Using my volunteer account and time, I have proposed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Sidebar_update

The sidebar has long driven many of us who care about usability crazy. I've proposed what I think is a reasonable compromise, where we don't remove a lot of links, but create a special new "Contribute" section focused on ways to participate, and we reword or move major functions like About, Help, Contact etc. 

Comments welcome, naturally. 
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