[Foundation-l] Wikimedia Foundation Website

[Jeff V. Merkey]

Amgine wrote:

> I agree with Delphine's assessment of the goals for the  
> WikimediaFoundation.org site:
>
> 1) Inform, generally, what the Foundation does, who is part of it.
> 2) Serve as a platform for official announcements.
> 3) Serve as an interface for donations.
>
> I would like to restate this in a somewhat more honest way: IMO the  
> goal of the WikimediaFoundation.org site is to solicit funds and  
> publicity.
>
> Where there is multi-lingual content, use of dynamic tools to  
> automate the presentation to minimize maintenance should be  
> encouraged. (For example, using DynamicPageList to display the most  
> recent press releases in a given language, avoiding the need to  
> update every language main page as the press release is translated.  
> This could also allow the page to display the most recent releases in  
> more than one language.) I also agree we should select a limited set  
> of languages to try to always translate for; I think the translation  
> subcommittee has identified this set of languages and is working on  
> doing this.
>
> I'm not sure I agree with SJ's suggestion of presenting detailed  
> information about the Foundation and its members, projects, and so  
> on. The reason comes back to the maintenance issue. The more detailed  
> the information presented, the more likely it is that some or most of  
> that information will need to be updated as small details are  
> modified. Consider the number of edits per month to the en.Wikipedia  
> article on the Wikimedia Foundation[1], nearly 100 edits (including a  
> major rewrite) in July alone.
>
> Providing enough detail to describe the Foundation and its projects  
> as well as figures within the Foundation is similar to other NGOs and  
> corporations; enough detail to answer most questions but not so much  
> the site becomes a burden to maintain.
>
> Providing a very intuitive interface to the donations system which is  
> painless and, if possible, enjoyable is a really important role for  
> the site.
>
> Amgine
>
>
>
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I would assume that of all the Wikimedia sites under this umbrella of 
projects, the Wikimedia Foundation Website is the one site where the 
Foundation sets the content, tone, message it  communicates to the world.  

Jeff