Wikipedia Sucks!

And this year the poor little starving Wikimedia Foundation, which made $91 MILLION last year, is more aggressive than ever. The banners are bigger than ever and now there are inbeds and animated popups. All pleading poverty. Fuckers.

Here's the first one I saw today.

Every time I see these banners I realize that Wikipedia has become less about building knowledge and more about pandering for money and Jimbo is more like the begger orphan boy Oliver asking "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

Anyone who thinks that the WMF is "Just a nonprofit" is kidding themselves. Just because it is registered as a non profit doesn't mean no one is profiting, over a dozen people make in excess of $150, 000!

They can't even claim they aren't spendthrift, since in 2007 they intentionally moved from Tampa (relatively low cost of living and operating costs) to San Francisco (one of the costliest places in the world). For reasons they never really explained very clearly, although it should be obvious they did it to be closer to the nabobs of the tech industry. Million-dollar donations are so very very nice, and you can't kiss Sergey Brin's ass or suck up to Craig Newmark in Tampa. It's "beneath them" to go to Tampa.

This was the official announcement.

"San Francisco is the center of high-tech in the United States, and will give the Foundation access to a rich array of resources, including best-in-breed online talent, top-tier universities, world-class support services and major media," said Florence Devouard, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees chair. "We are all very excited about the move, and I know the Wikimedia Foundation will flourish in the Bay Area."

After almost a year of careful deliberation, the Board of Trustees determined that, out of six candidate cities, San Francisco would provide the Wikimedia Foundation with an ideal base from which to grow. Its proximity to Asia in particular is expected to enable the Foundation to form closer ties with volunteers and potential partners in that part of the world. This is a key goal for the Foundation, which aims to provide information to people everywhere in the world.

Yeahhhh, riiiiight. Suuuuure.

Also note they went from SIX EMPLOYEES in Tampa in 2007 to 40 in 2010 to "As of June 16, 2017, the foundation had approximately 280 employees and contractors.[5]". It rose almost exponentially.

Not to mention they just moved from the old, relatively low rent (for the area) building into a prestigious new location in the mall.

It's interesting, to me at least, that as the WMF continues to spend more and more, the onsite culture and environment continues to degrade; more and more editors are leaving; those that remain are doing less; less editors are joining and those who do aren't staying.

Right now the WMF is able to keep up appearances that things are ok by throwing money at the problem but the writing is already on the wall that this won't last much longer.

It's nearing 2018 and they're still using ancient wiki software. I'm surprised it's held up for this long.

ericbarbour wrote:And this year the poor little starving Wikimedia Foundation, which made $91 MILLION last year, is more aggressive than ever. The banners are bigger than ever and now there are inbeds and animated popups. All pleading poverty. Fuckers.

Here's the first one I saw today.

WPbeggingDec2017.png

I remember when it was $1.

Kumioko wrote:Not to mention they just moved from the old, relatively low rent (for the area) building into a prestigious new location in the mall.

It's interesting, to me at least, that as the WMF continues to spend more and more, the onsite culture and environment continues to degrade; more and more editors are leaving; those that remain are doing less; less editors are joining and those who do aren't staying.

Right now the WMF is able to keep up appearances that things are ok by throwing money at the problem but the writing is already on the wall that this won't last much longer.

This is part of "Parkinson's Law" which states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion" so the bureaucracy grows whether or not there is a demand for it. C. Northcote Parkinson made an entire book out of the concept. Here he is talking about Democracy for a record, part of a series.

Me ripping this thread off for a blog post.

I liked, as a half pensioner, Parkinson's law very much. Very familiar.

And I it is partly ignorance, no idea what the mission is or was. If there was ever a mission. Collect knowledge, but what is knowledge? I don't know.
So they are collecting something, nobody knows what, and spending money to.......yes, to what?

And start to do stupide thinks with that money, what doesn't help. So, they need more and more money to do....... other stupide thinks. And this went on and on, and now people who have nothing to do with the whole project are driving around in expensive Audi's.

What helps the German car industry, but not Wikipedia.
So, this system is very good for the European economy and good news for the European tax payer, because they give people who have what we call a distance to the labor market a job and a huge salary, what they spend in our economy. And we don't have to create protected jobs, so WMF is a blessing for our economy.

So, what is your probelm?

Graaf Statler wrote:So, this system is very good for the European economy and good news for the European tax payer, because they give people who have what we call a distance to the labor market a job and a huge salary, what they spend in our economy. And we don't have to create protected jobs, so WMF is a blessing for our economy.

So, what is your probelm?

Heh heh, that's funny. Wikipedia isn't "knowledge" and it isn't an "economic benefit", except maybe to the Jimbo-ass-licks who now run the WMF. The cultic worship of "free stuff" comes first in wikiland. I CONTINUE to see Wiki-Nerds who refuse to admit this is going on, and become angry if you criticize their little gang.

Ask me about Orangemike or Andy Mabbett sometime.

Quite a few early administrators have quit Wikipedia since 2007, partly because the modern WMF is such a dedicated money-beggar and waster of resources. Yes I would call people like James Forrester and James Alexander "wastes of resources". Only a very dysfunctional organization would give those fat shitbirds any authority and responsibility.