Re: [Wikimedia-l] 2014-15 Wikimedia Fundraising Report

[Andreas Kolbe]

Megan,

As pointed out previously,[1] the Wikipedia Reader Survey mentioned in the
Fundraising Report didn't ask respondents to assess the urgency of the
fundraising message against the Foundation's actual financial situation (or
if they were asked, those results weren't reported). Several members of
this list had suggested this be done. It is disappointing that it wasn't.

One example banner shown in the report for example says:

"Wikipedia readers. We survive on donations. If everyone reading this gave
$3, we could keep it online and ad-free for another year."

As a number of people have told you, this type of banner message is widely
understood to signify that the Wikimedia Foundation lacks funds to keep
Wikipedia online without ad revenue for another year. But in fact, you took
enough money this year alone to keep Wikipedia and all other Wikimedia
projects online and ad-free until the year 2040, if you allocated the funds
received to that purpose.

On the suggestions page in Meta,[2] I proposed on September 1, 2015 that
you test a wording which, instead of telling people you need money to keep
Wikipedia online without ads, just told them "to take one minute to keep
our work going for another year".

That would be an honest message: you are doing a lot of work. Most of this
has nothing to do with keeping Wikipedia online and ad-free, but much of it
is valuable. Moreover, I and many others would like the Foundation to do
more in certain areas. I understand that doing stuff costs money. But
donors need to understand what their money is used for.

It took you four weeks to reply to my suggestion, only to tell me that the
version you tested still asked people for money "to keep it online and
growing". And you say that you don't have time to test anything else now.

So I am fully expecting that we will see messages of the "Wikipedia
readers. We survive on donations. If everyone reading this gave $3, we
could keep it online and ad-free for another year." type in two months'
time.

This is a shame. It is quite possible that readers would donate amply out
of generosity and gratitude, without having to be frightened with the
spectre of Wikipedia blinking out of existence.

If you told readers specifics about the Foundation's work, instead of the
platitudes contained in an out-of-date FAQ,[3] people might even be
inspired and enthused into donating.

To me, all of this reflects very, very poorly on the Foundation. There are
many different kinds of wealth. Money is a kind of wealth, integrity is
another. Long-term, the latter brings better rewards.

Andreas

[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-03-18/Op-ed
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/2015-16_Fundraising_ideas#Banner_test_ideas

[3] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/FAQ/en

On Fri, Oct 2, 2015 at 6:03 PM, Balázs Viczián 
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> This job is pretty impressive, congratulations to the team :)
>
> Is there a per country breakdown available somewhere?
>
> Balázs
>
> 2015-10-02 18:56 GMT+02:00 Megan Hernandez :
>
> > Hi Rodrigo,
> >
> > Thank you for the question and for all your help with the latest Brazil
> > campaign!  I've copied your question over to the talk page and replied
> > there to keep track of the comments together in one spot.
> >
> >
> >
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising/2014-15_Report#Latin_America_Question
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Megan
> >
> > On Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 11:38 PM, Rodrigo Padula <
> rodrigopad...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Excellent report!
> > >
> > > I'm really impressed with the low level of donations from Latina
> America.
> > >
> > > We need to do something to stimulate people to contribute a little bit
> > more
> > > to our mission.
> > >
> > > During the first two weeks of the campaign in Brasil, I received a lot
> of
> > > messages from friends requesting information about the Wikipedia
> banners
> > > asking for donations, a lot of people thought that it was spam, spyware
> > or
> > > something fake. So, I guess the low level of donations from Brasil
> > > (specially) can be linked with that issue.
> > >
> > > In August I started a local effort talking to some journalists
> regarding
> > > the importance of the donations to our movement.
> > >
> > > I contacted some of our contacts to spread it, and many posts was
> > published
> > > here regarding the fund-raising campaign, with a really good impact.
> > >
> > >
> >
> http://bit.blog.br/wikipedia-pede-doacoes-para-ajudar-a-manter-site-no-ar/
> > > ( interview replicated on twitter and facebook of
> > > http://diariodepernambuco.com.br/ to more than 800.000 followers)
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> http://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/vida-e-cidadania/wikipedia-comeca-nova-campanha-de-doacoes-para-manter-site-funcionando-cdlzioae60haolfoz3l6ohm1c
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> 

[Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2017 Montreal - scooped by Signpost

[Nathan]

Evidently the Signpost has scooped the WMF by revealing that Montreal has
been selected for the 2017 Wikimania host city in a secret process that
completed this past August. [1]

It seems like the community could have been looped into this new method
before it was a done deal.

~Nathan

[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-09-30/News_and_notes
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2017 Montreal - scooped by Signpost

[Craig Franklin]

You could excuse the Perth and Manila bid teams for being very angry at
having wasted a lot of time and energy when the decision was apparently
made behind closed doors weeks ago.  Even if you think the idea of getting
rid of the expensive bid process is a good idea (and I do), the way that
this was not communicated to the community is simply abominable.

Cheers,
Craig

On 4 October 2015 at 08:13, Nathan  wrote:

> Evidently the Signpost has scooped the WMF by revealing that Montreal has
> been selected for the 2017 Wikimania host city in a secret process that
> completed this past August. [1]
>
> It seems like the community could have been looped into this new method
> before it was a done deal.
>
> ~Nathan
>
> [1]
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-09-30/News_and_notes
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2017 Montreal - scooped by Signpost

[Steven Zhang]

I have to say I'm quite surprised by this as well. It seems a real departure 
from the norm and even though I've been told first hand that WMF would never 
choose Australia as a venue for a Wikimania due to cost (and the shift to a 
Europe/North America/elsewhere rotating format demonstrates this) but it's 
still very disheartening for those that have started preparing a bid only to 
find out it's a complete waste of their time.

Steve Crossin
Sent from my iPhone

> On 4 Oct 2015, at 2:13 PM, Craig Franklin  wrote:
> 
> You could excuse the Perth and Manila bid teams for being very angry at
> having wasted a lot of time and energy when the decision was apparently
> made behind closed doors weeks ago.  Even if you think the idea of getting
> rid of the expensive bid process is a good idea (and I do), the way that
> this was not communicated to the community is simply abominable.
> 
> Cheers,
> Craig
> 
>> On 4 October 2015 at 08:13, Nathan  wrote:
>> 
>> Evidently the Signpost has scooped the WMF by revealing that Montreal has
>> been selected for the 2017 Wikimania host city in a secret process that
>> completed this past August. [1]
>> 
>> It seems like the community could have been looped into this new method
>> before it was a done deal.
>> 
>> ~Nathan
>> 
>> [1]
>> 
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-09-30/News_and_notes
>> ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2017 Montreal - scooped by Signpost

[Katie Chan]

On 03/10/2015 23:13, Nathan wrote:

Evidently the Signpost has scooped the WMF by revealing that Montreal has
been selected for the 2017 Wikimania host city in a secret process that
completed this past August. [1]


Not so much the Signpost as 梁忠明.[1]

KTC


[1]: 
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2015-October/079246.html



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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2017 Montreal - scooped by Signpost

[Pine W]

I will be happy to learn of any specific and measurable new goals WMF has
for movement communications and specific plans for how those goals will be
achieved. I agree that vague statements about improved communication are
insufficient.

Pine
On Oct 3, 2015 8:36 PM, "Craig Franklin"  wrote:

> I take your point Pine, but "improving communication with the community"
> seems to have been a WMF priority for as long as I can remember, yet there
> doesn't seem to have been any consistent improvement, as we can see here.
> A new approach and direction to how matters like this are communicated is
> clearly needed, because the current one doesn't seem to be working at all.
>
> Cheers,
> Craig
>
> On 4 October 2015 at 13:25, Pine W  wrote:
>
> > Sigh. Decisions being made behind closed doors and then being announced
> > much later than they should have been is a bit of a WMF pattern that I
> > would like to see addressed. My understanding is that Lila is putting
> some
> > emphasis on improved communications in Q2, and I would be interested in
> > seeing some specific measures put in place to address the kind of
> situation
> > that seems to have happened again here.
> >
> > On Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 8:13 PM, Craig Franklin <
> cfrank...@halonetwork.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > You could excuse the Perth and Manila bid teams for being very angry at
> > > having wasted a lot of time and energy when the decision was apparently
> > > made behind closed doors weeks ago.  Even if you think the idea of
> > getting
> > > rid of the expensive bid process is a good idea (and I do), the way
> that
> > > this was not communicated to the community is simply abominable.
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > > Craig
> > >
> > > On 4 October 2015 at 08:13, Nathan  wrote:
> > >
> > > > Evidently the Signpost has scooped the WMF by revealing that Montreal
> > has
> > > > been selected for the 2017 Wikimania host city in a secret process
> that
> > > > completed this past August. [1]
> > > >
> > > > It seems like the community could have been looped into this new
> method
> > > > before it was a done deal.
> > > >
> > > > ~Nathan
> > > >
> > > > [1]
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-09-30/News_and_notes
> > > > ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2017 Montreal - scooped by Signpost

[Craig Franklin]

I take your point Pine, but "improving communication with the community"
seems to have been a WMF priority for as long as I can remember, yet there
doesn't seem to have been any consistent improvement, as we can see here.
A new approach and direction to how matters like this are communicated is
clearly needed, because the current one doesn't seem to be working at all.

Cheers,
Craig

On 4 October 2015 at 13:25, Pine W  wrote:

> Sigh. Decisions being made behind closed doors and then being announced
> much later than they should have been is a bit of a WMF pattern that I
> would like to see addressed. My understanding is that Lila is putting some
> emphasis on improved communications in Q2, and I would be interested in
> seeing some specific measures put in place to address the kind of situation
> that seems to have happened again here.
>
> On Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 8:13 PM, Craig Franklin 
> wrote:
>
> > You could excuse the Perth and Manila bid teams for being very angry at
> > having wasted a lot of time and energy when the decision was apparently
> > made behind closed doors weeks ago.  Even if you think the idea of
> getting
> > rid of the expensive bid process is a good idea (and I do), the way that
> > this was not communicated to the community is simply abominable.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Craig
> >
> > On 4 October 2015 at 08:13, Nathan  wrote:
> >
> > > Evidently the Signpost has scooped the WMF by revealing that Montreal
> has
> > > been selected for the 2017 Wikimania host city in a secret process that
> > > completed this past August. [1]
> > >
> > > It seems like the community could have been looped into this new method
> > > before it was a done deal.
> > >
> > > ~Nathan
> > >
> > > [1]
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-09-30/News_and_notes
> > > ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2017 Montreal - scooped by Signpost

[Florence Devouard]

Le 04/10/15 00:13, Nathan a écrit :

Evidently the Signpost has scooped the WMF by revealing that Montreal has
been selected for the 2017 Wikimania host city in a secret process that
completed this past August. [1]

It seems like the community could have been looped into this new method
before it was a done deal.

~Nathan

[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-09-30/News_and_notes
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As member of this community, I would to shortly comment in my individual 
capacity.


The situation is completely embarassing. Yeah, it is.

The community met during Wikimania.
- We discussed committee membership.
- We discussed moving away from the current bidding process, which is, - 
in our opinion, broken
- We discussed making Montreal our choice, to be announced at the 
*earliest* convenience (keep in mind this was discussed in July), as 
part of our new process but only after talking with the Montreal team

- We finally discussed a notion of location with global areas
Very rough notes of that meeting were posted on meta : 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee/2015-07-16


We closed that meeting with the following todos
- Ellie had to check with Montreal (which she did)
- James had to propose areas (which he did)
- the committee had to meet again a month later (which it did)

When August meeting came,
- we discussed and finalized membership (keep in mind that not all 
members were in July meeting and not all members were in August meeting)
- Ellie informed us that Montreal team was happy to move forward and we 
planned an announcement

- James proposed a set of areas, with propositions for the coming years
- James proposed a draft of announcement

AND THIS IS WHERE THE WHOLE SITUATION BUGGED

The announcement of the new bidding system, the locations and Montreal 
were in one document only. And the problem is that the committee did not 
agree collectively with the area chosen, nor with the predetermination 
proposed.
(I, in particular, indicated my (very) deep disagreement that middle and 
south africa were completely excluded from the list. I expressed my 
(serious) desire that the decision of the rotation places be not made 
now by the committee, but with community input). The committee concluded 
that 1) the draft announcement was to be reworked and that 2) we would 
announce the new system and seek input from the community before its 
finalization in the following weeks.


This was over a month ago. Since then, what happened ? We made some 
improvements to the draft. Iolanda tried to push for the announcement of 
the new process and of Montreal to be made. Ellie noted that the 
organizer of Montreal was on a leave for 3 weeks and that she would 
prefer to wait his return and a visit to Canada to finalize things more, 
and that she would rather that the new process be announced as part of a 
larger community consultation that would include discussion both about 
the program and the future location, to be held in October.


And there you are... there is this...dual situation between ... the 
community wanting to know as soon as possible, so as to weigth in the 
decision... and the staff... who want to polish things as much as 
possible before any public announcement and call for input. And of 
course... these two tendancies are not fully compatible.
And a pinch of feeling of "non ownership" from committee members, as 
only the Chair of the committee should be the one to finalize and send 
the announcement.


Eh :)

Well, there you are. Now things are out.

We are indeed seriously considering Montreal pending a site visit this 
month (october).


Josh, for the record, I am very sorry because I had no idea you were 
preparing a bid. I thought only Montreal had been really.
This is actually part of the reasons why we wish to change the biding 
process. We have seen too many teams work like crazy for weeks, even 
months, to prepare a bid that will go nowhere because another city will 
be winning. This is such a loss of energy and time ! We think it would 
be so much positive to get community members to focus more on building a 
great program more than on finding the proper venue/hotel/restaurant etc.


Hopefully, James will be available to post a clearer and complete 
message early next week on that topic. Bottom line is that there is a 
community consultation planned on that topic.


Again, I post this in my personal capacity.

Florence








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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2017 Montreal - scooped by Signpost

[Pine W]

Sigh. Decisions being made behind closed doors and then being announced
much later than they should have been is a bit of a WMF pattern that I
would like to see addressed. My understanding is that Lila is putting some
emphasis on improved communications in Q2, and I would be interested in
seeing some specific measures put in place to address the kind of situation
that seems to have happened again here.

On Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 8:13 PM, Craig Franklin 
wrote:

> You could excuse the Perth and Manila bid teams for being very angry at
> having wasted a lot of time and energy when the decision was apparently
> made behind closed doors weeks ago.  Even if you think the idea of getting
> rid of the expensive bid process is a good idea (and I do), the way that
> this was not communicated to the community is simply abominable.
>
> Cheers,
> Craig
>
> On 4 October 2015 at 08:13, Nathan  wrote:
>
> > Evidently the Signpost has scooped the WMF by revealing that Montreal has
> > been selected for the 2017 Wikimania host city in a secret process that
> > completed this past August. [1]
> >
> > It seems like the community could have been looped into this new method
> > before it was a done deal.
> >
> > ~Nathan
> >
> > [1]
> >
> >
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-09-30/News_and_notes
> > ___
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>
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