banner diet - WikiLovesMonuments

12 Aug 2021

Hi all,

I just wanted to collect some input on the WLM banners.

As background: the centralnotice banners are the most important way that we
make newcomers aware of our competition, but it is also the main way many
other efforts get attention. This is a scarce resource, that we should use
responsibly.

When we started Wiki Loves Monuments, the sitenotice was primarily
all-or-nothing, and the community was very much at ease with such an
important competition getting this attention. As time progressed, the
option to institute a "diet" was added. Unfortunately, the documentation of
this is pretty poor, but it looks like this basically constitutes of a
maximum number of times that a given device sees the banner within a given
span of time. Typically, this number is set at 5 (you only see a banner 5
times), but there is an option to 'reset' that counter to show the banner
another 5 times, for example the next week. Some options I would see as
feasible (but more experienced sitenotice designers may know more creative
solutions) would include:
- Show this banner X times in total per device
- Show this banner X times per week per device
- Show this banner once per day
- Show this banner once per Y page views
etc

The community has also flagged over the past years that showing the banner
without limitation becomes harder to justify as the number of campaigns
increases.

Experience teaches us that the effect of a banner diminishes over the
number of times it is being shown to people. It may be a small cost to us
to determine a diet. For simplicity's sake, we should probably try to come
up with one-size-fits-all with some possible local exceptions if special
events happen (e.g. a national monument open day).

Now the question is: what is a reasonable and optimal diet to request? This
is a tricky balance to strike: what is still enough to almost achieve
optimal impact, but minimize the 'cost' in our readers' attention? If
people have not clicked on a banner the first five times, will they click
on it the sixth?

I invite all national organizers to share their insights here or on the
public discussion page. If we can come to a consensus of what we think is a
fair diet, then we're also more credible with our request for these
essential resources. I have my own thoughts, and I'm sure others on the
international team have them too. But first, I'd love to hear some more
thoughts. What diet would be fair and practical, if any?

Lodewijk
(former international coordination team)