I agree, that banner does not reflect the values of this movement. Pure and simple; it's not a grey area, and not worth my time to discuss for the 97th time.
Personally, I long ago gave up participating in these discussions, for the most part -- because the same valid points get made over and over again, and the same *AWFUL* errors are made year after year in the fund-raising campaign. Leila's post here is heartening, and I'm glad that somebody has the energy to articulate the concerns so well. I, myself, do not; I have simply lost faith in the integrity of the Wikimedia Foundation's fund-raising operation. I am, honestly, ashamed to tell people that I used to work in the fund-raising department there (though I believe the work we did was valuable). I recently heard from a high-ranking executive at a software company. She told me that she had given money to the Wikimedia Foundation, and then looked into the WMF's budget, and the messages in the campaign she had responded to. The word she used to describe her feeling was "mortified." She had considered asking for her money back, but had decided against it. Fortunately, she was sophisticated enough not apply her negative feelings to Wikipedia, but rather to the Wikimedia Foundation. But can the WMF afford to assume that will always be the case? Apparently, the thinking thus far is, "yes." -Pete [[User:Peteforsyth]] On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 2:56 PM, Leila Zia <le...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > Hi Megan, > > Thank you for the update and all the hard work the team has done during Q1. > My comments below. > > On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 1:58 PM, Megan Hernandez <mhernan...@wikimedia.org> > wrote: > > > > The team has used this first quarter to test a wide variety of brand new > > banners. From images, to banners highlighting photos from Commons, and > > different messages, we’ve found a few new ways to share the fundraising > > message with Wikipedia readers. With updated designs, we’ve ended the > > quarter with a banner that performs roughly 20% better than the best- > > performing banner from last quarter. > > > I saw that banner and I want to do all I can to help you not use it even if > it performs 20% better. I put my story in p.s. so it's easier to skip for > whoever chooses to skip. This is a true story. :-\ > > > > Better performing banners are required > > to raise a higher budget with declining traffic. We’ll continue testing > new > > banners into the next quarter and sharing highlights as we go. > > > > I've said this couple of times in the past through different channels > (sorry to those of you who have heard this before) but I think it's key to > repeat it here just so we are all clear about what we know and what we > don't know. > > We know that our pageviews are not growing globally (depending on how you > look at the trend and predictions, they are going down with a slow slope or > are almost flat, neither case is good.). > > We also know that a higher budget means more work for Furndraising to meet > the budget. > > We do not know the relation between the decline in pageviews and our > ability to raise money, we do not have research evidence for the above > statement given the data we have, so I highly encourage all of us not to > repeat this statement (even though it sounds very intuitive) until we show > such evidence because the more we say it, the more we believe it. Ellery > explains what we know and don't know about this specific topic when I ask > him a question about this in Metrics Meeting in April 2015. That discussion > is recorded starting minute 37, second 38 here > < > https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/WMF_Monthly_Metrics_Meeting_April_8%2C_2015.ogv > > > . > > Best, > Leila > > p.s. Here is the story: > I open my laptop at 5:30am to check few definitions on Wikipedia for an > upcoming early morning meeting. The room is dark and the only source of > light is my laptop, I go to Wikipedia and I see that banner > < > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising#/media/File:Sept2015BannerEx.png > >. > I'm still sleepy, and probably my mind is not functioning the way it > normally does, nevertheless, here is what comes to my mind: I have a sudden > feeling of fear. I see a very black background, and I think someone very > important has died. I look a bit more, and I see some red colors, then I > think something in the order of SOPA has happened. I'm getting quite > nervous. I look at the text, but it's too long for me to parse it at that > moment with the thoughts I have in the background. I look more at the > background, I see some orange colors, some yellow colors, and a little > human circled, I first think that whole color combination is a flame (red, > orange, yellow, and the semi shape of a flame), then I think someone is > jailed/executed. My eyes finally manage to see the right-hand-side of the > page, and I see there are dollar signs and numbers. I sigh in relief, and > then I get really upset (though I manage to pass that stage soon). Now, if > I was not involved in the movement, I'm not sure if I would pay or not > (maybe I would) seeing that banner, but because I'm in the Movement, I got > really sad seeing myself going through that experience because I know more. > I also acknowledge that different people have different backgrounds and > experiences in life. What I see as a sign of death and war, may not be a > signal for many other people (though the color black is almost universally > used for signalling death), and I acknowledge that you cannot accommodate > everyone. But please be aware, some people get really scared seeing this > kind of banner. > > I said the story above, but I also want to say that I understand the > pressure on you. I've said it here > < > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/2015-16_Fundraising_ideas#Banner_test_ideas > > > (and btw, huge thanks for being open to suggestions :-), and I'm saying it > here as well: I'm happy to help us to fix such an experience for our users. > Please let me know if you're open to test new designs. I'm more than happy > to help you for some time for us to bring in more designers and community > members into this conversation. I'm sure we can do this. > > > > > -- > > > > Megan Hernandez > > > > Director of Online Fundraising > > Wikimedia Foundation > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
