*TL;DR - If you're going to change something, inform the people who will be affected before you change it!*
Interestingly, I have a different understanding of the text when I read it - I find it to be a positive message and those words that you singled out have different tones depending on their contextualisation. So, I for one am not left with a feeling that it is like an obituary, rather that it is optimistic, but I do agree that it is aggressively worded. But... like you say, that's the power of the 'banner testing' process, different people respond well to different things! :-) I am however negatively-struck by the finishing statement, a return to the old motto of "keep us online without advertising for one more year". I thought that we had collectively agreed that banners that directly threaten advertising next year were not going to happen any more. Remember when we used to get lots of mainstream media reports saying "Wikipedia will soon have ads!" as a result of those campaigns in the past? [This is different from simply saying "we don't have ads and we're proud of it", etc.] I also reiterate the concern raised by others - that it obscures the *whole *page. A popular request to return to the usual 'banner' style was run on the French WP: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Le_Bistro/25_novembre_2014#Mettre_en_place_une_banni.C3.A8re_classique To its credit, the WMF fundraising team has responded on that page: Indicating that the full-screen-blocking banner should only be visible the first time a non-logged in user sees it, and that this particular fundraising campaign will conclude on Friday: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Le_Bistro/25_novembre_2014#R.C3.A9ponse_de_la_WMF While I personally disagree with their decision to obscure the whole page in black, I would like to specifically thank the WMF fundraising team for responding to the affected community on the same wiki-page and on the same day that the question was first raised there (the 25th). This notwithstanding, I think the issue *yet again*, is a lack of communication with the relevant community members when a decision is taken that affects them. In this case, at minimum, the French OTRS team - who are apparently receiving complaints that Wikipedia is affected by a virus! So can I reiterate my reqeust from the other day: If you're going to change something, tell the affected people before you change it (or as soon as possible afterwards). Please don't wait for the public to raise concerns with volunteers, who then complain to the WMF, before offering an explanation. And on that note, regarding the fundraising concerns from last week, have the Dutch or Russian communities received responses to their questions yet? -Liam On 27 November 2014 at 11:35, Delphine Ménard <notafi...@gmail.com> wrote: > You know, I think I'll pass on the actual content of the message that talks > about "Commercial" not being a "Monster" and "The Bad". (and yes I know, > these are in a negative sentence but... seriously?). > > This banner looks like an obituary I find. Where are the cool banners on > green leafy foresty background? Those were the days ;) > > I know that a lot of thought goes into crafting the best messages for > fundraising banners, I also know that the testing is thorough, and > decisions are made with real data. But sometimes I find we might be > forgetting the number of people we actually scare *away* with things like > this. Not sure that's data we can acquire, but looking at this banner I am > losing faith in my fellow French if they really respond to something like > this more than they do to positive and cheerful looking messages). > > *sigh* > > Delphine > > On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 11:44 PM, MZMcBride <z...@mzmcbride.com> wrote: > > > David Gerard wrote: > > >Didn't we have the lightbox argument last year? > > > > Probably. Or the year before. Or the year before that. I did say > "(again)" > > in the subject line. ;-) > > > > There are various discussions popping up across Wikimedia about these > > banners. It didn't help that a bug earlier this week caused logged-in > > users to be hit with them as well. Talk about eating your own dog food. > > > > The French Wikipedia held what appears to be a straw poll with > > overwhelming denouncement of the banner. It's also been repeatedly > > described as a phishing attempt. Complaints and confusion aren't uncommon > > during any annual fundraiser, but I think we can and should hold > ourselves > > to a higher standard when begging people for money. > > > > As pointed out on Meta-Wiki's "Wikimedia Forum" by Jules78120, > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CentralNotice/Usage_guidelines is pretty > > clear that the (primary) goal is that banners "be as unobtrusive as > > possible." I wrote this in May 2011, I believe deliberately outside of > the > > annual fundraising that takes place in December so that we could have a > > calm and reasonable discussion about appropriate CentralNotice usage. > Sigh. > > > > MZMcBride > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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> > > > > > > -- > @notafish > > NB. This gmail address is used for mailing lists. Personal emails will get > lost. > Intercultural musings: Ceci n'est pas une endive - > http://blog.notanendive.org > Photos with simple eyes: notaphoto - http://photo.notafish.org > _______________________________________________ > 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>
