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If it were up to me, I’d sell Wikipedia out without thinking twice.

Advertisers on every page. The page for Pepsi, sponsored by Coke. The page for the Red Sox, sponsored by the Yankees. And after compromising everything that’s wonderful and amazing and so important about this place, I’d be on my yacht, throwing hundred-dollar bills at sharks.

But that’s why I’m a lazy, selfish blogger and the people who run Wikipedia are the people who run Wikipedia. It’s corny to say, but Wikipedia means something more than advertising dollars. Which is why they ask people like you and me to throw in a couple bucks to keep the lights on and the servers running.

Facebook owns you, your house, your family and your dog. Google owns your soul. Wikipedia’s corporate office is located in Jimmy Wales’ basement, right next to an over-sized water heater. They keep one of the most important ventures in the world running every day and night, besides Thursdays, because that’s when Jimmy’s roommate, Big Mike, has poker night.

Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but not a huge one. Wikipedia is an impossibly small operation performing an impossibly large job.

Did you know that fewer people work at Wikipedia than Google has at their Saint-Ghislain data center alone? True story. You don’t even know where Saint-Ghislain is, do you? You will in a second, because you’ll go to Wikipedia and teach yourself.

And that’s sort of the whole point.

You and I come here, like 420 million people did 12 billion times last month, to teach ourselves something. To use this powerful, amazing tool to better ourselves and expand our minds. That’s worth something, isn’t it? I mean even like … a dollar? How about five?

If you think so, then you should donate. Because as it turns out, they need it. Because their integrity means they need a little help to pay the bills.

Please consider donating to Wikipedia, even if it’s just pocket change. These people don’t want speedboats and solid gold underwear. They just want to keep this amazing venture running – and if you’ve ever used their service to teach yourself something, you should want that too.

Thanks,

Rob Gindes Wikipedia Donor