I just popped over to Wikipedia to look something up and was side-tracked by a message from Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia. Well, his message came up with the headline “Please Read.” So I did.

It was a plea for a few bucks to keep Wikipedia free. This is part of their press release…

The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), the non-profit behind Wikipedia, today announced the launch of its annual fundraising campaign. This year’s goal is to raise $16 million so that Wikipedia and its sister projects can remain freely available to people around the world. The $16 million raised in this campaign will help fund the Foundation’s total 2010-11 operating budget of $20.4 million. And for the first time this year, the campaign will also invite readers to donate time as well as money, by joining the Wikimedia community of volunteer editors. Once the financial goal has been met, the campaign will encourage Wikipedia’s nearly 400 million monthly readers to become editors.

I kicked in $10 through my PayPal account.