I was thinking about this decision about whether to charge a memberhsip fee and I'm wondering if we ought to try and get more people's views on this before going ahead.
I don't remember this being discussed particularly during the election and although there's been some discussion on this email list, it strikes me as being quite a big decision that many more people will have a view on.
Should we organise some kind of poll on meta and contact all the people who have expressed an interest and encourage them to vote one way or another?
What do others think?
Andrew
Andrew,
I believe this would be a good idea and the most efficient and transparent way to find out what the current community consensus is.
Ian [User:Poeloq]
On 11/2/08, Andrew Turvey raturvey@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
I was thinking about this decision about whether to charge a memberhsip fee and I'm wondering if we ought to try and get more people's views on this before going ahead.
I don't remember this being discussed particularly during the election and although there's been some discussion on this email list, it strikes me as being quite a big decision that many more people will have a view on.
Should we organise some kind of poll on meta and contact all the people who have expressed an interest and encourage them to vote one way or another?
What do others think?
Andrew
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
2008/11/2 Andrew Turvey raturvey@yahoo.co.uk:
I was thinking about this decision about whether to charge a memberhsip fee and I'm wondering if we ought to try and get more people's views on this before going ahead.
I don't remember this being discussed particularly during the election and although there's been some discussion on this email list, it strikes me as being quite a big decision that many more people will have a view on.
Should we organise some kind of poll on meta and contact all the people who have expressed an interest and encourage them to vote one way or another?
What do others think?
I don't think it's a particularly big deal, all it really affects is where we hold the AGM. I have no problem with the board making the decision (after consultation with the community, sure, but no need for a poll).
In my opinion a poll is consultation of the community and is the most transparent way to see how a decision was made. It also doesn't take much effort to create and run.
On 11/2/08, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
2008/11/2 Andrew Turvey raturvey@yahoo.co.uk:
I was thinking about this decision about whether to charge a memberhsip fee and I'm wondering if we ought to try and get more people's views on this before going ahead.
I don't remember this being discussed particularly during the election and although there's been some discussion on this email list, it strikes me as being quite a big decision that many more people will have a view on.
Should we organise some kind of poll on meta and contact all the people who have expressed an interest and encourage them to vote one way or another?
What do others think?
I don't think it's a particularly big deal, all it really affects is where we hold the AGM. I have no problem with the board making the decision (after consultation with the community, sure, but no need for a poll).
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
A proposal that I brought up at the in-person meeting, and which I plan to raise at the next Board Meeting, is for us to set up a newsletter to be circulated by a bot to interested people on-wiki say every fortnight or month. This is the kind of thing that could go into that. What do people here think to this idea?
Mike
On 2 Nov 2008, at 03:44, Ian A. Holton wrote:
In my opinion a poll is consultation of the community and is the most transparent way to see how a decision was made. It also doesn't take much effort to create and run.
On 11/2/08, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
2008/11/2 Andrew Turvey raturvey@yahoo.co.uk:
I was thinking about this decision about whether to charge a memberhsip fee and I'm wondering if we ought to try and get more people's views on this before going ahead.
I don't remember this being discussed particularly during the election and although there's been some discussion on this email list, it strikes me as being quite a big decision that many more people will have a view on.
Should we organise some kind of poll on meta and contact all the people who have expressed an interest and encourage them to vote one way or another?
What do others think?
I don't think it's a particularly big deal, all it really affects is where we hold the AGM. I have no problem with the board making the decision (after consultation with the community, sure, but no need for a poll).
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
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Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 5:18 PM, Michael Peel email@mikepeel.net wrote:
A proposal that I brought up at the in-person meeting, and which I plan to raise at the next Board Meeting, is for us to set up a newsletter to be circulated by a bot to interested people on-wiki say every fortnight or month. This is the kind of thing that could go into that. What do people here think to this idea?
Mike
A newsletter sounds like a great idea.
2008/11/2 Michael Peel email@mikepeel.net:
A proposal that I brought up at the in-person meeting, and which I plan to raise at the next Board Meeting, is for us to set up a newsletter to be circulated by a bot to interested people on-wiki say every fortnight or month. This is the kind of thing that could go into that. What do people here think to this idea?
It's a great idea. We may want to consider an email version or even a snail mail version, it might make people feel they are getting more for their money. How often we do it would depend on how much there is to say. I doubt we'll have enough to do a fortnightly newsletter and monthly may be pushing - quarterly would work.
On 2 Nov 2008, at 18:23, Thomas Dalton wrote:
2008/11/2 Michael Peel email@mikepeel.net:
A proposal that I brought up at the in-person meeting, and which I plan to raise at the next Board Meeting, is for us to set up a newsletter to be circulated by a bot to interested people on-wiki say every fortnight or month. This is the kind of thing that could go into that. What do people here think to this idea?
It's a great idea. We may want to consider an email version or even a snail mail version, it might make people feel they are getting more for their money. How often we do it would depend on how much there is to say. I doubt we'll have enough to do a fortnightly newsletter and monthly may be pushing - quarterly would work.
I was thinking fortnightly to start with, to keep people up to speed with the formation of WMUK2 and so that the Board could ask questions of the community beyond this mailing list fairly easily. After that, it would depend on how much actually happens with WMUK as to how often we want to send around a newsletter.
Technically, I was thinking that we'd set up a page on Meta which would hold the newsletter (probably using a formatted template), then use a bot to push a link to that page to everyone subscribed. Sending around an email with this link would also be do-able. The alternative is something like WP Greater Manchester's newsletter on the Signpost Spamlist, where a copy is pasted onto the subscriber's talk page. That makes it a bit more challenging to put it in an email. Which would people prefer?
We may eventually want a snail mail version, but I would be surprised if many people wanted to subscribe to it - if you know Wikipedia, then you have internet access, as a rule.
Mike
I was thinking fortnightly to start with, to keep people up to speed with the formation of WMUK2 and so that the Board could ask questions of the community beyond this mailing list fairly easily. After that, it would depend on how much actually happens with WMUK as to how often we want to send around a newsletter.
I think things are moving too quickly for that at the moment. The board are having weekly meetings for a reason. If a newsletter is sent out every 2 weeks and then it takes about a week for responses to come in, that means consultation could take up to 3 weeks. That's not practical at this stage.
Technically, I was thinking that we'd set up a page on Meta which would hold the newsletter (probably using a formatted template), then use a bot to push a link to that page to everyone subscribed. Sending around an email with this link would also be do-able. The alternative is something like WP Greater Manchester's newsletter on the Signpost Spamlist, where a copy is pasted onto the subscriber's talk page. That makes it a bit more challenging to put it in an email. Which would people prefer?
I would prefer actually including the newsletter in peoples talk pages (or, at least, a contents page, like signpost does, depends how long it is). People are more likely to read it that way.
We may eventually want a snail mail version, but I would be surprised if many people wanted to subscribe to it - if you know Wikipedia, then you have internet access, as a rule.
I wouldn't have it as a subscription thing, I'd send it to all members. It's nice to receive something physical for your membership fee. Obviously, a snail mail version would be less frequent, quarterly tops.
wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org