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WikiMoney is a mutual credit system introduced to Wikipedia in May 2003 by User:AxelBoldt. It was never especially popular and fell into nearly complete disuse by September 2004. While Wikipedians are still welcome to participate, they must do so with the realization that WikiMoney is rarely used.
The stated purpose of WikiMoney is to create an "economy of incentives" for working on Wikipedia-related tasks. Some see WikiMoney as a quantification of WikiLove — as an act of friendship between contributors. Others see it in a more pragmatic sense, as an efficient system to prioritize tasks and direct the community towards effective contributions.
The system works as follows: every long-term contributor (active for longer than 1 month and having made more than 200 edits) who wishes to participate gets an initial grant of 20 units of WikiMoney (also known as Wikis and written like this: ψ45 for 45 Wikis). This WikiMoney can be offered to other Wikipedians in exchange for various services. The WikiMoney accounts of all Wikipedians are maintained in the WikiBank on this page; WikiMoney is transferred by simply editing the account balances in the WikiBank.
However, not only veteran contributors are allowed to earn WikiMoney; anyone can join. If you are new or too busy to become a "long-term contributor" (according to the definition above) you can earn your initial credits by accepting offers (listed below). Note, however, that Wikipedians usually have high standards for the writing of articles, so make sure you are familiar with the policies and guidelines, especially the requirement for NPOV.
Why should you try to earn WikiMoney? Because you can spend it on tasks that are near and dear to your heart (but please do not use it to push your point of view in edit disputes, or to bribe people when voting). The concept is similar to the idea behind timebanks and LETS systems, where volunteers earn "time credits" or local currency for helping their local community. Our system is more flexible: It allows you to define how valuable the tasks are to you, and you can join up with others to "fund" a specific activity.
Please remember that WikiMoney is not "real" money! At the present time relatively few Wikipedians are using this page regularly, so don't take it too seriously. (If you are serious about Money and Wikipedia, please consider making a donation to Wikipedia.)