Wikipedia
A nonprofit reader mission with volunteer editors; ads are off by default and the core reading experience still prioritizes users over rent extraction.
User surplus Stage 1
The product is genuinely good for users; growth and goodwill are the priority.
Wikipedia remains one of the few large-scale platforms where the default experience is oriented toward readers and editors rather than ad load or engagement hacks. Funding via donations creates pressure, but the product is still overwhelmingly user surplus—messy governance and editor culture are real issues, not classic stage 3 extraction. Rated stage 1 with eyes open about internal politics.
More in Reference
-
IMDb
3 ExtractionCanonical film/TV metadata within Amazon—indispensable lookups with ads, Prime nudges, and data leverage across commerce and streaming.
-
Stack Overflow
3 ExtractionDefault Q&A layer for programmers; community labor and SEO gravity built the corpus, while ownership and product choices steer monetization and AI reuse.
