Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

CD Hanks · Feb 25, 2005, 08:30 PM

Love them or hate them, what they're doing is a noble cause and it has been quite successful (as far as I can tell). Unfortunately, as most aspiring projects face, they have hit a roadblock. Apparently they had a server crash a few days ago that put their whole site out of business for a few days (anything under the "wiki" umbrella), and they are in need of more gear for redundancy. I sent them $5. Perhaps you can too?

You may have noticed recent slowdowns, and periods of downtime, for Wikipedia and her sister sites. We are working to make our system more efficient, but traffic on the Wikimedia servers is doubling every four months. Wikipedia.org is already one of the top 200 most popular websites on the Internet and will likely be in the top 100 before the end of the year.

This growth has been very exciting but has been a challenge to cope with. Just to keep up we will need to spend $55,000 (USD) on new hardware this quarter alone (compared to $30,000 last quarter). But we also want to build reserve capacity and an infrastructure for deploying server clusters around the world. Hosting partners could then help us share our exponentially growing traffic load, reducing constant increases in our expenses. Other costs, however, continue to increase, such as the operation of the servers in our colocation facility, administration and maintenance work, and critical changes to our software.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Lounsbery Foundation, we can cover our budget without raising substantially more funds than in the last quarter. In all, we will need $75,000 in donations to reach our goals this quarter. You helped us raise over $50,000 in our last fund drive. Every little bit helps - most donations we receive are the equivalent of $20 or less.�

You have the power to help keep these free resources growing. Thank you for your generosity.

-- The Wikimedia Team

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/...eeds_your_help

phantomdragonz · Feb 25, 2005, 08:59 PM

interesting, I remember reading an article about how google gave them some server space to host some of the content....

sounds like a scam to me... but I could be dead wrong...

Zach

Apple Pro Underwear · Feb 25, 2005, 09:13 PM

i only support porno web sites

malvolio · Feb 25, 2005, 10:36 PM

Originally posted by Apple Pro Underwear:
i only support porno web sites

Wikipedia has great porn!
Only one example of each kink, though.

CD Hanks · Feb 25, 2005, 10:52 PM

Originally posted by phantomdragonz:
interesting, I remember reading an article about how google gave them some server space to host some of the content....

sounds like a scam to me... but I could be dead wrong...

Zach

A scam? Did you even read the link?

JustAnOl'Broad · Feb 26, 2005, 01:47 PM

Originally posted by CD Hanks:
A scam? Did you even read the link?

Good article on this in Wired mag this month (actually March 2005
issue). It says the frontpage of their site is locked; that front page
does have a "cry for help" to get people to donate funds.

My guess; it's not a scam.
P~

CD Hanks · Feb 26, 2005, 02:03 PM

The fact that you guys are still wondering if it's a scam leads me to believe that most of you don't have much in terms of reading comprehension skills.

sugar_coated · Feb 26, 2005, 02:23 PM

Good deeds will always spawn more goodness.

Krypton · Feb 26, 2005, 03:27 PM

Originally posted by CD Hanks:
The fact that you guys are still wondering if it's a scam leads me to believe that most of you don't have much in terms of reading comprehension skills.

I think they were commenting on the Google relationship. One of the Google founders has been on the record saying that he could see Wikipedia charging a one off membership fee in the future sometimes, some of which would go to the server providers

CD Hanks · 04:34 PM

Originally posted by Krypton:
I think they were commenting on the Google relationship. One of the Google founders has been on the record saying that he could see Wikipedia charging a one off membership fee in the future sometimes, some of which would go to the server providers

i reed gud lol

edit: VVV sorry

phantomdragonz · Feb 26, 2005, 03:58 PM

Originally posted by CD Hanks:
The fact that you guys are still wondering if it's a scam leads me to believe that most of you don't have much in terms of reading comprehension skills.

first, i was the only one who thought it was a scam... and I did not even bother to read the link.... so I am wrong....

Jeez, I was wrong, flame me not everyone else!

i feel stupid for not reading the link, but I have been on some drugs to try and get this cold to go away, so i will blame them

Zach