Ars Technica has a short article on the recent debate about Wikipedia’s funding model and whether they should resort to advertising on their site.
Though Wikimedia has less than ten full-time employees, it has real expenses. Bandwidth in 2007 is expected to cost up to $100,000 a month, and the group now runs more than 350 servers. Will the necessary money continue to flow in from donations when so many ‘Net users have grown used to getting content for “free”?
Not everyone thinks so. While Wales wants to keep Wikipedia free of ads and corporate influence, others say that this is exactly what the site needs to grow and ensure its financial stability. Weblogs Inc. CEO Jason Calacanis has been harping on Wikipedia for months, arguing that the encyclopedia could rake in as much as $100 million a year with only minimal advertising.