Peanut gallery to peanut gallery here:
When most people log on they are taken to the Main Page, and the
ArbCom vote link should be on EVERY article, putting it on
watchlists
marginalizes it, and if you have a rule that users need to
be active
for a few months then their vote won't be registered regardless of what page they come from. At this stage it's more important
to educate
new users and the public about an important vote taking
place within
Wikipedia than to have the request for MONEY on every page
which makes
Wikipedia look greedy after they just raised around $300,000, don't you think? Get rid of the merchandising and commercializing
I hadn't realised the ArbCom thing shows up only on the watchlist, but it seems a very logical place for it. There is no point having newbies or casual web surfers vote. They would have no idea what they were voting for, let alone whom. Anyone who has a watchlist and checks it cares at least a *little* bit about Wikipedia, and has a basic concept of editing, and can probably understand the issues that could lead to disputes, like (non-)ownership of pages, etc.
That said, he has a point re:fundraising. It would be more satisfying if there *was* a fundraising goal, and if the notices were removed if that goal were met. Fair enough if the goal *isn't* met to leave it indefinitely.
Totally unrelated question: Where can I find out what portion of cafepress.com merchandise goes back to Wikipedia?
Steve