Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-11-16/Fundraiser

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A couple of quick additional notes:

The numbers so far still need to be treated with caution; we're optimizing the reporting infrastructure as I write this.
This is the first fundraiser, ever where we're using geo-targeting to highlight a chapter when the prospective donor comes from a country with a participating chapter. Chapters have participated before, but they're receiving significantly more visibility than last year. Wikimedia UK is also participating for the first time. Chapter totals aren't included in the statistics, but chapters will re-invest 50% of their revenue in the Wikimedia Foundation. We'll be getting the first chapter reports soon.
With regard to cultural awareness, we've given translators a lot of flexibility in how they want to translate/localize the messages, and chapters have played a role here as well where they exist. For example, the German Wikipedia banner says "Strengthen Wikipedia - for the future". But for next year, I definitely want us to have more lead time in developing culturally appropriate messaging.

We're working on next stage banners right now and hope to have them up soon for testing. We're also further investigating whether there are remaining issues with the new donation module, credit card processing, etc. (We may end up testing this year's form against last year's).--Eloquence * 20:05, 16 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As you've probably noticed, we've phased in new banners, and "Wikipedia Forever" is only running at 20% on en.wp right now. We're running different banners on the English Wikipedia and the non-English projects, and should have solid comparison data tomorrow. We'll also build at least one banner for the non-Wikipedia projects tomorrow.--Eloquence * 01:29, 17 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Erik, I incorporated some of your points into the story pre-publication. — Pretzels^Hii! 14:35, 17 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Why are people still using Internet Explorer? Tony (talk) 15:17, 17 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Corporate users. — Pretzels^Hii! 15:45, 17 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Why are people still using Windows and Microsoft products in general? Management stupidity, a/k/a the Dilbert Factor. We have no choice when our Pointy-Haired Bosses are reading "Zero" on the cluemeter. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:04, 17 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
- - The problem is, ReactOS is still in alpha stage. Emulation is too slow for me, and native doesn't work for my eclectic software collection. I try every new release, but alpha is alpha. As soon as I can use it for production work, M$ can kiss my hairy cesarean. ;) Paradoctor (talk) 21:18, 17 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I still think it should have been "WIKIPEDIA FOREVER ^{[citation needed]}" -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 16:36, 17 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

[1] So the banners which everyone hated and didn't think would work....didn't work. Strange. And why are we aiming for 25 million articles (Who came up with the figure and what relevance does it have to anything)??? Trebor (talk) 23:22, 17 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That was a funny add. I didn't realize it was asking for money. - Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 23:24, 17 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I just want to say that in my experience, marketing campaigns always face the same criticisms when presented to a committee of engineers. Such committees seem unable to appreciate, let alone agree on, anything beyond literal meaning. (And geeky kitten jokes.) The fanatical insistence on proper capitalization is a case in point. "Wikipedia. Ad-free forever. Donate Now." is anemic and far inferior to the original version with capital letters, and that concession seems to have done nothing to allay the crowd. Probably nothing would be satisfactory except for a plain twelve-point Arial statement saying "Wikipedia. Ad-free for now. You can donate if you feel like it, or do it later."--Yannick (talk) 01:37, 18 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
- I agree. Caps would've been appropriate for "Wikipedia. Ad-free forever. Donate Now.". After all, it's B1FF, not b1ff. Paradoctor (talk) 14:23, 18 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How much did the Wikimedia Foundation pay for this bit of silliness? This sort of factually dubious assertion makes me less, not more, willing to donate. If I weren't a regular, I wouldn't have upon seeing this, instead of the more tasteful appeal we had last year. Ray^Talk 16:26, 20 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]