What if there was a simple test to make sure every new internet regulation preserved the spaces and parts of the internet that you love the most?
We get it; we really do. Lawmakers across the world are rightly focused on regulating powerful, for-profit platforms to mitigate the harms ascribed to social media and other threats online. When developing such legislation, however, some draft laws can inadvertently place public interest projects like Wikipedia at risk. At the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that hosts Wikipedia and other Wikimedia platforms, we have found that when a proposed law harms Wikipedia, in many cases it likely harms other community-led websites, open resources, or digital infrastructure.
That is why we have created the Wikipedia Test: a public policy tool and a call to action to help ensure regulators consider how new laws can negatively affect online communities and platforms that provide services and information in the public interest.
But the donations are only necessary because of inflated salaries. It’s like saying we have to pay this pastry chef because the pastry chef loves to eat their own cake. They’re just feeding themselves.
The cost of server infrastructure is comparatively tiny so if they’d run it lean it’d have enough cash to last ages already. Also posting a banner on their site with massive reach isn’t exactly rocket surgery.
I know there are worse things but I strongly dislike nonprofits wasting donation money.