[Licom-l] A pre-event announcement

Fri Mar 27 07:00:07 UTC 2009

Barring any additional slippage of the timeline, the vote will aim to
start on the 2nd of April.

I am of the general philosophy that surprises can annoy people, so I'd
like to propose that we give the various core constituencies a heads
up that this is coming a few days before hand (say by the 30th).  I
would envision sending an email to the mailing lists of the major
communities and posting an on-wiki note on a major forum (or two) for
the wikis we are collectively familiar with.

The purpose would be to give the core contributors a heads up and
point them towards the main information pages (hopefully already
translated for the major languages) a few days before everyone is
presented with the global site notice.  As effective as the site
notice can be in communicating, there is something of an aspect of
shock and awe to it, and I think a low key message will help the
communities feel valued and in the loop (feeling that the WMF
communicates at the user base, rather than with it, has been a problem
at times in the past).

So, if we are going to try this, what do we need:

1) A message: something friendly that warns the vote is about the
start and tells people where they can get more info.
2) A targeted list of places we want to deliver it.
3) Translations of that message as appropriate.

For practical reasons, I'd focus on say the 10 largest communities
plus whatever others the licom members are personally familiar with.
I don't want people to feel this needs to be a huge translation and
outreach effort per se since the more important effort is really
running the vote and handling those associated documents, but I
certainly wouldn't stop people if they want to carry the message far
and wide.

For a message I would have in mind something like (expressed here in
an on-wiki form):

== Licensing update progress notice ==

The [[m:licensing update]] proposal to dual license all Wikimedia
Foundation wikis under both the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL)
and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC-BY-SA) is
moving into its final phase.  This proposal put forward by the
Foundation and made possible by recent changes in the GFDL is
contingent on community approval.  In a few days a site notice for all
editors will announce the start of vote on this proposal that is
expected to last three weeks.  In the mean time we would invite you to
visit the [[m:licensing update|update proposal]] and its [[m:Licensing
update/Questions and Answers|associated FAQ]] if you want to learn
more.  We would also appreciate your help finishing the [[m:Licensing
update/Translation|translation effort]] for the core documents
associated with this process.

~~~~  for the [[m:Licensing update/Committee|Licensing Update Committee]].

I'd welcome any thoughts on this proposal for a prevote announcement,
as well as suggestions for improving the message (which I just pulled
of the top of my head).

I would also note that if we are going to create a blog or other
centralized communications venue, then now is the time.  Since such a
thing could be included in this announcement.

-Robert Rohde