[Foundation-l] Rethinking brands

Tue May 15 13:55:54 UTC 2007

On 15/05/07, Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> On 09 May 2007 21:38:00 +0200, Claus Färber <GMANE at faerber.muc.de> wrote:
>
> Many people are uncomfortable with the notion of giving the Wikipedia
> brand primacy.
Dear Eric Moeller,

Calling Wikiversity "Wikipedia Learning" is not uncomfortable.  It is
wrong.  It misrepresents what Wikiversity is, as if to say,
Wikiversity is a subcatgegory of wikipedia whose purpose is to study
what wikipedia has.

In practice, it also fails to stand out amongst the numerous
education/academic oriented sites, for example:

http://education.wikia.com/wiki/Wikiversity
http://academia.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.wikieducator.org/Main_Page
http://collaboration.wikia.com/wiki/Wikiversity
http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome
http://www.qedoc.org/en/index.php?title=Main_Page

>A name does not exist in vaccum.
A name also has meanings and connotations.  This  proposal purports to
change the meaning of "wikipedia" to something which it is not.  It
will create confusions.

A name is crucial and intrinsic to anything, anybody, anyone.   To
suggest changing the name for the sheer convenience in marketing in
the short term, is to get the priorities wrong.

: )
H.