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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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Wikipedia Weighs Big Questions

Site struggles with funding, charges of impropriety

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(Newser) – Forget dot-com excesses: A piece of printer paper taped to the door and cut-price desks and chairs from eBay and Craigslist are all that distinguish the new San Francisco office of the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia. "We are about as unsophisticated as we could possibly be," its executive director told the LA Times. Facing new claims of impropriety by its founder, Wikipedia is undergoing a crisis of both finance and confidence.

Jimmy Wales, the site's founder, has been stung by allegations that he traded edits on the site for cash. An ex-Novell employee donated $5,000 to the Wikimedia Foundation, after which Wales deleted all information on the donor's largely unflattering encyclopedia entry; it has since been rewritten and locked for further edits. Wales called the allegation "nonsense."

The Wikimedia office in San Francisco.
The Wikimedia office in San Francisco.   ((c) avatar-1)
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, answers a question during an interview with The Associated Press in St. Petersburg, Fla. in this June 29, 2007 file photo. Wales is finding it's not so easy to cover his tracks after a messy breakup with a TV personality and a scandal over extravagant...
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, answers a question during an interview with The Associated Press in St. Petersburg, Fla. in this June 29, 2007 file photo. Wales is finding it's not so easy to cover...   (Associated Press)
The Wikimedia office in San Francisco.
The Wikimedia office in San Francisco.   ((c) avatar-1)
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