Here are a few assorted questions and answers. If you have other questions please e-mail Chris Whitten at chris (at) wikitree.com.
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WikiTree runs a customized version of the "MediaWiki" wiki software that was created by our friends at Wikipedia. However, WikiTree and Wikipedia are completely independent websites. Wikipedia is published by the Wikimedia Foundation.
No. There are advantages and disadvantages to being a non-profit corporation. I know them well because I created and ran a non-profit website for five years.
Being a federally-recognized non-profit corporation requires a fair amount of bureaucracy and regulatory complexity. Moreover, a non-profit needs donations and grants. Instead of spending my time improving the website, I'd be spending my days writing grant applications and hitting up WikiTreers for money. I'd need to hire a webmaster to run the site and an administrative assistant to help with bookkeeping and donor relations. A small business is actually less expensive to run than a non-profit corporation.
The site will always be free. Access to information here will never be restricted. (The very idea of charging people to see family history information that other users contributed is somewhat shocking but some ancestry websites do get away with it.)
So far, I have been devoting his own time and money to cover the expenses of the project. Over time we will be adding advertisements to pages. These will be non-offensive. They won't be pop-ups and they won't interfere in the use and enjoyment of the site. In fact, they'll mostly be visible to casual visitors and not regular users and active family members.
Click here for contact information. We always like to hear from WikiTreers. Please feel free to ask any questions, make suggestions, or just say hello.
See also: How to use WikiTree, Glossary, Privacy FAQ.