[Foundation-l] Blink tag jokes are now obsolete.

[Erik Moeller]

On Sat, Dec 31, 2011 at 4:36 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:

> It got worse. They changed it to "Wikimedia Executive Director"

At the risk of reviving this thread, I find it worth noting that the
German chapter apparently used very similar banners this year to these
banners you criticized last year:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NoticeTemplate/view&template=WMDE_Fundraiser_End_anon
http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NoticeTemplate/view&template=WMDE_Test_Jan03_JimmyJacketUrgent

This is not a criticism of WM-DE: We used that language last year, and
I felt much of the criticism of it was unreasonable, especially yours.
I find it interesting, though, in the context of the discussion that's
happening on Meta right now regarding funds dissemination. It is also
worth noting that we didn't use either choice of words this year in
the WMF campaign in response to the concerns from last year.

>From the standpoint of creating a balanced, community-friendly
campaign that's respectful and responsive, decentralizing
decision-making about the shape of the campaign to the geographic
level is IMO likely to do the opposite: It will create more pressure
(because it's a more competitive environment) between fundraising
entities to maximize revenue and push the limits, while reducing
visibility of (and associated accountability for) specific choices
like the above among the wider Wikimedia community.

Erik
-- 
Erik Möller
VP of Engineering and Product Development, Wikimedia Foundation

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