Billionaire Elon Musk is agreeing to develop into one of many donors that Wikipedia says it so desperately desires. The SpaceX and Tesla chief posted on X (previously Twitter) that he would give away a whopping $1 billion to the web encyclopedia. However he has one situation, and that situation is related to Wikipedia’s cry for assist regardless of not needing it. Recognized for his tongue-in-cheek humour, Musk urged Wikipedia to alter its identify to develop into eligible for his $1 billion. The identify is ‘Dickipedia’. Clearly, Musk is pulling Wikipedia’s leg right here and there’s no option to inform if he’ll preserve his promise if, by any likelihood, Wikipedia agrees on a whim.
Musk’s unwarranted dig at Wikipedia’s requests for donations — which typically embody a private be aware from the founder Jimmy Wales — could also be cheeky however it isn’t malintent. Wikimedia, which owns Wikipedia on-line encyclopedia and different platforms, is already rolling in cash, in keeping with freelance journalist Andreas Kolbe who used to work as a co-editor-in-chief at Wikipedia’s neighborhood newspaper known as The Signpost. He highlighted that Wikipedia already has sufficient treasury to remain afloat, in distinction to what it states in its prompts on the web site.
I’ll give them a billion {dollars} if they modify their identify to Dickipedia https://t.co/wxoHQdRICy
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 22, 2023
Wikimedia generated roughly $162 million within the fiscal yr between June 2020 and June 2021 from donations and income, in keeping with Statista. That’s much more than what the corporate put aside as its 10-year aim 5 years in the past. That guidelines out the half that Wikimedia — and Wikipedia — want your donations to run. So, why does Wikipedia’s mother or father firm want your donations regardless of being wealthy? Kolbe mentioned that it’s because WMF desires to develop its enterprise and enhance its financial savings to fund new tasks. Donations enable the corporate to direct its income and financial savings in the direction of a spread of recent tasks. WMF can be launching a for-profit firm, which might use the sources obtainable to the corporate’s non-profit initiatives.
All of that’s one thing Musk is conscious of. “Have you ever puzzled why the Wikimedia Basis desires a lot cash? It definitely isn’t wanted to function Wikipedia. You possibly can actually match a replica of the complete textual content in your cellphone!” he wrote, including that “inquiring minds need to know” what the cash is for. Thus, Musk’s conditional provide. The situation additionally requires Wikipedia to maintain that identify for not less than a yr. “I imply, I’m not a idiot lol,” he mentioned. After all, the posts acquired the eye they deserved and put Wikipedia in a tricky spot, particularly when its incessant prompts on the web site appeared to be working. The whole banter was attention-grabbing, however what could be extra attention-grabbing? Wikipedia’s response. Allow us to watch for that if the platform is in a temper to present a reply.
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