Also reminding that most of us who are members of national chapters are volunteers at the projects, and many of us were in the projects for long before joining a chapter or UG.
If the WMF spoils the chapters, we will find our way and do the same thing we are doing for ages, advancing good quality knowledge free and open for everyone, with or without WMF support. It is obviously better if we are all in the same boat, but it's important to leave it clear that it is not a fatality. Regards, Paulo Peter Southwood <peter.southw...@telkomsa.net> escreveu no dia segunda, 15/04/2019 à(s) 08:29: > The members of the chapters are volunteers, so free to simply walk away > any time they choose. Shove too hard and you have no chapter. Who wins? > Cheers, > Peter > > -----Original Message----- > From: Wikimedia-l [mailto:wikimedia-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On > Behalf Of Jennifer Pryor-Summers > Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2019 7:10 PM > To: Wikimedia Mailing List > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Reviewing our brand system for our 2030 goals > > Fæ > > I don't think that the chapters are in a position to dictate to the > Foundation in the way you suggest. To take the UK chapter, with you are > probably most familiar, last year some 42% of its income came as a block > grant from the WMF, the figures for the preceding years being 54% and 47%. > When half of your income comes from the Foundation, then when push comes to > shove, you do what they tell you to. > > JPS > > On Sun, Apr 14, 2019 at 1:54 PM Fæ <fae...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Most Chapters and many other Affiliates are registered legal > > organizations. In some cases, like the one you quote, the organization > > is a registered charity and has several years of submitting accounts > > and reports as that entity. > > > > Names can be changed but this would be a legally meaningful decision > > by each board, and each board should be free to make their own > > decision on the necessity of the change and agree their budget for > > changing, not simply because some unnamed marketing consultant gave > > some expensive advice to the WMF about "branding". There is zero > > verifiable statistical evidence to back up claimed benefits apart from > > vague hand waving to pie charts in presentations about 'markets' for > > which nothing is explained about the self-selected sample space, and > > for which there are no reported credible tests. > > > > If the true drivers behind this change are because WMF senior > > management believe that the WMF is a competitor for Facebook or > > YouTube (as was in one of the marketing presentations), then the > > problem is their perception of the mission of the WMF, not the name > > "Wikimedia". > > > > Fae > > > > > > > > On Sun, 14 Apr 2019 at 09:45, Ed Saperia <edsape...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > Maybe there’s an easy way to just test this? A chapter could start > > calling itself e.g. Wikipedia UK in its comms for a year and see if > there’s > > any noticeable difference? > > > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > > > > > > On 14 Apr 2019, at 01:47, phoebe ayers <phoebe.w...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > > > > > > On Sat, Apr 13, 2019 at 2:29 PM Rebecca O'Neill < > > rebeccanin...@gmail.com> > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > >> I agree Galder! > > > >> > > > >> I would like to respond to Phoebe's comment on not wanting to draw > > people > > > >> to the *Wikimedia* movement is not true of the Irish experience. We > > have > > > >> some idea of an editing community that aren't interested in getting > > > >> involved in our user group (and probably never will be), so we are > > very > > > >> keen to draw people to volunteering as Wikimedians not just as > > editors. > > > >> Presenting our group as something more than people who are > experienced > > > >> Wikipedia editors is very important to us, and anything that makes > > that > > > >> message easier would be of huge benefit to us. > > > >> > > > > > > > > Dear Rebecca, > > > > Thanks for this. Let me try to explain my thinking a bit more... > > > > I too want people to join Wikimedia New England, which is the group > I'm > > > > currently running. And in general, I want a thriving and healthy > > ecosystem > > > > of affiliates. But I want that to be true because the work that > > chapters, > > > > affiliates and the Foundation itself does is meant to be enabling for > > the > > > > larger goal of making free knowledge available, and specifically for > > > > improving and sustaining Wikipedia and her sister projects. > > > > > > > > Everything that the groups do - from building the technical/legal > > > > infrastructure side, to training new editors, to providing a friendly > > > > geographic or topical face to Wikipedia, to doing outreach, to > > supporting > > > > existing editors - is a means to an end. It is not the end itself. We > > do > > > > this multivarious work because we recognize that there are many, many > > > > effective ways to contribute in a project as complex as ours, and > that > > > > participants can sometimes best find a home in ways that are not > > directly > > > > editing. But equally: there are of course other means to this end of > > > > building free knowledge that have nothing to do with the Wikimedia > > group/ > > > > structure, most notably the thousands of independent volunteers who > > work > > > > largely alone to maintain and build the projects, and upon whose work > > we > > > > all depend. Groups, and the Foundation, are important! But they are > > not, in > > > > themselves, the end goal. > > > > > > > > So where does this leave us with rebranding? I admit I haven't read > > all of > > > > the comments/analysis. But, to my mind, there's a cost to rebranding: > > the > > > > several hundred person-hours that have already been put into this > > > > discussion, if nothing else. For the benefit to outweigh the cost, we > > need > > > > to imagine what will happen to increase participation in building > free > > > > knowledge as a result. If we are "Wikipedia New England" or > "Wikipedia > > > > Ireland" et al, will our groups be more effective -- for instance, > > with an > > > > easier to understand name, will new people join our trainings, > perhaps > > > > becoming Wikipedia editors? Will more cultural institutions reach > out, > > and > > > > be more amenable to releasing images? If the Foundation is the > > Wikipedia > > > > Foundation, then how does this improve the infrastructure that the > > > > Foundation provides, exactly? > > > > > > > > If the answer is that this change will definitely increase > > participation in > > > > the projects and free knowledge generally, through the mechanism of > the > > > > various groups being more recognizable and thus reaching a bigger > > audience, > > > > then the proposal is worth seriously considering. But if it is hard > to > > > > imagine - and I admit I do find it hard to imagine that the name of > the > > > > Foundation is the thing standing in our way to wider Wikipedia > > > > participation - then it doesn't seem worth the cost. > > > > > > > > -- Phoebe > > > > -- > > fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > > New messages to: 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 and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: 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 and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: 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 and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
