We are sharing with the privacy policy right now. There's probably no 
flexibility there - the WMF really likes its silly banners. Like anyone in the 
public actually cares about our privacy policy - Facebook's is the only one 
that matters to anyone. Rants aside, I think we just need something that is 
clearer - Wiki Loves Monuments: Historic sites, photos, and prizes! means 
nothing - we need a verb to fix this.
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 12:41:30 -0400
From: pdek...@gmail.com
To: wikilovesmonuments@lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: [Wiki Loves Monuments] drop off in submissions, banner

I too have noticed a drop off in photos submitted in the last few days.  It's 
fairly important to determine what caused the drop off if we can.  It might be 
something totally outside of our control, e.g. the situation in Syria, but 
might be something like a change in banner display, which we do have some 
control over. Did the drop happen in most countries? We don't have full control 
over all Wikimedia banners - we do have to share the space with others, but 
perhaps they might be willing to delay some of their displays if we ask nicely.

I do agree that changing the banner from time-to-time can help. I don't agree 
that a banner of ""Participate in the world's largest photo-contest and help 
Wikipedia," would help any.  The imperative verb "Participate" is very weak, 
and is not natural to American English speakers.  It suggests a high school 
home economics teacher telling us that we have to bring cookies to the annual 
bake-off.  Something more active is definitely needed, something along the line 
(but not exactly) of a high school football coach saying "Go out there and kick 
some butt!"  That would definitely get some attention as a banner, but not the 
exact type of attention we want.  A teaser ad might work however, e.g. "About 
your photos on Wikipedia .... (smaller type) upload them to Wiki Loves 
Monuments"


"Snap" might be a verb we want to use.  It gives an idea of the action that we 
want people to take (snap a snapshot), unlike "participate."  So perhaps "Snap 
a historic site, Wiki Loves Monuments" It could wake people up. Or maybe "Snap 
a snapshot for Wikipedia".  As a noun "It's a snap, Wiki Loves Monuments"

I don't think these ideas are good enough yet for an actual banner, but I think 
that folks should brain-storm this and come up with new ideas.  Straight 
informative banners can sound bureaucratic or just boring.  Different languages 
or dialects should be considered separately, as translations are really tricky, 
e.g. "It's a snap" might mean something entirely different in British English

PeteUser:Smallbones


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