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Wikipedia Weighs Big Questions

Site struggles with funding, charges of impropriety

By Jason Farago, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 11, 2008 11:10 AM CDT

(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. ((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... (Associated Press)

The Wikimedia office in San Francisco. ((c) avatar-1)

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SOPA Protest Hails Web's 'Coming of Age'

Protesting websites' message clicked with users

Websites Go Dark to Protest SOPA

Thousands of sites join strike

Wikipedia to Go Dark in SOPA Protest

Make sure you don't need to look anything up Wednesday

PR Firm Rewrites Clients' Wikipedia Entries

Wiki co-founder slams 'ethical blindness,' suspends writer access

Cuba Unveils Facebook-Like Social Network

'Red Social' launches a year after Cuban Wikipedia clone

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