Hi Toby,
I asked several questions about this year's Annual Plan, only some of which
received responses even after multiple pings from me, so I regret to say
that I get the impression that community questions and input on the annual
plan may be brushed aside. I wish that the situation was different. It
seems to me that responding to good-faith community inquiries and comments
about the Annual Plan should be a high priority throughout WMF. I would be
grateful to receive answers to my questions that are still awaiting replies.
Pine
On Oct 10, 2015 12:43 PM, "Toby Negrin" <tnegrin(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Hi Folks --
I would suggest that if you are unhappy with the banners you apply your
energy to the annual planning process[1]. As long as the budget goes up 20%
year over year and page views fall, the Fundraising team will need to crank
up the banners.
It's worth pointing out that Fundraising is one of the strongest voices for
fiscal restraint at the Foundation.
-Toby
[1]
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/2015-2016_Annual_Plan
On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 4:09 PM, Pete Forsyth <peteforsyth(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
I want to be clear about my previous message -- I
am not questioning any
individual person's integrity in the process, and I know from firsthand
experience that a tremendous amount of good work goes into this stuff.
But
I think the process that has evolved around
developing the campaign is
broken.
In Megan's message, I see a great deal of emphasis on the specific points
that are attributable to community suggestions/requests. But there is a
bigger point that gets lost: It's not about where the ideas come from,
it's
about whether the final result "gets it
right."
If the WMF produced mission-compatible banners without any community
consultation at all, I'd be happy, and I think most others would be too.
Running an open process is not the right way to measure success here. An
open process is one of many ways to surface problems, and maybe to
generate
ideas; but it's not the be-all end-all.
The fund-raising department is clearly held accountable on its
easily-measured performance. It needs to also be held accountable to the
mission. How to do that is a difficult design and management problem,
and I
don't pretend to have the perfect answer. But
it's something that needs
to
be done.
Pete
[[User:Peteforsyth]]
On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 3:58 PM, Pete Forsyth <peteforsyth(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
I agree, that banner does not reflect the values
of this movement. Pure
and simple; it's not a grey area, and not worth my time to discuss for
the
97th time.
Personally, I long ago gave up participating in these discussions, for
the
> most part -- because the same valid points get made over and over
again,
> and the same *AWFUL* errors are made year
after year in the
fund-raising
campaign.
Leila's post here is heartening, and I'm glad that somebody has the
energy
> to articulate the concerns so well. I, myself, do not; I have simply
lost
> faith in the integrity of the Wikimedia
Foundation's fund-raising
> operation. I am, honestly, ashamed to tell people that I used to work
in
> the fund-raising department there (though I
believe the work we did was
> valuable).
>
> I recently heard from a high-ranking executive at a software company.
She
> told me that she had given money to the
Wikimedia Foundation, and then
> looked into the WMF's budget, and the messages in the campaign she had
> responded to. The word she used to describe her feeling was
"mortified."
> She had considered asking for her money
back, but had decided against
it.
>
> Fortunately, she was sophisticated enough not apply her negative
feelings
> to Wikipedia, but rather to the Wikimedia
Foundation. But can the WMF
> afford to assume that will always be the case?
>
> Apparently, the thinking thus far is, "yes."
>
> -Pete
> [[User:Peteforsyth]]
>
> On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 2:56 PM, Leila Zia <leila(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi Megan,
>>
>> Thank you for the update and all the hard work the team has done
during
> Q1.
> My comments below.
>
> On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 1:58 PM, Megan Hernandez <
mhernandez(a)wikimedia.org
> >
> wrote:
>
>
> > The team has used this first quarter to test a wide variety of brand
new
>> > banners. From images, to banners highlighting photos from Commons,
and
> >
different messages, we’ve found a few new ways to share the
fundraising
>> > message with Wikipedia readers. With updated designs, we’ve ended
the
>> > quarter with a banner that performs
roughly 20% better than the
best-
>> > performing banner from last
quarter.
>>
>>
>> I saw that banner and I want to do all I can to help you not use it
even
> if
> it performs 20% better. I put my story in p.s. so it's easier to skip
for
> whoever chooses to skip. This is a true
story. :-\
>
>
> > Better performing banners are required
> > to raise a higher budget with declining traffic. We’ll continue
testing
>> new
>> > banners into the next quarter and sharing highlights as we go.
>> >
>>
>> I've said this couple of times in the past through different channels
>> (sorry to those of you who have heard this before) but I think it's
key
to
> repeat it here just so we are all clear about
what we know and what we
> don't know.
>
> We know that our pageviews are not growing globally (depending on how
you
>> look at the trend and predictions, they are going down with a slow
slope
> or
> are almost flat, neither case is good.).
>
> We also know that a higher budget means more work for Furndraising to
meet
>> the budget.
>>
>> We do not know the relation between the decline in pageviews and our
>> ability to raise money, we do not have research evidence for the above
>> statement given the data we have, so I highly encourage all of us not
to
>
repeat this statement (even though it sounds very intuitive) until we
show
>> such evidence because the more we say it, the more we believe it.
Ellery
>
explains what we know and don't know about this specific topic when I
ask
> him a question about this in Metrics Meeting
in April 2015. That
> discussion
> is recorded starting minute 37, second 38 here
> <
>
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/WMF_Monthly_Metrics_Mee…
>> >
>> .
>>
>> Best,
>> Leila
>>
>> p.s. Here is the story:
>> I open my laptop at 5:30am to check few definitions on Wikipedia for
an
>> upcoming early morning meeting. The room
is dark and the only source
of
> light
is my laptop, I go to Wikipedia and I see that banner
> <
>
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising#/media/File:Sept2015BannerEx.png
>> >.
>> I'm still sleepy, and probably my mind is not functioning the way it
>> normally does, nevertheless, here is what comes to my mind: I have a
>> sudden
>> feeling of fear. I see a very black background, and I think someone
very
>> important has died. I look a bit more,
and I see some red colors,
then I
> think
something in the order of SOPA has happened. I'm getting quite
> nervous. I look at the text, but it's too long for me to parse it at
that
> moment with the thoughts I have in the
background. I look more at the
> background, I see some orange colors, some yellow colors, and a little
> human circled, I first think that whole color combination is a flame
(red,
>> orange, yellow, and the semi shape of a flame), then I think someone
is
>
jailed/executed. My eyes finally manage to see the right-hand-side of
the
> page, and I see there are dollar signs and
numbers. I sigh in relief,
and
>> then I get really upset (though I manage to pass that stage soon).
Now,
if
> I was not involved in the movement, I'm
not sure if I would pay or not
> (maybe I would) seeing that banner, but because I'm in the Movement, I
got
>> really sad seeing myself going through that experience because I know
>> more.
>> I also acknowledge that different people have different backgrounds
and
>> experiences in life. What I see as a
sign of death and war, may not
be a
>
signal for many other people (though the color black is almost
universally
> used for signalling death), and I acknowledge
that you cannot
accommodate
>> everyone. But please be aware, some people get really scared seeing
this
> kind
of banner.
>
> I said the story above, but I also want to say that I understand the
> pressure on you. I've said it here
> <
>
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/2015-16_Fundraising_ideas#Banne…
>> >
>> (and btw, huge thanks for being open to suggestions :-), and I'm
saying
it
> here as well: I'm happy to help us to fix
such an experience for our
> users.
> Please let me know if you're open to test new designs. I'm more than
happy
> to help you for some time for us to bring in
more designers and
community
>> members into this conversation. I'm sure we can do this.
>>
>> >
>> > --
>> >
>> > Megan Hernandez
>> >
>> > Director of Online Fundraising
>> > Wikimedia Foundation
>> > _______________________________________________
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