I suspect most of the readers of this list are eligible to vote in the current board election, yet most eligible people haven't voted and most won't unless there is a major trend change. Especially excluded are users who only log in to edit every few weeks. Hopefully this list will reach some of them.
There are many reasons why it is very important that YOU vote in this election. The board is responsible for oversight and direction of the Wikimedia projects, including fundraising, defining the mission, and determining foundation-wide policies, so though it does not have direct input into English Wikipedia day-to-day policy, you still are affected by what they choose to do.
The election process is simple, and because it uses approval voting, you don't have to figure out who is best; you simply need to select all candidates who are acceptable.
You can find out more about the election at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/en
The election closes at 23:59 on Saturday, July 7, 2007 (UTC, don't let the timezone catch you off guard!). That means you still have time to participate, although with thousands of words written in question and answer pages it will probably take you a little time to build a fair assessment of the candidates, so you should start looking now.
You can read the candidate statements at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/Candidate_presentation_g... and each candidate has as Question/Answer page linked from their statements.
As it stands right now substantially less than 16% of all eligible and recently active voters on English Wikipedia have participated in the election process. This is a lower turnout than previous years although enwiki has always had poor voter turnout.
Low turnout makes the election process dramatically more vulnerable to several types of bias; for example, people with strong emotions and potentially unreasonable feelings about the candidates are more likely to participate without encouragement. The impact of sockpuppets, small-POV groups, and parties with any personal or financial interests in the outcome is greater when turnout is low, because these parties will tend to cast a fixed number of votes.
Regardless of the election outcome, low turnout from English Wikipedia also sends the wrong message to the board. English Wikipedia is by far the largest Wikimedia community, and English Wikipedia has the largest readership. While it is very important that other Wikimedia projects be well supported and understood by the board, the importance of English Wikipedia should not be understated.
There are organized campaigns to increase turnout from some of the other projects, and the result appears that English Wikipedia's influence and interest in Wikimedia is far less than it actually is.
Even if you do not have an opinion on the outcome of the election, even if you think that all candidates are acceptable or that all are unacceptable, you can and should still vote. We use approval voting, and you can cast a vote approving everyone or even a vote approving no one. Neither of these two options will influence the direct outcome of the election, but both will still add to the total count of English Wikipedia voters and both will send the message that our project is important and involved.
I am disappointed that the election committee hasn't worked to improve voter turnout, but it is what it is.. Their time is limited and they already have a huge job without drumming up more participation so our communities need to step up to the challenge and fill this gap.
I can't speak for other English wikipedia contributors, but the reason that I as an english wikipedia user will not be visible as an English wikipedia voter, is that unlike in past years, when I most closely identified with that particular project, I shall not be voting *from* that project, but rather from the Finnish Wikipedia.
I suspect many regulars of the English wikipedia will be voting from other projects too. So that figure of 16 percent may be hugely misleading.
-- Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, ~ [[User:Cimon Avaro]]
On 7/2/07, Jussi-Ville Heiskanen cimonavaro@gmail.com wrote:
I can't speak for other English wikipedia contributors, but the reason that I as an english wikipedia user will not be visible as an English wikipedia voter, is that unlike in past years, when I most closely identified with that particular project, I shall not be voting *from* that project, but rather from the Finnish Wikipedia.
I suspect many regulars of the English wikipedia will be voting from other projects too. So that figure of 16 percent may be hugely misleading.
Even if made the outrageous assumption that every single person who has currently voted in the election is really an enwiki user wearing an alternative hat, we're still left with a small percentage of recently active eligible enwiki voters... There are a LOT of eligible people, and the other projects don't have fantastic turnout.
Also, in my count I would have counted to as a 'voted' enwiki user... because I ignored the wiki and considered an en user to have voted no matter what project they voted from... (thus over-estimating the number who have voted in those rare causes where different people have the same username).
I voted from commons. - White Cat
On 7/2/07, Jussi-Ville Heiskanen cimonavaro@gmail.com wrote:
I can't speak for other English wikipedia contributors, but the reason that I as an english wikipedia user will not be visible as an English wikipedia voter, is that unlike in past years, when I most closely identified with that particular project, I shall not be voting *from* that project, but rather from the Finnish Wikipedia.
I suspect many regulars of the English wikipedia will be voting from other projects too. So that figure of 16 percent may be hugely misleading.
-- Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, ~ [[User:Cimon Avaro]] _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
On 7/2/07, Gregory Maxwell gmaxwell@gmail.com wrote:
I suspect most of the readers of this list are eligible to vote in the current board election, yet most eligible people haven't voted and most won't unless there is a major trend change.
When I tried to vote, it said I didn't have enough edits. I think it may be because of the external server thing, because it seemed not to recognize my user name.
Sarah
On 7/2/07, Slim Virgin slimvirgin@gmail.com wrote:
On 7/2/07, Gregory Maxwell gmaxwell@gmail.com wrote:
I suspect most of the readers of this list are eligible to vote in the current board election, yet most eligible people haven't voted and most won't unless there is a major trend change.
When I tried to vote, it said I didn't have enough edits. I think it may be because of the external server thing, because it seemed not to recognize my user name.
Strike that. I went in earlier via meta and it said I didn't have enough; now I've tried again via en-wikipedia, and it's fine.
On 7/2/07, Slim Virgin slimvirgin@gmail.com wrote:
On 7/2/07, Gregory Maxwell gmaxwell@gmail.com wrote:
I suspect most of the readers of this list are eligible to vote in the current board election, yet most eligible people haven't voted and most won't unless there is a major trend change.
When I tried to vote, it said I didn't have enough edits. I think it may be because of the external server thing, because it seemed not to recognize my user name.
Oooohhh.. Someone needs to change MediaWiki:boardvote_nosession , boardvote_notqualified , and boardvote_notloggedin to tell people to go back to their home Wiki to vote.
Since we send people to meta to read the statements I expect a lot of people will run into the denied message when they really are okay.
Gregory Maxwell wrote:
On 7/2/07, Slim Virgin slimvirgin@gmail.com wrote:
On 7/2/07, Gregory Maxwell gmaxwell@gmail.com wrote:
I suspect most of the readers of this list are eligible to vote in the current board election, yet most eligible people haven't voted and most won't unless there is a major trend change.
When I tried to vote, it said I didn't have enough edits. I think it may be because of the external server thing, because it seemed not to recognize my user name.
Oooohhh.. Someone needs to change MediaWiki:boardvote_nosession , boardvote_notqualified , and boardvote_notloggedin to tell people to go back to their home Wiki to vote.
MediaWiki:Boardvote_nosession already does say that. MediaWiki:Boardvote_notloggedin is only displayed on the source wiki, and will match the wiki login status. I've changed the English version of MediaWiki:Boardvote_notqualified.
-- Tim Starling
I wrote:
Gregory Maxwell wrote:
[...]
Oooohhh.. Someone needs to change MediaWiki:boardvote_nosession , boardvote_notqualified , and boardvote_notloggedin to tell people to go back to their home Wiki to vote.
MediaWiki:Boardvote_nosession already does say that. MediaWiki:Boardvote_notloggedin is only displayed on the source wiki, and will match the wiki login status. I've changed the English version of MediaWiki:Boardvote_notqualified.
I've also changed the link in the site notice on meta to go to a clearer intermediate page.
-- Tim Starling
Tim can you alter the central sitenotice thing to use <fundraisinglogo/> instead of the svg?
On 7/2/07, Tim Starling tstarling@wikimedia.org wrote:
I wrote:
Gregory Maxwell wrote:
[...]
Oooohhh.. Someone needs to change MediaWiki:boardvote_nosession , boardvote_notqualified , and boardvote_notloggedin to tell people to go back to their home Wiki to vote.
MediaWiki:Boardvote_nosession already does say that. MediaWiki:Boardvote_notloggedin is only displayed on the source wiki,
and
will match the wiki login status. I've changed the English version of MediaWiki:Boardvote_notqualified.
I've also changed the link in the site notice on meta to go to a clearer intermediate page.
-- Tim Starling
WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
On 7/2/07, Gregory Maxwell gmaxwell@gmail.com wrote:
You can find out more about the election at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/en
I went to that link and can't find anything on that page to take me to the voting. I already voted and "dismissed" the notice, so am having trouble finding the vote page again (should I want to change my vote)
It also say "*Only members of Wikimedia Board Election Steering Committeehttp://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/Committee/enmay edit this (English) page on meta *." so I can't fix that.
I also don't want to mess with [[meta:Template:Board elections 2007]] but the link to http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/jump might belong in that template, in bold.
-Aude
On 7/2/07, Aude audevivere@gmail.com wrote:
I went to that link and can't find anything on that page to take me to the voting. I already voted and "dismissed" the notice, so am having trouble finding the vote page again (should I want to change my vote)
Make sure you ask the Election Com to address this.
While you're at it, remind them to look at: http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2007-July/031016.html
;)
Gregory and Aude -
Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. I assure you, they're being discussed. We appreciate your suggestions, and the many other suggestions from dedicated Wikimedians who have put their minds to the issues and come up with some very challenging questions and creative solutions.
While I'm not sure what (if any) action the committee will take on your suggestions for this year, and absolutely do not speak for the committee as a whole, but just for myself in a personal capacity, I'm sure that the others on the committee join me in thanking you for your commitment and contributions, and wish to assure you that no suggestions have been ignored - they're all being strongly considered and discussed in the manner that has so distinguished Wikimedia over the years.
I'd like to clarify one thing: you can change or modify your vote easily at any time until voting closes. Log into a project from which you are qualified to vote, and then go to Special:Boardvote. If you have any problems, please contact any member of the election committee. As you would imagine, voting concerns are at the top of our priority list right now. It is of critical importance to us to first look at enfranchisement issues (those who believe they are qualified to vote, but are having technical problems doing so, either through technical error or user error).
Philippe Beaudette ----- Original Message ----- From: Gregory Maxwell To: English Wikipedia Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 9:12 AM Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] You are invited to vote in the Wikimedia boardelections!
On 7/2/07, Aude audevivere@gmail.com wrote:
I went to that link and can't find anything on that page to take me to the voting. I already voted and "dismissed" the notice, so am having trouble finding the vote page again (should I want to change my vote)
Make sure you ask the Election Com to address this.
While you're at it, remind them to look at: http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2007-July/031016.html
;)
_______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
On 7/2/07, Philippe Beaudette philippebeaudette@gmail.com wrote:
If you have any problems, please contact any member of the election committee. As you would imagine, voting concerns are at the top of our priority list right now. It is of critical importance to us to first look at enfranchisement issues (those who believe they are qualified to vote, but are having technical problems doing so, either through technical error or user error).
I'm hearing from a number of people who:
1) Had no idea the election has started. I think the worst resolvable cause of this on enwiki has been resolved: the sitenotice ID hadn't been incremented until today... so anyone who had dismissed the notice did not see it. This problem may also exist on other projects which make active use of sitenotice hiding.
2) Didn't know they were eligible to vote. My only feedback there is that the current enwiki notice language, "All eligible community members are invited to vote" may cause some people to assume they are not eligible because no one told them that they are.
3) Can't figure out how to actually get to the voting page. I'm talking with a few people trying to figure out if there are any major causes of confusion beyond hitting the rejection notice on meta. I will encourage people who write to me to contact the election comm, and if I discover any other problems I'll be sure to let you know.
Thanks!
On 7/2/07, Gregory Maxwell gmaxwell@gmail.com wrote:
On 7/2/07, Philippe Beaudette philippebeaudette@gmail.com wrote:
If you have any problems, please contact any member of the election
committee. As you would imagine, voting concerns are at the top of our priority list right now. It is of critical importance to us to first look at enfranchisement issues (those who believe they are qualified to vote, but are having technical problems doing so, either through technical error or user error).
I'm hearing from a number of people who:
- Had no idea the election has started. I think the worst resolvable
cause of this on enwiki has been resolved: the sitenotice ID hadn't been incremented until today... so anyone who had dismissed the notice did not see it. This problem may also exist on other projects which make active use of sitenotice hiding.
Just out of curiosity, how would one know if the sitenotice ID has been incremented? And who can increment it; by what means?
I am asking as a member of a language project which does not carry the default sitenotice, but a translated one.
-- Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, ~ [[User:Cimon Avaro]]
On 7/2/07, Jussi-Ville Heiskanen cimonavaro@gmail.com wrote:
Just out of curiosity, how would one know if the sitenotice ID has been incremented? And who can increment it; by what means?
I am asking as a member of a language project which does not carry the default sitenotice, but a translated one.
Like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Sitenotice_id&diff=p...
If a project has a MediaWiki:Sitenotice_id page you will need to update it every time the sitenotice has an important update to cause it to unhide for everyone who has hidden it.
On 7/3/07, Gregory Maxwell gmaxwell@gmail.com wrote:
On 7/2/07, Jussi-Ville Heiskanen cimonavaro@gmail.com wrote:
Just out of curiosity, how would one know if the sitenotice ID has been incremented? And who can increment it; by what means?
I am asking as a member of a language project which does not carry the default sitenotice, but a translated one.
Like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Sitenotice_id&diff=p...
If a project has a MediaWiki:Sitenotice_id page you will need to update it every time the sitenotice has an important update to cause it to unhide for everyone who has hidden it.
So our project does not have such a page. Should I create one? Or does the sitenotice reappear automagically for those who have dismissed a previous version of it, if there is no MediaWiki:Sitenotice_id page?
Sorry for asking so many questions, but perhaps there are others for whom this may be useful information in other projects.
-- Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, ~ [[User:Cimon Avaro]]