Category:Wikipedians for optional advertisements

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An organization can remain non-profit, and yet have optional ads.

Here is how it might work: The default setting for all readers would be no ads. "Turn off advertising" and "Turn on advertising" buttons would allow anybody (even non-registered users) to decide for themselves whether they want to support Wikipedia with their eyeballs.

Anybody could check off a "remember my choices" button. A cookie would remember to keep the ads on or off. There could be choices for top, bottom, and/or side placement of ads. Or concise or detailed ads. Or ads with or without flash animation. Readers who choose not to allow any cookies, not even a wikipedia cookie, would not be forced to view ads.

Millions of wikipedia readers would choose to allow advertising. Soon, a lot more money would be raised by the readers who allow ads. Versus money raised by donations.

Wikipedia is one of the most-visited sites on the web. It definitely needs money for maintenance, hardware, programmers, bandwidth, expansion, other wikimedia projects, etc..

As long as wikipedia is a non-profit, board-run organization, then there is no danger of advertisers having any say in how wikipedia is run. Wikipedia will determine what ads and advertisers are allowed on wikipedia. Some good lawyers and accountants should be paid to make sure that this is all maintained legally for the longterm. So that wikipedia values are never compromised by advertisers, partisan user groups, corruption, etc..