HRWiki talk:2006 Spring Fundraising Drive

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Donation to tumor research

I strongly disagree with the idea that we should donate a portion of the proceeds to tumor research. Our donations page says:

All donations will be used strictly for hosting the site and keeping the domain registered.

If people want to send money, they can, just not through us. I do not think we should make any mention of the tumor research fund here. We are a knowledge base about Homestar Runner, not a vehicle for donating funds to tumor research. If people want to donate to tumor research, they can, but not through us. We link to the obit that mentions the fund in the Don Chapman article, I do not think we should link to the tumor research fund. Lastly, this whole thing could come across as if we were trying to garner funds by donating a portion of the proceeds to a cause close to The Brothers Chaps' heart, which is definitely in bad taste. -- Tom 19:03, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Well, I feel dumb. I guess I hadn't considered the implications of that idea. I was really only trying to do something nice, but you're absolutely right about how it would be perceived. I certainly wouldn't want to use the tumor foundation to increase donations here. If people want to donate to the tumor foundation they should donate there, and if people want to donate to the wiki they should donate to the wiki. It should be that simple. — Joey (talk·edits) 19:29, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

I wonder...

If we could do advertising and selling products here, would we do it? I always wondered whether or not we'd follow in the noble footsteps of the non-advertising TBC.... — Seriously ^(Talk) 19:39, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

I think this was brought up before... I think the main problem with it is that this is a non-commercial site, all about someone else's creation. It'd be kinda like using the Brothers Chaps' characters to sell things, which would be wrong. --DorianGray

Actually, I think he refers to if it wasn't wrong or illegal or otherwise violating free-use. To which neither of us could really answer. — Lapper (talk) 20:35, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I'll leave this question to JoeyDay. — Seriously ^(Talk) 22:12, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

If it were legal, I'd still think twice before allowing ads to be shown on the wiki. I value TBC's willingness to take the high road and remain ad free and I applaud their success at crafting such a high-quality merchandise business. If it were legal, perhaps we'd sell t-shirts or copies of our knowledge-base on CD (or how 'bout Kick the Tom plush dolls?). Ultimately, the decision would be up to the community, and, without really considering it and attempting to reach community consensus, it's hard to say which direction it would go. — Joey (talk·edits) 03:59, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

If it were legal, I'd be all about making a "Learn German with Heimi" DVD for us to sell. :-) Heimstern Läufer 04:33, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

I think if it's unrelated to the wiki, you can do that independently ;). — Elcool ^(talk)_(contribs) 06:25, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

What about selling a few o' dems "Super Fun Mecha Video Game Joystick Game Player Player" things?---COLA 00:14, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Well, I'd definitely pay for a Tosatpaint or TELL WHAT U THINK! shirt. -- Jello B. (talk/edits) 02:47, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Just a suggestion: The wiki could open a Cafe Press shop and sell T-shirts to raise additional funds. Just a suggestion. -AtionSong 20:31, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

No matter what kind of product it is (a t-shirt, a cd of the knowledge base, etc.) it's impossible to not mention homestarrunner.com, which means that if that product is sold, the wiki benefits financially from the existence and popularity of TBC's creations. So, unfortunately, I don't think it would be ethical to sell stuff. TBC are already very gracious in permitting us to gratuitously copy material from their website and put it on ours, so I'd feel bad making money off of their work. Trey56 21:27, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

But if all profits go to this wiki, then we aren't really making any more money off of it than these donations are. And Wikipedia's doing it... - Joshua 22:21, 2 June 2006 (UTC)