that a
>> rumor? This person is quite reputable and accurate in the rumor
>> department.
>
>Did the bottom of the Email say to forward it to everybody in your
>address book?
>
>:-)

No, it was sent just to me with no requests to forward.

On Thu, 18 Nov 2010 06:49:31 -0600, Stu wrote:

> On Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:21:01 -0800, Dan Abel <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>In article <[email protected]>,
>> Stu <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> I got an email from an acquaintance with something strange info in it,
>>> seems Wikipedia may be in the process to start charging for their
>>> service.
>>> Isn't Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, with its content from users
>>> from all over the internet, this content given freely to help build
>>> Wikipedia's site and search engine position? Has anyone heard this
>>> rumor as well, just wondering if it could be true or just that a
>>> rumor? This person is quite reputable and accurate in the rumor
>>> department.
>>
>>Did the bottom of the Email say to forward it to everybody in your
>>address book?
>>
>>:-)
>
> No, it was sent just to me with no requests to forward.

<derisive snort>

blake

On Nov 17, 11:58*pm, Stu <s...@foodforu.ca> wrote:
> I got an email from an acquaintance with something strange info in it,
> seems Wikipedia may be in the process to start charging for their
> service.
> Isn't Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, with its content from users
> from all over the internet, this content given freely to help build
> Wikipedia's site and search engine position? Has anyone heard this
> rumor as well, just wondering if it could be true or just that a
> rumor? This person is quite reputable and accurate in the rumor
> department.

It won't surprise me if the day arrives when these groups are fee
only.
Good - maybe it'll eliminate some of the chaff.

Stu wrote:
> I got an email from an acquaintance with something strange info in it,
> seems Wikipedia may be in the process to start charging for their
> service.
> Isn't Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, with its content from users
> from all over the internet, this content given freely to help build
> Wikipedia's site and search engine position? Has anyone heard this
> rumor as well, just wondering if it could be true or just that a
> rumor? This person is quite reputable and accurate in the rumor
> department.



The last time I used it there was a statement asking for donations,
not a charge...yet.

gloria p

"Kalmia" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> It won't surprise me if the day arrives when these groups are fee
> only.

How could that possibly be? You understand that Google doesn't own them,
right? It's certainly the case that they could charge for access via Google
Groups, but that wouldn't affect the people using other news services (many
of which already charge).



Brian
--
Day 652 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project.
Current music playing: None.

On Wed, 17 Nov 2010 23:59:26 -0800, Julie Bove wrote:

> I do know that Encyclopaedia Britannica only allows you to view so much and
> after that they want to charge you. Now I would be fine with this if you
> could pay for say...a week at a time. But they want you to sign up for a
> year or two and pay for it weekly.

A bound set of encyclopedias costs about $1,000 and is out of date
before it's printed. Wiki contains 1,000+ times more information
than any bound or even online volumes. And it's just as accurate,
except on the more mundane topics.

The technology behind wiki is quite elaborate - much more so than
IMDB's which was the first notable collaborate effort of Internet
volunteers (Usenet). Until all the contributors got screwed when
it was sold to Amazon for marketing purposes. It takes money to
host servers and develop these things. And they also give away a
subset of the technology used to host their site.

It's more valuable than PBS (who has many corporate sponsors).
Consider donating that weekly fee, or just 1% of what you'd pay for
a set of encyclopedias to Wikimedia. There is no single more
valuable source of updated, referenced, and linked information
anywhere.

For example, you won't find this in any printed encyclopedia (at
least not my 1956 World Book of Knowledge):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis

The list of paraphilias is worth at least $15. I haven't even got
past the "A's" yet.

-sw

On Thu, 18 Nov 2010 08:19:49 -0800 (PST), Kalmia wrote:

> It won't surprise me if the day arrives when these groups are fee
> only.
> Good - maybe it'll eliminate some of the chaff.

....as she posts from Google, who is the main instigator of spam and
a large supporter contributor to the trolling community.

-sw

In article <ic3t37$v23$[email protected]>,
"gloria.p" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Stu wrote:
> > I got an email from an acquaintance with something strange info in it,
> > seems Wikipedia may be in the process to start charging for their
> > service.

>
> The last time I used it there was a statement asking for donations,
> not a charge...yet.

Since Stu didn't give us any details, it's pretty hard to figure out
what was meant.

I was hoping someone else would mention the following piece of
information, since I know so little:

http://nokiaexperts.com/att-subscrip...es-nokia-e71x/

I bought a new cell phone last January. It came with a free GPS
application for 30 days, which cost US$15 a month. It was a Nokia
phone, which included a GPS for free, but AT&T had them hack the
hardware so it wouldn't work without some AT&T application, which is
US$5 a month. You are required to get unlimited data to use this, which
is the other US$15 a month for a phone with a numeric keypad.

In checking out what was on the phone, it had an app called WIKIMOBILE
encyclopedia. It was free for a day, and I think I tried it. The above
cite says US$3.99 a month after the free trail. It's just an access
method for Wikipedia. The phone could easily be configured to access
Wikipedia from a menu using its browser, although I didn't do that.

A few days after I bought the phone, I had a gall bladder attack and
went to the hospital for a week. I felt like crap for some time after
that. The GPS worked OK, but I didn't really need it. I have a US$99
GPS unit from Costco in my car which works better and has no monthly
charge. I didn't really need the unlimited data. Doing web searches
and Email from the phone worked fine, but I really didn't want to deal
with inputting info using a numeric keypad. I'm retired and stay home
all the time anyway. I just needed a phone. So I canceled the GPS and
data plan.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA
[email protected]

Sqwertz wrote:
>
> For example, you won't find this in any printed encyclopedia (at
> least not my 1956 World Book of Knowledge):
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis

That's an interesting page! I had a World Book encyclopedia
from 1955 or 1956 while I was growing up, but it was missing
a few volumes, so I am woefully deficient in knowledge of
certain subjects, especially those that begin with the
letter C.

On Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:25:05 -0600, Sqwertz wrote:

> For example, you won't find this in any printed encyclopedia (at
> least not my 1956 World Book of Knowledge):
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis
>
> The list of paraphilias is worth at least $15. I haven't even got
> past the "A's" yet.

Why didn't somebody tell me I posted the wrong link? That was from
the Allergies thread. This was supposed to be:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_fetishism

-sw

On Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:14:57 -0800, Mark Thorson wrote:

> Sqwertz wrote:
>>
>> For example, you won't find this in any printed encyclopedia (at
>> least not my 1956 World Book of Knowledge):
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis
>
> That's an interesting page!

Yeah, well it was the wrong link. That was my link fro the allergy
thread.

-sw