Hi everyone!
The December round of Rapid Grants will close on 15 December. If you are
planning to submit a grant application for a Wikipedia 20 event taking
place on or around January 15, please make sure to do so by midnight UTC on
15 December 2020. For those planning to host Wikipedia 20 events after
January through the end of 2021, Rapid Grants will continue to be available
in the following months.
Please note that applications for Rapid Grants to fund events happening in
January will not be eligible for funding after 15 December due to the lack
of time available for processing those applications.
You can find more information on Rapid Grants for Wikipedia 20 and the
application form on meta. [1]
Thank you so much and looking forward to celebrating with you!
On behalf of the Wikipedia 20 team, Samir Elsharbaty
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_20/Grants
Samir Elsharbaty (he/him)
Brand Associate
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hello everyone!
The Wikimedia Foundation Community Events Team
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Events_team> will
begin holding monthly office hours for any community members who are
interested. To start, this will be a place where people can come ask us
questions, get to know us, and have discussions. If only a handful of
people show up it will be completely informal but if a larger number of
people show up we will add a little bit of structure.
The first office hours will take place this Thursday, December 10 starting
at 15:00 UTC <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1607612429> and lasting for
an hour. Find the link to join on meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Events_team/OfficeHour…>
.
Our Team Members who will be attending and general topics which we will
each be able to speak to:
-
Rachel Farrand, Senior Program Officer: Conference grants (thematic and
growth events), accessibility, remote events in the Wikimedia context,
planning for future office hours
-
Chen Almog, Senior Program Officer: conference grants (regional events),
risk assessment, capacity building, the new Events portal
-
Joël Letang, Senior Events Strategist: event strategy, Wikimania,
scholarships
We will move the time of the meeting around month-to-month in order to be
inclusive of more timezones. We will also be adjusting these office hours
as we go based on community feedback and are very open to changing the
scope of these office hours over time or incorporating community theme
requests, presentation requests or requests for outside speakers. In some
cases we will be using these office hours to test out different options for
remote conference software.
You can find more information about upcoming officer hours and add your
comments and questions here and on the talk page:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Events_team/OfficeHours
We hope to see you there!
--
Rachel Farrand
Senior Program Officer
Community Events Team
Wikimedia Foundation
I agree that praying emojis look like a certain type of religious practice,
a hand gesture that implies certain religions and not others.
I assume the fundraising team would have the good sense not to describe
their campaign as a crusade or a jihad. Even if they had carefully targeted
that emoji to cultures where it was close to common currency, I think it
was inappropriate.
But I'm also concerned at the 98% look away bit. Presumably this was tested
and at least in the short term it raised more funds. The problem may be
longer term, it looked to me the sort of counterproductive message that
normalises not giving rather than normalising giving.
We need to remember the long term impact of our messaging on the people who
are less inclined to give as well as the short term impact on donations. To
me that 98% pitch looked like as much of a mistake as the £5 coffee ad that
fed the overpaid and wasteful meme.
I've seen some marketing from other organisations in the last few months
that has been more along the lines of "We know that money is tighter than
usual for a lot of the people who usually support us, and if you are one of
them we get that you can't give us money this year. But if you find
******** useful, and you are one of those people who is financially OK in
these troubled times, then please make a donation". Most people can
identify with one or other of those groups, and I suspect neither would
think the worse of us for pitching to them in those terms.
Regards
WSC
On Sat, 5 Dec 2020 at 14:24, <wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
wrote:
> Send Wikimedia-l mailing list submissions to
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> than "Re: Contents of Wikimedia-l digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Annoying ads (Chris Gates)
> 2. Re: Annoying ads (Gnangarra)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2020 08:57:48 -0500
> From: Chris Gates <vermont(a)vtwp.org>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Annoying ads
> Message-ID:
> <CAFOQ7-zYFXcw9f34r+499Ef2Nkf6R=
> c4HM3dvi7+dUitooFM1Q(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> I opened a browser I’m not logged in on to see what these ads were.
>
> Here is the text, unedited, of the second ad I was shown (after closing the
> first):
>
> “Hi reader 🙂. Sorry for the interruption, but this Saturday Wikipedia
> really needs your help. This is the 3rd appeal we've shown you. 98% of our
> readers don't give; they look the other way 😢. All we ask is $2.75 and
> then you can get back to your article. We ask you, humbly: please don't
> scroll away 🙏🙏.“
>
> It would be quite helpful if the WMF’s marketing and fundraising-focused
> teams weren’t so intent on destroying Wikipedia’s reputation. I, and I’m
> sure most editors, don’t care that praying and crying emojis illicit more
> money. There are social and reputation costs to portraying Wikipedia like a
> crying, praying beggar about to go broke. And though I understand the
> employees responsible for pushing this nonsense in front of every reader
> evidently do not care about the costs of their actions, and only whatever
> money they can get from it, it remains wholly unacceptable.
>
> Tell me: why should I volunteer to work on a project whose owners,
> regardless of the incredibly large quantities of money they already have,
> seek frequently to illicit donations through methods that damage
> Wikipedia’s reputation? Why would I give hours of my time a week to make
> Wikimedia projects clear of vandalism and abuse, seeking to give readers
> the impression of a functional and reliable source of information, knowing
> that some marketing person could undo all of the volunteers’ work through
> some ad campaign?
>
> And yes, I also understand that volunteers complain every time this
> happens. There’s very good reason to do so, as every time these campaigns
> go out they are worse than the last, wholly ignorant of community wishes,
> and taking no views into account other than those who reflect purely a goal
> of getting more donations.
>
> Regards,
> Vermont
>
> On Sat, Dec 5, 2020 at 05:22 Fæ <faewik(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Let's try kicking this perennial thead again.
> >
> > This morning (5 Dec 2020) I paused cooling my porridge when looking up
> > how Wikipedia describes 'Latinx' usage on my cellular, I was faced
> > with a *2 page* advert.
> > * The advert meant nothing of the article could be seen, not even the
> > title, without having to pass the two pages of several big blue
> > fundraising notices.
> > * There's some statements in those notices that, frankly, look
> > unencyclopaedic like "People told us we'd regret making Wikipedia a
> > non-profit". That's a literally untrue Trumpian political sentence if
> > ever I saw one.
> > * The 2 pages close with "We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away"
> > followed by a single option of a "MAYBE LATER" link (not a 'go away
> > forever please' link, and yes, it's really in shouty all caps).
> >
> > I might have passed on thinking, gah, not again, but there is a
> > further sting in this tale. After working out that there was a "No
> > thanks" link back at the start in a font smaller than all the notice
> > text, you are faced with a second big red fundraising notice. This one
> > has a sad weeping emoji in it, because you are going to "look the
> > other way". I guess the idea is to make it feel like you are
> > heartlessly walking past a beggar on the street without having the
> > humanity to look at them, not sure how else this is supposed to read.
> > It closes with the same "humbly" sentence, but this time with two
> > emojis that are begging or praying hands. Personally I find being
> > prayed at slightly offensive, Wikipedia being a haven of logical
> > thought, not a church, but that's probably me being too black hat.
> >
> > Isn't it about time the $100,000,000+ a year WMF made a design choice
> > to stay classy and avoid multiple full page banners begging the public
> > for money like it was about to go bust? It looks desperate because
> > there's no other honest way to describe it.
> >
> > Stay safe, wear a mask,
> > Fae
> >
> > On Tue, 5 May 2020 at 12:58, WereSpielChequers
> > <werespielchequers(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Given the large reserves that the WMF carries, and the savings from
> > > cancelling events such as Wikimania 2020, I would have thought that the
> > WMF
> > > was one organisation that could afford to pause its fundraising for a
> few
> > > months. At least in countries where the economy is in freefall.
> > >
> > > In a few months time lots of people will still be in a financial mess.
> > But
> > > the large number of people who are currently going to be worried about
> > > their financial future will hopefully be divided into those who have
> kept
> > > their jobs. or got new ones and those who were right to be worried.
> > > Hopefully some of those who come through this financially OK will be
> in a
> > > position to donate.
> > >
> > > WSC
> > >
> > > On Tue, 5 May 2020 at 11:25, <wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> > > wrote:
> > >
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
Given the large reserves that the WMF carries, and the savings from
cancelling events such as Wikimania 2020, I would have thought that the WMF
was one organisation that could afford to pause its fundraising for a few
months. At least in countries where the economy is in freefall.
In a few months time lots of people will still be in a financial mess. But
the large number of people who are currently going to be worried about
their financial future will hopefully be divided into those who have kept
their jobs. or got new ones and those who were right to be worried.
Hopefully some of those who come through this financially OK will be in a
position to donate.
WSC
On Tue, 5 May 2020 at 11:25, <wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
wrote:
> Send Wikimedia-l mailing list submissions to
> wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> wikimedia-l-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Wikimedia-l digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Annoying ads (John Erling Blad)
> 2. Re: Annoying ads (Benjamin Ikuta)
> 3. Re: Annoying ads (Robert Fernandez)
> 4. Re: Annoying ads (Pierre-Yves Beaudouin)
> 5. Re: Annoying ads (Nick Wilson (Quiddity))
> 6. Re: Annoying ads (Samuel Klein)
> 7. Re: Annoying ads (Paulo Santos Perneta)
> 8. Re: Annoying ads (Paulo Santos Perneta)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 4 May 2020 16:55:50 +0200
> From: John Erling Blad <jeblad(a)gmail.com>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Annoying ads
> Message-ID:
> <CAJcMX2=
> 5GgwUNkrfG6EjJsn6sB1rBF1H_FnyPhPd_Wjr5otu0A(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Often I surf Wikipedia without being logged in, and so I did right now. I
> got the usual banners, but this time they popped up repeatedly in several
> locations. This quickly gets extremely annoying, and I find it unwise.
> Create one banner, and stick with that. Several banners are simply way over
> the top.
>
> /jeblad
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> *****************************
>
@Pelagic:
As I just saw, that you were referring to an even older post, that was
about this section on the same talk page, the talk page on Meta about
the changes. That's the first place to look for such stuff, as that's
the most legitimate place for such discussions. Where did you expect this?
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard…
Greetz from Sänger
Anyone know where Dan would have gotten this update? I've searched for it without success.
Pelagic
Dan Szymborski dszymborski at gmail.com
Fri Oct 30 16:53:46 UTC 2020> Surprised to not see this here yet.> ...
> In response to comments from community members, the Board GovernanceCommittee has ...
Hello all,
Please accept my apologies if you are receiving this a number of times
today. We have sent it out to multiple mailing lists in order to reach as
many community members as possible. Please feel free to forward this to any
other community mailing lists you believe are relevant.
It's coming close to time for annual appointments of community members to
serve on the Ombudsman commission (OC). This commission works on all
Wikimedia projects to investigate complaints about violations of the
privacy policy, especially in use of CheckUser and Oversight tools, and to
mediate between the complaining party and the individual whose work is
being investigated. They may also assist the General Counsel, the Executive
Director or the Board of Trustees in investigations of these issues. For
more on their duties and roles, see
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ombuds_commission
This is a call for community members interested in volunteering for
appointment to this commission. Volunteers serving in this role should be
experienced Wikimedians, active on any project, who have previously used
the CheckUser tool OR who have the technical ability to understand the
CheckUser tool and the willingness to learn it. They are expected to be
able to engage neutrally in investigating these concerns and to know when
to recuse when other roles and relationships may cause conflict.
Commissioners are required to identify to the Wikimedia Foundation and must
be willing to comply with the appropriate Wikimedia Foundation board
policies (such as the access to non-public data policy[1] and the privacy
policy[2]). This is a position that requires a high degree of discretion
and trust.
If you are interested in serving on this commission, please write me an
email off-list (kbrown(at)wikimedia.org) to detail your experience on the
projects, your thoughts on the commission and what you hope to bring to the
role. The commission consists of ten members; all applications are
appreciated and will be carefully considered. The deadline for applications
is the end of day on 31 December, 2020.
Please feel free to pass this invitation along to any users who you think
may be qualified and interested.
Thank you!
-Karen Brown
On behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation Trust & Safety team
1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_to_nonpublic_information_policy
2. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_policy
--
Karen Brown
Trust & Safety Specialist
Wikimedia Foundation
kbrown(a)wikimedia.org