$0.00004 per page view and Wikimania-starved students

Wikipedia’s current fundraising page states:

“If you and 99 other people donate $40 – We can deliver 100 million pageviews of free information!”

Working backwards this means it currently costs the Wikimedia Foundation USD0.00004 per page view, that’s approximately 1/100th of half a cent, or 1/100th of a quarter penny in UK Sterling.

So next time you visit Wikipedia for a jolly hour’s surfing think of the cost you may be incurring the Wikimedia Foundation, maybe even as much as a quarter of a cent. And if we all did the same we could potentially deprive “three students” the chance to attend the “annual Wikimania conference.”

Seriously though, is this stuff supposed to be an incentive to donate?…

“If you and 99 other people donate ..

* $200 – We can make Wikipedia available in developing countries through DVDs, books and pamphlets.
* $100 – We can pay for two Wikipedia Academy events in Africa.
* $60 – We can send three students to our annual Wikimania conference.
* $40 – We can deliver 100 million pageviews of free information!”

I think something along the lines of:

“Wikipedia is run by a not-for-profit organisation. In order for us to continue improving Wikipedia and continue delivering free, advertisement-free content to you and to developing countries who may not yet have access to Wikipedia, we would gladly accept any donation you can afford to make.”

would be sufficient.