I'm a bit disappointed at this. Wikipedia was a disruptive technology desperately trying to find ways to bootstrap itself, not even a decade ago. Back in 2004-2005 large organizations didn't take Wikipedia seriously just like Wikipedia doesn't take Bitcoin seriously now. Wikipedia also had to face their fair share of excrement being slung at them from the mainstream media, when they were new. They should know what it's like. Why don't they give Bitcoin a chance? It isn't any more of a hassle accepting Bitcoin than accepting other non-monetary donations. Ideologically, Bitcoin and Wikipedia are quite similar and could benefit each other tremendously.
I'm curious in reading past articles about Wikipedia seeking funding during their early stage. Do any exist and where? I'm guessing there was a time when they were struggling financially and would have welcomed any type of funding tossed their way.
Them saying 'thanks, but no thanks' in having Bitcoin donations help augment their $14,490,000 contribution fund (pdf source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/AR_web_all-spreads_24mar11_72_FINAL.pdf), still sits ill with me.
They openly welcome a $1.00 donation via PayPal, of which they recognize only $.67 after PayPal takes their cut. Yet they don't want to even find a way around not accepting Bitcoin with virtually no fee, a fee that may be arranged to equal 0%.
They keep this up, I'll just dust off my almost complete set of Funk and Wagnalls encyclopedia, and refrain from using their site or, at the very least, falsely claim to not use them.