No Wikipedia, I Won’t Be Making a Donation.
Try asking nicely next time.
On a recent visit to Wikipedia, I was greeted by this rather snooty pop-up message:
This isn’t a paywall.
We’ll cut to the chase: 98% of Wikipedia’s readers don’t give; they simply look away. All we ask is £2, or whatever seems right to you this Wednesday, before you get back to your article.
GIVE NOW
Yes, I could spare £2. But I will not be making a donation. Not only is their appeal unconvincing. It’s presumptuous and downright rude.
Unconvincing
98% of Wikipedia’s readers don’t give
The implication is that there’s something unfair about this situation. But there isn’t.
I’m perfectly fine with the fact that Wikipedia is funded by less than 2% of its readers. According to a page on Wikipedia itself, in 2020, the wealthiest 1% of the world’s population had a 46% share of the world’s wealth. Shouldn’t it be those people who fund projects like Wikipedia? That would seem perfectly fair to me.
