Quoting David Cuenca <dacuetu(a)gmail.com>om>:
Is it going to be similar to Open Source Ecology? Will
it be only for
reviewing or will it provide tools for creation?
If so, what kind of tools do you think are needed? Something similar to
Extension:WorkingWiki?
This is the first Wikimania-related email has caught my attention in
(probably) years. I know Erik is - effectively - betting his career on
the Visual Editor, and acting as de-facto PM on that.
Don't have the answer to the real old-school
64-million-dollar-question: Who is the WMF's lead systems analyst? Who
tells you what the young enthusiasts do not want to hear? "This
problem, more-effectively solved in The Real World."
,I don't want the job, Brion V comes close to that role as "Godfather
of MediaWiki"; but, you seem to have no 'jack-of-all-trades' BOFH who
shoots every attempt to repeat a well-known "failure path" for
development.
I'm aware of others on Wikinews trying to articulate the potential the
project has; aint beingcognised.
show-stoppers on the Visual Editor (VE), and - if that breaks our
tools I will not keep quiet (as I'd like to do after this email). We
took (read: I *begged* to get Vector on enWN first; we shook out a
bunch of issues so they were not a problem on enWP.
We have unique use cases; use-cases that - with a functional VE -
Wikipedia might ask about 3, 4 or 5-years down the line. Politics;
Wikinewsies love that crap - unless it gets in our way. Happens
too-often.
I'm now part of "tech support to the world's tier-one telecoms"; I
want to keep the hell away from Wikipedia, I can do without the
politics there; I've got a pile of media, and about 50-odd pages of
notes to turn into a Wikinews article. From what, you might ask? Look
out for photo and/or major video updates on the enWP pages of certain
political players.
Erik, I really want to see the visual editor succeed; if I can help,
and ask no-more than a footnote that "Brian is far-less-of-a-b'tard"
than my enemies thing, it is all I ask. But, right now, I'm waiting on
my invite to a 'certain hotel in Edinburgh' to obtain the first,
comprehensive, "video self-introduction" but one of the icons of
20th-Century politics. Pages of notes to turn this into an enWN
article? About 50-100. The trailer for Tony Benn's biog? Pending
release under a libre license? Just a normal week's work for a
Wikinewsie. Were you to take off your board/staff/whatever hat,
approach what we've turned enWN into aince you helped get the ball
rolling, and see where we're at? I think you'd have cause to be proud.
Yeah, you can't take credit for much, but you gave us an opening that
was needed.
Drop me a mail, or call me on my Genband number; it's long-past-due
having WMF staff accept that (whilst I appreciated 'expressions of
concern' when I ended up getting open-heart surgery), I am just
writing this 'slightly ranty' email to say I would like asked for
input on more stuff; I can't drop an issue hitting tens of thousands
(which might-well include their access to WMF projects); But, the oda
frailds are in-favour of me being part of the back-edn team fixing
your issues.
I have 1hr audio to process, a provisional "promise" that the trailer
for the in-the-works Tony Benn video will be available under a
enWP-compatible license, and "good odds" on getting Tony Benn as the
first major politician to have a video introduction of themselves on
Wikipedia.
I love that the 2013 Wikimania has seen Jimmy admit that failing to
put money into Wikinews was a - regrettable - mistake (and, I would
put a shedload more nuance on that - we've had dozens of ideas put
forward that "experience" says would have been an utter waste". We
don't look at "value for money" on Wikinews; we look at "Value for
effort"; I'm sitting with 1hr+ audio of Tony Benn's Fringe appearance,
a who's-who of the people working on his film, and - let's not mince
words - "The best Prime Minister the UK never had" as someone, albeit
a frail octogenarian, who I'd dearly love to put Jimmy on-the-spot.
Wikinews is "the ideal" of news; our well-embedded critics need dealt
with using "live ammo"; they've tried, multiple times, to have all
Wikinews projects closed; projects where they know squat. Their goal
is obvious, and I regret opting for derogatory shorthand - "The
Signpost needs renamed to 'The Slimepost'". Its contributors tend to
make Rupe Murdoch look acceptable, use their "publication as the
'most-greasy' source of hatchet-jobs' inside the Foundation and are
sharp at "Death by Pi Chart".
For the 6-7 years I've funded
wikinewsie.org, taught people "social
engineering skikks, and vigourous;y debated what makes "quality
journalism"; we've done some awesome work.
I'm going to be blunt, but curt, and close to my "notoriety". Topny1
needs banned. From wat? I don't know, but it likely incluedes a
multitude of mailing lists. We have serouls problems with people who
view the WMF as a "megalomaniac career ladder". It is not "The
Elephant in the Room; but some of the people riding on that are."
He-who-is-not-to-be-mentioned
[AKA Brianmc, Wikinews]