Wikipedia's yearly donation campaign; Time to accept Bitcoins?

[grondilu]

This is silly.  Stop harassing them guys.  I'm pretty sure it's counter-productive.

[1713860653]

1713860653

[solex]

This is silly.  Stop harassing them guys.  I'm pretty sure it's counter-productive.

I don't understand that. 

Prompting Wikipedia to take bitcoin helps them as well as the btc community.
Many people do not donate to WP because of the hassles of converting to USD. That is why US citizens make the majority of donations to WP even though they are a minority of its user-base.

[hazek]

This is silly.  Stop harassing them guys.  I'm pretty sure it's counter-productive.

It's harassment to send them money after they asked for it?

[Herodes]

This is silly.  Stop harassing them guys.  I'm pretty sure it's counter-productive.

Yes, I did hold out my hand, saying, look here's my money, do you want it ? And the reason I did it was because they asked for it. Then they reject it, to me that's a personal offence, and I find it severely arrogant. I hope that one day I will be able to stare Josh VanDavier directly in his eyes and tell him exactly what I think of this behaviour.

Also it's not harassment, it's showing interest. Every company should be happy that users show interest.

There's no reason whatsoever that wikimedia should not accept bitcoins at this point. These projects have so much in common.

[SwarmStream]

They certainly won't ever accept it if their users never request it.

[Herodes]

They certainly won't ever accept it if their users never request it.

It seems like a lot of smart people are involved with bitcoins. People that would also be likely to contribute to wikimedia, so these two projects would go nicely hand in hand. It's not so much that bitcoin have more to gain at this point than there is to gain from wikipedia. All it would take for wikipedia would be to ask bitpay to set up a payment solution for them, or some other payment provider, so they didn't even need to touch btc if they didn't want to.

The effort involved with accepting bitcoin is about as difficult as setting up a jar in a bar.

[xxjs]

Let them play their game. In the future, when they find it safer to immediately convert their fiat donations to bitcoin, they will also accept bitcoin.

[Walter Rothbard]

This is silly.  Stop harassing them guys.  I'm pretty sure it's counter-productive.

Offering a donation is harrassment?   

I mean, if a guy showed up at my store and asked if I accept Pesos or Rubles and then pulled them out and set them on the counter, can I call the cops because I'm being harrassed?

[grondilu]

Come on guys.  It's not so hard to understand.

If you propose to donate money but only in a currency they feel skeptical about (for whatever reason), it's easy for them to think it looks like a nigerian scam or a foot-in-the-door technique.

They've known about bitcoin for quite some time now.  We've tried many times to convince them.  So unless you have new arguments, let it go.

Were they inclined to accept bitcoin, they would have done so long ago.

[TooCasual]

Wikipedia asking for donations with only Paypal/Visa/MC donation options is lame.  (Some hate using their MC/Visa online or don't have one... with Paypal people have been screwed around - via payment or reception of payment... Nevermind asking anyone that works at a bank what they think of Paypal and the transactions. They'd give you an earful.)

I had wrote an email a to Wikipedia saying I would donate 10BTC as I use their service a ton.  If they can't employ a trader to do their transactions from Mt.Gox or whichever to their fiat currency of choice and then to deposit the money into their bank... then they are missing out on one of the easiest anonymous payment services available.

For a progressive information service they sure are operating financially in the dark ages.  Maybe they should do a bottle drive? lol.

Or, they really don't need the money that bad after all...

TC.

...I know, I know... this is like beating the issue senseless.  But it really gets my goat when I see the Wikipedia banner begging for money.

[solex]

They've known about bitcoin for quite some time now.  We've tried many times to convince them.  So unless you have new arguments, let it go.

If someone is in touch with them perhaps they can point out that one of the first Bitcoin transactions was 10,000 BTC to buy a pizza.
Four years later and the same amount would buy the average US house!

Perhaps they can also point out that in 1996 few people had a cell-phone. Four years later every man and his dog had one.

Also that in 2001 Wikipedia was just starting. After four years it was rivaling the 200 year old Britannia, and has now long surpassed it.

This is what happens when disruptive technology hits the road. They need to reconsider their view about Bitcoin and get ahead of the curve.

[dserrano5]

Just send them a donation via the email function on blockchain or coinbase or coinapult even.. Then it's up to them to claim it, or let it expire and be returned to them. I really wonder if they'll let money they received just slip back away from them. 

If several people joined to make a sizable donation, it would certainly be more difficult for them to reject it . I wonder how much money we've already donated through Bitpay…

[grondilu]

I wonder how much money we've already donated through Bitpay…

Doesn't Bitpay make this information public?

[Herodes]

Well if you guys desperately wanna donate to an evil organisation, why not just donate to Facebook or the CIA instead? The naivete round here is painful.

what is evil about wikipedia ? you're better and smarter than everyone else ?

[Mike Christ]

Wikipedia evil?

Just makes the devil look that much smarter, I guess

[goodbc]

I wonder how much money we've already donated through Bitpay…

Doesn't Bitpay make this information public?

After the first day, BitPay paid to Wikipedia  $790.36 :

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=128382.msg1368966#msg1368966

[LightRider]

Wikipedia will accept Amazon Coin before it accepts bitcoin.

[Herodes]

Wikipedia will accept Amazon Coin before it accepts bitcoin.

Perhaps I should ask for their address so I could send them a pack of toilet papers. Anyone know if there's any manufacturer making toiletpapers with the Bitcoin-symbol on it ?

[STT]

It might get further to donate to a non USA branch of wiki via bitcoin.   I guess they are hoping to garner favour with Washington politics and at some point derive funding from that QE deficit system

https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Tax_Deductibility/en


I dont think they are especially guilty, alot of education is biased to government policy such as economic doctrine

[afrustrum]

STT  posted:

It might get further to donate to a non USA branch of wiki via bitcoin.

Yes, I wondered about Wikimedia Deutschland's view on accepting bitcoin, given Germany's more tolerant views, but all their donation
choices showed were (https://spenden.wikimedia.de/spenden/?piwik_campaign=wikimedia_de_hauptseite&piwik_kwd=Icon-mit-Schrift-Spenden.png):

• Lastschrift (direct debit)
• Überweisung (bank transfer)
• Paypal
• Kreditkarte (credit card)

Also, wikimedia USA may not be touching bitcoins because of the hostile reaction by US banks. Look at yesterday's Forbe's article
at http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/11/15/bitcoin-companies-and-entrepreneurs-cant-get-bank-accounts/

which has:

"almost every U.S.-based startup who previously had banking was cut off if the word ‘bitcoin’ was mentioned"

If I was responsible for a large educational foundation, I too would be scared of doing anything that would basically kill the operation.