The founder of Wikipedia, the charitably funded online encyclopaedia, says that the website is considering carrying advertisements in a move that could raise hundreds of millions of dollars a year in revenues.

Jimmy Wales told Times Online that despite widespread "resistance to the idea" of advertising on Wikipedia, "at some point questions are going to be raised over the amount of money we are turning down."

Wikipedia would be in a prime position to exploit the current boom in online advertising. It expects to record around 2.5 billion page impressions this month and traffic volumes are doubling every four months. According to figures released this month by Nielsen/Netratings, it was the ninth-fastest growing site on the web in 2005.

However, "wikitopeans" - the members of the public who create Wikipedia's articles on a voluntary, unpaid basis - are likely to oppose any suggestion of commercialisation of the site.

The site has only three full-time employees. Mr Wales, an ex-futures trader who now heads the non-profit Wikimedia foundation that owns Wikipedia, does not draw a salary.

The Foundation's mission is to provide a free online encyclopaedia to everyone in the world in their own language. Mr Wales said that both he and the site's community of vounteers would have to ask themselves "how the charitable mission could be supported by money raised through advertising".

Wikipedia’s continued growth is despite recent accusations of irresponsibility and inaccuracy. Last month it emerged that a Wikipedia article on John Seigenthaler had falsely linked the founding editorial director of USA Today to the assassination of President John F Kennedy.

In his interview, Mr Wales admits that the site cannot be considered authoritative. "If what you’re after is 'who won the World Cup in 1986' it’s going to be fine – no problem," he says. "If you want to know something more esoteric, or something controversial, you should probably use a second reference – at least."

To read the full Jimmy Wales interview, click here.

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