[throwaway5752]

I'm surprised people are surprised by this, speaking as an annual donator. The "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit." implies it to me.

That's almost entirely what makes Wikipedia what it is, the idea that it's community maintained by volunteer contributors. If it's compensated, it completely changes the contribution culture and the identity of the site at the core. It still needs a legal team, professional staff, payroll, etc, too. I know they have other projects and that's fine by me, even if they don't succeed.