Template:2011FR/appeal-achal-1/en

The value of Wikipedia isn’t something you can trade on Wall Street.

It’s a cashless community, a utopia where people are free to come and meditate in this storehouse of world knowledge.

And it’s a really bad idea -- in theory. But in practice, it works. It reminds me of this really crowded, chaotic street market near my apartment in Bangalore, India. I don’t know how it works, but you go there, and whatever you’re looking for, you can find it.

Wikipedia is visited by 420 million people a month. It’s the 5th most popular website online, but it’s as bare-bones as you can get compared to the other top sites:


 * Google: 1,000,000 servers, 24,000 employees.
 * Facebook: 60,000 servers, 2,000 employees.
 * Microsoft: 220,000 servers, 90,000 employees.
 * Yahoo: 50,000 servers, 13,900 employees.
 * Wikipedia: 370 servers, 73 employees

It works so efficiently because Wikipedia is a place where every contribution – from a volunteer or a donor – gets multiplied and leapfrogged upon; where the fruits of your generosity go far beyond your individual act alone.

Please pitch in $5, $10, $20 or whatever you can to help keep this invaluable resource online now.

The difference between the Wikipedia community and huge Internet corporations is that Wikipedia is built on the generosity of thousands of supporters like you. It’s a bit like the fulfillment of some great unrealized dream.

And it seems to me like a dream worth keeping alive.

Thanks for helping out,

Achal Prabhala

Wikipedia Volunteer