Hoi,
I am afraid you do not get the point. The point is that the desktop as we
know it is our history. It is like the Dodo; something that is best
experienced in the museum to be replaced by something contemporary in the
real world. The development of a single UI is what you should consider and
expect and it should support any platform.
What the Mediaviewer does is move us away from a cluttered unintelligible
page of data junk for those who are not initiated. It is a step towards
something intelligible that may be supported on any platform.
Yes, what you hear is people whining about their desktop experience. They
want to keep things as it is and, any argument, any approach is fine as far
as they are concerned.
Our desktop experience has improved somewhat over the years but it is all
the ballast of the past that is keeping us back. It is all the byzantine
embellishments that are so "important" to have. But really, when people
like myself refuse to edit Wikipedia because the experience is so bad you
have lost with me more than is justified by insisting on the status quo.
Ask yourself, who do we do it for and who should be able to edit.
FYI I was involved in Wikipedia before there was a Wikimania.
Thanks,
GerardM
On 15 August 2014 10:02, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Gerard,
I believe that the disputes about MediaViewer are mostly about the desktop
platform's version, as most editors use the desktop platform to edit.
In general terms, I have yet to hear someone say that the Mobile platform
is a low development priority. I am familiar with Mobile-l. Mobile
development has a long road ahead of it but I feel Mobile is overall moving
in the right direction. In my experience, Mobile development has good
interpersonal harmony among participants, and everyone is hoping to convert
a portion of mobile app users to new contributors.
Pine
On Aug 14, 2014 11:58 PM, "Gerard Meijssen" <gerard.meijssen(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Hoi,
I am getting so pissed off.
Let us be realistic. The user experience sucks ... It sucks big time and
even though the "community" is comfortable with it, it impedes the use by
the people we do it all for. They are the READERS.. they are not the
editors and the least this is done for are the people who are so
indignant
because their experience changes.
When you look at the last year, the biggest changes are driven by the
development for mobiles. The projections make it plain this is where our
customers will be. The existing Wikipedia with its monobook and what have
you skin will not be seen, used or be relevant to them. Our traffic is
transitioning to mobile. Editing starts to happen on mobile and if it is
not clear to the "community" that future development will be in this
direction they live under a rock or they are in denial.
Have a look at a Commons page on a mobile.. It is beyond bad and beyond
useful. With the Multimedia viewer it becomes useful. (NB there are
things
in there that are brain dead but that is a
different story)
WAKE UP. Our world is changing. Trying to shame the WMF development in a
different direction is counter productive, ill considered and even
destructive. When you are the "community", and when this is new to you, I
hope you will sit back for a moment and consider this. When this does
not
make a difference to you, there is always the
right of departure. In my
brutal opinion we have no option but to move towards a more mobile
centred
appreciation. The alternative is stagnation and
irrelevance. That does
not
need to happen when we accept that the world
changes around us.
Thanks,
GerardM
On 14 August 2014 17:28, Tim Davenport <shoehutch(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Re: Erik Möller's remark: "In general,
though, let's talk. The
overarching
principle we're not
going to budge on is that this process is really not acceptable:
1) The UI changes
2) A subset of users is upset and organizes a poll/vote
3) The poll/vote closes with a request to undo said UI Change and a
request is filed
4) WMF offers compromise or says no
5) A local hack is used to undo said UI change
That's no way to develop software, and that's no way to work
together...."
>
> =========
>
> I could spend 10,000 words on this. I'll try to keep it (comparatively)
> short.
>
>
> The reason this dysfunctional situation develops, Erik, is because
there
are no
steps A, B, C, D, E, F, and G preceding #1 on the list.
As things currently stand, this is the way the software development
process
> at WMF seems to me to work:
>
> * Engineers collecting paychecks obviously need something to do.
> * Someone comes up with a bright idea that sounds good on paper.
> * Engineers decide to make that idea a reality and start work.
> * Inadequately tested software, sometimes of dubious utility, is
> unilaterally imposed on volunteers.
> * If new software is problematic enough, volunteers revolt by any means
> necessary.
> * WMF forces changes down throat of volunteers by any means necessary.
>
> This is truly "no way to develop software" and "no way to work
together."
>
> -----
>
> Here is the way the process SHOULD begin:
>
> * WMF staffers, plural, identify by user names/IP addresses the 10,000
or
so very
active volunteers across all projects and database them.
* WMF staffers further divide this group into coherent "types": content
writers, gnome-type copy editors, structural adapters (template people,
bot
operators, etc.), quality control workers (NPP,
AfD), vandal fighters,
behavioral administrators (ArbCom, Ani, the various Admin pages), and
drone
bees who do nothing but Facebook-style drama
mongering. Multiple
categories
> may apply to single individuals and this list is not necessarily
> exhaustive.
>
> * Once identified, WMF staffers frequently and regularly poll very
active
> users in each category about WHAT THEY NEED.
Different surveys for
> different volunteer types.
>
> * Software development starts ONLY when a real need is identified.
>
> * Software should be introduced on En-WP, De-WP, or Commons ONLY when
it
is
Alpha-grade, debugged and ready to roll. (Test
things on the smaller
Wikis
> first).
>
> -----
>
> Moreover, there should be some polling mechanism to summarize and
analyze
what the
500 million or whatever readers worldwide feel that they like
and
> feel they are missing. "User experience" changes with primary impact on
> readers rather than volunteers (such as MediaViewer) should be made
with
> them in mind first and foremost; editing and
structural tools should be
> made to actually assist the active volunteers, not created on a whim.
>
> Sometimes the needs of the Readers and the needs of the Volunteers are
> different, let us frankly say. In no case should WMF assume the views
and
> criticism of the latter are insignificant or
wrong simply because
> 500,000,000 > 10,000.
>
> Remember this because according to the same logic: 10,000 > 240.
>
> -----
>
> We all agree that we need a bigger pool of very active volunteers. Most
> readers are never going to be very active volunteers, nor do we want
them
to be,
since we need specialized skill sets. Most people using the
editing
> software are only going to make one or a very few changes a year and
they
are never
going to even "see" the backstage world of Wikipedia. That is
normal and fine.
We do need expert contributors on esoteric topics and we need solid
contributors from the developing world and we need to replenish the
people
doing copy editing and quality control work.
We don't need tools that nobody asked for and nobody wants shoved down
our
throats just because engineers needed something
to do.
240 Paid Staff + 10,000 Serious Volunteers + 500,000,000 Readers and
occasional minor contributors
Three groups with differing needs.
Tim Davenport /// "Carrite" on WP /// "Randy from Boise" on WPO
Corvallis, OR
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