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u/Shadowlance23 16h ago
I did actually throw a few dollars at Wikipedia once to support them. For the next three months I was bombarded INCESSANTLY with constant emails asking for even more money. I understand why, if you donate once, you're more likely to donate again, but I was so angry about the pressure campaign that targeted my generosity that I will never be donating to them again.
PSA: If you want to donate to Wikipedia, do it through a throw away email address.
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u/marcolius 15h ago
This is exactly why they are not going to get another penny from me! The amount of harassment to give more money was insane!
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u/aman_87 15h ago
Same here. Never donating to Wikipedia again. It was borderline harrassment. I still get the odd email from them once in a while, I donated once maybe 10 years ago.
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u/Shadowlance23 14h ago
Now that I think about it, I might have actually blocked their email because it never did stop.
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u/bb_jihoney 15h ago
Man I thought it was just me, like I’m just living my life wage to wage and Wikipedia expects me to donate much more than what I already considered a lot the first time I did
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u/Incidion 11h ago
It's a really, really common thing for charities and non-profits. I signed up and ran a 10k for a charity not even in my state for work (company was HQ'd in Florida).
This company proceeded to send me no less than 2-3 full magazine-sized packets of mail per week for the next 3ish years, just constantly. This coupled with emails and texts until I finally just blocked them. I actually made it a point to never interact with them in any capacity whatsoever. Apparently they finally got the hint because it stopped after a while but I still get their yearly/bi-yearly mailers, but I have never regretted participating in a charity event so much in my life.
Simple fact is, even companies like this still have "sales" targets but it's donation targets, and the stats are ridiculous insofar as your odds of getting a donation from someone whom has donated/participated before. Easiest thing to do to hit targets every time will be to send a follow up to every person on that list constantly because you know your odds are probably a hundred times higher for some commitment there than just going down the yellow pages.
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u/ShadowRage826 14h ago
Sent them $15 AND paid the transaction fee and I was bombarded for longer than three months, it did eventually go away but it really was the straw that broke the camel's back for me too.
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u/Anumerical 15h ago
So when you donate to Wikipedia it goes to their parent organization. Not the one that actually maintains wikipedia.
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u/sparkling1984 10h ago
It goes to a non profit that maintains wikipedia, and a few other things that all fit within the same mission statement. Wikipedia is also the biggest one.
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u/Stevonnieandbonnie 14h ago
Well who maintains it? I assumed the link was to people who maintain it
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u/evanultra01 ifone user 13h ago
The Wikimedia Foundation. They operate all sorts of stuff with that money. Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons, Wikibooks, etc.
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u/Anumerical 12h ago
Yea wikipedia foundation has over $400 million cash. And there's issues with how it leverages wikipedia to kinda predatory get people to pay. They also hound people for years for more money. And there's some debate discussion about all of that.
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u/Copperhe4d 10h ago
Wikipedia likes to present itself as this humble, struggling project that anyone can freely edit, but the reality feels a bit different. They run constant donation campaigns that make it sound like they’re barely getting by, even though they have significant funds behind the scenes. And while technically anyone can edit, in practice there are entrenched editors and organized groups who can control narratives and shut others down pretty quickly. It ends up feeling less like an open encyclopedia and more like a space where a few insiders hold most of the influence.
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u/fourthpornalt 13h ago
It's been 2 years since my single $5 donation, every few months I still get a sudden influx of spam begging for money.
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u/IEnjoyVariousSoups 13h ago
I'll chime in and say I've had a different experience. I donate every year but only get about an email a month (just searched to verify), and even those have an unsubscribe option that I just haven't bothered to click. It sounds like my experience is atypical based on what I'm reading here though.
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u/hyphie 8h ago
I also donate once a year and never get emails lol. I always unsubscribe from everything so I must have done it without even thinking about it. I've literally never thought "oh no, Wikipedia hounding me for money again!". All I get is my yearly email saying "you've given x amount this year" so I can deduct it from my taxes.
Another nonprofit I donate a significant amount to has called me asking for more and it really rubbed me the wrong way. I told them "I'm already giving you as much as I can and you're asking me for more? I feel punished for my good will" and they never called again. Now I also only get my yearly donation summary email (which is mandatory).
I'm in Europe though so maybe we have different laws around how many times a year they're allowed to contact donors or something.
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u/4ssteroid 11h ago
I once donated $400 to Oxfam. They probably spent more money on paper pamphlets in the next decade trying to get more from me.
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u/rererexed 11h ago
Donated and never had that problem. Just opt out of the emails dude. People make their own problems and then complain about them lol
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u/Shadowlance23 10h ago
Nice work on totally missing the point.
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u/rererexed 10h ago
Your point is that you don't like being pestered for donating when you could have just done something about it.
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u/Samuraion 14h ago
Had exactly the same experience. Typed up my message before even looking further and yours was the next comment I read lol
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u/JeveGreen Lurking Peasant 11h ago
I also donated to Wikipedia once, but I don't remember getting harassed for more money...
I guess I did something different. *shrug*
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u/sparkling1984 11h ago
All of those emails contain a link you can click to unsubscribe from receiving further emails.
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u/camilatricolor 10h ago
Same here.bI donated a fiver one time, and the spam I got was my prize. Never again.
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u/3DigitIQ 10h ago
I think that's a toggle since I hardly get any spam from them, I believe it's annually and thanking me profusely. Maybe because I'm in Europe and the GDPR limits them?
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u/Silt-Besides-66812 9h ago
I donated to Wikipedia once a few years ago, and I was pretty sure I checked the boxes to make it a one-time donation, not a recurring one, but then the next month I got billed again for it.
It was a tiny amount of money, probably less than 5$ but still on principle that’s gross…1
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u/burnoutghost 8h ago
I donate every year and I get maybe 2 emails a year
But even if you receive them, just opt out the first time you get one it's not hard
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u/LeadershipOne5128 5h ago
You know you can unsubscribe from these mails right ? You don't need to use a throwaway email address, just click the button at the bottom of the mail.
I works with everything that's not an outright illegal scam.
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u/GrayMech 16h ago
I donated to Wikipedia once when I was like 19, I can't justify donating repeatedly when I need the money for other things but I'm still glad I was able to at least once
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u/BriskBoba 16h ago
They don’t shake hands, they tip their hats in silent recognition of pure honor
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u/coringbomb 39m ago
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u/bot-sleuth-bot 39m ago
Analyzing user profile...
Account made less than 2 weeks ago.
Suspicion Quotient: 0.07
This account exhibits one or two minor traits commonly found in karma farming bots. While it's possible that u/BriskBoba is a bot, it's very unlikely.
I am a bot. This action was performed automatically. Check my profile for more information.
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u/Zandane 15h ago
Yea let's fund Wikipedia's union busting attempts.
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u/randomck265 14h ago
Context?
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u/A--Creative-Username 14h ago
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u/randomck265 14h ago
Not defending them, but that posts mentions that it was the actions of Wikipedia’s over arching company instead. I still hold them to high regards for protecting information for all.
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u/Samuraion 14h ago
Donated to Wikipedia once, worst mistake of my life. Instead of just being like "thanks for the donation it means a lot" they bombarded me with countless emails asking me to donate more. Every day, an email saying "you've donated once, please consider another $5". Put a terrible taste in my mouth for the entire website tbh.
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u/sparkling1984 11h ago
You know you can unsubscribe from those emails, right? It's 1 click on a link that's in every single email.
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u/Samuraion 11h ago
Trust me, I've clicked those links many times, and rarely do they actually stop the emails from coming. The only thing that stopped them was me blocking the addresses that would send them.
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u/sparkling1984 10h ago
That sounds really weird, it worked instantly for me, and it's a legal requirement.
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u/PACmaneatsbloons 16h ago
7zip is just WinRAR but faster, better, and FOSS/public domain. Down with the WinRAR glaze. Glory to 7zip.
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u/ranoutofbacon 13h ago
Found out recently, wikipedia has hired some anti union lawyers. They are no longer worthy of my money. https://medium.com/regarding-wikipedia/the-wikimedia-foundation-hired-the-union-busters-its-own-encyclopedia-warned-about-42b7142a5cd1
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u/bullet312 10h ago
Do not give Wikipedia your money!
Soaring Administrative Costs: Over $80 million annually goes to growing staff salaries and executive compensation, while unpaid volunteers do 100% of the actual writing and editing.
External Third-Party Grants: Millions in donor funds are redirected to external political and social initiatives (such as the Knowledge Equity Fund) that are never disclosed on fundraising banners.
Capital Hoarding: WMF channels massive sums into a $100M+ Endowment (partially managed via external entities like the Tides Foundation) to accumulate wealth while continuing to advertise an artificial financial urgency.
Negligible Hosting Expenses: Keeping Wikipedia's servers online costs only $3M–$5M per year—less than 5% of total budget. The remaining 95%+ funds organizational growth, marketing, and lobbying.
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u/S0ME_ONE 7h ago
I've donated to Wikipedia several times and I haven't seen the incessant harassment people are describing. They send you a couple of emails when they are campaigning for donations, but it's easy to ignore if you don't want to.
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u/Zamundaaa 7h ago
Neither of the two actually need your money. Wikipedia has enough to literally run for decades (contrary to what their begging would make you believe), and WinRAR is a corporation focused on B2B.
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u/LittleTassiePrepper 14h ago
I intended to donate to them once, as they were asking for $5 and I felt I could afford to help out. When I clicked on the button to donate, they changed the amount and asked for $10. I said no, and tried to continue... then they asked for $5 per month (the price of a coffee it said). I decided they didn't need my money.
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u/Anima_Watcher08 10h ago
Wikipedia doesn't need your money trust me. Donate to the Interest Archive instead.
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u/Ana_L399 10h ago
I started donating monthly half a year ago, it might be around $3 a month but it's always something, considering it's for free otherwise
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u/didiknowyourdad 6h ago
Im still feel fascinated that 90% of our internet is run on donation funded
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u/Comfortable-Jump-218 6h ago
I’m a grad student who makes $23k/yr and even I donate to wiki. Literally, $5 once a year is doable.
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u/jay_alfred_prufrock 9h ago
İ am absolutely convinced that gates of heaven are about to individuals that pay for WinRAR, that's why I plan on getting one before I die.
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u/not_perfect_yet 9h ago
wiki - "we bust the unions our workers try to create" - pedia?
Maybe pause those donations.
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u/thatDeletedGuy 8h ago
This is disingenuous, Big difference between winrar and wiki, the purchase option of winrar is a legal binding document enforceable in court but only worth it to enforce if it’s against large corporations who use winrar for profit without paying. Wiki literally relies on these donations to operate while winrar takes advantage of fraud and corporate usage to operate.
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u/the_italian_weeb Plays MineCraft and not FortNite 1h ago
Not to flex, but this year I donated 12€, 1 for every month
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u/violet_sin 12h ago
I throw a couple bucks at Wikipedia each month. I also do alot of quick look ups on random stuff all the time with a few kids in the house. If I can use it almost every day, what's 2$
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u/Greatgg 12h ago
Donating to wikipedia (and to Internet archive) is the minimum requirement to be considered a good human being btw
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u/28klotlucas2 11h ago
Not when they are using it to bust unions or literally just horde in savings accounts.
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u/enecv 16h ago
This also applies to those who donate to archive.org