[Foundation-l] Merge wikis

[Alec Conroy]

On Mon, Jul 4, 2011 at 3:57 PM, Juergen Fenn <juergen.fenn at gmx.de> wrote:
>
>
> Am 02.07.11 14:17 schrieb Alec Conroy:
>> There's an even bigger opportunity here--
>> Make a brand new brand name that captures the ideology better than
>> Wikipedia-Mediawiki-Wikimedia.

Wikipedia will always be Wikipedia-- but what about Wikimedia??   What
does its brand say beyond "We host Wikipedia and stuff like it"
Now compare that with the magnitude of our vision of a world where
everyone has access to all the world's knowledge and information.
This is an awesome vision, a "Moonshot" kind of vision.    Are we sure
we just want to call it "The movement and foundation associated with
Wikipedia"?

> I beg your pardon, but Ziko and WereSpielChequers are absolutely right
> here. You won't manage to introduce another brand name after ten years
> of Wikipedia.

Not only CAN you introduce such a 'movement' brand name, but such a
name is inevitable.    Mediawiki is becoming ubiquitous and easier to
use every day.  As our movement and its projects undergo rapid
diversification, there WILL be a name for the movement that takes the
"The Wikipedia Vision" and  extends it to every kind of content
imaginable.

That paradigm shift is going to happen-- indeed it's already well
underway.     The Wikimedia Foundation is about more than just
Wikipedia, and "The Wikimedia Movement" is about _way_ more than just
Wikipedia.    Unless we really think Wikimedia is the best name, it's
never too late to switch.   The general public doesn't know Wikimedia
exists, they just call it "Wikipedia".   We do so much more than just
that, so we're ripe for a brand extension.

Alec