Wikimedia has an estimated $157m in donations this year. If we could get a small fraction of this amount we should be able to build something pretty good.
Get real lol. Why would a general public care about you? Happy to donate but it won’t keep the light on. You’re serving a niche community
Niche for now, but I think a lot of people can see the value of search without ads.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
I wish you luck, but I mean, I use Google and I haven’t seen a search ad for what, a decade (okay, less than a decade considering iOS)? Most people who don’t want to see search ads can pretty easily find an ad blocker.
Online encyclopedia was very niche when Wikipedia started.
I mean, it's not even remotely comparable. It's not like we have to look at paper search engines as an alternative to online search engines. The whole point is that the general public has no real reason to switch, never mind donate.