[Mediterraneo10]

Some of the most heavily-contributing editors to Wikipedia are on the autistic spectrum. (I don’t think this is a very controversial statement for anyone involved in the community.) They are editing because organizing information and making articles as complete as possible assuages an inner itch – essentially the work is its own reward. Paying them for their activity would not change much, and I personally would question whether it is even necessary.

[eindiran]

What does some editors being on the spectrum have to do with anything? OP's point was that if you are going to financially reward anyone for providing you with well-written Wikipedia articles ideally it would be the people who created the articles, and donating money to the WMF doesn't reward these people at all.

[pchristensen]

I think it was another answer to the GP question "what does reward past content creators?"

The editing and organizing work is satisfying to some types of people, including some people on the autism spectrum. And that specific type of satisfying work is rewarding to them. Kind of like how a freshly mown lawn is satisfying to others. There are plenty of people who love mowing their lawn that would hate to do it as a job for others.

[DoofusOfDeath]

I think GP's point was that for many contributors, simply organizing the information well is its own reward. And therefore being paid for that work is a smaller deal than it might be for other populations.

[sprafa]

I was going to complain but my experience with Wikipedia is this is pretty true.