[Foundation-l] Is a research banner "advertising" of the evil sort?

[Nathan]

The Berkman Center at Harvard and Science Po have a banner going,
inviting some logged-in users to participate in a research project on
game theory. An array of people have objected to it as "advertising";
some seem to see it as the first step along a path that will
ultimately lead to big T-Mobile popups or something, others as a
conflict with the no-advertising promise from the fundraising drive.

I don't see the problem, myself. There's no product, service or
commercial interest being advertised. It's for users who are logged
in, not all readers. People who choose to participate actually receive
money, which can then be donated to the IRC or Wikimedia. Yet other
objections are based on privacy concerns (over being redirected to a
third party website)... Such concerns are so overblown, I'm tempted to
advise those who raise them to switch off their cellphones and
disconnect their modems lest the Illuminati (or Fox News) use these
signals to remote into their brains. If I'm honest, I think most
people are just upset that someone didn't personally ask them first.

I'd be interested in hearing a reasonable explanation from the WMF or
someone involved in setting the banner up - how was the agreement
made, is there a policy for such things, how long will it run, how
many people will see it, on which projects, etc. etc. Right now the
conversation is being dominated by people who have a really narrow
range of views on the subject, and a little flame-retardant PR from
Philippe (for example) would do wonders.

~Nathan

Selected quotes:

"Yuck Advertisement :( So, it took us 11 years; but we do accept them
in the end. Anthere (talk) 5:32 am, Today (UTC−5)"
"You know my first thought when I saw it? That it was malware. That my
browser had been hijacked. Unlikely as that is browsing in Linux. My
second thought was that it was being inserted by rogue JavaScript on
the site. - David Gerard (talk) 7:53 am, Today (UTC−5)"
"I ... might actually be okay with [it] but I'm definitely not okay
with it just being slapped in there without my input. [...]  Volunteer
Marek  2:26 am, Today (UTC−5)"
"The banner is spammy and should be removed ASAP. The situation is
made even worse due to the close relation Jimbo has with this group.
Giving them pride of place like this compromises our integrity and
should not be tolerated. The fact that this was snuck in without any
en.wiki consensus or discussion is shocking. ThemFromSpace 9:52 pm,
Yesterday (UTC−5)"
"I think it was certainly a very dick move to impose it on the
community - when the first proposal raised clear objections." Tom
Morton, wikimediauk-l 12/9 1:51AM UTC-5


[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:ANI#Harvard.2FScience_Po_Adverts
[2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research_talk:Dynamics_of_Online_Interactions_and_Behavior
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Archive222#Researchers_requesting_administrators.E2.80.99_advices_to_launch_a_study
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#A_quick_note_on_privacy
[5] http://markmail.org/message/ejepphd2oqhvrnos?q=wikimediauk