Re: [Wikimedia-l] Harvard urges Elsevier boycott

[Etienne Beaule]

There is also Access2Research <
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Access2Research > about free research
articles in the Us.


On 2013-01-14 21:06, "Everton Zanella Alvarenga" 
wrote:

> Don't worry, Richard, this news is now hot, but the situation din't
> progress that much from what it could be.
> 
> We have the Busapest Open Access Initiative since 2002
> . We can find
> videos of professor Jean-Claude Guédon, one of the person who wrote
> this initiative one decade ago, explaining in details the logics
> behind all this.
> 
> The publish (on closed journals) or perish still reigns in the
> academia, so it is very important we explain the importance of
> knowledge to be free for every single person we meet. Still a lot to
> do.
> 
> Tom
> 
> On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 10:48 PM, Richard Symonds
>  wrote:
>> Good lord, so it did. My apologies! It was making the rounds tonight and my
>> excitement got the better of me.
>> 
>> This is why I don't work in communications!
> 



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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Harvard urges Elsevier boycott

[Everton Zanella Alvarenga]

Don't worry, Richard, this news is now hot, but the situation din't
progress that much from what it could be.

We have the Busapest Open Access Initiative since 2002
. We can find
videos of professor Jean-Claude Guédon, one of the person who wrote
this initiative one decade ago, explaining in details the logics
behind all this.

The publish (on closed journals) or perish still reigns in the
academia, so it is very important we explain the importance of
knowledge to be free for every single person we meet. Still a lot to
do.

Tom

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 10:48 PM, Richard Symonds
 wrote:
> Good lord, so it did. My apologies! It was making the rounds tonight and my
> excitement got the better of me.
>
> This is why I don't work in communications!


-- 
Everton Zanella Alvarenga (also Tom)
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more
useful than a life spent doing nothing."

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Aaron Swartz is dead

[Josh Lim]

(For the first time I am finally posting on the Wikimedia-l list. :P)

Thanks for posting this, Everton.  It is extremely moving and, somehow, this 
should remind us of why we are all still here, and what we are fighting for.

With that said, I have said on Meta (and privately) that it's time for us to 
move the discussion away from his immediate death, and instead start to focus 
on what his death ought to mean.  I have to agree with Aaron is now a symbol: 
to me (and perhaps to many of us as well), he's now an ideal worth fighting 
for.  And, indeed, we have to complete the work that he started, if ever we 
will make his death meaningful.  I expressed these sentiments in a Facebook 
note I wrote yesterday:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/josh-lim/a-question-of-reflection-and-legacy-a-non-tribute-to-aaron-swartz/10151315708551878

Regards,

Josh

On Jan 15, 2013, at 6:29 AM, Everton Zanella Alvarenga 
 wrote:

> It is worth to listen professor Lessig interview on Democracy now
> 
> http://www.democracynow.org/2013/1/14/an_incredible_soul_lawrence_lessig_remembers#.UPRn4_WqvF0.twitter
> 
> "An Incredible Soul"
> 
> -- 
> Everton Zanella Alvarenga (also Tom)
> "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more
> useful than a life spent doing nothing."
> 
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JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Trustee (2010-2013), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly

jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com | +63 (917) 841-5235
Friendster/Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
http://akira123323.livejournal.com

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Lsjbot has now started to generate 1-1, 5 M articles of species on sv:wp

[Andy Mabbett]

On 11 January 2013 16:45, Anders Wennersten  wrote:
> Inspired by the botgenerated articles of species made on nl:wp in late
> 2010 a colleague of mine, User:Lsj, started a similar project on sv:wp
> early 2012. By October 2012 his bot had generated some 65 000 articles,
> with essentially complete coverage of all fungi and birds.

For bird species, you may wish to replicate and deploy this
en.Wikipedia template:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Xeno-canto_species


--
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Editor retention (was Re: "Big data" benefits and limitations (relevance: WMF editor engagement, fundraising, and HR practices))

[Richard Farmbrough]

Of course any effort to make article source more readable meets with 
opposition - in the case of references in particular.  And not only from 
those who cite CITEVAR legitimately, but from at least one admin who 
will block for putting references in numerical order.  These are the 
sorts of things which would not have lasted long in (admittedly slightly 
mythical) Good Old Days


On 04/01/2013 15:48, David Gerard wrote:
I spent idle time in the holiday week working on [[:en:OpenOffice]]. 
Wikitext is just awful these days, particularly in an article like 
that where every assertion needs and has a cite. Anyone who thinks 
wikitext is just fine for the job, I urge you to click "edit" and 
contemplate fixing the guacamole you see before you. Sure hope the 
visual editor makes managing references on an article like that 
easier. - d. ___ 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Aaron Swartz is dead

[Everton Zanella Alvarenga]

It is worth to listen professor Lessig interview on Democracy now

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/1/14/an_incredible_soul_lawrence_lessig_remembers#.UPRn4_WqvF0.twitter

"An Incredible Soul"

-- 
Everton Zanella Alvarenga (also Tom)
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more
useful than a life spent doing nothing."

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[Everton Zanella Alvarenga]

When Wikimedia projects volunteers in Brazil were organizing a
challenge for the Portuguese Wikipedia [1], there were some ideas of
making personalized Wikipedia objects [2] adapter for the local
context for the prizes, like flip flops, among others, mainly because
of our famous [citation needed] havaianas. [3]


[1] 
http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/12/21/grand-prix-wikimedia-brazil-racing-towards-a-better-wikipedia/
[2] 
http://blogs.estadao.com.br/link/positivo-quer-wikipedia-offline-em-computadores/
[3] http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havaianas

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 5:55 PM, Risker  wrote:
>
> On 14 January 2013 14:02, WereSpielChequers
> wrote:
>
> >  
> >
> > But if you really want me to get excited about the shop, try stocking
> > flip
> > flops with modified soles. I'm sure I'm not the only person who'd like
> > to
> > walk along the beach leaving a trail of [citation needed] tracks.
> >
> > WSC
> >
>
> I have to saythis is brilliant. Plus it made me laugh out loud.


--
Everton Zanella Alvarenga (also Tom)
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful
than a life spent doing nothing."

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[James Alexander]

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 1:01 PM, Tobias
wrote:

> First of all, I'm glad there's a Wikimedia Shop. I don't think it'll make
> big money, but even if it's only self-sustaining it's totally worth it.
>
> I also think that generally we should be happy to try stuff out and use
> banners to advertise new services.
>
> However, I share with Mono the worry that large, colorful and distracting
> banners are becoming the standard, rather than the exception. I think part
> of the reason why "big" banners are used is because they are easier to
> create: most banners are created by copying existing banners and most
> existing banners are those huge fundraising banners.
>
> We should remember that we have banners in all flavours:
> * very low key --- https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/**index.php?title=Special:
> **NoticeTemplate/view&template=**stew2011_noms
> * short & small --- https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/**
> index.php?title=Special:**NoticeTemplate/view&template=**
> WMDE_community_budget
> * a bit larger --- https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/**index.php?title=Special:
> **NoticeTemplate/view&template=**BrazilMeetups
> * do not use! --- https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/**index.php?title=Special:*
> *NoticeTemplate/view&template=**money_or_die
>
> James, was the banner type/size a conscious decision you made? Or did you
> just choose to go with a standard ("big") banner?
>
> Regards,
> Tobias
>


Thanks Tobias,

I generally agree that banners have been overused, they have a big effect
but a big presence and we don't want to abuse that. I'm really happy to see
things like Echo being worked on in Engineering which will add a much
better 'intermediate' choice for messaging which we currently really don't
have.

The size of the banner was a conscious choice but one I thought about for a
fair bit. It's what I would generally consider a 'medium' banner but has
clearly migrated itself to being one of the larger types that we use,
compared to the past couple years where they tended to be significantly
bigger (generally mirroring the size of the fundraising banners at the time
which were significantly larger then this). These ones are around 100px
which is the size or smaller (depending on the banner) then the fundraising
banners this year (before they expanded).

For those interested the general idea I was trying to do was to pick a size
that was the smallest it could be while still getting the information
across that I thought was important. In general that meant I wanted:

   - Everyone to know that it was a shop banner, I didn't want anyone
   clicking on it without knowing that's what it was ( or at least as few
   people as we can).
   - To know that it was targeted at Editors/Volunteers and that some of
   the merch was specifically targeted at that.
   - To know that it was run by the foundation so that people, hopefully,
   don't think that we've been hacked or that some random shop was doing this.
   - Be generally readable without effort

I wanted to  more specifically call out on the banner that the profits went
to the Merchandise Giveaway Program that has been a runaway success but, to
be honest, I both ran out of space and it's more of a reality for the
public push because we've cut out almost all of the margin for the logged
in sale.

I try to support a bunch of different window sizes and resolutions and in
the end it just didn't seem to work well any smaller then this (but didn't
have to be any bigger). We still have some issues with the smaller side of
windows/resolutions and am still looking at good ways to adapt for that but
are getting there.

James

James Alexander
Manager, Merchandise
Wikimedia Foundation
(415) 839-6885 x6716 @jamesofur
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[Tobias]

First of all, I'm glad there's a Wikimedia Shop. I don't think it'll 
make big money, but even if it's only self-sustaining it's totally worth it.


I also think that generally we should be happy to try stuff out and use 
banners to advertise new services.


However, I share with Mono the worry that large, colorful and 
distracting banners are becoming the standard, rather than the 
exception. I think part of the reason why "big" banners are used is 
because they are easier to create: most banners are created by copying 
existing banners and most existing banners are those huge fundraising 
banners.


We should remember that we have banners in all flavours:
* very low key --- 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NoticeTemplate/view&template=stew2011_noms
* short & small --- 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NoticeTemplate/view&template=WMDE_community_budget
* a bit larger --- 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NoticeTemplate/view&template=BrazilMeetups
* do not use! --- 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NoticeTemplate/view&template=money_or_die


James, was the banner type/size a conscious decision you made? Or did 
you just choose to go with a standard ("big") banner?


Regards,
Tobias


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[Sage Ross]

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 2:55 PM, Risker  wrote:
> On 14 January 2013 14:02, WereSpielChequers 
> wrote:
>
>>  
>>
>> But if you really want me to get excited about the shop, try stocking flip
>> flops with modified soles. I'm sure I'm not the only person who'd like to
>> walk along the beach leaving a trail of [citation needed] tracks.
>>
>> WSC
>>
>
> I have to saythis is brilliant. Plus it made me laugh out loud.
>

A+++ WOULD BUY!

-Sage

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[Risker]

On 14 January 2013 14:02, WereSpielChequers wrote:

>  
>
> But if you really want me to get excited about the shop, try stocking flip
> flops with modified soles. I'm sure I'm not the only person who'd like to
> walk along the beach leaving a trail of [citation needed] tracks.
>
> WSC
>

I have to saythis is brilliant. Plus it made me laugh out loud.

Risker
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[Wikimedia-l] Aaron Swartz Community Impact

[Gayle Karen Young]

*I sent this to the staff list and am sending it to wikimedia-l now as
well. I didn’t know Aaron Swartz, but many friends and colleagues that I
respect and admire were influenced and impacted, by both his life and
death.  I’m sad for those who knew him, and I carry the sense that the
world is a worse place for his absence.

I’m worried that other talented, smart people who see what is wrong with
this world and try to change it against overwhelming odds will see this as
one more thing that tips the scales towards the “this isn’t worth it” or “I
can’t exist like this”, slide a little further down the slippery slope into
their own abyss. I’m worried about people in pain and confusion, who may
not have the people in their lives who are able to handle explicit or
implicit expressions of pain and grief, who may feel isolated or sad and
not able to reach out for help, or don’t believe they can be helped.

I started my career studying depression treatment and prevention because
I’ve seen what it does to people - whether they’re beautifully ordinary
people you’d meet on the street or whether they’re great shining lights
whose loss makes you want to rail at an unfair universe -  and because I
have my own history of major depressive episodes and my own sit-down with a
bottle of pills one dark night and I’ve grieved suicide in my own family
system and lived with its consequences. For the living, different kinds of
death leave different kinds of wounds, and I think suicide leaves the most
jagged, livid ones. If you’ve had a loved one pass from illness or old age,
the wound is just different than that of suicide.  As an illness,
depression is painful and inherently isolating, and it makes people feel
terrible about themselves - and isolation is a major factor for suicide.
 Depression slams blinders on possibility, when people most need to be able
to see the options and paths before and around them, and when people need
to have access.   The state inherently robs someone of their ability - and
even of the belief that help is possible and available.

My favorite author
on
this topic, Kay Redfield Jamison, wrote “When people are suicidal, their
thinking is paralyzed, their options appear spare or nonexistent, their
mood is despairing, and hopelessness permeates their entire mental domain.
The future cannot be separated from the present, and the present is painful
beyond solace.”

The factors that generally lead to depression and suicide are complex,
though people keep trying to find the one tipping point thing, the one
cause.   At the end of the day, death forces the living to sit with the
unknowns. I think anecdotally that if you live long enough, you develop a
certain resiliency and a greater capacity - but that’s if you get to that
point in the first place.

So here’s your public service announcement - communities where there is
exposure to suicide via media/internet carry greater risks. It’s called suicide
contagion . As a
community, it’s worth it to be informed and to be extra care-full of those
we interact with,  and to take increased care of your mental health. (Take
a walk. Call a friend.)

Major risk factors
for
suicide include mental disorders, especially mood disorders, hopelessness,
impulsive/aggressive tendencies, family history or previous attempts,
physical illness, job/financial loss, relationship loss, lack of social
support and isolation, stigma associated with asking for help, cultural
beliefs, and exposure to others who have committed suicide (via internet as
a form of transmission).

If someone you know is suicidal (and especially if they have a plan), get
help. Don’t try to talk them out of suicide. Don’t tell them their family
will miss them or that they’ll be a huge loss, even though both of those
are true. Listen to them. Tell them what they’re going through is
temporary, even if they’ve lived with it for awhile, and that It’s
treatable. It will pass. And for the love of anything you consider holy,
get professional help. They’ll often believe they can’t be helped. If it’s
you, please ask for it. I will find you help. You are not alone. If you
have or had suicidal thoughts, you’re not crazy. It’s okay - or at least,
it’s not yet but it will be.  It’s a signal flare that it’s time to get aid.

Rilke wrote, “I am not yet wise in my grief so this great darkness makes me
small” and I’ve thought often of that line because I needed it to remind me
that I had to learn to be wiser, especially in my grief. I think the other
thing to remember are the words of Mary Oliver, that “To live in this
world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold
it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the
time comes to let it go, to let it go.” For the living, grieving Aaro

Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[WereSpielChequers]

 Hi James,

Firstly kudos for trying to get an alternate revenue stream going as
opposed to donations. I'd be surprised if you could get merchandising to
the point where it funds core operations, but it is certainly worth trying.

If you are facing high international transport costs then I'd suggest
working out which countries the USPS does work well for and only using
fedex where post doesn't work, and also trialling the sort of small high
value items like cufflinks and memory sticks where transport costs are less
important.

But if you really want me to get excited about the shop, try stocking flip
flops with modified soles. I'm sure I'm not the only person who'd like to
walk along the beach leaving a trail of [citation needed] tracks.

WSC
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[Mono]

This is rather silly - we have people complaining about the name Wikimedia
being near Wikipedia (oh no!) and complaining about FedEx and airports. The
real question is below.

*Is it appropriate to risk the very real risk of banner blindness for the
shop?* Where do we draw the line?


On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 8:30 AM, Ziko van Dijk wrote:

> Hello,
> Here in the Netherlands the banner can be seen e.g. on
> de.wikipedia.org. I don't know what to think about it, it makes a
> commercial impression similar to an advert (which it actually is).
> Kind regards
> Ziko
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[Ziko van Dijk]

Hello,
Here in the Netherlands the banner can be seen e.g. on
de.wikipedia.org. I don't know what to think about it, it makes a
commercial impression similar to an advert (which it actually is).
Kind regards
Ziko

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[Richard Symonds]

James,

Do be careful about using FedEx for stuff that has to be there by a
particular day. When the WMF has posted things to me in the past, FedEx
have refused to deliver on weekends, leaving me with a trip to the airport
in the snow to pick up the packages!

Richard Symonds
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0992

Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered
Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT.
United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia
movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who
operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).

*Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control
over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*


On 14 January 2013 10:46, James Alexander  wrote:

> On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 2:34 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo)  >wrote:
>
> > James Alexander, 14/01/2013 10:44:
> >
> >  The test planned for tomorrow (for Anonymous users in North America,
> >> without a discount) is mostly to see the potential for this to fund the
> >> Giveaway program we've been running (
> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/**Wikipedia:Merchandise_**giveaways<
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Merchandise_giveaways>) that is a
> >> run away success.
> >>
> >
> > Do I understand correctly that you meant to target the notice to USA
> users
> > only? That's a good idea, probably, given the unaddressed complaints on
> > undelivered items abroad  >
> wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_**merchandise#USPS_Priority_**Mail_Int.27l_reliability<
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_merchandise#USPS_Priority_Mail_Int.27l_reliability
> >>;
> > but I did see it this morning, so perhaps something went wrong.
> >
> > Nemo
> >
>
> The survey today is worldwide but the one for tomorrow is supposed to be
> North America in general (we've found that shipping to Canada and Mexico is
> much better overall). That said however thank you for showing me that link,
> somehow I didn't get my normal notification and missed it.
>
> I responded on wiki as well now but you should know that we were seeing the
> same problems. To be honest I was taken by surprise at how bad USPS
> Priority was internationally despite their promises to the contrary.
> Because of that we took it away as an option for International users
> completely and no longer use it for our flat rate shipping either (which we
> subsidize so that no one has to pay too much). Currently all international
> packages are going to be sent FedEx which we've used as a foundation for a
> very long timer with success.
>
> FYI: It's about 3am here so I'm going to be heading to bed but will
> obviously be able to answer more questions in the morning if there are any.
>
> James
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Editor retention (was Re: "Big data" benefits and limitations (relevance: WMF editor engagement, fundraising, and HR practices))

[Fred Bauder]

Socialization is usually best achieved through rewards rather than
through punishments. The principle reward is a sense of achievement when
good editing is done or good administrative work done. In the case of
editing the reward, absent trouble, is instantaneous as your work is
published.

Fred

> Yes, of course - why didn't we think of that?  Actually the lack of
> rules and lack of punishments means (meant) it was bloody hard to game
> the  system.  Now we have a calcified set of rules and an oligarchy,
> passive-aggressives have a field day.  Rules-lawyers abound, polite
> requests to the oligarchy are met with insults about "mind-set" and
> other newspeak comments. Meanwhile the 99% of editors that just want to
> edit and the 95% of admins that just want to help the project are
> stymied at every turn, scared to get involved in the processes.  A
> number of years ago the oligarchy destroyed hope (Esperanza) - now the
> Wikiquette noticeboard has gone.  Power is increasingly in fewer and
> fewer hands, a significant number of whom have, over the years, and
> indeed recently, abused that power.
>
> The solution for social problems is socialisation.  We have some great
> exponents of that art in Dennis Brown, Worm That Turned and several
> others.  For those that won't be socialised, the solution is ostracism -
> or blocking as it is known.  Provided this is used with caution on
> community members, and with no longer duration than necessary it is a
> good solution.
>
> On 04/01/2013 06:27, Tim Starling wrote:
>> The solution for social problems is to have rules and a means to
>> punish people who break them.
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[James Alexander]

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 2:46 AM, James Alexander
wrote:

>
>>
> The survey today is worldwide
>


And by survey I obviously mean banner...clearly time for sleep


James Alexander
Manager, Merchandise
Wikimedia Foundation
(415) 839-6885 x6716 @jamesofur
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[James Alexander]

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 2:34 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) wrote:

> James Alexander, 14/01/2013 10:44:
>
>  The test planned for tomorrow (for Anonymous users in North America,
>> without a discount) is mostly to see the potential for this to fund the
>> Giveaway program we've been running (
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/**Wikipedia:Merchandise_**giveaways)
>>  that is a
>> run away success.
>>
>
> Do I understand correctly that you meant to target the notice to USA users
> only? That's a good idea, probably, given the unaddressed complaints on
> undelivered items abroad  wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_**merchandise#USPS_Priority_**Mail_Int.27l_reliability>;
> but I did see it this morning, so perhaps something went wrong.
>
> Nemo
>

The survey today is worldwide but the one for tomorrow is supposed to be
North America in general (we've found that shipping to Canada and Mexico is
much better overall). That said however thank you for showing me that link,
somehow I didn't get my normal notification and missed it.

I responded on wiki as well now but you should know that we were seeing the
same problems. To be honest I was taken by surprise at how bad USPS
Priority was internationally despite their promises to the contrary.
Because of that we took it away as an option for International users
completely and no longer use it for our flat rate shipping either (which we
subsidize so that no one has to pay too much). Currently all international
packages are going to be sent FedEx which we've used as a foundation for a
very long timer with success.

FYI: It's about 3am here so I'm going to be heading to bed but will
obviously be able to answer more questions in the morning if there are any.

James
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[David Gerard]

On 14 January 2013 10:34, Federico Leva (Nemo)  wrote:
> James Alexander, 14/01/2013 10:44:

>> The test planned for tomorrow (for Anonymous users in North America,
>> without a discount) is mostly to see the potential for this to fund the
>> Giveaway program we've been running (
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Merchandise_giveaways ) that is a
>> run away success.

> Do I understand correctly that you meant to target the notice to USA users
> only? That's a good idea, probably, given the unaddressed complaints on
> undelivered items abroad
> ;
> but I did see it this morning, so perhaps something went wrong.


Visible here in the UK.


- d.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[Federico Leva (Nemo)]

James Alexander, 14/01/2013 10:44:

The test planned for tomorrow (for Anonymous users in North America,
without a discount) is mostly to see the potential for this to fund the
Giveaway program we've been running (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Merchandise_giveaways ) that is a
run away success.


Do I understand correctly that you meant to target the notice to USA 
users only? That's a good idea, probably, given the unaddressed 
complaints on undelivered items abroad 
; 
but I did see it this morning, so perhaps something went wrong.


Nemo

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[James Alexander]

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 1:42 AM, MZMcBride  wrote:

> Marcin Cieslak wrote:
> >I just wanted to share my feelings: I went to en.wikipedia.org today and
> >I saw this message on top:
> >
> >Happy Birthday Wikipedia!
> >15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop
> >
> >My first impression was: I think I mistyped the URL...
>
> I primarily contribute to Wikipedia, so I can't say for sure, but I would
> imagine it wouldn't feel great to look at the Wikimedia Shop right now as
> a Wiktionarian or a Wikinewsie or a Wikisorcerer or
>
> I primarily contribute in English, so I can't say for sure, but I would
> imagine it wouldn't feel great to look at the Wikimedia Shop right now as
> someone who primarily speaks French or Spanish or German or Italian or 
>
> I imagine most active users have given up on CentralNotice and have the
> banners permanently hidden while logged in. But it isn't the banner that
> bothers me as much as the place to which it leads. These are solvable
> problems. We can do better.
>
> MZMcBride
>

First off I agree; This is currently why the Central Notice is only on
English Wikipedia right now (though I was going to post to this list and
meta later to try and get others to see it). I'm not sure
the evidence actually bears true for the permanently hidden central notice
concern but I can certainly understand why you think that. Central Notice
is an over used kludgel and we need to have better options (and Engineering
is working on them) but I think this is an appropriate use.

Re the shop concerns: These are solvable problems, and as I've told
everyone who's asked about these issues (including you) they are not nearly
easy problems to solve. We don't have the resources to dive in and make
more languages and products from the start. I learned very quickly that
running a shop like this takes far more effort and work then I would have
ever imagined and I am only staff member assigned to it (basically) full
time.  Sadly, if we had to jump in the deep end with lots of languages and
all of the projects at the start we likely would never have been able to do
this, or at least would have had to shut it down.  As we gauge the shop and
let it grow then we will be able to add them.

On the product side I actually think we've done that extremely well. It was
seeded with Wikipedia 10 product and designs we had from before I switched
to the job. This stuff was, understandably, Wikipedia centric. Because of
that I've worked to make sure the products I've introduced since then has
not been: Lapel pins and stickers for all of the projects, nicely made
button packs showcasing all of the projects and today the WLM calendar (I
did introduce the water-bottles which are WP centric but purposely not
language centric with lots of our word marks on there).

The language side is problematic because of the software we're on now, I'd
very much like to push for a couple different languages ASAP (they would be
done as separate shops sadly) but in the long term if we continue we're
going to have to look at a couple other software options and I've already
been looking and playing with them to see which is best. Sadly those other
options aren't plug and play like this was however, the require much more
customization and backend server support that we don't have yet (because we
have to prove it's worth it).

James

James Alexander
Manager, Merchandise
Wikimedia Foundation
(415) 839-6885 x6716 @jamesofur
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Editor retention (was Re: "Big data" benefits and limitations (relevance: WMF editor engagement, fundraising, and HR practices))

[Richard Farmbrough]

Yes, of course - why didn't we think of that?  Actually the lack of 
rules and lack of punishments means (meant) it was bloody hard to game 
the  system.  Now we have a calcified set of rules and an oligarchy, 
passive-aggressives have a field day.  Rules-lawyers abound, polite 
requests to the oligarchy are met with insults about "mind-set" and 
other newspeak comments. Meanwhile the 99% of editors that just want to 
edit and the 95% of admins that just want to help the project are 
stymied at every turn, scared to get involved in the processes.  A 
number of years ago the oligarchy destroyed hope (Esperanza) - now the 
Wikiquette noticeboard has gone.  Power is increasingly in fewer and 
fewer hands, a significant number of whom have, over the years, and 
indeed recently, abused that power.


The solution for social problems is socialisation.  We have some great 
exponents of that art in Dennis Brown, Worm That Turned and several 
others.  For those that won't be socialised, the solution is ostracism - 
or blocking as it is known.  Provided this is used with caution on 
community members, and with no longer duration than necessary it is a 
good solution.


On 04/01/2013 06:27, Tim Starling wrote:
The solution for social problems is to have rules and a means to 
punish people who break them.



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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[James Alexander]

Aye, I know it's something new and not that not all
together uncontroversial. I posted about my thoughts and proposed plan on
enWP last week (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(miscellaneous)#Wikimedia_Shop_Central_Notices_and_Sale_for_Wikipedia_Birthdaywith
a pointer on WP:AN) and while we got relatively little conversation on
wiki I got a lot of feedback from community members off wiki as well. It
was also in the signpost notes last week (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2013-01-07/News_and_notes)
 In fact I got 10 users emailing complaining that I was late setting
it
up this evening (they were right).

The test planned for tomorrow (for Anonymous users in North America,
without a discount) is mostly to see the potential for this to fund the
Giveaway program we've been running (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Merchandise_giveaways ) that is a
run away success.

We see both of these as very much a test and even if it succeeds something
that should only be done incredibly rarely and with community input, but I
think it's a good thing to test.

James

James Alexander
Manager, Merchandise
Wikimedia Foundation
(415) 839-6885 x6716 @jamesofur


On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 1:04 AM, Marcin Cieslak  wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I just wanted to share my feelings: I went to en.wikipedia.org today and
> I saw this message on top:
>
> Happy Birthday Wikipedia!
> 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop
>
> My first impression was: I think I mistyped the URL...
>
> //Saper
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[MZMcBride]

Marcin Cieslak wrote:
>I just wanted to share my feelings: I went to en.wikipedia.org today and
>I saw this message on top:
>
>Happy Birthday Wikipedia!
>15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop
>
>My first impression was: I think I mistyped the URL...

I primarily contribute to Wikipedia, so I can't say for sure, but I would
imagine it wouldn't feel great to look at the Wikimedia Shop right now as
a Wiktionarian or a Wikinewsie or a Wikisorcerer or

I primarily contribute in English, so I can't say for sure, but I would
imagine it wouldn't feel great to look at the Wikimedia Shop right now as
someone who primarily speaks French or Spanish or German or Italian or 

I imagine most active users have given up on CentralNotice and have the
banners permanently hidden while logged in. But it isn't the banner that
bothers me as much as the place to which it leads. These are solvable
problems. We can do better.

MZMcBride



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Re: [Wikimedia-l] "Big data" benefits and limitations (relevance: WMF editor engagement, fundraising, and HR practices)

[Richard Farmbrough]

Yes there is some data on templating in a research paper somewhere, and 
some more on a/b template runs. But the solution is not trivial.  I have 
stuck up for a few editors who appear to be children, suggesting that we 
treat them a little more gently, only to be told that they are in fact 
trolls, pretending to be children, pretending to create obvious socks...


When I joined Wikipedia I was constantly being surprised (and delighted) 
by the unwillingness to block, the willingness to unblock, the IAR ethos 
when something did something obviously good that broke a rule.  I get 
the feeling that many admins still have the same /attitude/ they are 
just to weary to AGF.  UNblock is pretty much always "standard offer or 
nothing" - even people who say  "I see what I did was wrong but.." end 
up with their talk page access removed, or giving up.  This is not about 
the vandalism only accounts, this is people who do something stupid, and 
something in good faith, or make a mistake.  They may well not be ready 
to edit for a few years, but we are building up a resentment about 
Wikipedia that is visible in every comments section of every article 
about Wikipedia "I tired to edit once and it got reverted".   Of course 
there will always be some who won't engage with discussion, but 
fundamentally we should be able to engage these people, rather than 
alienate them.


On 03/01/2013 10:01, Thomas Morton wrote:
It might help; often it is surprising how statistical analysis can 
help narrow the focus of such efforts. For example; it is taken as a 
given that incivility drives away new users, but do we have hard 
statistical evidence to back that up? And if that is a true situation, 
can we identify specifically what uncivil things are driving the most 
editors away (rudeness, templating, etc.). Although please lets do it 
without words like "big data", which makes me squirm :P Tom 


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[Hans A. Rosbach]

My weather-forecast for this mailinglist today - Storms.

Hans A. Rosbach

On 14 January 2013 10:04, Marcin Cieslak  wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I just wanted to share my feelings: I went to en.wikipedia.org today and
> I saw this message on top:
>
> Happy Birthday Wikipedia!
> 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop
>
> My first impression was: I think I mistyped the URL...
>
> //Saper
>
>
> ___
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> Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
>
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[Wikimedia-l] 15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

[Marcin Cieslak]

Hello,

I just wanted to share my feelings: I went to en.wikipedia.org today and
I saw this message on top:

Happy Birthday Wikipedia!
15% off merchandise today at the Wikimedia Shop

My first impression was: I think I mistyped the URL...

//Saper


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