2011/3/23 Casey Brown <lists(a)caseybrown.org>rg>: I'm not convinced that frontloading a waiting period and repeated calls for translation for something like the March 2011 update is the right way to go. It slows down processes, and without having an actual message out there providing context, it's not necessarily clear to translators why this or that translation project should be prioritized. In spite of no notice whatsoever, the letter was translated very quickly into quite a few languages, IMO in part _because_ anyone could see that it was a significant communication. On the other hand, I realize that it sucks to have an English message pushed out to other languages, and it's frustrating for translators especially who know they could have provided a translation if they had been given advance notice. Perhaps we could make CentralNotice more flexible so that users can choose whether they want to receive English messages or not. Then, if you're on e.g. German Wikipedia, you could have a choice between receiving the English update when it comes out, or waiting for a translation. The English message would then also act as a notice for translators, and for internal community newsletters and noticeboards that want to pick up stuff as it happens. Together with a more flexible subscribe/unsubscribe system for topics, this could help us to communicate more regularly and more quickly with our communities without annoying users who don't want to receive updates in a language they don't speak, or who don't want to receive any WMF messages at all. Regardless of how we go about it, I do agree that we need documented protocols for this that WMF, chapters and others can follow, so as to not surprise or burden translators, whose work is amazing and much appreciated. :-) -- Erik Möller Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate