Grants talk:APG/Proposals/2012-2013 round1/Example/Proposal form

From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki

So the form can't be edited. Hmmm ... after all my wasted time on a wild goose chase. The page is not professionally written. I can play ping-pong here, but that would be really boring and since I'm not paid, I'm unwilling to do that. Tony (talk) 14:03, 2 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I also played ping pong[edit]

I went around to try to answer Tony's questions on the Q&A page and also ended up here after a long search back and forth. I think this is the best page to work on. BTW Tony, I very likely misread your last comment on the Q&A page - it almost seems like you are saying that the FDC would be some sort of "beard" to hide some nasty goings-on. Just in case, I'll say that you can expect all the members of the FDC (at least all the candidates that I've personal met) to be honest, independent-thinking people, who would not participate in any kind of cover-up. As I said, I probably misread that comment.

Tony's substantive comments do need to be addressed. Tony - do you have any ideas to start this page with? Smallbones (talk) 20:22, 6 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Smallbones, I don't know which Q&A page you are speaking of, do you mean this? If you are referring to the Proposal form as the "best page to work on", the template and related comments can be found here and have been/are being addressed by FDC staff. They ask that the forms not be directly edited right now so entities can begin their proposals per the tight schedule, and the forms will stay aligned with instructions. Perhaps I've misunderstood and you are referring to specifics in this example. The most current and central place to discuss FDC process is now is at the portal comments page. heather walls (talk) 20:45, 6 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, your page is better, and I seem to be late in any case. Tony is right about the ping-pong. All the best. Smallbones (talk) 01:49, 7 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Feedback from Pavel Richter (WMDE)[edit]

Hi there, I have been asked to provide feedback to the form. Here it goes:

  • How many staff are employed by your entity?
I would distinguish between full time equivalent (FTE) and the number of persons.
  • Approximately how many volunteers participate actively in your entity?
Thsi question is near impossible to be answered, and I do not really see the reason for it anyway. What do you tray to find out / what kind of information do you try to give the FDC here?
  • How many members does your entity have?
Please note that some entities won´t have any members, the WMF for example
  • Year-to-date progress
I am not sure I understand the reasong for this information; a lot of spending might not be linear, so it does not really say anything if I have received 100k YTD but spent only 5k YTD, if I need this money for two big editor drives in December. And what can the FDC learn from this information in the first place?
  • Proposed new staff for upcoming year annual plan
Again I wonder what the reason for this information request is. Does it matter if an entity is hiring staff to do something, or if the hire an agency to do the same thing? What value does this informtion has for the FDC in making a decission? The question if staff is needed should be answered by the entity itself, but it should not be part of the decission process of the FDC
  • Summary of staff expenses
The same problem here; it is very easy to manipulate these numbers: Instead of hiring someone, I could make him a contractor. Instead of contracting someone directly, I could hire an agency to do something, and so on. How does this information helps the FDC?
  • Verification that this proposal requests no funds from the Wikimedia Foundation ...
In the rest of the form, the FDC is adressed, but here it is the WMF. Why is that? And do I understand it correctly that this restriction applies only to the amount requested from the FDC, right? We can use funds we receive through other channels to do all this that is mentioned in the paragraphe below?

Having said all this, I think the form is working very well. It helps to gather the information needed, and it seems manageable for smaller entities as well. So: good work! --Pavel Richter (WMDE) (talk) 13:53, 23 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]