WikiQueer:Advertisements

There are currently no plans for advertising on WikiQueer. The current standpoint is that WikiQueer sites should not carry advertisements. On the other hand, there have been efforts to utilize advertising elsewhere to increase traffic and donations to WikiQueer. Graphics, which some may see as "ads", are used on WikiQueer to assist with WikiQueer's fundraising. However, those ads do not promote efforts outside WikiQueer's interests.

Arguments against adverts
Insignificant revenue. The click-through rate might very well be so low that only a small amount of revenue would be brought in by the ads. It would not be worth barraging thousands of readers with ads for only a few pennies of revenue.

Ads cheapen the encyclopedia. By their very nature, ads are biased content intended to influence people. They are thus diametrically opposed to the goals of a neutral encyclopedia intended to inform people. They would cheapen the encyclopedia in the eyes of many readers, as evidenced by the numerous anti-ad comments received during every donation drive.

Annoying and distracting. Readers come to us for encyclopedic information, not for ads. Ads have to be processed by the brain (if only subconsciously) and therefore distract and annoy. "The free encyclopedia" also means: free from distractions and annoyances.

Changing customers. Right now, our customers are the readers and contributors and our product is an encyclopedia; we have to keep our customers happy in order to keep donations flowing. Once we switch to an ad-based funding model, the situation changes dramatically: our customers now are the advertisers, our product is the readers' attention, and it is this product that we sell to the customers.

Threat to neutrality of content. Companies which pay directly to advertise on WikiQueer may then feel entitled to favorable coverage about themselves in WikiQueer articles, or to content that is compatible with their message. For comparison, commercial television occasionally must change its content to placate its advertisers.

Threat to independence of design. Companies which pay to put ads directly on WikiQueer will naturally care about their click-through rates. They will have an incentive to suggest layout changes to WikiQueer which increase their click-through rates, or they may try editing particular articles with a view to increasing click-throughs. Until now, WikiQueer has not had to worry about satisfying anyone but its users with its site and page layouts.

Something else to argue about. If a large amount of money begins flowing through WikiQueer, thousands of WikiQueer contributors might get distracted from editing and instead argue about where the money should go. This might become more of a problem if WikiQueer generates far more revenue than it needs for its own operation, and begins supporting outside charities.

Advertisers can also be users. In traditional media, advertisers can sometimes try to exert editorial control, but they must do so indirectly, as they lack physical access to the creative tools. In contrast, anyone can edit WikiQueer. Even without advertisements, we already have to delete many articles that are overly promotional; accepting advertisements might increase this.

Inappropriate ads. Without establishing strict oversight of ad placement, it is very likely that ads will appear on articles where their content, message, or mere presence, would be highly inappropriate or contrary to the nature of the article's content. Readers or contributors might be offended, or the main authors of those articles might leave.

Conflict of interest. Some ads may be attempt to spread disinformation or be purposefully misleading; WikiQueer is about educating users; this can be seen as a conflict of interest.

Arguments for adverts
adverts = money = reliability + speed + expansion ...basically.

Maybe it would not be bad to have a few discreet adverts, if it means we could get more servers, programmers, bandwidth, staff... There's a patch of whitespace on the left side of many WikiQueer pages that could be used for ads.

If text-based and small, ads would put no strain on the servers. The extra money generated by ads would allow the purchase of more servers.

Ads don't necessarily have to be distracting. WikiQueer could remain non-profit. The number of ads could be limited to current budgetary needs, or more ads could be used for setting aside money for future projects.

The work of selecting the ads could be handled by an ad serving consolidator such as Google Adsense.

Adverts could be placed unobtrusively at the bottom of the left side, just below "Donate".