User:Peter M Gerdes

Please note the user name is not intended to indicate any admiration for the nazi party or sympathy with any of it's goals. Read the note

Who Am I

Hi, I'm a research mathematician working mainly in recursion theory otherwise known as computability theory. I did my graduate degree at UC Berkeley's logic program which combines mathematical logic and philosophy so I have some (but much less) knowledge in that area as well.

Wikipedia Should Accept Ads

While I'm at it let me add that I think it's both dangerous and wasteful for wikipedia to be funded via user contributions. Yes, it's always important to worry about the influence of funders on editorial choices but I think recent developments have made it quite clear that companies present a much smaller danger than individual donors. If one looks to patreon funded projects they seem to be *more*, not less, vulnerable to disruptions to revenue based on unpopular positions. Indeed, this is exactly what one would expect. An advertiser will pull funding when the affiliation makes them look bad (high bar) while a donor needs to feel they are supporting something they approve of (lower bar).

Given that not accepting ads doesn't help keep Wikipedia free from undue influence, diverts charitable donations that could be used elsewhere and doesn't really improve any normal web user's privacy (did you not get here from google?) why do it?

I have a PGP/GPG Key