[Wikimedia-l] Banners are too bright, too long

[Samuel Klein]

Brandon Harris writes:
> I, for one, think this is totally awesome news.

It is indeed!

Zack Exley <zexley at wikimedia.org> wrote:


> > This is one of our opportunities each year to rejoice in the work
>
> of the projects, get feedback, and hold a large-scale barnraising for
>
> the coming year's work.  It's good to reduce the total amount of time
>
> people see banners... also [positive] for all projects to take part.
>

> So little money comes from the other projects that it's actually
> counterproductive from a revenue perspective.
>

This need not be expensive or painstaking.  And a campaign could include
both calls to participate, as you say, and calls to donate.

For example: one Project-neutral banner or small campaign that focuses on
the broad future-looking work of Wikimedia: including new and growing
sister projects.  That campaign could be consistent each year.

And we could invite each community to come up with their own banners -
celebrating the work of their project and asking for help as they see fit.


> If the only reason to do the fundraiser on those projects is to have a
> coming together of the community, then why not do it around invitations
> to participate instead of to donate?
>

Invitations to participate is a great idea.  We should do that -- perhaps
at a low level year-round.

Donation should be part of it because it is one of the most universal sorts
of participation.  Many people find editing hard but donating easy; we
should welcome them and their support, on whatever project they support.

And smaller communities like to pull their own weight.  Active editors and
readers who identify with a smaller project would want to give through that
project.  As long as some sort of campaign is running, one of the banners
(and an appeal page that participants can link their friends to, which
talks about their project and not about Wikipedia!) should be for donation.
 The smaller the community, the more important those small acts of
identification are to nurturing it.

SJ