On Sun, Jan 1, 2012 at 10:02 AM, Erik Moeller erik@wikimedia.org wrote:
A fundraising campaign is not a switch-on/switch-off affair. It has an arc. It's that arc that helps it be successful. This is the last day of the campaign, and a final invitation to give to reach our goal. It should communicate a sense of urgency towards closure and resolution, coinciding with people's increased year-end willingness to give (which isn't just about taxes).
Fabricating a sense of urgency that donations are immediately necessary at the end of the campaign to keep the projects operational and freely available (ie, "Please help Wikipedia pay its bills in 2012" [1], "Last day to make a tax-deductible contribution to keep Wikipedia free in 2012" [2], etc) is as unethical now as it was in last year's campaign ("Please donate to keep Wikipedia free" in the banner you linked to [3], etc).
This discussion about blinking banners might seem trivial but it serves as a very obvious reminder, in style now as well as substance, of the disjoint between the fundraising team's work and the norms and ethos of the community and projects.
On Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 12:34 AM, Domas Mituzas midom.lists@gmail.com wrote:
This isn't much of a slippery slope to say that next year we should expect dancing monkeys.
My money's on Jimmy's face Photoshopped onto the dancing baby GIF.
-- [1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NoticeTemplate/view&... [2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NoticeTemplate/view&... [3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NoticeTemplate/view&...