[Foundation-l] Re: Information flow

Thu Aug 18 14:17:56 UTC 2005

On 18/08/05, Anthere <anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> What is funny is that it is assumed allright that developers only
> communicate in their area, but it is not allright for others. Why ?

We all know the devs work very hard as the results are right in front
of us. So I think many of us realise that while better communication
with the devs would be nice, it's not essential.

However, few people know what the board is for or even that it exists.
But as I understand it, you want us to give you $200,000. Well, that
makes me want to know more about who you are and what you do.

> Everything is frankly not a valuable answer :)
> Please be more specific. There is so much to do that we CAN NOT start on
> everything all at once.

Yes, it is. *Everything* about the board could be improved: As Erik Z
says, publish full logs of meetings (sans sensitive information). Make
sure everyone knows where to find said logs. How to communicate with
the board. Who the board are. What they do.

> When you say "so are related meta pages", I do not follow you. Please
> again be more specific.

This is relatively minor; however meta isn't locked so I can probably
sort this out myself :-).

> Snip stuff about the WMF wiki.

See below.

> > 1. Start the announce-l list, and use it
> 
> It is unclear for me if the announce list should be the list for the
> foundation to announce things. 

That can be sorted out, I'm sure. 

>> 2. Make the WMF wiki useful
> 
> Ah, good point. Now, next good point : who is concerned ?
> How many people are editing this website ? Are you yourself an editor
> over there ? Did you help for any of the translations done there ? Any
> one can help with translation as these are done on meta.

WMF is a closed wiki so no, I do not have access. 

> > 3. I understand that there is now code to transclude templates between
> > wikis. This would make "broadcasting" info to individual wikis's
> > village pumps easy, if it were to be enabled. This would be
> > *extremely* powerful.
> 
> I absolutely agree. I am sorry to say I know nothing about these new
> templates. I am definitly interested by the prospect. Can you tell me
> more about this ?

No, I'm not a dev. I could even be wrong on this. Ask on wikitech-l or
in #wikimedia-tech.

> > 4. Y'know, a "board and officers" blog would be very useful. Perhaps
> > the blogging extension could be turned on on the WMF wiki.
> 
> I also agree. This has been discussed a year ago, and not kept. I would
> agree it might be a solution.
> 
> This said, a blog only lives because people think of adding stuff to it.
> On the WMF, I started a news template which might be a sort of a blog
> (except that it is not).
> 
> Look : http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home
> 
> It is in the right side, blue background.

All true, and the news template there is good.

> 
> It intends to give short news of major events. Now, two issues about this
> 
> First, do people think of going there to read information (or to read
> Quarto ?). I fear not. So, what do you suggest we do to push people to
> come here for information ? 

Advertise it everywhere. In the Wikipedia:About (or whatever it's
called) and the equivalent in the other projects, in the new
free-content page on wp.en, on the front of meta in big writing, and
everytime there is a bit of foundation news, don't tell people the
whole story here - just give a link to the WMF wiki.

The aim is to raise awareness - to make people think "oh, I know where
to get the latest news or to find out things, the WMF wiki!".

> Second, this is definitely a place for board, officers and chapters to
> add information. Overall, chapters included, that might sum up to 30
> people. The fact is few of them think of adding information here. How to
>   clarify the fact they can ?

Chapter-l is a very good idea, and I hope that it  will help here. Use
it to ask people!

> > As someone who is a) disappointed with the foundation and it's lack of
> > openess, real or percieved, and b) is a whizz with wikis and how to
> > make them easy-to-follow, I would be very happy to sort out the WMF
> > wiki.
> 
> Sorry, I am not sure I understand well what you wrote. What does "being
> a whizz with wikis" mean, and what do you mean by "sort out the WMF wiki" ?
> Do you mean to close it, or do you mean to participate to help its
> development ?
> 
> If you have ideas about developping it, your help will be welcome. Be
> certain of that Dan.

I'm not going to sit here and type out every last change that needs to
be made on the WMF wiki, then wait for "approval". My time is more
valuable than that. I'm simply saying this: there is a lot wrong with
that site, and I know how to fix it. Let me.

I have made 13,000 edits across two projects, and I'm an admin on
both. I think that says you can trust me. And if you don't like the
results - it's a wiki! Anything can be undone.

Dan