Comments from the peanut gallery. I felt like forwarding this somewhere, so I am.
Kelly ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: IZAK simshalom@att.net Date: Jan 9, 2006 12:04 PM Subject: Wikipedia e-mail: Bad decision! To: Kelly Martin kelly.lynn.martin@gmail.com
Hi Kelly: When most people log on they are taken to the Main Page, and the ArbCom vote link should be on EVERY article, putting it on watchlists marginalizes it, and if you have a rule that users need to be active for a few months then their vote won't be registered regardless of what page they come from. At this stage it's more important to educate new users and the public about an important vote taking place within Wikipedia than to have the request for MONEY on every page which makes Wikipedia look greedy after they just raised around $300,000, don't you think? Get rid of the merchandising and commercializing junk and mention the ArbCom stuff that is more to the core of what Wikipedia is about, a participatory effort and not just a scheme to raise money. Some of us are having trouble writing and editing articles with that flashing "Dollar sign" on top of every page. I hope you understand the importance of this. It's about the kind of image Wikipedia wants to project about itself, an d someone has made a bad decision here lately it seems to me. IZAK.
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I got the same message.
Kelly Martin stated for the record:
Comments from the peanut gallery. I felt like forwarding this somewhere, so I am.
Kelly ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: IZAK simshalom@att.net Date: Jan 9, 2006 12:04 PM Subject: Wikipedia e-mail: Bad decision! To: Kelly Martin kelly.lynn.martin@gmail.com
Hi Kelly: When most people log on they are taken to the Main Page, and the ArbCom vote link should be on EVERY article, putting it on watchlists marginalizes it, and if you have a rule that users need to be active for a few months then their vote won't be registered regardless of what page they come from. At this stage it's more important to educate new users and the public about an important vote taking place within Wikipedia than to have the request for MONEY on every page which makes Wikipedia look greedy after they just raised around $300,000, don't you think? Get rid of the merchandising and commercializing junk and mention the ArbCom stuff that is more to the core of what Wikipedia is about, a participatory effort and not just a scheme to raise money. Some of us are having trouble writing and editing articles with that flashing "Dollar sign" on top of every page. I hope you understand the importance of this. It's about the kind of image Wikipedia wants to project about itself, an d someone has made a bad decision here lately it seems to me. IZAK. _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@Wikipedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
- -- Sean Barrett | Say "NO" to drugs. That will sean@epoptic.org | bring the prices down.
Peanut gallery to peanut gallery here:
When most people log on they are taken to the Main Page, and the
ArbCom vote link should be on EVERY article, putting it on
watchlists
marginalizes it, and if you have a rule that users need to
be active
for a few months then their vote won't be registered regardless of what page they come from. At this stage it's more important
to educate
new users and the public about an important vote taking
place within
Wikipedia than to have the request for MONEY on every page
which makes
Wikipedia look greedy after they just raised around $300,000, don't you think? Get rid of the merchandising and commercializing
I hadn't realised the ArbCom thing shows up only on the watchlist, but it seems a very logical place for it. There is no point having newbies or casual web surfers vote. They would have no idea what they were voting for, let alone whom. Anyone who has a watchlist and checks it cares at least a *little* bit about Wikipedia, and has a basic concept of editing, and can probably understand the issues that could lead to disputes, like (non-)ownership of pages, etc.
That said, he has a point re:fundraising. It would be more satisfying if there *was* a fundraising goal, and if the notices were removed if that goal were met. Fair enough if the goal *isn't* met to leave it indefinitely.
Totally unrelated question: Where can I find out what portion of cafepress.com merchandise goes back to Wikipedia?
Steve
On 1/9/06, Steve Bennett stevage@gmail.com wrote:
Totally unrelated question: Where can I find out what portion of cafepress.com merchandise goes back to Wikipedia?
Steve
Sod all. Someone needs to find a better suplier.
-- geni
From: wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org [mailto:wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org] On Behalf Of geni
On 1/9/06, Steve Bennett stevage@gmail.com wrote:
Totally unrelated question: Where can I find out what portion of cafepress.com merchandise goes back to Wikipedia?
Steve
Sod all. Someone needs to find a better suplier.
We had this same problem with BookCrossing.com. CafePress had a great range and good service, but we didn't get much back. Now we have a small staff who handle book labels, bookmarks, clothing, backpacks, all sorts of stuff.
The benefits are that "the supply store" generates most of the revenue for the site and we can tailor our merchandise precisely to what we want, rather than what is convenient for CafePress. The downside is that we have to have a staff and a storeroom and an infrastructure to handle the orders from a userbase of hundreds of thousands, even if only a few of them are active at any one time.
Peter (Skyring)
On 1/9/06, Kelly Martin kelly.lynn.martin@gmail.com wrote:
Comments from the peanut gallery. I felt like forwarding this somewhere, so I am.
Kelly
Heh the arbcom notice was briefly at the top of every page but the people who look after site notice removed it. So I compramised on watchlists.
-- geni
On 1/9/06, geni geniice@gmail.com wrote:
On 1/9/06, Kelly Martin kelly.lynn.martin@gmail.com wrote:
Comments from the peanut gallery. I felt like forwarding this somewhere, so I am.
Kelly
Heh the arbcom notice was briefly at the top of every page but the people who look after site notice removed it. So I compramised on watchlists.
I also added it to Recent Changes. I think it's worth keeping the notice there for a few days at least. Maybe add it there (and elsewhere) again on the final day of voting.
Carbonite