[Foundation-l] Rodovid.org, family tree wiki, wishes to become a wiki project

[Benjamin Webb]

Even though your e-mail could be seen as critisising me, I greatly
appreciate it. Any feedback at all is useful for me. You mentioned having an
opinion poll. Could I start that now? The proposal has been on meta for a
week.

On 26/03/06, Erik Moeller <eloquence at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello Benjamin,
>
> if Rodovid (under whichever name) was to become a Wikimedia project,
> that would mean
> - It benefits from Wikimedia's fundraising drives
> - It is featured prominently on all of Wikimedia's portal pages
> - It becomes part of Wikimedia's press and publicity efforts
> - It becomes as integral to the thinking about external partnerships
> as other projects
> - It is maintained, to a certain extent, by our paid and volunteer
> administrators and developers...
>
> ..and so forth. There is always the concern that new projects distract
> from improving existing ones. For each of our projects, including
> Wikipedia, there are huge wishlists of software changes, community
> processes, surveys, partnerships, and so on -- we need to make sure
> that we grow at a manageable rate.
>
> So, from the point of view of the Foundation, accepting a new project
> is quite a big deal. That's why the processes to do so are rather
> complex. Part of the process is a community poll about whether the
> project should be launched within Wikimedia. Our process does not yet
> deal with "adopting" existing projects (this has never been done), but
> you could start a slightly modified poll, similar to the one at
> [[m:Wikinews/Vote]], and probably get away with it.
>
> Essential for your success is that you can generate not just a solid
> majority in support, but also excitement in the community about the
> idea. Such excitement was clearly visible with Wikinews and
> Wikiversity; I am skeptical if there is similarly broad interest in
> genealogical data in an experimental wiki environment. I know there
> are a lot of enthusiasts, of course.
>
> Even though the idea of a "World Family Tree" has some appeal, I am
> also not convinced that this is an experiment that needs to be taken
> up by the Wikimedia Foundation; given the primary mission to bring
> knowledge to human beings, it is natural for the organization to focus
> on applicable and practical knowledge. (Hence projects like Wikibooks,
> with its strong focus on learning materials, and Wikiversity, with its
> learning and research angle.)
>
> However, do not let this discourage you; if you truly want this to
> become a Wikimedia project, do campaign in the community for support.
> Only when such support is visible do I expect that the Board might get
> behind the project proposal in a big way. As a personal suggestion, I
> recommend changing the name before campaigning; something starting
> with "Wiki-" and reflecting the ambitious nature of your goals (such
> as "Wikiplanet", but that one is taken) might work better.
>
> Erik (not speaking for the Foundation, of course)
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