[Foundation-l] for the future...

[Ayelie]

On 7/3/07, Andrew Gray <shimgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 03/07/07, Ayelie <ayelie.at.large at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I think the e-mails will be considered spam by many (especially those
> who
> > can't vote anyway) and will get a lot  more people annoyed than it will
> be
> > appreciated by a few.
>
> Interestingly, Greg's discussion of his responses shows pretty much
> the converse - many thanks, and only a small handful of objections.
> Remember the bulk of the community don't go near IRC or read a mailing
> list.
>
> [Frankly, sitenotice is never going to be the best method. It either
> implies people who can't vote that they can, or  that people who can
> vote can't - and if it manages to explain it clearly, it'll be seven
> lines long with two footnotes and no-one will read it. Good reminder
> if you know about it, *but*...]
>
> [And, yes, it's possible to target the mails to only eligible users,
> with a small margin of error over "spare" accounts and edge cases]


Targeted e-mails such as Greg is sending out are one thing; what I meant by
people considering them spam was regarding mass e-mails sent out to everyone
regardless of whether they could vote or not, which would mean that for
*many* people they would be unapplicable and thus more of a bother than
anything else. Yes, if the e-mails are targeted there will be far fewer
complaints and more positive results. "send out an official election
reminder by email in all languages" just seems to indicate a notice that the
election is going on which will be sent to everyone rather than specifically
targeted letters to those who are eligible to vote.

On 7/3/07, Dan Rosenthal <swatjester at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Ayelie:
>
> Not everyone can see those site notices. Not everyone is on IRC or a
> mailing list, nor should they be. Emails are already opt-in, you do
> NOT have to provide your email. If you choose to do so, you
> essentially are consenting to receive email from other users, such as
> this. And I believe fewer people will be annoyed by a single letter
> than will be happily reminded of their ability to vote in something
> that drastically affects them.
>
> -Dan


That is all true, and I am certainly not saying that e-mails of any sort are
unwanted or a bad idea. However, do people know when they activate their
e-mail that they will get reminders and notices that may not be applicable
to them from the foundation or the particular site? Personally, the only
reason I activate my e-mail is so that other users who need to contact me
off-wiki for whatever reason or users on Commons who wish to discuss a block
with me may do so. I would have no problem with foundation notices being
sent to my e-mail *if I chose to recieve them*, and would much appreciate it
if there were an opt-out option for notices. I use one e-mail address
for important wiki matters and another for mailing lists and personal
e-mail, and spam sent to my other address (which is the one activated on all
of my wikimedia accounts) is not wanted.

I think notices are a great idea, especially for very important matters such
as these elections; but it is always nice to have options.

--
Ayelie
  ~Editor at Large