ben-abuya (OP)
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June 29, 2012, 02:54:08 PM |
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Wikipedia Accepts 'Enemies Of The Internet' Currencies Jon Matonis http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/06/29/wikipedia-accepts-enemies-of-the-internet-currencies/Following the disappointing example last year from the Electronic Freedom Foundation, Wikimedia specifically excludes donations in bitcoin and explains it with this odd statement: Why does the Wikimedia Foundation not currently accept Bitcoin? The Wikimedia Foundation, as a donor-driven organization, has a fiduciary duty to be responsible and prudent with its money. This has been interpreted to mean that we do not accept ‘artificial’ currencies – that is, those not backed by the full faith and credit of an issuing government. We do, however, strive to provide as many methods of donating as possible and continue to monitor Bitcoin with interest and may revisit this position should circumstances change.
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Technomage
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Affordable Physical Bitcoins - Denarium.com
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June 29, 2012, 03:13:26 PM |
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Important topic. We really should convince Wikipedia to finally get on board with the Bitcoin train. It's long overdue.
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hazek
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June 29, 2012, 03:19:46 PM |
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Do you see people? Do you see how afraid people are to risk facing violence in pursuit of their freedom? How do people ever expect to be free with this kind of mindset is beyond me, they might as well just walk inside an actual cage and sign a voluntary slave contract.
Rock on Matonis, call out those enslaved pussies!
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My personality type: INTJ - please forgive my weaknesses (Not naturally in tune with others feelings; may be insensitive at times, tend to respond to conflict with logic and reason, tend to believe I'm always right)
If however you enjoyed my post: 15j781DjuJeVsZgYbDVt2NZsGrWKRWFHpp
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ben-abuya (OP)
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June 29, 2012, 03:26:02 PM |
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That reason they give is patently ridiculous. They have a fiduciary responsibility? To whom? Well, to the person who gave them the money. If that person wants to give them money in BTC, how can it be a dereliction of duty to accept it? If they want, they can convert it immediately into FRNs.
"This has been interpreted" -- note the weasel passive voice, interpreted by whom?
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BoardGameCoin
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June 29, 2012, 03:29:50 PM |
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My guess is that this is echo-on effects from the wikileaks stuff. Because wikileaks uses wikimedia software already, I guess they're trying to distance themselves by not accepting funding in the same manner. But I think this is incredibly stupid and short-sighted thinking.
-bgc
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DeathAndTaxes
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Gerald Davis
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June 29, 2012, 03:32:26 PM |
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"This has been interpreted" -- note the weasel passive voice, interpreted by whom? A drunk homeless man in central park who read it from a piece of paper handed to him by a wikipedia employee in exchange for $5 (full faith and credit dollars not BTC of course). wikileaks answer is just idiotic. At least with EFF while disappointing their answer didn't insult the intelligence of the user. I have donated to wikipedia every single year in the past. I never held their not accepting bitcoins against them. I won't be donating in the future. That answer is false and insulting to me and other donators.
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wareen
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Revolutionizing Brokerage of Personal Data
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June 29, 2012, 03:59:00 PM |
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bit-pay offers payment processing for 501(c)(3) organizations without charge and, as they claim, "ZERO Bitcoin Liability". Maybe worth a shot for Tony to approach them directly suggesting and explaining this option. We could also have a trusted member of the community collect donations for Wikimedia Foundation to be payed out as soon as they officially list Bitcoin as donation option. I don't think it would change anything though, because in the end they are probably just afraid to be associated with Bitcoin for whatever reason
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Piper67
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June 29, 2012, 04:48:07 PM |
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bit-pay offers payment processing for 501(c)(3) organizations without charge and, as they claim, "ZERO Bitcoin Liability". Maybe worth a shot for Tony to approach them directly suggesting and explaining this option. We could also have a trusted member of the community collect donations for Wikimedia Foundation to be payed out as soon as they officially list Bitcoin as donation option. I don't think it would change anything though, because in the end they are probably just afraid to be associated with Bitcoin for whatever reason Nah-hah... screw that. Let them start accepting Bitcoin. All it takes is the slightest bit of spine. I for one would much rather donate my money to someone willing to accept BTC than to someone not willing.
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justusranvier
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June 29, 2012, 06:26:58 PM |
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bit-pay offers payment processing for 501(c)(3) organizations without charge and, as they claim, "ZERO Bitcoin Liability". Maybe worth a shot for Tony to approach them directly suggesting and explaining this option. We could also have a trusted member of the community collect donations for Wikimedia Foundation to be payed out as soon as they officially list Bitcoin as donation option. I don't think it would change anything though, because in the end they are probably just afraid to be associated with Bitcoin for whatever reason Wikimedia Foundation does not need payment processing. What they need is donation processing, which is slightly different. They need to be able to set up an account and, instead of getting a shopping cart plugin, just have a bitcoin address for which all received funds (minus fees) will be autoconverted to USD and deposited for them. Then they have no more excuse for not accepting bitcoin donations.
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Stephen Gornick
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June 29, 2012, 06:29:42 PM |
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Nah-hah... screw that. Let them start accepting Bitcoin. All it takes is the slightest bit of spine. I for one would much rather donate my money to someone willing to accept BTC than to someone not willing.
Seriously, they aren't saying they don't know how, or that they don't see the return for the effort, or any other reason that might have a tinge of logic behind it, ... they are saying they don't want Bitcoin. [And, by saying that, they are saying they don't want to promote Bitcoin or the idea that Bitcoin works as a payment system for donations.] They are playing politics is all it is.
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RodeoX
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The revolution will be monetized!
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June 29, 2012, 06:33:52 PM |
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Hunger changes everything. Wiki is hurting for cash, I will only donate in bitcoin. Time is not on their side.
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wareen
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June 29, 2012, 06:45:22 PM |
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Wikimedia Foundation does not need payment processing. What they need is donation processing, which is slightly different.
Using a single Bitcoin address might not be the best option from a privacy and accounting perspective and frankly I don't see the big advantage compared to the way bit-pay currently handles donation processing. Anyway - that's a surely a minor detail not really relevant for Wikimedia's decision to refuse Bitcoin donations
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Dusty
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June 29, 2012, 06:59:33 PM |
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Do you see people? Do you see how afraid people are to risk facing violence in pursuit of their freedom? How do people ever expect to be free with this kind of mindset is beyond me, they might as well just walk inside an actual cage and sign a voluntary slave contract. This. They are playing politics is all it is. And probably this too.
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molecular
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June 29, 2012, 07:54:24 PM |
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It has been interpreted to be responsible and prudent to hold bitcoins as long as possible.
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PGP key molecular F9B70769 fingerprint 9CDD C0D3 20F8 279F 6BE0 3F39 FC49 2362 F9B7 0769
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jwzguy
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June 29, 2012, 08:17:31 PM |
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If they can be picky, I guess they don't need donations very badly. No problem.
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Explodicle
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June 29, 2012, 09:28:00 PM |
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We should check if Conservapedia will accept bitcoin, that would attract some attention from Wikipedians. We could also use bounties to improve specific articles, offering "X BTC worth of USD" and convert it ourselves. That would be worth asking about on the bounty talk page, though. I think it's particularly easy to raise international software bounties with bitcoin.
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Clipse
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June 29, 2012, 09:33:52 PM |
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If they can be picky, I guess they don't need donations very badly. No problem.
Made me wonder the same. To me it seems like they think its far too much effort to turn bitcoins into $$$ to spend in fiat form and any company asking for donations that relates to such a stance is clearly just taking someone for a ride. Ive allready gotten sick and tired of their constant begging post/spreads and what not on wikipedia and the sad faces of how much they need my help.
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grondilu
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June 30, 2012, 01:58:29 PM |
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Why hasn't any bitcoin fan forked wikipedia already ?
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teknomunk
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June 30, 2012, 02:57:05 PM |
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Why hasn't any bitcoin fan forked wikipedia already ?
I was thinking the same thing. If you don't like how the Wikimedia Foundation operates, create your own. The CC-BY-SA the content of Wikipedia is licensed under allows this to be done.
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grondilu
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June 30, 2012, 03:00:42 PM |
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Why hasn't any bitcoin fan forked wikipedia already ?
I was thinking the same thing. If you don't like how the Wikimedia Foundation operates, create your own. The CC-BY-SA the content of Wikipedia is licensed under allows this to be done. Or we could also fuck the CC-BY-SA and make an illegal fork on Tor. Because CC-BY-SA makes forking a real pain in the ass, and that is why there are so few forks of wikipedia.
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