The problem is that the interface skin used by WMF
projects is also
the default skin in the MediaWiki software. This means that there are
thousands of wikis out there that look exactly like Wikipedia et al. How is
anyone (even an experienced user) supposed to realise that WikiTravel [2] is
not a WMF project when it looks exactly like one? I think that the strongest
thing we could do to reinforce the brand is to create a new skin that is
used by WMF projects _and_only_ WMF projects, which is
copyrighted/trademarked (if that is possible) and which is not included as
part of the MediaWiki code.
One of the most common objections to Wikia's new skins is that they
don't look like Wikipedia. To many people wiki=wikipedia and they
don't understand why a wiki would not look like that. It's not only an
issue of design, but of branding. People associate the monobook skin
with a professional, neutral site and they want their wiki to have
that same branding.
Angela