There is now the Wikimania Committee:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee
Perhaps a decision/formal consultation on a name change could come from them, if they feel it's appropriate?

Personally, I've always been a bit uneasy with '-mania' for the reasons that Gordon identified - plus getting academics to take you seriously when you're saying you'll be attending a conference called 'Wikimania' is always a bit tricky (first there's the 'wiki' part, then the 'mania' part, then there's both combined!). So I think it's worth rethinking the name at some point.

BTW, "periods of great excitement, euphoria, delusions, and overactivity" probably describes quite a few Wikimedians!

Thanks,
Mike

On 4 Nov 2016, at 20:37, Asaf Bartov <abartov@wikimedia.org> wrote:

A word on process:

quite apart from the fact we've had this conversation before (it's fine to have it again, as Lodewijk says), what bothers me is that there is *no clear way it could have a result*.  There is no identified group or person empowered with deciding on a name change, so however persuasive your arguments might be, on either side, this conversation is doomed to end the way all the others had: with zero change.

It seems to me that the only way the name would ever change is if some year's *hosting team* were to decide to change it.  They would be able to de-facto determine the name of the conference and literally effect it, in branding, merchandise, etc.  It follows that if you want change, you should focus on advocating to the Montreal team, or to a future year's team, once determined.

    A.

On Fri, Nov 4, 2016 at 2:40 PM Nicholas Michael Bashour <nicholasbashour@gmail.com> wrote:
From Wikipedia article about Beatlemania:

"The use of the word mania to describe fandom pre-dates the Beatles by more than 100 years. Beginning in 1841, fans of Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt showed a level of fanaticism similar to the Beatles. Poet Heinrich Heine coined the word "Lisztomania" to describe this...The term later became the name of various tribute bands dedicated to singing the songs of the Beatles, many with impersonators of the group.[19][20] The term has had a number of derivatives with the suffix "mania", usually short-lived, to describe a similar phenomenon toward other bands, such as "Rollermania"[21] in the early 1970s for the Scottish band Bay City Rollers, "Menudomanía" in the 1980s to describe frenzy across Latin America for the boyband Menudo, "Spicemania" in the 1990s[22][23] for the Spice Girls and "Jedwardmania" in the 2010s for Jedward. More recently, the "mania" suffix is often placed at the end of sports figures' names when they acquire sudden popularity, such as Hulkamania during the professional wrestling career of Hulk Hogan, or "Tebowmania" for football player Tim Tebow in 2011. It is also used to describe the following of other public figures, such as politician Jeremy Corbyn - Corbynmania - at the height of his popularity, as well as actor Leonardo DiCaprio - Leomania - in the period following his breakthrough performance in the hit film Titanic.[24]"


2016-11-04 17:37 GMT-04:00 Daniel Kinzler <daniel.kinzler@wikimedia.de>:
Am 04.11.2016 um 22:34 schrieb Nkansah Rexford:
> Mania: "mental illness marked by periods of great excitement, euphoria,
> delusions, and overactivity."

Second meaning: "extreme enthusiasm for something that is usually shared by many
people". -- http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mania

Sounds about right to me...


--
Daniel Kinzler
Senior Software Developer

Wikimedia Deutschland
Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.

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