Bitcoin Forum

Why doesn't Wikipedia accept Bitcoin as a donation? I just checked all methods, and Bitcoin is not one.

If you want this to change, perhaps drop them a note:

donate@wikimedia.org

I have always wondered that. I read an article a while back, talking about how they were obsessing over AB Testing the founders photo in the donation request versus not having the owners photo. What gives? Wikipedia accepting BTC donations would vastly increase their potential donators. And not only, the Wikipedia is "one of the those sites" that would mesh nicely with BTC. (open source/community driven  web encyclopedia)

Fired them an email asking for Bitcoin!

You'll just get an automated response saying they're keeping their eye on Bitcoin.

If you guys are really desperate to donate BTC, send me it and I'll donate them the cash myself  :P

But yeah, they're foolish for not getting on board already.

I am really surprised they don't accept bitcoin and I think they should not just because they will get more funding, but it seems in line with their ideals.

I donated $5 via credit card but I would be willing to donate 10x that much if they accepted bitcoin.

I also sent them a email.

I received no automated response.
Perhaps I missed a keyword?
My email linked to this topic.

alot of people in the past already asked that question: WHY? we sent dozens of emails but they only say: "we think about it".

its stupid that they dont accept BTC

Time to start a petition?

That would negate the whole point, both Wikipedia and Bitcoin would benefit greatly from Wiki allowing BTC donations.
Bitcoin is perfect for charitable donations and that is one of the best uses (PR and morality wise) of Bitcoin. Bitcoin being associated with non-profits, as opposed to Silk Road and stuff.

Funny that Silk Road is always the illegal thing you guys harp on.

In many jurisdictions gambling is illegal.
No BTC gambling sites try to ensure legal compliance.
How bout you guys harp on the near infinite number of gambling companies based in BTC.

Here's one theory why they wont accept bitcoin:

There was a story in the press recently about Wikipedia having a problem with the bribery of their editors to write positive things about certain companies/people.  If they added bitcoin as a means of donation this would likely make all their editors aware of bitcoin and enable them to accept bribes very easily via bitcoin.  The achievable anonymity behind bitcoin actually makes it ideal for bribery, which could infect Wikipedia and ruin its entire credibility.  This could make Wikipedia anti-bitcoin.

Just an idea.

Wikipedia has completely blown this opportunity as far as I'm concerned. It should be a no-brainer for an organization like theirs to accept bitcoin for donation, and there really is no valid reason not to. I don't even care if they do choose to accept donation in bitcoin, I will never donate to them now, although I would have happily donated to them last year or the year before. I will however be very pleased to continue and use their service for free. Thanks Wikipedia!

People have discussed this on here for months.

Really it comes down to a bigtime BTC holder taking them hostage on a $1M+ donation, with the requirement being that they accept BTC donation from everyone.

Bribery issues are irrelevant, you can bribe more easily in cash.

I told them that I'd be willing to donate thousands if they accepted Bitcoin. No dice. This year I didn't even get an email response back, either. At least last year I got a "we'll think about it".

I've previously given to them in the hundreds when the dollar was the more prevalent currency for donations. Now it doesn't make sense to explicitly exclude Bitcoin, and their opposition to it is a clear violation of NPOV.

Until they fix whatever is marrying them to fiat money and the governments that print them, I cannot, in good conscience, support them in their endeavours. They need to show they are above the censorship of states and statist-leaning editors, not subjects of them. Their reluctance to adopt this new donation method has become the primary reason why I now refuse to donate at all, despite having done so on an annual basis previously. It would appear that the reliance they have on fiat has become so entwined that it clearly threatens their NPOV (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/06/29/wikipedia-accepts-enemies-of-the-internet-currencies/). They've taken a "stance" in clear opposition to libertarian and anarchist early adopters of Bitcoin when they have no good reason to do so.

That said, I understand that there are alternatives to donate Bitcoin to Wikipedia (http://blog.bitpay.com/2012/11/donate-to-wikipedia-with-bitcoin.html), but these skirt the real issue, that Wikipedia fundamentally believes it should be subject to only the largesse of those bearing state-issued currency. I cannot and will not donate to such a cause.

Do you guys reckon there's a reason/conspiracy theory why they haven't started accepting them, or is there some other less suspicious reason? I personally cannot fathom why they haven't implemented BTC donations yet.

I just tweeted Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia co founder) asking why they have not added it yet

https://twitter.com/LatestBTC/statuses/410785790579331073

It would be a Boost to the legitamacy of bitcoin while helping Wikipedia
Win win situation

I will be sending a donation if it is added  :)

I was an active Wikipedian from 2005, until 2011. Once they got the publicity, they became arrogant. The old users, who created the base for them to grow were quickly ignored. Most of the sections are now controlled by organized cabals, funded by propaganda organizations. I'll not return to WP even if they start accepting BTC.

If they don't want to accept Bitcoin, then fuck them. They can wallow in their legacy analog money.

How manny people would have to send them am email to add BTC ??

You should really refrain from commenting about things you know nothing about. Several of us were contributors or editors over the years that helped shape Wikipedia into what it is today in addition to helping it keep going financially. The site has definitely gotten more and more corrupt and the truth is that stances like they took on SOPA are rarities, and even those were argued against by insiders. Wikipedia's lack of acceptance of BTC actually gives cabals of editors more power; those that are often funded by outside sources with agendas. We've seen evidence of political edits (https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Staffs_for_US_presidential_candidates_John_McCain_and_Barack_Obama_caught_making_questionable_edits_to_Wikipedia) or even outright paid editing (http://www.ibtimes.com/wikipedia-paid-edits-companies-pay-top-dollar-firms-willing-fix-their-entries-1449172), so it's not like we're concocting up silly conspiracies out of thin air. They are developing a clear POV against Bitcoin financially which runs contrary to their message.

Regarding whether or not we're actually generous:
https://i.imgur.com/KMCitRO.png

I don't even know why we have to prove this to you or anyone though. It's not like we're asking for changes to the Bitcoin article or even attempting to sway opinions of the staff. I actually don't care about those, though some here probably would. All I and others are asking is why do they explicitly reject Bitcoin as a donation method? It's silly and violates NPOV of financial support, which is perhaps even more important than the NPOV of edits.

Oh snap, son! Raize just broke em off somethin proppa like.

I must admit I do feel sort of outraged that they refuse to take donations of Bitcoins.
I think when they decide to take them we should start a campaign to not send them coins haha.

Why not give the money to the internet archive instead? They said:

"We welcome all contributions, no matter how small, and we accept bitcoin".

When Wikipedia does not accept bitcoin, they lose my contribution. I would've contributed if they accepted it.

Before bitcoin I never contributed to any fund raising campaign or any charity online, I always thought it was too much hassle to send money or use my credit card, besides how could I trust that the processor did not store my details and later got hacked?

With bitcoins, it is very easy to donate, and even small amounts can be donated where the fees don't eat up a lot of the donation. And you don't need to give up all your personal information to donate.

You just chose your charity, donate and done with it. Simple as that.

Hmm , you feel outrages cause they don't want to accept your Bitcoins?
It's their choice. People should start respecting others people choice not bashing them as non-believers.

They are making a mistake! So what? They don't want money! They are stupid!
But waiting for the people in charge of wiki  in a dark alley and stuffing a brainwallet down their throats isn't the best choice in my opinion.

Well, this is my point of view:

Everyone is free to do what they want, however wikipedia itself being quite the radical thing when it first got launch with the aim of providing information to everyone, not only those with access to expensive books and universities. It is also a system where you can contribute very easily without going through an elaborate approval process, hence why Nupedia wasn't that popular. And yet, today, there are academics who state you cannot trust Wikipedia well, because of a lack or proper quality checking.

So, it's easy to get the impression that Wikipedia is also something relatively new, and that they're for sharing, openness and colaboration. Just like wikipedia brings information to the masses who don't have access to expensive books, bitcoin brings a possibility to everyone, also the underbanked to participate in the global financial market.

Thus, wikipedia rejecting to accept bitcoin as a way of funding them is a way of doing the opposite of what their original intentions were. They claim today they will only accept money issued by a state. How come they then publish a encyclopedia made in a desentralized fashion (in the sense that there are numerous contributors), where there's noone in particular responsible for the content, and no quality checking like there is with a publisher?

I'm confident however that most articles have so many eyes on them that errors are quickly fixed. There are someone running the show, and these someones at Wikipedia do not like bitcoin or doesn't care - simple as that.

Because this is Wikipedia's current stance, there's no reason to bug them anymore. Just use their content for free, and do not contribute. If you want to rustle their jimmies, contribute to someone else, and send them an e-mail saying:

"I contributed 0.25 bitcoins, currently worth N USD to the internet archive. Here's a link to the transaction: [link]. If you'd accepted bitcoin, I'd be happy to contribute to your cause as well.

As things stand right now, I will not contribute to you, because as a free individual, I have a fiduciary duty (with my wife) to be responsible and prudent with our money. This has been interpreted to mean that we do not use the banking system and traditional payment systems on the brink of extinction including but not limited to VISA, Mastercard, Paypal. We do, however, strive to provide as many visits to your site pr. year as possible and continue to monitor your horseshit Bitcoin policy with interest and may revisit this position should the circumstances change.

Note: Feel free to change the message to be as much or as little political correct and polite as you feel is necessary and responsible.

I have no problems with any of these. But all I am saying is that we should keep a careful watch on the Wikipedia Bitcoin page. I was an active Wikipedian until 2011 and I know how propagandists are making use of Wikipedia. I don't want paid cronies of Goldman and JP Morgan bashing BTC in Wikipedia.

Nobody updated to say they do now accept Bitcoin donations, heres your notice.    

https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give#bitcoin

Probably has a good secondary effect to represent bitcoin in a positive light if the wider internet can contribute to wikipedia.   If you prefer to find the donation page yourself, its top left on the front page.  Click that then way below there is tiny text saying "Other ways to pay"
Bitcoin is then an option along many other options

Nowadays it isn't hard to implement the bitcoin payment processor to accept bitcoins, I have seen many tools like shopify or others have the option to select the bitpay or coinbase to accept bitcoin.

Using the links to donate requests personal information including name, email and postal address.  It should be stressed that donations in this way aren't pseudonymous unless you supply false details and use a discardable email address.  I suppose they must have some sort of legal or tax requirement that prevents them from simply listing their donation address directly.

I think this is the reason that prevents them to accept from bitcoin meaning Anonymous donor is not allowed or shall we say from private individual? If they will include bitcoin, I think it will boost their fund from donations.

If they don't want to implement it, it isn't our issue beyond sending them an email. If they really need those donations and they're really hard pressed to get them, then they can start opening up other methods to donate. If they don't want to, I'll assume they have no need for those donations.

I only use wikipedia as an aggregated source provider anyways.

You people really need to stop necroing old threads. Nothing in this thread is relevant anymore. Wikipedia does accept Bitcoin now.

https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give

I think there are two possible answers of your question. the first one is wikipedia dev do not know the advantages of accepting bitcoin as donation, and the second one is they already thought many times about it and they did not find the advantages of accepting bitcoin is better than the disadvantages. imo. cmiiw

You know what? I actually saw there anouncement asking for money. If they accepted bitcoin I wouldn't mind dropping $100 BTC or so. They provide quality work and I enjoy the site. Maybe one day....

in my country there are some donation site that accept bitcoin before, but now they already close bitcoin payment because they said only a little people that support via bitcoin, maybe that is why some site include Wikipedia Donation not accept bitcoin yet

Given that the above poster doesn't have a fuckin' clue, I'm curious as to who helped him set up his signature campaign.

My guess would be that it is for the same reason other big sites have also not started to accept Bitcoin :

~ Bitcoin is not defined as a currency.
~ Bitcoin is not regulated in all countries.
~ Bitcoin has a bad reputation. < Silkroad / MtGox >
~ Bitcoin to fiat conversion is too much extra effort.
~ Bribes can be traced. ^heh^
~ They get too much donations via other payment methods and do not see the need to add more.

These are some of the vibes I have picked up on with my dealings with other companies, when I send them emails about Bitcoin.

For me the main reason is that it is quite hard to convert it to fiat. Talking about that, I find them too greedy. They're doing more and more fund raising campaigns, and I don't like that pretty much.

I was also actually thinking about this as wikipedia if introduced the donation can be done in btc as well, they will actually start receiving few more then what they are getting as many people many give some donation if not a big one and with the rise of price they would actually end up with having a good amount of money.

Yes.... From 2011 or 2012, they started all these fundraisers. And the worst thing is that they never audit their expenses for various campaigns. No one knows where the money is going. I will never donate any of my coins to Wikipedia.

They run the 7th most popular website in the world,
totally free of charge- no ads or commercials,
for one of the biggest sources of knowledge in the free world.
I hardly think that asking for a few dollars in donations from each user is 'greedy'.

You are free to use a fake name and address if you so choose to do so. They use that information to email you a receipt that you can use to file your tax deductions.

Asking for a few dollars in donation was OK, if they were unbiased. But now most of the admins and moderators in Wikipedia are profiting from article creation. Corporations and individuals pay these people hard cash to modify the articles, to put them in good light.

So you want to donate bitcoins to Wikipedia?

Have you sent them an email about that?

Maybe this has something to do with taxation issues,i guess.