I don't know, in Australia you can get a cup of International Roast for $3,
but I don't know that that would motivate a programmer, other than perhaps
as a threat.
Cheers,
Craig
On 20 December 2014 at 05:00, Andrew Gray <andrew.gray(a)dunelm.org.uk> wrote:
It's now "If everyone reading this right now
gives £3, our fundraiser
will be done within an hour. That's right, the price of a cup of
coffee is all we need."
So I suppose the take-home message is that WMF fundraising has high
estimates of what a coffee costs, rather than their programmers having
expensive tastes ;-)
(In all seriousness: I generally agree with Liam's concerns, but I'd
also like to note that the banners running on mobile are much more
discreet, though are just as eye-catching. Well done to whoever
thought of those.)
Andrew.
On 19 December 2014 at 08:44, WereSpielChequers
<werespielchequers(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Two weeks ago I emailed the fundraising team with
the following note,
quietly and discretely pointing out an error in their
messaging. Sadly I
haven't had a reply and I think that in the UK they are still using the £3
buys a coffee for a programmer line:
> Aside from the incidental nature of the appeal, £3 and $3 are very
different
sums of money. When I saw $3 I thought that was an expensive way
to buy coffees and that the WMF should invest in a kettle and some mugs.
But £3 for a coffee, now that just looks wasteful, even to someone living
in an expensive part of London. I dread to think what it looks like to
someone living in other parts of England, let alone cheaper parts of the
world. "£3 gets coffee and biscuits for a potential wikipedian coming to a
training session", that I could defend.
>
> There's also the honesty/credibility factor. I doubt I am the only
person
seeing different versions of these ads including different
currencies, if the sums are this far apart the suspicion has to be that
none of the figures are to be trusted. Not a great help to our program of
improving Wikipedia quality and getting such details right in our articles.
Regards
Jonathan Cardy
>
> 3.
>>
>>
>> To protect our independence, we'll never run ads. We receive no
government
>> funds. We survive on donations from our
readers. If all our past donors
>> simply gave again today, we could end the fundraiser. Please help us
forget
>> fundraising and get back to improving
Wikipedia.
>>
>> We are deeply grateful for your past support. This year, please
consider
>> making another donation to protect and
sustain Wikipedia
>> <
http://links.email.donate.wikimedia.org/ctt?kn=3&ms=NDc2NDYzOTUS1&r…
http://links.email.donate.wikimedia.org/ctt?kn=3&ms=NDc2NDYzOTUS1&r…
>>
>> Thank you,
>> Jimmy Wales
>> Wikipedia Founder
>>
>> PS: Less than 1% of our readers donate enough to keep Wikipedia
running.
>> Your contribution counts!
>> *DONATE NOW »*
>> <
http://links.email.donate.wikimedia.org/ctt?kn=3&ms=NDc2NDYzOTUS1&r…
>> ------------------------------
>>
>>
>> "our final email"?
>> This is the last email reminder you'll receive"?
>> Surely that should be qualified with "... this year."??
>> If that weren't embarrassing, what about...
>>
>> - Using *bold* AND *italics *AND yellow backgroud colouring all at
the
>> same time in the heading.
>> - Sending an email on the 18th of December saying that if "ALL past
>> donors simply gave AGAIN today" [my emphasis] then you wouldn't need
to do
>> any more fundraising "for the rest
of the year", i.e. for 2 weeks!!
>> - On the one had it says "we'll never run ads" but in the
sentence
>> immediately beforehand pleads help to us stay "ad-free another
year".
>> - Does the phrase "Less than 1% of our readers donate enough to keep
>> Wikipedia running" mean a) that less than 1% of readers donate,
which is
>> enough to keep us running, or b) that
less than 1% of readers who
have
>> donated, donated enough to keep us
running (implying that the other
99% of
>> donors didn't donate enough)?
>> - Finally, this email is addressed from Jimmy, but when you receive a
>> "thank you for donating" email, it's addressed from Lila. [I
should
note
>> that the thank you for donating email
IS very positive and
>> mission-oriented].
>>
>>
>> *Effectiveness != Efficiency*
>> One of the official WMF Fundraising principles
>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_principles> is "*minimal
>> disruption*...aim to raise money from donors *effectively*" [emphasis
is
>> original].
>> I believe that this wording has been interpreted by the fundraising
team
to
>> mean *"*do the fundraising as
quickly as possible". However, I contest
that
>> "less disruption" and
"more effective" is not the same as "shorter
>> fundraiser". i.e.: Effectiveness != Efficiency.
>>
>> I am sure that these desperate fundraising emails/banners are
*efficient
*at
>> getting the most amount of money as fast
as possible (they have been
honed
>> with excellent A/B testing), but, they
achieve this by sacrificing the
core
>> WMF fundraising principle of being
*minimally disruptive. *In fact,
they
>> actually appear to be following a
principle of being "as *maximally
*disruptive
>> as they can get away with, for as short a
time as required".
>>
>> Can the WMF to say how "minimal disruption" and "effective
fundraising" is
>> defined in practice, and how they are
measured?
>>
>> *Shareable vs Desperate*
>> On the same day that the WMF communications team release this
inspiring
and
>> positive "year in review"
video
>> <
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/12/17/wikipedias-first-ever-annual-video-re…
,
>> this fundraising email sounds negative and desperate. It is all about
not
>> advertising and staying online for
another year.
>>
>> Couldn't the "year in review" video have been used in the
fundraising
email
>> to tell a positive story about all we
have achieved this year? That's
the
>> kind of thing Wikimedians will want to
share and feel proud about, not
>> something that almost bullies you to donate out of a sense of
>> moral-obligation.
>>
>> *Fundraising "operating principles"*
>> I would like to reiterate my call to see us develop some practical
>> "operating principles" for fundraising that would give some real-world
>> guidelines for website-banners and emails. Board of Trustees member
Phoebe
>> has done an excellent job of summarising
the fundraising conversations
on
>> this list from the last few weeks here:
>>
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising_principles
>> I would like the Board to ask the Fundraising team (once this
fundraiser
is
>> finished) to develop these operating
principles in a collaborative
process
>> with interested community members. This
is in the hope that in the
future,
>> the community can help spread the word
and feel empowered to join
>> the fundraising campaign for our movement, rather than simply hoping it
>> will go away as quickly as possible.
>>
>> After all, the final official WMF fundraising principle is:
>> "Maximal participation: Consistent with the principles of empowerment
>> underlying Wikimedia’s success, we should empower individuals and
groups
>> world-wide to constructively contribute
to direct messaging, public
>> outreach, and other activities that drive the success of Wikimedia’s
>> fundraising efforts"
>>
>> -Liam
>> p.s. by the way, has anyone from the WMF talked the Russian community
yet
>> about why they aren't allowed to
donate?
>> _______________________________________________
>> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
<mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 19:12:41 -0500
> From: MZMcBride <z(a)mzmcbride.com>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Our final email
> Message-ID: <D0B8D003.463EC%z(a)mzmcbride.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Liam Wyatt wrote:
>> *Effectiveness != Efficiency*
>> One of the official WMF Fundraising principles
>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_principles> is "*minimal
>> disruption*...aim to raise money from donors *effectively*" [emphasis
is
>> original].
>> I believe that this wording has been interpreted by the fundraising
team
>> to mean *"*do the fundraising as
quickly as possible". However, I
contest
>> that "less disruption" and
"more effective" is not the same as "shorter
>> fundraiser". i.e.: Effectiveness != Efficiency.
>
> Thanks for this e-mail. I agree with you that these donation
solicitation
> e-mails are terrible and unbecoming.
>
> In my opinion, the fundraising principles are simply too weak. They seem
> to have been designed with maximum flexibility, which for guiding
> principles would typically be fine, but the fundraising team needs much
> stricter boundaries. Harder rules, backed by a Wikimedia Foundation
Board
> of Trustees resolution, are required.
Repeated and repeated misbehavior
on
> the fundraising team's part makes it
clear that the current guidelines
> aren't enough. New rules would specifically address, for example, how
> big and obnoxious in-page donation advertising can be, with hard
maximums.
>
> The fundraising rules also need to make explicit that lying is flatly
> unacceptable. Having the first rule be "don't lie" might be the
easiest
> solution here, though it's shocking that this needs to be written down.
> The fundraising teams, past and present, regularly lie to our readers in
> an effort to extract donations. Specific examples of lying include
calling
> Sue Gardner the "Wikipedia Executive
Director", calling Brandon Harris a
> "Wikipedia programmer", and repeatedly making manipulative and
misleading
> suggestions that continued donations keep the
projects online.
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation recently raised $20 million. Assuming a
generous
> $3 million to keep the projects online per
year, that's over six _years_
> that the projects could continue operating before needing to ask for
money
> again. Contrast with e-mails and in-site
donation advertising that
> suggest that the lights will go off soon if readers don't donate today.
>
> MZMcBride
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 00:21:31 +0000
> From: David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Our final email
> Message-ID:
> <CAJ0tu1GosObr6texiO5U+GpB2kZsxqQ1N8ykkmsA1aLPOF2mww(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
>> On 19 December 2014 at 00:12, MZMcBride <z(a)mzmcbride.com> wrote:
>>
>> The fundraising rules also need to make explicit that lying is flatly
>> unacceptable. Having the first rule be "don't lie" might be the
easiest
>> solution here, though it's shocking that this needs to be written down.
>
>
> +1
>
> And we're not talking about semantic arguments, we're seeing blatant
falsehoods.
>
>
> - d.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 10:59:50 +1000
> From: Craig Franklin <cfranklin(a)halonetwork.net>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Our final email
> Message-ID:
> <CAHF+k3-6xezDZ+Q5O45-KNeEfd7O-92aeUzd83AHun30LdS4Kw(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
>> On 19 December 2014 at 10:12, MZMcBride <z(a)mzmcbride.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> The fundraising rules also need to make explicit that lying is flatly
>> unacceptable. Having the first rule be "don't lie" might be the
easiest
>> solution here, though it's shocking that this needs to be written down.
>> The fundraising teams, past and present, regularly lie to our readers
in
>> an effort to extract donations. Specific
examples of lying include
calling
>> Sue Gardner the "Wikipedia Executive
Director", calling Brandon Harris
a
>> "Wikipedia programmer", and
repeatedly making manipulative and
misleading
>> suggestions that continued donations keep
the projects online.
>>
>> The Wikimedia Foundation recently raised $20 million. Assuming a
generous
>> $3 million to keep the projects online
per year, that's over six
_years_
>> that the projects could continue
operating before needing to ask for
money
>> again. Contrast with e-mails and in-site
donation advertising that
>> suggest that the lights will go off soon if readers don't donate today.
> Please add my name to the list of people who are troubled by what's been
> said and done in the latest round of fundraising.
>
> I think that most of us, even if we feel some distaste for begging for
> money, realise the importance and necessity of engaging in fundraising.
> The fact that we're asking for money is not the problem. The problem is
> that in order to maximise the amount of revenue gained, the Fundraising
> team has engaged in a misleading scare campaign. In the short term,
that
> means that a few more dollars will flow into
the Foundation's coffers,
but
> in the long term it just damages the brand
and the entire movement.
>
> It is very disappointing that the responses from the WMF to these
entirely
> reasonable concerns so far have been either:
>
> a) Silence
> b) Completely ignoring the point ("The fundraiser has been very
successful
> because we've received more money, and
those who are not aware that
they've
> been mislead are not upset!")
> c) Semantic word games ("Well, in a technical sense what we've said is
not
> a lie, depending on how you look at
it")
>
> The solution that I'd like to see for next time is less focus on A/B
> testing that has its sole purpose of maximising the amount of revenue
> raised, and more of a view to alternative ways to raise money. Imagine
a
> world in which we gave our readers a positive
message that we already
had
> enough money to keep the lights on thanks
very much, but needed more to
> build cool new tools, improve the quality of the project content, and
> implement more innovative projects to meet our movement's goals.
>
> Regards,
> Craig Franklin
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
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