Foundation wiki feedback/Archive/2011

From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki

rules of fundraising

Pay me as Joy Richard Preuss 4571231605899063 REG,N--62.44.134.45 03:58, 28 May 2014 (UTC)R2316KONTONR3485615120 Powerful Micro Computer, Danmark, Denmark, List of All The Countries, Madonna, David Beckham, I NEVER knowingly click on popups or banners asking for my contri bution or comment - I don't have the time. However, my un-co-ordinated finger clicked on your request for contribution, otherwise I would not have a) known that you are not funded, and b) know what on earth you were asking for a contribution FOR!!!! Such a bad banner - assumes I know about this.

Try putting something like "Keep Wikipoedia going", or "Sponsor wikipoedia" "Can you help wikipoedia" or "Wikipoedia needs you"

Out of curiosity — How did you think this was funded? Seb az86556 14:48, 30 December 2010 (UTC)
I could start my own wiki server in my basement for next to nothingLawstubes 02:45, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
Not with the traffic we get, you couldn't.  :) Philippe (WMF) 07:23, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

We are looking forward to your version of wikipeida, lawstubes. Please let us know when it goes global :-)

I'll donate if the foundation accomplishes the following simple task.

Add to wikipedia a system that enables editors to compile a list of referenced facts in association with any particular article, these facts would be contained in a TAB much like the DISCUSSION tab. However, each 'fact' is maintained as such (a fact) by the editing community by way of VOTE. Down rated facts are not removed from the list, but categorized into expandable subsections, such as 'nonsense', 'well established' etc. Each 'fact' would need to be a single sentence (colons and semi colons allowed) covering the single topic of the fact its self. This being the only rule in association with the creation of a 'fact' other than the requirement that a 'new' fact is in fact "new" and not already on a list. If this basic database were added to wiki, I would be glad to make yearly donations of $50 or more! Lawstubes 02:33, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Speed

I applaud another successful donation drive.. Congrats, Wikipedia et al!

I do have a request though... the site seems to have suffered quite a bit in SPEED/RESPONSE ever since the redesign of it.

Is there anything you all can do or incorporate into the programming to give us the speed back?

Anyway... good luck throughout the future! Waz 07:29, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

I'll happily pass your feedback along to our user interface team. Thank you for your kind words. Philippe (WMF) 07:31, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

(French) Salut, il y a une petite erreur de conversion sur this page qui indique que 16 millions de dollars américains correspondent à 5,25 millions d'euros, la conversion correcte serait plutôt 16 millions d' USD = 11.93 millions d' €. Merci d'avance à l'Utilisateur qui pourra corriger ça sur le wiki de la wikimediafoundation. Linedwell@frwiki 09:41, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

(English) Hi, there is a little conversion error on this page which indicate 16 million USD = 5,25 million €, but the true conversion should be 16 million USD = 11.93 million €. Thanks to the wikimedianfoundation's wiki User who can correct this. Linedwell@frwiki 09:41, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Changed, thanks! The page will eventually be overwritten by a new letter (hopefully fairly soon. :-)) If you can help with the translation process, that would be most appreciated. Thanks again, PeterSymonds 11:43, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia free?

Hi there, if everyone donates money, then doesn't that make Wikipedia a venture? ie. look up venture on your own website?

Nothing wrong with being a venture in the original sense, as long as it's not "for profit," and nobody's forced to pay for it — while donations are highly appreciated, no-one's gonna block your ability to read wikipedia if you don't donate. That's probably the difference. Seb az86556 09:23, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Donating wrong amount of money

I was going to download $5 but when i clicked that option and went to pay through paypal, the amount due was $25. I've looked at the code and it seems there is a typo. URL: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/WMAU-SLQ8?utm_medium=sitenotice&utm_campaign=20101226WMAU&utm_source=20101226_SLQ8&country_code=AU

Hi there - it appears that you went through a page created and maintained by Wikimedia Australia. Given the crucial nature of a mislabeled donation button, however, I've had one of our staff members change that and we've notified them. Philippe (WMF) 03:20, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

About "A Thank You from Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales"

In "A Thank You from Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales", this sentence -- "Our very first fundraiser was just a community effort to buy a volunteer—who later became our first CTO—a much-needed new laptop." -- puzzles me. Was the first CTO a laptop?

The volunteer got the laptop - English, much?

Thank you!

I've found so much value in wikipedia, especially with regard to my kids' homework. It's an amazing resource that I use at least 5x a week. I wasn't able to donate much this year, but am embarking on a new career that will hopefully help me to both donate more and contribute intelligence to this wonderful resource.

So, thanks

Information about Wikimedia Estonia and donating

  • In the Estonian Wikipedia there is a sidebar link "Annetused" (Donations) which leads to this page. Is it right? Doesn't it have to be that page?
  • On that page there is text at the bottom of the green box "Et annetada kohalikule Wikimedia harule, klõpsa siia." (To donate to local chapter, click here). Link "klõpsa siia" leads to a page in English dating 2009 and there is no information about Estonian chapter. Also, there is no information of Wikimedia Estonia on the Contact us page. Could it be fixed? Wikimedia Estonia was established on July 25th 2010. Our contact information:

Wikimedia Estonia
Tedre 29-15
11311 Tallinn
Estonia
http://et.wikimedia.org

Adeliine 19:47, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Those links are set up to go through Special:LandingCheck, which leads to a localized page for each area. For those chapters which are category 1 (able to receive donation as a result of participation in the annual fundraiser), they can set up a link to their own chapter landing page for anybody within their own country following a sidebar link. For those chapters which are category 2 (receive fundraising as a result of a grant making process from the Foundation), the donation sidebar links lead to WMF donation pages. The chapters then apply for funding as a result of chapter grants. So, the links are correct. Wikimedia Estonia is a category 2 chapter. --Philippe 23:41, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
I've setup a redirect from the wmf:Annetused (last year's page) to wmf:WMFJA1/et (this year's page). I've also added WMEE's information to the wmf:Contact us page and sent you an e-mail asking for other information about Wikimedia Estonia. Cbrown1023 talk 01:51, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

URGENT: ERROR IN JIMMY WALES THANK YOU MESSAGE

Hey! It looks really bad when Jimmy Wales thank you message has this clanger error:

They have to do it, because the Wikimedia websites and movement keep growing. Wikipedia is now the fifth most visited website in the world, but our staff, infrastructure and budget are just a fraction of any other top 10 website's.

GET IT? APPLES, ORGANGES, GIRLS, BOYS, WEBSITES....NO APOSTROPHE!

Pete

Yes, apostrophe: "our staff is a fraction of any other top 10 website's [staff]." Seb az86556 11:25, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

HELP

why my ip address is baned i can not edit anything please please please don't ban me

it isn't. (obviously) Seb az86556 18:57, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
Foundationwiki requires an account to edit and only authorized persons are allowed to have accounts. Killiondude 17:47, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
And even if he was blocked/banned, since he couldn't edit anyway it wouldn't make any difference. (Assuming he means why@wmfwiki, not why@here.) SWATJester Son of the Defender 22:57, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Wikimedia-south africa

The wikimedia set-ups throughout the world are interesting and very educative. As a native of South Africa and having been a journalist since 1975, I was wondering why not start a branch in my country- South Africa. I am available to man it as I am still writing, though now for government publications including my own community newspaper called Mzansi News Express.

Please, find below, my all contact details.

hoping for a positive reply. Ta. Ike Motsapi Internal Communication Chief Directorate: Communication Services Department of Water Affairs Private Bag X313 Pretoria 0001 Tel:-Direct-


Mailto: bd3@dwaf.gov.za or motsapii@dwa.gov.za Web: www.dwaf.gov.za or www.dwa.gov.za “Working Together We Can Save More Water” “The greatest glory in living lies not, in never falling, but in rising every time we fall” Nelson Mandela.

Thank you for your interest. You may want to review Local chapter FAQ#Chapter creation questions and Step-by-step chapter creation guide to get an idea of what is involved. Contact the Chapters committee if you want to pursue the idea. ~ Ningauble 14:22, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
There's actually a group of people already working to form a chapter in South Africa. I'm sure that they would welcome your help! Please visit Wikimedia South Africa for more information and sign up to the WikimediaZA mailing list to be kept up-to-date. Cbrown1023 talk 22:37, 21 January 2011 (UTC)

Wikibooks and Wiktionary links are dead

I don't know if it's recent or even just transient but at http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home Wikibooks and Wiktionary links are dead... --Contributions/205.151.117.195 18:17, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the report! Do you mean the links at the bottom of the page, under "Projects of the Wikimedia Foundation"? If so, they appear to be working okay. It's possible that you tried while there was a server problem. Refreshing or purging your cache (ctrl+f5) might fix it. Let us know how that goes. PeterSymonds 18:26, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Translations in French

Hello !

This page (and maybe others) has not been updated for quite a while. I may do that, if you need (of is guillom is not free to do this).

Best regards, Trizek here or on wpfr 23:03, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Merci for volunteering to help with translations! All translation work is done on Meta-Wiki and then later copied over to Foundationwiki. The translation workspace for the French local chapters page, for example, is Translation requests/WMF/Local chapters/fr. Just update the translation with the English version (Translation requests/WMF/Local chapters/en) and then update the status box on the right-hand side of the page to |fr |ready. (Click the +/- on the side of the box.) After you do this, someone will sync it over to Foundationwiki. Cbrown1023 talk 00:34, 27 January 2011 (UTC)
OK, I'll do that asap. Trizek here or on wpfr 19:08, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

Regarding Home

There is some incorrect information re: Marlene Danielle longest running performer in Broadway history.She replaced Wendy Edmead and was Bombalurina for Eighteen Years. She has also not been included in your list of American dancers. I am her mother and can provide a biography approved by her.

Hi there. This page is only for comments about the Wikimedia Foundation website itself. However, I have moved your query to the biographies of living persons noticeboard on the English Wikipedia, where this page is hosted. Please keep an eye on that page for any responses. Best, PeterSymonds 17:24, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia front page

Not really sure where to post this, but... The front page (http://www.wikipedia.org/) which has always had the "big" languages around the puzzle globe log arranged in order of number of articles. Polish has been a couple thousand ahead of Italian for some time now, but is still listed after Italian. Contributions/69.3.227.82 03:07, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

The "top 10 ring" on Wikipedia's front page has actually been arranged by number of visits per hour (according to stats.wikimedia.org) since 2008, as mandated by a community poll. That's why Polish is listed after Italian. Hope that helps. – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs) 09:08, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Regarding Home

re "DowntonAbbey" - your wikipedia entry is probably incorrect in saying the castle used is in Hampshire. All other sites - PBS etc - say Berkshire.

Nope. en:Highclere Castle was the filming location, which is in Hampshire. The other sources are wrong. Best, PeterSymonds 07:47, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

Hi! Please note that this page is only for discussing http://wikimediafoundation.org, the official Wikimedia Foundation website. SWATJester Son of the Defender 08:48, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

Hello. I am a wikipedian from Spain since a few years ago and I have some requests for you:

First of all, I'll show you two facts:
# The Wikimedia Foundation supports Wikipedia and all the sister projects throughout the world.
# The Wikimedia Foundation is financed by people from all over the world, who spend their money, and also put their effort and faith in what they think to be a cause without barriers.
If so, then, why is the Wikimedia Foundation website only available in English? Isn't it possible to hire a translator for just 5% of the money you spend on high executives and make the WMF available, at least, and for a start, in the main 5 languages in the world, for instance? It's a bit frustrating to see that you donate your money and they don't even have the deference to show where your money goes in your own language. Many people don't speak English, and the original Wikipedia is no longer Wikipedia and nothing else, but the English Wikipedia, and that means that there's also a French Wikipedia, a German Wikipedia, a Spanish Wikipedia, and so on. Sometimes I have the feeling that people who don't speak English are just ignored by the WMF (although their money is not ignored, but accepted). Isn't that inconsistent with your strategic plan?
One second thing I'd like to talk about is the kind of examples you use sometimes. For example, I couldn't believe Ms. Gardner's words when she said that one of the consequences of the gender gap is that Wikipedia (I suppose she's talking about the English Wikipedia) has less articles about knitting. What about articles about psychology, or nursing science, or embryology? I don't know if it's not the case in the US, but in Spain (among other countries) we are very sensitive to sexism in language, and I think that the knitting example wasn't a fortunate example for what it implies, and many people in the Spanish Wikipedia are annoyed about that.
The last thing (so far :-)) I'd like to point out is transparency. In Spain, for example, the salaries of our politicians are public. In your annual report, you showed several percentages of different areas where the money was spent, but:
# How much money did each person earn?
# What did each one of them exactly do during the past year?
As donators, and thus, legitimate benefactors, I think we should be informed about every single detail of the donating-and-spending process. When you donate money for an African village, for example, you even receive photographs of the children you are helping; a lot of effort is put into making you think that it's really worth the pain, that they really care, and that's the basic attitude for a charity-reliant organisation, I think. With $16M raised this year and more than $20M predicted for the next year, I'm sure you will find how to spend a bit of all that money to make us trust you -and I mean trusting you in our own language-, because trusting you means trusting in a better world.

Sincerely yours, Dalton2 00:43, 3 February 2011 (UTC) Note: this message is also available (in Spanish) to all the people with access to the Spanish Wikipedia, from the nearly 450 million people who speak (and in most cases, only speak) Spanish in the world.

On an off-topic but sightly related note, a suggestion was previously made to increase the number of non-Anglospheric articles submitted for publication on the English Wikipedia's 'Today's Featured Article' section. A copy of the discussion thread can be viewed here. Best: HarryZilber
OK, it's an interesting topic, but it has nothing to do with this one. I'm not talking about the articles in the English Wikipedia, but the Wikimedia Foundation itself, which receives all the donations, and thus has the responsibility of making people all over the world know why they should continue sending their money. In a nutshell: We want to know exactly what they are doing, and we want to understand what they're saying, and English is not our native language, so we can't. That's the least we would expect when we send a donation. I'm speaking in plural because I'm talking in the name of the Spanish Wikipedia a lot of users of the Spanish Wikipedia who think the same. Sorry to be so blunt, but I think it's better tell it like it is. Best regards. --Dalton2 06:48, 4 February 2011 (UTC)
Dalton, I gree with your request and I'm waiting an answer, but you can't talk in the name of a project, nobody can. As Dalton says, this message doesn't talk anout English Wikipedia, it talks about the Foundation, and how the other languagues different to English aren't at the same level in it, and of course about the money. --Millars 09:37, 4 February 2011 (UTC)
You're right, Millars, it was my mistake. I am talking in the name of all the people who agree with me in the Spanish Wikipedia, specially those ones who are not able to come along here because they can't speak English. Best regards. --Dalton2 10:25, 4 February 2011 (UTC) P.S: Anyway, although I admit my mistake, I think that the most important thing here is far beyond my personal mistakes, i.e., a matter of forms.
Of course, the really important thing is to read an answer from the Foundation, a good one. --Millars 11:27, 4 February 2011 (UTC)
I'm not really sure what you're referring to here. We have localized pages in wmf:Category:Languages and welcome even more. Cbrown1023 talk 01:26, 7 February 2011 (UTC)
Thank you for your reply. Well, I'm referring to translating all the WMF pages into Spanish, and keep them up to date. You do speak English, so you don't need to translate those pages to understand them, and so do all the English-speaking people. But, what about the non-English-speaking people? Will they have to wait until somebody comes along and decides (in an altruistic way) to translate them? What would it happen if nobody does it, or if they have to wait for weeks or months? I don't have that much time and I'm not motivated enough to do such a task by myself and keep the work up to date when I know that English-speaking people don't need to do that. Do you think it's fair? That makes people feel like they are playing in the second division. Do you think they would feel like donating money when they can't even understand what they are donating for and when they know that the only reply is: "it's not our problem if you don't understand us"? Regards. --Dalton2 07:19, 7 February 2011 (UTC) P.S: I'm waiting for a reply on this topic and also on the other point, i.e., the money details.
And, please, I don't want to be misunderstood: I didn't mean that bracelets aren't important, what I meant was that when you're talking to the whole community of women in the world you have to be cautious with the examples you choose, just that. --Dalton2 17:15, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Hi Dalton2,

translation of organizational information has always been a volunteer endeavor, one which we can always improve at, and one you're more than welcome to get involved with. Before we would even consider paying people to translate content, I think it would be a much better investment to pay a translation coordinator, improve translation tools, develop clearer priorities about what needs to be translated, etc. We've talked about this possibility and may end up hiring someone to do this full-time.

Regarding transparency, see the activity reports, the associated monthly report card, the blog and techblog, our active participation on countless open mailing lists, IRC office hours, etc. Much of our actual work is being done in the open, with public code commits, public server admin logs, public issue tracking and of course countless public wikis. So you can in many cases literally track minute individual actions of a staff member. We even have a Twitter/identi.ca feed for all HR comings and goings. In terms of reporting and being accountable for the actual work that's being done, I'd love to see examples -- any examples -- of organizations that do a better job, ideally with links to their reports, public communication channels, activity feeds, and metrics.

Salaries reflect a private agreement between employee and employer, and outside governments, are generally regarded as private and personal information with the exception of disclosure requirements imposed on top earners. One has to understand the dynamics of the public sector to be entirely different from the private sector. Governments are heavily regulated, reduce managerial flexibility, and typically are designed to support employee longevity over performance, by means of standardized pay schedules and limited managerial discretion. In the private sector, flexibility and performance are regarded as key to enabling innovation and a competitive environment where high performers thrive.

The pressures on employees are also different. A private sector employee who accepts a significant pay cut to do a job they love will not want that information to be disclosed to their next employer, for fear of sabotaging their career. Imposing disclosure requirements in a competitive space with a higher turnover can therefore actually reduce your ability to recruit people who are interested in the work first and foremost and/or drive up your pay. Moreover, the lack of standardized pay makes internal conflict as a result of a full salary disclosure much more likely. Such disclosure would also reduce the ability to achieve cost savings through negotiation.

Non-profits are recognized to typically be somewhat in the middle between public and private sector. There's a greater need for accountability in spending, but NPO managers must be able to exercise reasonable discretion in hiring and performance-based compensation. This is, in the US, achieved by requiring non-profits to comply with certain disclosure requirements, which include salary disclosure of key employees in the form 990. The definition of key employee by the IRS requires that an individual meet 3 requirements: 1) Receives over $150K in reportable compensation, 2) has certain responsibilities and/or manages a certain % of activities, assets, income, expenses, etc. of the organization and 3) is one of the 20 employees (after satisfying the above) with the highest reportable compensation from the organization. Employees who do not meet all 3 of these tests are not listed on this part of the Form 990 as per the guidelines of the IRS.

Finally, regarding the reference to knitting as an example: Can you provide a citation for this? I'd like to see it in context..--Eloquence 04:07, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Your answer has been translated into Spanish and posted in the Spanish Wikipedia. As I said, I'm not talking in my own name, so I think I shouldn't go on by myself. The knitting example topic (friendship bracelets) was brought from here. Anyway, I think it's a topic with almost no importance when compared with the other topics presented here. Thank you very much for your reply. --Dalton2 11:30, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
I do want to note that this is not something Sue said (nor is it attributed to her). The examples were chosen by the author of the article.--Eloquence 02:27, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Food for thought, knowledge for change

Hi Wikimedia Foundation Feedback: here's a suggestion on a possible new fundraising source that may be both practical and able to generate significant funds, submitted for consideration.

Aside from the annual fundraising drive which appeals to many Wikipedians, its entirely possible to have a separate benefactor donation system linked to every article page. It would permit readers of Wikipedia articles to make payments to both the contributors of an article, and to Wikipedia itself.

I'd recommend involving an electronic payment company such as PayPal, Visa, Matercard, Amex... (companies which I have no employment relationship with) to administer the actual processing of payments. I would imagine that such a company might provide the electronic payment processing for Wikimedia on a pro bono, or at cost basis since it would likely not involve a great deal of effort on their part because it would use their existing infrastructures.

The Wikipedia encyclopaedias have several stakeholders -let's reward the two principals. I believe this would benefit both Wikimedia and the quality of the articles at the same time. The two most important stakeholders are, naturally, Wikimedia, which runs and enables the entire organization, and the editor/contributors who both create and upgrade the encyclopedia articles. One system can benefit both stakeholders, and at the same time provide a greater motivation for expansion of articles and their depth.

New donation system

1) DONATION SYSTEM PROCESSOR: a donation processing agreement is coordinated with a company such as PayPal. The processor would receive the payments from readers, aggregate them and then bill them monthly to the readers that volunteer to make such payments. As per the procedure schedule and furmula, the payments would be made to both the registered-contributors/editors and to Wikimedia itself.

2) ENROLEMENT OF DONATORS: the Wikipedia encyclopedia would offer readers, via a hyperlink, the opportunity to register themselves for microdonations, and then make such donations while reading its articles. Registration of benefactors would be handled by the processing organization, which would obtain valid credit card or bank account information from those wishing to donate. Doubtlessly, many readers have been impressed by the broad scope of articles available, and by the depth and quality of its many individual articles. Let's allow such readers the opportunity to provide a modest award to the article's contributors and to Wikimedia at the same time. The range of donations can be set with minimum/maximum limits: expressed in U.S. currency, perhaps 5 cents at the minimum, and perhaps $1 at the maximum, per article, that the reader wishes to award. For simplicity, such donations would be tax exempt: no formal donation paperwork would be issued regarding donations for income tax purposes.

If a reader found an article compelling and educationally satisfying to him/herself, the reader could click on a micropayment hyperlink button to make a payment, either for a default amount or another amount within the min/max range. After confirmation, that payment data would be registered with the payment processor. At the end of the month, the payment processor would aggregate the donations and bill the benefactors' registered credit cards or other accounts. Ex: if a casual reader read 20 quality articles in a month, and then donated perhaps 10 cents for each one, that person would be billed exactly $2.00 on his or her credit card or other account, paid to both the article's registered editors who wish to receive such payments, and also to Wikimedia (as applicable).

3) ENROLMENT OF ARTICLE WRITERS AND EDITORS: contributor/editors would be permitted to register themselves if they wish to receive such payments.

  • Payments could be make to valid PayPal, credit card or direct deposit bank accounts.
  • To reduce the operational costs, payments would not be made unless the registered contributor/editors had such accounts, i.e.: no time-consuming or expensive payment methods would be employed, such as mailed cheques.
  • Registration of the editors/contributors would be entirely voluntary; they would receive such payments only if they personally take the time to register themselves.
  • Any such payments would be classified as a contract service: no withholding taxes or other fees would be applied, and it would be up to the contributor/editors to register their own earnings if income taxes were applicable.
  • If a minimal payment transaction fee were required by the payment organization or the bank or credit card company to handle the cost of the payment service, it would be deducted from the payment. If a registered contributor/editor were to receive a payment of $25 and a 15 cent service fee was required to cover the transaction, then he/she would receive a net payment of $24.85. Wikimedia would obviously have the ability to veto the use of any payment service that proposed exorbitant rates for such payment transactions.

4) PAYMENT CALCULATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS: Do Not Award Contributors By The Number Of Edits They Made To An Article That Has Received Donations! Some contributor/editors (of the 'starving artist' category) would likely change their edit style to inflate the number of edits performed to create or upgrade articles.

a) Award the payments on the basis of the percentage of article's length that the editor has written which has not been reverted. If the hypothetical article 'The History of Pie' was written and upgraded by a total of three award-registered editors, and a combined total of seven unregisterd/IP editors, and if editors A, B and C hypothetically wrote 20%, 15% and 10% respectively of that article, then at the end of the payment period Editor A would be awarded 20% of the aggregated payments collected, Editor B would receive 15%, Editor C would receive 10%, and the remaining 55% of the amounts collected would be awarded to Wikimedia itself.
b) The percentage each individual registered contributor/editor would receive would be calculated by the amount of editorial material he or she contributed, minus any materials reverted by others. If the case of 'The History of Pie', if Editor A had contributed 40% of the article, but 20% of his/her contributions had been reverted due to inaccuracies, then that person's net contribution to that article would be calculated at 40% - 20% = 20%, resulting in an award of 20% of the aggregated collections for that article.

5) NET BENEFITS:

  • Readers who wish to reward article writers for the efforts would now have a vehicle to do so with;
  • Article writers who have a need for some extra funding would be able to receive such payments;
  • Article writers would also be encouraged to create more articles and expand existing ones: exchanging 'knowledge for change';
  • Article writers would be encouraged to improve the quality of their articles, since the greater the quality, the greater the reward. Its exactly like busking: the more you impress and move your target audience, the more change they'll drop in your hat;
  • Many writers will not wish to register themselves to receive such payments; those portions, as well as the portions performed by IP editors will default to Wikimedia. If the hypothetical The History of Pie article receives an aggregate total of $100 in donations in a one month period, and only $45 is awarded to the registered editors, Wikimedia would benefit by receiving the remaining $55 for that article;
  • Finally, a certain percentage of unregistered IP editors may be encouraged to sign up for Wikipedia accounts! Hooray! More registered Wikipedians creates more Wikipedia involvement (hopefully of the positive type)—another plus!

Please contact me if I can be of further help in refining this suggestion. For your consideration, with best regards. HarryZilber

Hi! Please note that this page is only for discussing http://wikimediafoundation.org, the official Wikimedia Foundation website. You're probably looking for the Wikimedia Forum or Talk:Fundraising_2010. SWATJester Son of the Defender 21:20, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

Contributions/187.55.207.58 18:21, 10 February 2011 (UTC)dhaivatraj← Sitar ou Cítara? Bem as duas palavras estão corretas e podem ser usadas para o instrumento, porém deve ser esclarecido algumas notas: Sitar vem da palavra sânscrita: Sat Tar, sete cordas. É indiano, não persa(uma vez visto que o alicerce desta antiga civilização já era hindu, classificada na arqueologia como civilização indo-iraniana.) Sehtar é um instrumento persa de cordas. Cítara e Saltério são os instrumentos de cordas da europa(da antiga civilização indo-européia) sob uma caixa trapezoidal. Como podem ver Sehtar e Cítara advem da palavra Tar(fios ou cordas) sânscrita, a língua mãe. Quero deixar claro que não sou eu quem está falando, mas a história. Não a convencional. Existem Gharanas, escolas na Índia que falam que o Sitar vem do Sehtar ou Shahtar, do Sitar ser um aperfeiçoamento da milenar Tritantri Veena, e outras defendem a tese de que o Sitar sempre existiu na Índia como uma Veena aperfeiçoada com Tarab, cordas de ressonância ou simpáticas. Melhor seria falar Sitar mesmo, pois a palavra Sitara, na Índia significa Star, estrela. Dhaivat Raj-Sitarist: www.myspace.com/dhaivatraj

"2008/2009 Annual Report", on the main page? How long has it been since the foundation wiki main page was updated? --Yair rand 01:32, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

It's still the latest Annual Report. The 2009-10 Report is being finalized right now (late, due to our comm team working on the Strategic Plan document and the Tenth Anniversary during the last few months -- I think having a delayed AR is better than the alternative, which is to spend more $$$ on communications).--Eloquence 02:24, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

On the topic of Home, I think the two columns need to be balanced (i.e. the left column is too long). Salam. Bennylin 07:09, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Please add parameter |english=Resolution:Biographies of living people in the resolution/fi template, so that the header points to the English-language equivalent instead of the generic Resolutions page. Jafeluv 13:35, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Done; thanks Jafeluv. PeterSymonds 17:51, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

You know how you guys have links within the text?

I thought it would be nice if when you hover your mouse over a link, to have a small popup window with a brief, at a glance explanation of whatever it was. Then you could be reading the text, and if a word came up you werent familiar with, you could get a concept of what it means quickly, while still reading the original text. Then, afterwards, you could go back and click the link to learn more with your enhanced perspective of the general material.

So yeah, if you could make that happen that would be swell.

On different Wikis, they have implemented a gadget called "navigation popups". You need to be logged-in to activate it. Do so by going to "my preferences" at the top of the page, selecting the "Gadgets" tab, then (on Meta) clicking the checkbox titled "Navigation popups". This is not a unified feature across different projects, so you need to enable it on each wiki you visit. Note that some of these projects don't have the feature at all, however. Kylu 18:16, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

chapters

(Moved to Wikimedia Forum)

Blog post error

I've just spotted an error in the blog post http://blog.wikimedia.org/blog/2011/02/16/2888/. It says:

"Since January 2010, the Contribution Team has grown from 10 participantes to 40"

but it should say:

"Since January 2011, the Contribution Team has grown from 10 participants to 40"

The errors are quite small but I think they still deserve fixing. Regards, Rock drum (talk·contribs) 17:13, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

Looks like this was fixed. PeterSymonds 17:48, 20 February 2011 (UTC)
I just noticed this; to be perfectly accurate, it would actually really need to be December 2010, which was when the team started. SWATJester Son of the Defender 09:32, 26 February 2011 (UTC)
But it was in January when it increased 4-fold, no? Rock drum (talk·contribs) 11:45, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

I can not understand that this site there have so many children they bannisent u'administrateur time without communicating with no real reason was just wondering if it is a contest in a circ bani us or each new user 's is the shit of this site

Thank you for your query. Unfortunately this page solely deals with the Foundation Wiki website itself, rather than our global projects. You may want to post your question to Wikimedia Forum instead. Best, PeterSymonds 17:50, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

I would like to contribute information on the legal issues arising from Dexia involvement in two Madoff related funds financed by Dexia. They are Rafale and Blue Star Fund, in which Dexia is being sued. This is important news that should be added. As for Dexia in Israel, it is contradictory to the original strategy as related to the creation of Dexia Bahrain.

Thank you for your query. Unfortunately this page solely deals with the Foundation Wiki website itself, rather than our global projects. You may want to post your question to Wikimedia Forum instead. Best,Kylu 16:44, 23 February 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

im trying to find uno the first actually card game that was made from 1971 to 1992

Thank you for your query. Unfortunately this page solely deals with the Foundation Wiki website itself, rather than our global projects. You may want to post your question to the Wikipedia reference desk instead. Best, PeterSymonds 08:17, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

Maps of UK still show the old M10 as M10 not A 414 as it is now. Roderic McNeill Northampton.

Thank you for your query. Unfortunately this page solely deals with the Foundation Wiki website itself, rather than our global projects. You may want to post your question to the Wikipedia reference desk instead. Regards, SWATJester Son of the Defender 09:31, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

wikipedia omission of fact.

I am interested as to why there is no current biographical listing for Kathryn Bolkovac. She exposed an international sex trafficking ring in post-war Bosnia, won a law suit against a major international company for wrongful termination and now has a motion picture about her experience. Can someone please illuminate for me why she doesn't have a listing?

You mean a Wikipedia article? Sounds like a question for Wikipedia:Project:Village pump (miscellaneous), if anywhere, but I think I can answer here: Note that the page has never been deleted. I.e. it's not there because no one has made it yet.
I think the bottom line is that if you have reliable sources about her, her Bosnia activities and the movie, you can start a new article. Please do - sounds like you're the person for the job. --Chriswaterguy 11:39, 28 February 2011 (UTC)
I have just created the article en:Kathryn Bolkovac, and linked it with some other articles, such as "The Whistleblower". Regards, 190.64.176.168 12:40, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

Ambiguity of attribution requirement

Please see the concern I raised at w:Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)/Archive 83 #Attributing Wikipedia.

In brief: based on a literal reading of Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use it looks like someone can just copy a whole Wikipedia page, add a link to the WP article in the "External links" section without explicitly attributing WP, and that satisfies the requirement as described. I'm sure that's not actually the intention, but it seems like a problem. I know one wiki which is reusing Wikipedia content, simply linking the Wikipedia page under "External links," based on this interpretation. --Chriswaterguy 11:31, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

The Terms of Use provide simple guidelines and refer explicitly to the text of the license for details. Both the guidelines ("provide credit to the authors") and the license itself are clear about the intent of the attribution requirement. I'd assume good faith about attribution in the External Links section, but a gentle reminder that it's potentially confusing and misleading regarding the text origin and attribution seems appropriate.--Eloquence 21:40, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

"... and general information to the 1,000,000+ strong Wikimedia community." ← What is this about? --MZMcBride 04:27, 10 March 2011 (UTC)

Is there an "official" number somewhere on how many active* wikimedians there are? Kylu 15:01, 10 March 2011 (UTC)
* - also, define active.
Looks like Erik got it. All better now. --MZMcBride 00:55, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Cocoa,Fl. got its name from a billboard advertising Cocoa at the train station. There was no name for the village then so they (the people on the train) started calling it the cocoa stop. The name caught on and finally was officially named Cocoa.

Thank you for your query. Unfortunately this page solely deals with the Foundation Wiki website itself, rather than our global projects. You may want to post your question to the Wikipedia reference desk instead. Regards, Kylu 15:00, 10 March 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Monthly_donations/en

"Please help us reach our 2010 goal" needs updating to 2011.

As noted on w:User_talk:Jimbo_Wales#http:.2F.2Fwikimediafoundation.org.2Fwiki.2FMonthly_donations.2Fen

Chzz 09:28, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Well, that was added from wmf:Template:2010Thermometer/en, which was created for the 2010/11 fundraiser. So I've removed the masthead until the next drive, when there will probably be a new template made. Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 21:14, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Job openings/Data Analyst and Researcher

wmf:Job openings/Data Analyst and Researcher#Candidate skill requirements: "BS/MS in computer science and/or mathematics, or equivalent experience". Is a BSc or MSc in statistics not acceptable? I would have thought it would be ideal. Qwfp 09:23, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Hello,
I guess that statistics counts as or equivalent experience Huib talk Abigor 09:56, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
But a statistics BSc or MSc appears just as relevant to this job as a degree in computer science or mathematics, if not more so. So why should someone with a statistics degree be required to have work experience as well when someone with a computer science or mathematics degree isn't? 62.31.61.207 22:56, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
It's just how it's phrased. It could be cumbersome to give an exhaustive list of all possible majors that would really fit the job opening -- just the "best degrees" (usually the most generic degrees that would apply) are listed on open positions. This may mean that statistics degrees aren't something that they're interested in, or it may mean that they didn't want to have a big block of possible majors listed. If you think you'd be a good fit then apply and make a case for yourself. :) Banaticus 20:40, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

there in no specific reason, but entire bible is of belief and facts which our generation not seen , and fighting for unknown reason which can not be answered by any one in the world ,because entirely is a day dream for examples i can prove a person on the other phone line ,but what about the god in general

The site has a broken link ... Specifically ... other versions ... Spanish, which refers to the Civil Code of Argentina. Than you :)

Under section "Argentina: Wikimedia Argentina", the wikilink at the end should be [[:es:Código Civil de la República Argentina|Código Civil de la República Argentina]] instead of [[es:Código Civil de la República Argentina|Código Civil de la República Argentina]]. (Initial colon in link). Thanks for the input. :) 12.186.80.1 17:08, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
Fixed, thanks! Cbrown1023 talk 20:55, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

General Counsel is still listed as an open job

Wikimedia:Job openings/General Counsel still lists General Counsel as an open position, although the Signpost says that Geoff Brigham was hired to fill that position and Geoff is listed on the Wikimedia:Staff page (although no contact information is given) and he doesn't seem to have a user account yet). Shouldn't that job opening be taken down? Banaticus 20:33, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

Only open positions are listed on wmf:Job openings. Old job opening pages are not deleted so that the job description pages are public and transparent. Cbrown1023 talk 21:22, 16 March 2011 (UTC)
See also wmf:Special:PrefixIndex/Job openings/. Killiondude 21:59, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

Key facts

Hi there, I was wondering where is the source for the 2 Key facts pdfs in the Press Room? We definitely need the Italian version.--Elitre 20:40, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

Hi Elitre, I've posted the .odt files for the key facts documents on the WMF wiki, here. They can also be found by going to the 'other materials' link in the 'press materials' box at http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_room JayWalsh 22:39, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
Thanks, I had incorrectly assumed that as other languages were mentioned, other linguistic versions were already available. However, I'd translate it more gladly if I knew where those data come from, I'm more comfortable linking external sources (NPOV...). Thanks. --Elitre 16:53, 18 March 2011 (UTC) PS: you might want to publish data more updated than these.

There used to be live donations with comments visible, instead of a redirect. Has the page been moved anywhere else or will it just not be available any more? -- Mentifisto 17:02, 18 March 2011 (UTC)

It was taken down during the last Fundraiser, supposedly temporarily while it was being fixed. I checked in with some of the staff at several points during the Fundraiser but I always got the same "hopefully fixing it soon" response, so I presume it's indefinitely down. PeterSymonds (talk) 17:30, 18 March 2011 (UTC)

Russian wikipedia

Уважаемая редакция Википедии. На Вас давно зарабатывают деньги. Для того, чтобы оказать вам финансовую помощь, следует избавиться от тех, кто на Вас паразитирует. У меня есть доказательства недобросовестности действия администратора Aleksa Smotrova. Атака идет на статью "Оперативное карате". Однако предварительно на сайт www.operativnoe-karate.ru пришло требование о выплате на третий счет отступных, в противном случае высказана угроза о начале дискредитации сайта и темы и владельцев сайта. Эта атака действительно началась через Википедию. Осуществляют ее Aleks Smotrov, Litl Maus. Вся история "войны" зафиксирована. Заработайте лучше на этом сами. В противном случае возникают сомнения в том, что это не коммерческий проект. Оставляю за собой право начать публичную дискуссию. С уважением, Александр Травников (operativnoe-karate@ mail.ru).

...and the proof you speak of is where? Seb az86556 08:53, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
This wikipedia-related issue - about editwar in w:ru:Оперативное карате article; see w:ru:Talk:Оперативное карате (in Russian). Out of scope; should be be closed. --Kaganer 21:45, 22 May 2011 (UTC)

Foundation fellow needs guidance

The following discussion is closed.

Incorrect venue for this discussion
I have been told that User:LauraHale is a Wikimedia Foundation fellow who is also in a graduate program at an Austrialian Unversity. Assuming that is true, I would hope that she would conduct herself in a professional manner that would reflect well on the Foundation. She nominated two articles for GA on the English Wikipedia Netball and Netball in the Cook Islands, and has had difficult relations when different people tried to explain the deficiencies of those articles. When I raised grammar concerns, she argued that New Zealand grammar is different from the rest of the world. She even claimed that en:Olympic sports means something different in British English than is described in the Wikipedia article. When I had a British editor explain that they had the same meaning, she ignored it. When I raised concerns about "close paraphrasing" in the article, and a work plan to check for it, she became extremely defensive. She tends to read this very quickly and miss important facts, as a result she has made two postings outside the reviews that are a drastic distortion of the facts. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk%3AGood_article_nominations&action=historysubmit&diff=420291085&oldid=420288992 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ARequests_for_comment%2FRacepacket_2&action=historysubmit&diff=420308748&oldid=420124218 Could a staff member please review them and counsel her that we are all trying to get along and be professional? Perhaps she would wish to strike them out or withdraw them? Thanks, --User:Racepacket on the English Wikipedia.

Well, Hale hath no fury....
I don't believe there's any evidence to suggest that she's a Wikimedia Fellow. I'm not sure anyone finds her recent behavior appropriate, but it isn't really within the Wikimedia Foundation's remit to review her actions and counsel her, given that she isn't working for them or representing them. If you find any pages/comments/etc. that indicate that she is a Wikimedia Fellow, please share them below so that they can be examined and addressed as necessary. --MZMcBride 18:18, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
MZ is correct, and I'd particularly second his point about the WMF's role here. There is a list of Fellows past and present here on Meta and Laura is not on it. Can you point out where you were told this? Steven Walling at work 21:39, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
(By the way, if this is an inappropriate forum for this concern, please direct me to the correct one. I was lead to believe this was an online submission form to the WMF staff.) English Wikipedia User:Hawkeye7 said she was commissioned to write about editing Wikipedia. Ms. Hale also claimed to be working under an unnamed supervisor to whom Ms. Hale is attributing incorrect information about Wikipedia's policy on "close paraphrasing." Perhaps "grantee" is more appropriate than fellow. -- 06:45, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
Yeah, this is actually a page to give feedback on wikimediafoundation.org, not a general forum for discussion of Foundation issues, but don't worry about it. Anyway, if Hawkeye7 meant she was commissioned to write about Wikipedia as a fellowship at the Wikimedia Foundation, that is incorrect. Perhaps she was commissioned by her university; I think when Laura said "supervisors" she meant at her university. But in general the firm answer is that she's not working for the Wikimedia Foundation (she's not a grantee either, as you can see at the index of grants, though grantees are definitely not people who report to the Foundation...) Hope that helps, Steven Walling at work 07:13, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
For future reference, things like this should probably be asked on foundation-l for the quickest response. SWATJester Son of the Defender 11:10, 25 March 2011 (UTC)

I don't know if this is the appropriate place to weigh in. I apologise if this is not the right place. This section was pointed out to me by three different parties and as it appears to have gotten longer, I wanted to comment to clarify. I'm not a foundation fellow. (I may have applied for it but I can't recall.) The extent to which I've been involved with WMF is I was involved with the Wikipedia Screencast project, where WMF paid my airfare out to California to attend. I helped contribute to this proposal but I could not attend the event myself. I consider a few people who work(ed) for WMF to be friends. I'm not officially connected to WMF in any way. I am a member of the national chapter in Australia. I have a grant request outstanding with them. (There are things on my end that need addressing.) They are not WMF.

I've been working on creating a workshop that encourages sport people and people working with sport organisations to contribute to wikis in general and Wikipedia specifically. I've worked some with people connected to the national chapter. I've had extensive support from my university department to help create these workshops. As I'm generally not Wikipedia's biggest fan, I've not contributed extensively to Wikipedia before. I felt that before I tried to encourage others to use Wikipedia, I should finally become active and try to work through some of the processes that Wikipedia contributors deal with such as creating new articles, learning how to cite sources and trying to get an article through the FAC process. The latter was to better understand these benefits. My department has been encouraging me in the latter, as I have been told by at least one member of the department that it would be a bit prestigious to have some one connected to their department who helped guide an article about a major Australian sport to featured status.

As for the accusation of plagiarism made by Racepacket, I was deeply concerned about this. I'm a PhD student in sport studies. Such accusations are highly problematic. In a university context, I could get into big trouble if I was found guilty. (The accusation of inappropriate paraphrasing was the final blow to the derailing of the good article process.) Racepacket alleged inappropriate paraphrasing on the good article review in one of the few areas that relied extensively on book based citations that he did not have access to. The area that he raised concerns in I felt was covered by what is not plagiarism: "Phrases that are the simplest and most obvious way to present information. Sentences such as "John Smith was born on 2 February 1900" lack sufficient creativity to require attribution." Given that it appeared to me that Racepacket had rejected that line (how many ways can you express that the centre can only stand in the centre third of the court? How many ways can address the rules of a game?), I asked one of my PhD supervisors for clarity as I wanted to avoid any accidental plagiarism. I mentioned the aforementioned sections, pointed out that I could have around 100 different sources for that (except Wikipedia frowns upon 100 citations like that) and asked for guidance on whether or not it was plagiarism and how to handle it. As I had repeatedly mentioned Wikipedia policy to Racepacket and Racepacket had not addressed those citations, I felt that to make sure I was behaving ethically in regards to appropriate citing or not, I asked one of my PhD supervisors for their opinion on how to deal with situations like that and how to cite things.

Anyway, that's the full context for my remarks and my affiliations. I apologise for any confusion. If this is the wrong place to address these concerns, please feel free to (re)move them. I'm just a little bit on edge because I feel like I have been unfairly accused of plagiarism, where the accuser has not provided any substantial proof of this accusation and has not retracted the accusation. This accusation is colouring my judgement some what. :( --LauraHale 13:32, 25 March 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for clarifying your affiliations. Please stop using the term "plagiarism," which is a term that I deliberately avoided. My concern was raised by reading a discussion on the article's talk page regarding using the Australia Netball website text to reword the position descriptions. When language is lifted from a source in that manner, it is best to use a quotation rather than a paraphrase. I fully agree with the example of "John Smith was born on X date", but if there is an element of literary expression, it does not fall into that narrow exception. For example, "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plains." has literary aspects in part because there are other ways of saying it. When writing about sport rules, every word is important and it is hard to paraphrase without changing the meaning (and future quibbling). So there is a temptation to closely paraphrase the rules, which leads to trouble. Thus, my recommendation to quote the source. See, WP:PARAPHRASE Hence, when you earlier wrote that "your supervisor" was the one who misinformed you, I assumed you meant at WMF, and I came here because I wanted to correct any incorrect views your "supervisor" has about Wikipedia policy. Racepacket 15:34, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
I would also ask you to go to WP:COIN and disclose your paid editing / research project there.
My final suggestion is that you reconsider your project's design. Wikipedia is a complex institution, but it is not a "fan" wiki, and no single editor "owns" an article. The Netball article began on August 31, 2001, and you only began editing it on February 26, 2011. So, although you should take pride in whatever you achieve with the article it will be a group achievement, with most of the contributors unrelated to your university. It has taken years for an article such as Netball to become a "Featured Article" so I am not sure that your project is feasible in the time frame you propose. Thanks again for your explanation. Racepacket 15:34, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
When you have concerns regarding inappropriate paraphrasing, you are making a plagiarism accusation. See wp:Wikipedia:Plagiarism. While you may have chosen to deliberately use other words to convey the idea, it does not get around that fact. For me, I cannot get read past anything else you've said as you accused me of plagiarism and have yet to substantiate it. There was no plagiarism. There was no inappropriate paraphrasing that you have managed to prove. Please retract this statement or please prove this statement. At this point, as you've taken it to meta and as bill compton is using it as part of your defence on your request for comment, as you're continuing to bring up this unsubstantiated allegation, I'm beginning to feel seriously harassed here. I did nothing wrong with my wording usage. I've had the wording usage verified as not plagiarism by Hawkeye7. If need be I can have it verified by jayvdb. You made the accusation of inappropriate paraphrasing, re: plagiarism. You've mentioned it here. You've mentioned it elsewhere. Having mentioned it here, knowing that this accusation is potential grounds for me to get kicked out of my programme, having mentioned it here with the WMF to try to get an employer to take action against me, it feels like harassment. Please stop and please retract the accusation. --LauraHale 20:29, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
I am confused by your comment. Are you now saying the the WMF is your "employer?" They just denied it.--Racepacket 01:19, 26 March 2011 (UTC)
No, I am saying that it appears you believed that I was a WMF fellow and you tried to get WMF, the organisation you believed I worked for, to take action against me. That constitutes harassment. --LauraHale 09:44, 26 March 2011 (UTC)
You have now said for the tenth time that I accused you of "plagarism." Please provide a diff reference where I said that. You cannot, because I never did. I did say that I would check the article for close paraphrasing, which you agreed was something that a good article reviewer should do, but you have became very upset by my raising the issue and providing at least one example of where there was close paraphrasing in the article. I don't know who was responsible for the problematic edit, but equating the discovery of a close paraphrase in an article that was edited by dozens of people with an accusation directed against LauraHale is a violation of WP:OWN on your part. It will never be "LauraHale's article."
You propose verification by "jayvdb," but I am not familiar with that term. Please explain. I have also explained to you how Wikipedia's requirements are most stringent that just U.S. copyright law,[1] so we need to bring the article up to Wikipedia standards. --Racepacket 01:19, 26 March 2011 (UTC)
Racepacket, this is not the appropriate venue. The first words you used in this matter were: "I have been told that…" It was immediately clarified by an employee of the Wikimedia Foundation that what you had been told was incorrect. As soon as it was established that Laura is not financially connected to the Foundation, as you had believed, this page became an inappropriate venue for your concerns. Please let it drop. -Pete F 04:17, 26 March 2011 (UTC)
Pete F, I am willing to drop it and had done so until LauraHale restarted it with her 09:44, 26 March 2011 (UTC) accusation. My last response to her is I thought that a "supervisor" in our foundation was giving bad advice about Wikipedia policy, and I wanted to resolve it within our Foundation. That is different from my going outside our Foundation to "harass" her with an employer. (This would never have come up if LauraHale had been clear about her project and about the expert that she was offering during the GA review to contradict WP:C and WP:PARAPHRASE.) I feel that she has been harrassing me by edit warring over merge templates, challenging my WikiCup points, and editing my article talk page comments.
  • As it's been established that LauraHale is not a WMF employee but a regular editor in this context, please seek resolution to your dispute via the proper means on the English Wikipedia instead. Thank you. Kylu 18:55, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

On this page is written "July 1, 2009 to June 30, 20010" with a mistake on 20010 Symac 08:25, 25 March 2011 (UTC)

Fixed. Thanks for the note. --MZMcBride 08:30, 25 March 2011 (UTC)

Trademark Policy

I noticed the following apparent typos:

  • RE: Trademark Policy#Overall Guidelines for Printed Materials and Web Sites:
    • 'use Wikimedia Marks engage in noncommercial fundraising' -> 'use Wikimedia Marks to engage in noncommercial fundraising'
  • RE: Trademark Policy#Related and Derivative Works of the Wikimedia Content:
    • 'Our main concern is that consumers not be confused as to whether the content is a derivative work or is the initial Wikimedia content are.' -> 'Our main concern is that consumers not be confused as to whether the content is a derivative work or is the initial Wikimedia content are.'
  • RE: Trademark Policy#Linking:
    • 'e.g., suggesting that the material Wikimedia Project content when in fact it is yours.' -> 'e.g., suggesting that the material is Wikimedia Project content when in fact it is yours.'
  • RE: Trademark Policy#Domain Names:
    • 'use a Wikimedia Mark in a project local for your region,' -> 'use a Wikimedia Mark in a project local for to your region,'
  • RE: Trademark Policy#Wikimedia Marks and Merchandise:
    • '(absent express permission from the Foundation)' -> '(absentin the absence of express permission from the Foundation)'
    • 'A modified mark also would raise the possibility of' -> 'A modified mark would also raise the possibility of'

It's rather laborious having to report them in this way, but I understand there are good reasons for protecting the pages there. --Trevj 11:16, 25 March 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, Trevj. I made all the corrections except the last two items, which seem more like a stylistic choice than an error. -Pete F 23:29, 26 March 2011 (UTC)
OK. Thanks. --Trevj 07:39, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

À propos de Wikimania 2011

Wikimania 2011 en Israël ? Je trouve un peu dommage d'aller organiser la célébration de notre beau projet dans un pays qui est quand même en permanence à moitié en guerre, d'après ce qu'on lit. Non mais, franchement ! Il n'y avait pas d'autre pays dans le monde où monter un tel événement ? Pour un événement tel que Wikimania, je pense qu'il serait à l'avenir souhaitable qu'un projet aussi humaniste que Wikimédia ait l'ambition de choisir ses lieux d'événements non pas seulement en fonction de leurs facilités balnéaires, mais aussi en fonction de critères tels que : le respect des droits de l'homme et des minorités, le respect de certaines valeurs démocratiques, la corruption régnant dans le pays... C'est dommage, parce que, à part ça, j'aurais bien aimé venir. J'espère que ce n'est que partie remise :-/ 78.250.240.178 10:49, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Hello, the conference is Wikimania, not Wikimédia. The site is chosen by the Wikimania Jury, which is a volunteer-driven effort. You would do better to ask questions of the jury, rather than the Wikimedia Foundation, which is not involved in the site selection. -Pete F 21:31, 26 March 2011 (UTC)
Oui, Wikimania, pardon. N'empêche que l'événement est subventionné par la Fondation Wikimédia, qui est donc quand même quelque peu impliquée. Merci pour le lien Wikimania Jury :-) 78.250.240.178 22:54, 26 March 2011 (UTC)
You're welcome. I believe the city is chosen based mostly on the strength of the local volunteer effort, and also with an effort to represent all continents. I hope a future Wikimania event, or a more local event, will appeal to you -- maybe I'll see you there! -Pete F 23:23, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

References to "aolid" returns a "Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name"

However you do have pages for "aeolid". Either correct the mis-spelling from "aolid" to "aeolid" or if both spellings are acceptable, link from "aolid" to the "aeolid" results/pages.

Thanks, Denise

Done -Pete F 21:50, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

Press room again

I think you need to update it a little bit - linking the new report, for instance. --Elitre 11:40, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

In WMF Presentations, maybe someone could add Sue's TedX talk in Dubai and/or slides from the latest Wiki* events. --Elitre 17:19, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
Press room really needs an updates !!! Cheers — Tjmoel  bicara 19:50, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Typo alert.

"When a donor wishes to make a restricted gift , that donor shall determine gift parameters in advance with the Wikimedia Foundation."

Extra space after restricted gift.

Please fix.

-- ono  00:36, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

Fixed, thanks! --Az1568 (talk) 03:09, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

Template on Job openings subpages

Hi. I'm planing on including wmf:Template:Job opening status (just created by me) on all job opening subpages. The template indicates the status of the job opening. Currently the only thing it does is displaying a message on closed job descriptions.

I'm just asking in advance, before I mass edit old pages... are there any concerns about this? :) --Church of emacs talk · contrib 08:50, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

Done. Since no one here or on IRC objected, I included the template --Church of emacs talk · contrib 14:27, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

I see you pride yourself in being "a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge. The Wikimedia Foundation operates some of the largest collaboratively edited reference projects in the world, including Wikipedia, a top-ten internet property."

Here is an example of my treatment on your Wikipedia:

From the talk page for 174.45.18.232 Editing from 174.45.18.232 has been disabled by Dougweller for the following reason(s):

seems to be another IP being used by 66.175.205.171 (talk · contribs) who is blocked

From User talk:174.45.18.232 Anonymous users from this IP address have been blocked from editing for a period of 24 hours for You seem to be also using the IP address 66.175.205.171 which I blocked this morning but neglected to block this one.. If you have a registered Wikipedia username, you may log in and continue to edit. Otherwise, once the block has expired, you are welcome to make useful contributions. If you would like to be unblocked, you may appeal this block by adding the text \{\{unblock|reason=Your reason here 174.45.18.232 02:23, 12 April 2011 (UTC)}}, but you should read the guide to appealing blocks first. Dougweller (talk) 21:06, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

Seems all about normal, except that 174.45.18.232 is a Bresnan IP in Gillette, Wyoming and 66.175.205.171 is a NETWURX-01 IP from Fort Atkinson, Washington. Pretty hard to reach that far to get to the other keyboard!

Then we have: From Talk:Dark Ages

Whoever deleted my entry - The web site is a well known source for the Helenes culture. If you are unaware of this culture I would STRONGLY recommend you find out about it before declaring it questionable.
And please justify your POV statement. I merely summarized the works of a well known Helenes author. He has many books on Greek and Helenestic cultures. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.45.18.232 (talk) 03:33, 11 April 2011 (UTC)
You can visit his sight at http://www.rassias.gr/6ENGLISH.html.

It's a source for a minority fringe view Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism but I see no evidence it meets our criteria at WP:RS - more importantly, it's pretty clear there is no agreement by other editors to have it in the article. Dougweller (talk) 06:04, 11 April 2011 (UTC)
Your etymology is not given in the source, your calculations of how many/how often atrocities occurred is both WP:OR and deeply naive, your citation is incorrect (and you are confused about the number of "reviews" that you are using), and there is no evidence that either Rassias or ethnikoi.org are reliable sources for late antiquity/the medieval period. Oh, and the silly sputtering threats you left on my Talk page are like sweet candy to me. Ergative rlt (talk) 06:18, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

       Yes Done Gone. Doc talk 06:23, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

At this point several bells went off in my head saying - minority, fringe, Reconstructionism, etymology, deeply naive, you are confused, there is no evidence, sweet candy . These demeaning ad hominem attacks indicated to me that there was more to this than just critiquing.

And then I found this:

From User talk:Ergative rlt

I should have blocked this IP address this morning when I blocked the other IP address being used by the same problem. When unblocked, the IP can take their complaints to the appropriate noticeboard. This is a fringe religious organisation and their views belong in their article at Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism but not at [{Dark Ages]]. Dougweller (talk) 21:09, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

So, it seems your administrator told me he blocked me because I was person X, indicating he had probably made a mistake since I am not person X. But, I can unblock by giving this person and possibly others associated with him, my Email address. Almost pure ad hominem statements do not bring about a sense of trust. So, I was obviously not going to give Wiki my Email address to get unblocked.
Then I went looking for the Why of the attack. I found it in Ergative rlt's talk page. There I found the real reason for the block. This group of people at Wikipedia believe that I should watch my p's and q's and had better darn well get to the back of the bus. Now, that upset me. But then I know that all large organizations sometimes have problems. Based on that fact, let me fill you in on a few things. I am not Helenestic, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Budist, or Christian. But I do know down right obvious Religious Discrimination when I see it. There is no maybe, could be, or mistaken here. Your people at Wikipedia are consciously oppressing a minority religion.

I don't think Tax Free fits here unless you wish to declare yourself as a religious organization.

There are two things I wish to say. I have spent my life fighting this discrimination and I am not going away!

If you have anything to say please say it on the Talk Dark Ages page. I will watch it until 04/26/2011 inclusive. 174.45.18.232 02:23, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Replied there. Starfallen 20:04, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Improving the reader experience

still i think you are lagging far beyond the real piece of knowledge.... suppose i type AUTOMATION so what i think wiki must show me from the begining about AUTOMATION from where this came,what this really mean, how s this useful n much more including some interesting video's about it... believe me it will be going to remark in history if you can do this...


sumit singh sumitsingh129@yahoo.com

These are quite good ideas! Fortunately, we have people (such as yourself) who are capable of thinking of things like this. Wikipedia, being a wiki, is open for you to edit and improve in these ways. You could create a video in one of the open video formats and upload them to Commons for use in the various languages, expand upon the articles, and other such functions. We even have a full set of article-writing guidelines from a simple article-creation wizard up to manuals of style and policies detailing how corner-cases and borderline issues you may experience should be handled.
Further, you're not limited to only Wikipedia! The Foundation also hosts a freely editable online dictionary (Wiktionary), News (Wikinews), Quotations (Wikiquote) and many more projects just begging for assistance. Rather than listing them all here, I'll have to instead link to the Complete list of Wikimedia projects, as otherwise it would certainly take up much of this page.
Thank you for your input! Kylu 18:44, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

[http//pt.wikisource.org Wikisurce en portugués] este texto deberia lucir así Wikisurce en portugués CORREGIR EL ENLACE

Fixed. Thanks! Az1568 (talk) 20:28, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Languages spoken

Is it possible to encourage employees to write on their user page (on WMF site or meta) the languages they speak fluently? It could be useful for the community to know in what language other than English one can speak to a particular employee. It would be easier for non-fluent-English-speakers to communicate and it could show as well the diversity of the staff (always a useful argument for non-English communities and world). Thanks ~ Seb35 [^_^] 12:40, 23 April 2011 (UTC)

the Wikimedia Foundation

The wikimedia foundation is nothing but a perverted joke.

You want to give everyone public access to knowledge.. which is being censored by a club of elitist administrators, who form wikipedia in their own way of understanding.

Wikipedia is full of wrong, filtered, censored and personal view dependant information, formed by some, carried by those who suck up to the asses of those "some".

My tip would be:

Fire your administrators and their lickspits. Open your "free encyclopedia" to everyone. Moderate it by users only and take away the absolute power from admins, who infact only should care about the technical aspects of this "free encyclopedia".

Until you wont do that, wikipedia is just an autocratic dictatorship of virtual power, given to asshats who play benito mussolini in virtual reality. — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 91.62.52.128 (talk) diff 08:05, 24 April 2011

Just passing by to point out that this is (at least theoretically) how it works in the first place, since administrators aren't employees of the Foundation* but instead selected by the community via discussion. (English Wikipedia example: en:WP:RFA).
If you have any constructive suggestions on how to perform these changes, please consider sharing them to help improve the project instead. Thanks! Starfallen 16:52, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
* - There are, of course, some WMF employees with administrative access. Some have it due to technical need, and they tend to not interact with the community other than support capacity. Others were granted these rights by the community, typically before they were WMF employees, and would be treated similarly to any other administrator. Either way, if employee/admins have such issues, there are forums for complaints. Please specify if this is the case.

IANAL, but I fear Terms of Use incorrectly treats CC-SA and CC-BY-SA licenses as identical.  "By attribution" would require some kind of acknowledgment or credits by users, while CC-SA only requires a similar "share alike" license.  You'd find hordes of copyright experts on commons if that is unclear. –82.113.106.28 00:41, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestion -- I'm unclear though. I don't believe a "CC-SA" license exists (and I don't see it referenced on the linked Terms of Use page either). -Pete F 14:33, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
There was actually a CC-SA 1.0 license (i.e. without the attribution requirement) but Creative Commons have retired it and don't recommend using it. It actually took me some serious digging to find that page, and Wikimedia projects certainly don't use it. Our terms of use page did say "Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 (Unported)" though, and the stroke could misleadingly imply a choice. I have now changed it to match the title used by Creative Commons. the wub "?!" 22:32, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Hello; Citing and referencing authors are major elements of efficient writing. I do not deny the fact that Wikipedia sastiates my needs in terms of knowledge. However, I often feel frustrated whenever I look for the sources of ideas in texts.

We're always trying to improve the referencing on Wikipedia and our other projects. Remember that you can help too! A good place to start is the Wikipedia Introduction. the wub "?!" 22:36, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

2011 Survey

I have been trying for over a week to voice some of my concerns in the 2011 Survey. I posted questions on several pages of the survey and have also sent an e-mail to the organizers. Nobody answers and nobody is seem to be in charge. The survey is a total disgrace and if the Wikipedia Foundation claims that it reflects the views of the editors this is totally untrue. The survey is just a waste of time and of money. It also shows that the foundation has no respect for the editors who actually keep wikipedia going. It doesn't matter what we say, we are not worth an answer. I have tried to find a site where complaints can be sent to wikimedia. There is no complaints site. Of course, this is normal, as nobody is interested in hearing and solving complaints. Wikipedia was a wonderful idea. But not the way it is run now. Afil 18:49, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Comments on the survey can be sent via email directly to the Chief Global Development Officer, Barry Newstead - email bnewstead at wikimedia dot org. Philippe (WMF) 18:50, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
Hi, I responded to your comment on the Wikimedia Foundation blog earlier. Thanks for taking the time to register your concerns. I'm sorry you had a negative experience with the survey and I hope to better understand the specifics of the problems you had so we can improve it for the next time we do this. I would say that the foundation does care a lot about the editor community and while the survey did not come off perfectly, it has been a success overall and we have completed responses from over 5,000 editors and will share the results with the community, so we can all learn from the feedback. --Bnewstead 23:06, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
If you want to discuss your issue with others (particularly people not being paid by the Wikimedia Foundation), subscribe to foundation-l. Let me know if you have trouble signing up. :-) --MZMcBride 23:15, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Terms_of_Use in Japanese includes worse translation

Terms of Use in Japanese (利用規約) includes worse translation. Terms of Use is "Re-users can choose the license(s) they wish to comply with. ". But Re-users can't choose dual-license in Japanese "利用規約". I think you have to update Japanese "利用規約". --iwaim 02:47, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

Augusto Pinochet Ugarte

the Spanish version of your piece on AUP states that after resigning the presidency he immediately became member of the Senate. This, however, only happened in 1998, eight years after he ceased being presidente.

Miguel Orellana Benado School of Law Universidad de Chile

Terms of Use [ad nauseam]

Hello

I am pleased to submit this document to be considered for the Wikipedia Board of Directors position. I am a pulished author with no less than 100 articles published in different magazines and newspapers, I have written and created Eight training manuals which were focused on my Personal Mission statement. They are: 1.To find and implement new profit centres, 2.To improve employee performance and 3 To keep customers coming back.

The A_Z of Customer Service has been rated as my "Magnum Opus" article . I have it available to view on my website:companionlearning.com . My favorite of all the 26 letters is M Make it easy--This is what i do well! Make it easy for customers to do business with you. I can expand at length on this topic believe you/me. I would like to end off by stating: In my early days of writng i would go over with my Father, (Physician) and Mother (Regstered Nurse) an aritcle for their perusal Frequently I would hear these words from my Father "less words,get to the point". My Mother, a frequent 400 plus point achiever in scrabble, would edcuate me on the proper context and meaning of words. I live in Nelson BC, the coolest and hippest area of Canada, I am currently working on a Mayan Undertanding/2012 Prophecy piece, and would be avaiable and eager to work for such an incredible world wide resource. Michael David Skrobot (Skroboticus--nick name) salesmc(_AT_)telus.net

A few small points:
  1. Your note doesn't pertain to the Terms of Use page on the Wikimediafoundation.org site, nor to that site in any meaningful capacity. I must inform you that it's somewhat misplaced, therefore.
  2. You should probably peruse the Board elections page and its subpages, especially requirements (including sending identification documents to the Foundation).
  3. You posted your email address in plain-text. I've since modified it to be ever-so-slightly less attractive to spammers, but you're likely to get some interesting emails soon from folks peddling unique wares.
  4. Good luck on your candidacy. Kylu 03:35, 3 May 2011 (UTC)

Ошибка на странице:
Протоколы и результаты совещаний совета попечителей. Совет попечителей — высший управляющий орган Фонда Викимедиа. Информацию о его решений вы можете найти на страницах совещаний и резолюций.
Нужно исправить на решениях.

спасибо. There is an error in the Russian translation listed above. Can someone verify? Theo10011 13:37, 4 May 2011 (UTC)
Yes, I confirm that correct is "информацию о его решениях", not "информацию о его решений" rubin16 10:25, 7 May 2011 (UTC)
Done, fixed. Thanks! --Kaganer 21:38, 22 May 2011 (UTC)

Allow anyone to register on foundation wiki but not editing

I think that we should allow anyone to register a new account on foundation wiki but also create a group and the people allow to edit should be in that group. This makes anyone can change the skin, language setting but not editing. --Waihorace 09:27, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Changing skin or language can be done without creating an account. This kind of privileges can be experienced on Commons already. After all Foundation wiki is not a content wiki. It is the public relation wiki of Wikimedia Foundation, so I think there is no point of allowing the create account option to everyone. — Tanvir | Talk ] 09:31, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

blog.wikimedia.org down?

I can't access the website from the UK. 128.232.228.113 17:13, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

Hi, it seems to be up right now - probably a temporary downtime. The Helpful One 13:38, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

Dear Wikipedia:

Have you considered giving visitors to Wikipedia the option of giving a donations at the time of use? Some charities allow one to sign up for a contributions each time they use some web option (e.g., Goodsearch). It seems likely that many users of Wikipedia would be happy to check off a donation of some amount that they judge is related to the value received. One could arrange with, say, PayPal to have it charged to their credit card. In this way the contribution is more directly linked to the value and potentially possible to encourage donations from users who do not regard the site as a "charity" and hence do not make regular donations.

I am sure you have considered charging for use of Wikipedia and rejected it. I think allowing users to choose what they would like to contribute--including nothing--could make the whole difference in how people would regard this option.

Sincerely, Robert MacDonald 69.107.75.223 18:55, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

I think that every person should have a wiki soo people could now more about them. They dont need personal information just basic stuff.The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.43.214.9 (talk • contribs) 03:42, 12 May 2011 (UTC).

Hi there, thanks for your suggestion, you can already create your own wiki, please see the English Wikipedia page on Wikia, a a free web hosting service for wikis. Hope this helps, The Helpful One 23:42, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

I believe that mermaid mentioned in mythology is a description of a real creature , references : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Getofx5WnH8&playnext=1&list=PL831624D10B40D1C7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwO9SeDKMHI The preceding unsigned comment was added by 178.77.160.145 (talk • contribs) 03:42, 12 May 2011 (UTC).

Hi. Thank you for your interest. However, if you want to discuss about that article, I suggest you to use its discussion here: en:Talk:Mermaid.
Regards.” Teles (Talk @ C G) 03:48, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

I been trying to get in touch with Ludia and all his staff. It's not fair to blocked me out of The Price Is Right Show. I purchased a Facebook Credit Card to play for Socialization with friends. I got a Credit Card that had $50.00 dollars left. Someone took $2.00 off leaving me a balance of $48.00 dollars. Now when I try to purchase my coins it says ERROR and I can't get my money. Please REFUNDED my MONEY or allow me to continue to play. Your cooperation will be deeply appreciated. This is Ms. Diana Baker. THANK YOU!The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.181.86.24 (talk • contribs) 03:42, 12 May 2011 (UTC).

I'm afraid you may have contacted the wrong organization... Philippe (WMF) 05:12, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

title casing

Some of the policies and pages on wikimediafoundation.org use inconsistent title casing. It makes more sense to move all of them to a consistent case (sentence case is the standard for Wikimedia wikis). Thoughts? --MZMcBride 02:26, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

I moved most of the major policies and updated some of the prominent links. Let me know if you notice anything else that needs to be moved or updated. --MZMcBride 04:29, 15 May 2011 (UTC)

regaurding: inaccuracies

I would like to fix the "almost famous" page. It says stillwater is a fictacious band. It's not. That's all

Hi, are you referring to a particular page on the English Wikipedia? If so, please use the help desk there. Thanks! :) The Helpful One 13:39, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

WMF Home Page

Hi,

I was looking at the source code of the Main Page, and noticed this:

be it time or [[fundraising|money]]'''. The [[benefactors]] page is dedicated to some of the companies and individuals helping to sustain the Wikimedia projects. The Wikimedia Foundation does not necessarily endorse the activities of its Corporate Benefactors.

I can't seem to find where the ''' marks end, but nonetheless, they should be after the full stop, not before it.

Thanks,

The Helpful One 21:09, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Wikimarkup bold/italics don't extend past a paragraph, unlike their HTML counterparts. Fun fact. The issue you're seeing was (shockingly) caused by Philippe in this edit. I've fixed the issue in this edit. --MZMcBride 02:14, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Hi,

The largest Wikipedia is in English, with more than three million articles; it is followed by the German, French, Polish and Japanese editions, each of which contain more than half a million articles.

Where's the poor Italian Wikipedia on that list?

Thanks,

The Helpful One 21:14, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Also, for Wikinews, the full logo might be more appropriate as that is the logo used for the other projects. The Helpful One 21:17, 17 May 2011 (UTC)
I corrected wmf:Our projects in this edit. Really, the whole page needs to be rewritten; it's horribly out-of-date. This is what happens when you have a fishbowl wiki.
I updated the Wikinews logo in this edit. The Commons logo is probably still wrong. You can append another section on this page about that, if you want. --MZMcBride 02:31, 18 May 2011 (UTC)
OK, thanks. I'll ask a commons admin to protect File:Wikinews-logo-en.png now that it is used instead of File:Wikinews-logo.png The Helpful One 15:18, 18 May 2011 (UTC)
Done by User:Rama. The Helpful One 15:24, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Hi,

I don't get paid a cent for my work at Wikipedia, and neither do our thousands of other volunteer authors and editors. When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising banners, but I decided to do something different.

I don't know if you're going for an American theme, but the page is GB/Personal so I think I don't get paid a penny might be more suitable for GB.

The Helpful One 21:38, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Meh, okay. Changed. --MZMcBride 02:35, 18 May 2011 (UTC)
Thank you. The Helpful One 19:43, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Per above, please also change the commons logo to commons:File:Commons-logo-en.svg instead, as it contains the commons text to match the rest of the logos. Thanks, The Helpful One 15:36, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

The same with the wiktionary logo, File:WiktionaryEn.svg please. Thanks, The Helpful One 15:42, 18 May 2011 (UTC)
For ease of access to any admin with an account looking at this page, the page to update is here. I have already got those images fully protected too on commons. The Helpful One 15:44, 18 May 2011 (UTC)
Done Steven Walling at work 19:09, 18 May 2011 (UTC)
Thanks. The Helpful One 19:42, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Our projects - update statistics please

Hi,

Most of the content on the page is "As of October 2010" - it's May 2011 now, around 6 months later. Can someone please update all the statistics and change to As of "May 2011" - it makes sense to keep this up to date.

Thanks, The Helpful One 15:48, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

There is a mirror page somewhere on meta if you'd like to do it yourself and have it copied over. I updated this in October and I probably won't have time to update it again myself until next week. Killiondude 17:53, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Please review the actions of wikipedia administrator Toddst1

It is clear that toddst1 is acting in bad faith and has but the wiki foundation at major risk. He rv without checking for copywrite, some of his edits are liable, and he simply acts recklessly and carelessly. I suggest that he receives coaching to help him improve and to limit wiki's risk of lawsuits. Yyhhu 06:14, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

examples? Seb az86556 08:15, 19 May 2011 (UTC)
This is not related to wikimediafoundation.org. Please stay on topic. Report this to the Administrators' Noticeboard at English Wikipedia if this is an issue. --Bsadowski1 08:33, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

Staff count is missing, pictures are missing, and the organisational chart is out of date. Could someone please do something about this? Thanks. Randomblue 15:52, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

Note, synced Template:Staff with latest diff, if anyone that doesn't have a WMF wiki account wants to work on it, Template:Staff is where to go! :) The Helpful One 16:10, 21 May 2011 (UTC)
The page is fully protected. Killiondude 06:51, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
I'm talking about the page on meta, http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Staff. :) The Helpful One 10:22, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
Can't hear, obvicopters are too loud.
Your comment about people without wmfwiki accounts using the page on meta isn't entirely accurate because even some people with accounts can't edit it. Killiondude 16:37, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
Ahh shh you! :P The Helpful One 18:47, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
Those people with accounts who can't edit it should feel free to use that page as well, or request specific changes on here. Cbrown1023 talk 23:32, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
Cbrown, are there any new staff pictures for all the other members of staff? I couldn't find any, so couldn't update the page... The Helpful One 23:34, 22 May 2011 (UTC)

:I happened to talk with a staff who has no photo on the page yet, he said he just had no good photo. Most of photos on the page were taken by a professional photographer who WMF hired for publicity purpose. I guess we couldn't find any. Why not ask Jay or Moka if there is any plan to get current staffers photographed? --Aphaia 12:11, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

Hi, I should have updated this - I emailed Jay a few days ago, who told me that WMF are working internally on a plan to update the page completely, including the way that it is laid out so that they will be able to make it more scalable as the staff have grown in number. Therefore, I guess we are waiting on them to get some time to do it! :) The Helpful One 15:03, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

Contact us Check Photo Accuracy

Galland Luftwaffe photo aged 83... he looks age 33

Hi there! There is nothing on that page regarding Galland Luftwaffe, perhaps you have linked us to the wrong page? :) The Helpful One 23:41, 22 May 2011 (UTC)

i want to start doing reveiwes,movies books products ect. Also i would like to do editing &become involve. i started to 5-6 months ago but computer was badly infected and all the programs my host sent wouldnt take. So i should grt a host as I'm new to computers and need some one to teach me how to edit & do reveiws. I hope this isn'nt the wrong page but this is about editing as I want to learn & do it. Can you line me up with a host. thaank you

Hi, I'm not entirely sure what your question is - this page is for discussing http://wikimediafoundation.org, the official Wikimedia Foundation website. Perhaps the reference desk or help desk on the English Wikipedia would be more suitable for you. Hope this helps, The Helpful One 14:41, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

תיקון: שמו של אביו של ראובן שילוח הוא אהרון יצחק ולא אהרון יעקב כפי שנכתב

Hi there! There are currently no names on that page - did you mean to refer to another page? The Helpful One 13:42, 5 June 2011 (UTC)
היי! כרגע אין שמות על דף - התכוונת להפנות לדף אחר? The Helpful One 13:48, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

A huge change for Wikipedia

Can Wikipedia not make accounts and just let people look at Wikipedia instead of editing them freely? Because a lot of people in Wikipedia put stuff that are not right for anything. That's why many people don't trust Wikipedia that much. Wikipedia can make people who signed up that actually helps edit the encyclopedias for-now admins and delete all accounts that are useless.

Hi there! We are the encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and thus it is written by the people who use Wikipedia. We have certain articles, called featured articles that have been judged to be of high quality by our editors and we try to ensure that everyone is able to edit and create articles that meet our verifiability policy. Of course, there are articles that will be incorrect due to vandalism or malicious people, however we have dedicated volunteers and tools that help us to remove this to make Wikipedia as accurate as possible. People can look at Wikipedia freely currently without needing to login, however, there are many reasons why people are encouraged to create an account, including simply to join the rest of the growing Wikipedia community! I hope this answers your question, however, if you have any more, please feel free to ask. :-) The Helpful One 09:55, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

my name is joji bidance.I live in San Antonio tx.I live with my family.and I need to use wiki to help me to knew soe world in this experiance. thank you all my friends

Hi Joji, how can we help you? :) The Helpful One 13:43, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

Knowledge is a massive overstatment on anything on here as public knowledge resticts what you are told just by the fact that governments control what is public knowledge in different areas, so i am english so i'm guessing that english people would be told Osama Bin Laden is a bad man, a terrorist but in other countries they defend him. You can only read what oppinion your government has on Bin Laden not the overall knowledge. I 've read lots of things about the editing on here and found it very vauge and a lot of false names and very bad knick names that people in there right mind would not use. I find this as very suspicious and would like any one to question this. I belive i am part of the public so my knowledge i would like to share is wiki- is massively decieptive due to government which i belive 'government' to basicaly translate to 'interprit lies' which most likly this comment will be barred or removed maybe even IP address traced without my permission. Fair enough i am a fanatical conspirocy therorist but so should everyone as the scale of deception is built by law and maybe i could be classed as a traitor but i have no idea who is the good guy as everyone has been totaly brainwashed into total numb knowledge that is designed to enslave us. I dont wish for my body to be enslaved/controled by a parrasite nor do i expect public knowledge to change the way i think or belive or trust or support, every person has his or her but mostly his, most likely, aggenda and wiki public knowledge is edited to your countries aggenda and by higher powers for all areas most probly, overruleing government with government. Even knowledge taught to your children is only avaliable from public knowledge which means that your children are brought up only learning your countries own oppinion/theroy. Theory is flawed by political aggenda and sensored by complex laws etc and secrecy acts and statutes to make sure we only have enough information to make other people more money on what we work hard to produce and in return get the lower class and lower knowledge to make sure that the rich and power hungry people/states make enough profit on what we make to support there lavish space missions and oppresive society to keep us all thinking we are happy an the best contry in the whole world and making all people belive in all the knowledge of your countries legal standing on what is contrived to be public knowledge.

If anyone wants to disagree with my oppinion then by law you must not, I obviously encourage people to question me and everything hence the 'must' which i belive to mean 'may' so you may not question me means that may not or you can if you want by the freedom of human rights. must has to give you a choice by law for humans to be free. But i think any law can also be translated so that you have a choice of weather you belive the judges interpritation of the law. Obviously some are easier than others to get out of but i belive that even the most hainace crimes can be thrown out if a)more than a certain amount of people support these actions or maybe if you can prove that you did it for patriotic reasons.

This is obviously all theory and would only use this as a guide when understanding or questioning knowledge that is processed by patriotism not by imparsiality that every person should be able to access.

Is law just another way of stopping good intentions? or a way to make money or solve societys problems. Dont think drug dealers are any worse than our goverments controling natural resources by force and saying that necesity states that by law you can do this if it is for the benifit of man not the benifit of the earth or other celestrial bodies, just for one of many living, free organisms that reside every where. The elected few at the top of all this must disscuss who is the most inteligent race or areas and then distribute them unfairly amonst the richest countries first as they gain the most public knowledge and less and less inteligence for less inteligent/rich(poor) contries.

Is this not related to everyone assioated with wiki? In any way you secret societys know. Im sure you will straight recive everything on here even if you wont let me reach my audience as you obviously.

All this is based on my knowledge that i have procurred through questioning everthing it is the best explaination to all the miss leading and vauge explanations given by this company and think you should give me a comment to help me understand, but i wont stand under, why this propoganda is nessacary. I dont know the real facts but i know that deception is almost paramount to keep the public dosile enough to bend to your aggenda.

This is my hard work and my brain just trys to fit everything together and this is what i come up with and i have no outlet which will make you happy but i will eventually change the world and anybody involved with deception, which i think is covered up will be held accountable. I do have the right to any information not owned by a single human. No collective company should hold any information that contridicts the apparent choosen facts. All i see from wiki is a vauge onesided repository of knowledge. Am i not making my point about what needs to change? Its called humanism or full naturism that doesnt have any excuses or exeptions not even if the public knowledge is distributed from the people that have higher purpose than my own as we are all equal, but your staff get to read anything well thats the impression your meant to get but im sure my essay will never reach the light of anyones attention, will it?

Love and freedom and equality and health etc for everyone love every humun as god (me/you) would love you.

JoeKingDealer — The preceding unsigned comment was added by Joekingdealer (talk) 22:44, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

ЯД, WebMoney, SMS

Стоит добавить на этой странице ссылку на http://www.wikimedia.ru/fund/donations.html, так как часть людей не в курсе, что можно задонатить по смс/вебмани/Яндекс.Деньги.

I would create the italian version of this page but I don't know how. :) -- Raoli  02:34, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

See Translation requests/WMF/Staff, but seem the source page was outdate :( --minhhuy (WMF) (talk) 03:43, 6 November 2011 (UTC)
Thank you very much! I want rejuvenate this page.  Raoli  10:52, 6 November 2011 (UTC)
Translating in that page it reasulted that the user Santhosh Thottingal has the same user-page of Niklas Laxström viz :meta:user:Nikerabbit instead of :meta:user:Santhosh.thottingal. I thank those will fix this error. In the Italian version I've already done.  Raoli  12:48, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

Dear Wiki,

reading the Article over Egypt, searching for Echnaton, i stumbled opon the entry: "v. Chr."

I would like to know the Statement of Wiki, to following:

Should not the usage of "Before Common Era / Time" [BCE/T] adaqu. [CE/T] be a must Term in every Article?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Era

You don't make it easy to make a donation. Monthly donation links are circular

The new foundation need people that are capable of donating and suppoortin it with love. this is Joy Richard Preuss Best Regard Joy Richard Preuss --91.144.248.186 09:55, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

See w:Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers#Year numbering systems. The Wikipedia community decided (after a lot of discussion) that neither AD/BC nor CE/BCE was preferred.
As for the monthly donation links, they should be fixed now. Thanks for reporting. Pcoombe (WMF) 16:47, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

The work you are doing is great can expand a bit on the specific issues you are doing so that we can connect with you — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 196.46.111.235 (talk)

Thanks for your interest. You can read more about the Wikimedia Foundation's work in the FAQ and our Annual Report (pdf)

____

Why aren't you using CFC, the Combined Federal Campaign? Charities that apply to receive funds through the CFC are required to submit to extensive review of their financial and governance practices prior to acceptance. This eligibility review has helped set standards for participation in giving initiatives that transcend the community. Organizations were capped at 25 percent until the 2006 campaign, but are now allowed to spend more.

The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is on the United States 2011 Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) Charity List as a national/international independent organization. Our code is: 61478. Pcoombe (WMF) 16:50, 29 November 2011 (UTC)


Please correct the red link on the da: main page "partnere og velgørere" to point to Benefactors. Sir48 22:00, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Done, thanks --minhhuy (talk) (WMF) 02:12, 10 November 2011 (UTC)


}}

Please, update this page in italian too! thanks  Raoli  18:42, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Done, thanks. PeterSymonds (talk) 20:04, 11 November 2011 (UTC)


wikimediafoundation.org

Hey I just want to clear that the in wikipedia there is a page named AHLUWALIA,which need some change in it like ahluwalia's are not from khatri clan they are jatts coz jassa singh ahluwalia was born into sandhu family n his father name was sardar bhadr singh sandhu...ahluwalia become as a last name on a name of village ahluwal..some hindu punjabi merged into ahluwalia's n start using there last name so they hindu punjabi call themself as a khatri..so plz change that line in ahluwalia wikipedia page.

I have read about nano-thermitic composite material. This new kind of explosive could have been involved in the 9/11 story in New York. But I can´t find anything which explains the contents of nano-thermitic composite material. Kan you fix this in an artikel it would be great and I should be very glad!


Kjell Martinsson, kje.mar@telia.com

Hi Kjell, the best place to discuss any specific article is the "Discussion" tab at the top of that article. Sorry, this page is specifically for concerns about the Wikimedia Foundation web site, not for Wikipedia content. -Pete F 20:31, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

web link error in trying to donate via PayPal

Howdy, tried it twice - so I'll be going directly to PayPal to donate - but thought you would like to know I couldn't donate via your link

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.



Return to Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.


Error Message

The link you have used to enter the PayPal system contains an incorrectly formatted item amount.

Return to Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

At this time, we are unable to process your request. Please return to Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. and try another option. .

Hi. Many thanks for reporting this issue, and sincere apologies for the inconvenience. This is being looked into now and hopefully the issue will be resolved soon. PeterSymonds (talk) 12:48, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

On the donation page, ( http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give/en )

it says;

--- By donating, you are sharing your information with the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that hosts Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, and its service providers in the U.S. and elsewhere pursuant to our donor privacy policy. We do not sell or trade your information to anyone. For more information please read our donor policy. ---

The word 'donor policy' is a link.

This seems unnecessary repetiton.

I believe it could be shortened to;

--- By donating, you are sharing your information with the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that hosts Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, and its service providers in the U.S. and elsewhere pursuant to our donor privacy policy. We do not sell or trade your information to anyone. --- (with "donor privacy policy" as the link)

Thanks for the feedback. This specific language was advised by our lawyer though. Pcoombe (WMF) 16:53, 29 November 2011 (UTC)


Firing blanks

On the English Wikipedia, I'm getting banners from the foundation. Two so far - the Grim Programmer and a much more attractive blonde (your tastes may differ...). There's a Read More button, which leads to a blank page. Is that supposed to happen? (He says innocently...) Peridon 10:28, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

Why no advertising? If this is the #5 most visited website, the ad revenue should be MORE THAN ENOUGH to cover the server costs. Instead of asking for money from poor college students, why not accept money from rich businesses and corporations?! I understand you have some "principle" that you do not want to violate; however, if you are as desperate for resources as you appear to be, I would highly advise incorporating advertising revenue into Wikipedia's investment portfolio. You don't have to do it all at once; NPR has "underwriters," which is a more subtle form of advertising that does not conflict with requesting donations. Not even NPR does without government funds nor without business underwriters. AND they have pledge drives too. If they can do it, why can't Wikipedia?

Hi there. The Wikimedia Foundation does not currently allow advertising because it intends to be a neutral resource, free from bias. Being free from advertising means the project can run independently to fulfil its mission. You can read more about where the pros/cons of advertising at en:Wikipedia:Advertisements#Arguments against adverts; alternatively, for more general information about where funding comes from, see wmf:Answers#Finance: Where does the money come from, and where does it go?. All best, PeterSymonds (talk) 20:48, 14 November 2011 (UTC)


Artist giving back.

sweat tears and being a artist millions of Artist would be happy to give a small fortune if it sold for a good cause in which you provide I would donate ten thousand of goods if you could match at auction, just to have a opportunity to build something good and a smile

What about bitcoin?

Hi there. For a detailed explanation of why the Wikimedia Foundation does not currently accept payments through Bitcoin, please see wmf:Answers#Finance: Why does the Wikimedia Foundation not currently accept Bitcoin?. All best, PeterSymonds (talk) 09:04, 15 November 2011 (UTC)


BPay donation

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that all I need for BPay is a Biller Code and a Reference Number. Why do I have to fill in Name, Address and whatever else? I'd like to donate, but you're not making it easy?

hope this worked. added a few translations.

Thanks, translations are always welcome! Pcoombe (WMF) 16:55, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Pleas for Money

Please stop continual requests for donations, you are not PBS.

The face on the Wikipages is simply getting irritating. This is not the way to solicite donations. I accept that maybe the foundation needs money, but placing the face of a mulit-billionaire looking like he's at a soup kitchen saying "some more soup please sir" is not the right tactic. In fact it has exactly the opposite effect....repulsion. — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.147.248.157 (talk)

Wikipedia is actually a lot like PBS. Jimbo is not, to the best of my knowledge, a billionaire, or anything even remotely close to that. He gave the opportunity to make a fortune from Wikipedia away when he made Wikipedia a non-profit, something which a lot of people clearly are not aware of. -- The Anome 19:31, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Thank you, Wikipedia Foundation for choosing to run banners requesting money for YOUR (very valuable) service, rather than bombarding us with ads for unrelated services and products. I come to you for info and for proof of useful collaboration between fellow humans, not for advertising. Many of us appreciate the choice you've made, and couldn't care less about the appearance of the individual making each "personal plea." (Whether or not the individual is wealthy has no bearing whatsoever on the matter.)


Why the omnipresent Jimmy Wales picture?: I can guarantee you "Why am I forced to look at Jimmy Wales' face every time you need money" is one of the most frequently asked questions.

Seriously, when wiki goes into its whole "we're poor please donate maybe looking at jimmy's face will stir your heartstrings" phase, I just stay away from the place until it's over. Surely that's the opposite result of what they're looking for with this.

Also his frequent self-designation as founder, like the photo, is borderline egomaniacal and is disputed even within Wikipedia itself. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales ("He is historically cited as a co-founder of Wikipedia, though he has disputed the "co-" designation, declaring himself the sole founder.") and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia (uses "co-founder" throughout") and consider also http://www.larrysanger.org/roleinwp.html

Like it or not, Jimmy's face works [2], and the quicker we raise the money we need, the quicker the banners are gone. We are using other people from the staff and community we've found to work well also.
Personally I feel "founder" is neutral on the issue, note that the banners don't say "sole founder" or even "the founder". Pcoombe (WMF) 17:11, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

I love Wikipedia and under most circumstances more than ready to donate, but am summarily poor at the moment. But as far a bit of rhetoric goes, the frowning, punishing faces that keep popping up really kind of make me mad. Am I an errant teenager who has used his parents auto without permission?

corporate matching

just wanted to add Deutsche Bank to the list of companies doing corporate matching. thanks.

Done, thanks! Pcoombe (WMF) 17:14, 29 November 2011 (UTC)


Donations

Besides money, you may ask for bandwidth, or use of PC as server just like the SETI program did. Isn't that possible

Regards, Mariano Esteves

Thanks for the suggestion Mariano. Unfortunately that only works well for problems like those SETI were doing where the computing work can be easily split up. Serving websites, especially ones that are constantly changing like Wikipedia, is more efficiently done using centralised servers. Pcoombe (WMF) 17:18, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Very well written! Congratulations!

Hi, the German version is rather terrible to read, its a very clumsy translation (although yes, one does understand it). How can one volunteer to improve it?

I've updated it to use our latest appeal, which hopefully has a better translation. If there are still improvements to be made, you can edit by following the instructions here and we'll copy it over to the live site. Pcoombe (WMF) 12:07, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Jimmy Wales' "asking eyes" page has a broken link in german i18n

this is a real bummer for you. The page for german wikipedia asking for the yearly christmas donation (and each year I love to donate! and I love Jimmy Wales' asking "bambi eyes") - this page has s broken link.

Bummer, the link is for the "donate monthly" option.

This page: https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserLandingPage?uselang=de&country=AT&template=Lp-layout-default&appeal-template=Appeal-template-default&appeal=Appeal-default&form-template=Form-template-default&form-countryspecific=Form-countryspecific-control&utm_medium=sitenotice&utm_source=B11_Donate_Jimmy_AvsB&utm_campaign=C11_1114_AvsB_AT

bropen link: label is "Monatlich spenden", link goes to same page. (https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserLandingPage?uselang=de&country=AT&template=Lp-layout-default&appeal-template=Appeal-template-default&appeal=Appeal-default&form-template=Form-template-default&form-countryspecific=Form-countryspecific-monthly&utm_medium=sitenotice&utm_source=B11_Donate_Jimmy_AvsB&utm_campaign=C11_1114_AvsB_AT)

or maybe you intentionally did this and the monthly payment is actually activated, but will be visible after many clicks later - then - bummer! If I click something, I expect a reaction on the page.

anyway, I took the trouble to write this text, as I really wish your conversion rate of people donating is high! because I love wikipedia. And havign a broken link on your "getting money raking in" page would be a bad thing for all of us. hth.

Thanks for reporting this. When you click the link the page you get is similar, but the button changes to "Make a monthly donation". Pcoombe (WMF) 12:09, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Consistent failure in attempting to donate

Hi, Time and again, I attempt to donate to Wikimedia and your systems reject my attempt. The Visa debit card I use is good for Amazon.com and BritishAirways.com and a host of other eCommerce sites. So the problem is either at your end or your bank's end.

Fix your donation systems - it's clearly losing you money. I make reasonable attempts to donate, but cannot use PayPal so give up when, typically, your systems reject my attempts.

FYI: This time round, the URL was: https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserLandingPage?uselang=en&country=BE&template=Lp-layout-default&appeal-template=Appeal-template-default&appeal=Appeal-default&form-template=Form-template-default&form-countryspecific=Form-countryspecific-variable1&utm_medium=sitenotice&utm_source=B11_Donate_Jimmy_AvsB&utm_campaign=C11_1114_AvsB_BE

Good luck!

Ronan

Hi Ronan, sorry to hear that you've had trouble getting your card information through our system. We appreciate your dedication and the fact that you continued to try.
Because of the uniquely high-profile nature of Wikipedia and its sister sites, we've had to initiate a series of very aggressive filters to prevent fraudulent transactions. Unfortunately, a small number of legitimate users get caught in those filters, and it appears you're one of them. There are a few things you should know: 1) After a certain number of attempts, our system locks you out for a couple of days. 2) The address you enter must match exactly the address and zip/postal code that your debit card company has on file for you. 3) Your name must match exactly the name on file for you.
If you wish, you can attempt to give again in a couple of days. Or we have a page listing other ways to give, including by check.
Again, sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for your support. Pcoombe (WMF) 16:01, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Suggestion regarding your donation page

Hi, thought I would suggest adding a share option on your donation page (ie page by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales). If you add it at the bottom right of that page where you have "Make a monthly donation" etc it would put the idea in people's heads to spread the word. I wasn't aware of another way (it didn't work properly when I copied/pasted the link in the address bar) and had to hunt around to find another link in your FAQs which leads to another link on how to spread the word. I think it would make it easier if you put that link on the original page, I'm sure it would increase people's awareness that they can do more than donate - spreading the word is twice as beneficial to you (and us). Cheers =)

Thanks for the suggestion. We want to avoid adding extra elements to the donation page as we've found it reduces the number of completed donations. However we do provide links to share on Facebook and Twitter on the page you see after donating: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Thank_You/en Pcoombe (WMF) 16:03, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

The article on laminate credits some dentist with the invention/discovery. However Discover Magazine, several years ago, had a sidebar that credited Leonardo da Vinci with such a discovery, and demonstrated it with an image of tableware that had handles that were laminates of cabbage leaves. I had come to wikipedia to see what adhesive Leonardo had used for that incredible set of handles on the tableware. I believe the image was of a fork in particular. Quite a beautiful piece as well as being so utilitarianly functional as an engineering feat. Disappointed that such an engineering wonder is not explored in wikipedia, a first-line resource.

Thanks for the feedback, but this page is for discussing the site wikimediafoundation.org only. You can change Wikipedia's laminate article yourself by clicking "Edit" at the top of the page, or alternatively leave a note on the article's talk page. Pcoombe (WMF) 16:06, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Why I won't be donating to Wikipedia

I understand the importance of what those at Wikipedia are trying to do, and I understand that donations are necessary. I chose not to donate for a simple reason - Wikipedia is run by individuals and groups of individuals who prove the age old saying "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely."

I understand the principles of those that call themselves "deletionists." Keep Wikipedia "clean" by not allowing an entry unless it is about a "notable" subject. This is a noble goal, one deletionist said "if we don't, (delete non notable articles) we may as well call this "myspace 2" (yes, it was an old writing) and be done with it.

The problem is in establishing unbiased, objective criteria for notability. Even if such criteria could be developed, human nature almost guarantees that these criteria won't be applied fairly and equally. At best, there will always be the appearance of impropriety - it is difficult if not impossible to prove that objective criteria were applied fairly.

In other words, if an article is deleted, it is often not because the criteria for notability were not met, but because the deletionist has some personal problem with a person or persons involved with the subject of the article. Even if this is not the case, proving that it is not is often impossible.

The only way to avoid the problem is to abandon the idea of the deletionists and realize that if an article is notable to one person (author) it should remain. I'm not saying that poor articles or articles that violate rules or guides should be deleted, but this "notability" screen needs to be eliminated.

Until this happens, I will not even consider a donation.

The funny part of this statement is that Wikimedia has less of a concentration of power than basically any other encyclopedia out there. Every group of individuals is responsible to another - even the Wikimedia Foundation itself maintains accountability to the users to a certain extent. Especially given the system of essencially direct democracy on Wikimedia, there really isn't any power that can be corrupted in that regard. 74.3.128.130 17:31, 17 November 2011 (UTC)


wikimediafoundation.org

Hola, les comento que aca en argentina el tema de donar con tarjeta de crédito es un poco incompleto porque no todos poseen un plástico por los requisitos que se requieren. De hecho hay muchos adolescentes que usan Wikipedia y profesores y donarían de buena gana si fuer aun sistema mas fácil y mas al alcance de uno. De hecho yo hoy hubiera doando $50 pero no poseo tarjeta, Aquí hay un sistema muy bueno que se llama RAPI PAGO O PAGO FACIL son dos empresas, donde uds. se anotan, el interesado imprime el cupon y lo abona en una boca autorizada y la empresa les remite a uds. la donacion. Esto esta mas al alcanse de todos.

Espero que la información les sea de utilidad. Saludos.-

(Apologies for Google Translate)
Gracias por la información. Lo comprobé y es posible que podamos para apoyar a Pago Fácil, pero tomará algún tiempo para crear. Por lo tanto, podría no ser posible este año.
Thank you for the information. I checked and we may be able to support Pago Facil, but it will take some time to set up. So it might not be possible this year. Pcoombe (WMF) 16:17, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Personal Appeals Employees Error

I just read the personal appeals of Jimmy Wales and Susan Hewitt. It seems there is an inconsistency between the two. On Jimmy Wale's appeal page, the number of Wikipedi employees is listed as 93, but in Susan Hewitt's page, the number is 73.

Thank you, I believe this has been corrected now. Peter Coombe (WMF) 16:19, 30 November 2011 (UTC)


Appeal for donations - Facebook link

Why don't you have a link to "Share This" on Facebook for your appeal? I am donating now, and wanted to easily reccommend to all of my Facebook contacts that they donate also, but there's no link. I think this would help get many more people involved.

This would be an uproar. Facebook tracks people. Seb az86556 15:02, 18 November 2011 (UTC)
We want to avoid adding extra elements to the donation page as we've found it reduces the number of completed donations. However we do provide links to share on Facebook and Twitter on the page you see after donating: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Thank_You/en (Seb az86556, these use the plain non-tracking Facebook links btw, rather than the 'like' applet) Peter Coombe (WMF) 16:49, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

As a recent info-en OTRS ticket#2011111810027469 points out, 'readers' under "Why doesn't Wikipedia use ads for revenue?" requires an apostrophe. -- Mentifisto 00:30, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Fixed, many thanks. PeterSymonds (talk) 16:58, 19 November 2011 (UTC)


Why I stopped donating to WIkimedia

My reason for no longer donating to Wikimedia is simple: If you don't want to allow me to help as a volunteer, then I don't want to help you as a donor.

To make a long story short, I was accused on en of something I didn't do, and, rather than the accuser having to prove I did something wrong, I was required by their Arbitration Committee to prove that I hadn't. It being difficult to prove a negative, I was unable to and was summarily dismissed from that project. Now, I can't even talk to anyone there about it because of my dismissal, and my emails have gone unanswered.

I'd still like to discuss this issue with someone, before I decide what to do next. I've been approached by a reporter who is considering writing about my experience for a national (US) magazine; I'd much rather resolve my differences with the Foundation directly than have to go through my archives of emails and deleted articles to demonstrate in print the shortcomings of the current structure at en.

I implore someone to contact me. Please. I beg of you.

Sincerely, Steve Brack, Ssbohio 02:48, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

If discussion with the committee didn't lead anywhere, I think the best chance of this being discussed at large would be at the foundation mailing list (this page is mostly for the website itself, not community issues on enwiki, and as such you probably wouldn't have much feedback). -- Mentifisto 16:54, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

WIKI merchandise Reg

Hi,

since wikipedia is such a leading brand why dont they print their own T-Shirt by which they start making money which will help them in building revenue. Regards, Nigel

You can purchase Wikipedia merchandise from http://www.cafepress.com/wikipedia. We are hoping to open an expanded store in future. Peter Coombe (WMF) 16:21, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Suggestion: shrink the fundraising add once a registered user has donated.

I'd like to make a request/suggestion.

Once a year you guys make a fundraising call in the form of a large advertisement at the top of every wikipedia page. This is great, and I heartily support it. Indeed it's prompted me to give to the wikimedia foundation on several occasions.

Jimmi Wales is indeed a beautiful man, but despite this, after a number of visits, it becomes a little distracting, and.. dare I say.. annoying to find him looking out intently at me every time I visit wikipedia (which is really pretty frequent!). That's a good thing, it means it's working as an advertisement. However, once someone has responded to the call and donated, it would be nice if the add either disappeared or became smaller and less obtrusive. It could be nice, for example, to see how the fundraising is going.

I'm particularly prone to the add since the majority of the pages I visit are 100% text: Jimmi is the only patch of colour on the page! None the less, I imagine I'm not the only one to feel as I do..

Cheers

Kaldari stated this once, as a technical measure to dismiss the banners using cookies:
"The annual Wikimedia fundraiser is about to start. We're planning on keeping it short for logged in users this year, but if you'd rather not see any fundraising banners at all, just go to http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Thank_You/en. That page will set cookies for you for all the projects to hide the fundraising banners until next year. You'll still be able to see non-fundraising banners, however. If you change your mind and want to see the fundraising banners again, just delete the cookies called "centralnotice_fundraising". Either way, you can still donate by clicking the "Donate to Wikipedia" link in the sidebar."
Haven't tried it myself (I use Javascript), but I assume it would work. -- Mentifisto 16:54, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Drevicko 11:24, 19 November 2011 (UTC)


Why isn't there a bitcoin payment option?

Hi there. For a detailed explanation of why the Wikimedia Foundation does not currently accept payments through Bitcoin, please see wmf:Answers#Finance: Why does the Wikimedia Foundation not currently accept Bitcoin?. All best, PeterSymonds (talk) 16:55, 19 November 2011 (UTC)


I need help. I can't get english to work on any page except certain headers. I've checked everything and I've rebooted. Who should I contact. Bob

wiki funds

If wiki started advertising they could employ far more than 95 workers and not have to beg for scraps from the already depleted savings of the masses of uninsured jobless people around the world. It might sound like a "waste" but it is a major opportunity to do good things of epic proportion, quite possibly a change in philosophy wouldn't be such a waste. Advertising for profit (or not for profit depending on how the funds are spent) may be a major opportunity to help hundreds if not thousands of people, create jobs, donate to cancer research or any of a variety of noble causes. Give it a try I guaranty you won't be disappointed with the compromise and people will respect the nobility of it all. thanks nickbourg@yahoo.com

The Wikimedia Foundation has promised that Wikipedia and its sister sites will remain free of advertising. We are committed to the ideal of free information available any time, anywhere, with absolutely no restriction or influence from prospective advertisers. Accepting donations provides us with the independence we need to achieve our mission.
The volunteer community has compiled an extensive list of arguments against adverts. Peter Coombe (WMF) 16:47, 30 November 2011 (UTC)


Socialize donations

It might be a good idea to leverage social networks like Facebook when someone makes a donation. If someone decides to donate, they're likely to share that info with their friends and those friends are also more likely to donate.

Just a thought.

Thanks for the suggestion. We want to avoid adding extra elements to the donation page as we've found it reduces the number of completed donations. However we do provide links to share on Facebook and Twitter on the page you see after donating: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Thank_You/en -- Peter Coombe (WMF) 16:51, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Something wrong,i have put the correct info.

Hi there. The Wikimedia Foundation website is restricted to board members, Foundation staff and a selection of trusted volunteers. This is because the wiki contains sensitive information that, if edited incorrectly, could lead to wider problems. However, this page is for questions or comments about the wiki, so if you see anything that should be fixed, let us know! All best, PeterSymonds (talk) 19:54, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Some time ago I created a page for photographer Platt D. Babbitt - I'm a biographer with a work in progress - My contribution was deleted for no reason I could find - The material I contributed is fully sourced and is probably unique to the public knowledge of this man - I have since contributed that material to Luminous Lint and you're certainly welcome to use it - It seems ironic that documented information is discarded while questionable or inaccurate information is allowed to stand.

Otherwise I attempted to re-register after making a contribution - The new login information was not accepted - This has happened before and frustrates efforts to participate (and contribute) more fully - I'm feeling a cold shoulder from wiki

Richard O. Titus Timonium MD photiques <= attempted and rejected username

I'm very sorry to hear you are having problems with Wikipedia! However, unfortunately, this is not the correct venue for your query. This page is specifically about the Wikimedia Foundation website itself, wikimediafoundation.org. If you e-mail your query to info-en(_AT_)wikimedia.org, one of our volunteers will be happy to assist you. Best of luck. PeterSymonds (talk) 19:56, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Facebook

Hi - I just donated and tried to post the "Thank you Wikipedia" banner to my page but it doesn't work. Could you make these talk to each other? There was no Facebook friendly link available

wikimediafoundation.org

I want to make a comment or suggestion about giving collaboration to your great website Wikipedia, there are millions of people using wikipedia who cannot donate money but Im sure that there are also millions of people willing to donate a little of their time. This comes to me after watching the great invention Luis Von Ahn made with captcha and recaptcha where ramdon people are digitalizing all printed books by taking a few secnds of their time. i dont know ecxactly what your needs of contribiution are but by using something like this you could get some work done for free by your visitors or visitor could do some work that can be paid to you by a third person receiving the hours of labor donated to you. Regards, Andres Rodriguez Ghersi — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 190.121.239.145 (talk) 01:09, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

This is how Wikipedia works, all our articles are written by volunteers! You can click the "Edit" tab at the top of an article to dive straight in, or read the Wikipedia:Introduction. Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:09, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Please note, that Peter Mueller, former prime minister of Saarland, received honor doctor from highly reputed Keio University in November 2001.

Best regards Manfred Krischek

Hi Manfred, this sounds like something you are wanting added or corrected on a Wikipedia article, yes? If so, the best way to go about it is to simply click the "edit" button on that page and make the change. It would be best if you could include a valid citation when you do so. You may also want to click the "Discussion" tab on that page and bring it up for discussion among the people who have already worked on that article. Good luck! -Pete F 04:08, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

Talk:Home shouldn't it be right to add a facebook connection? I just donated something and could alert my friends to do the samae by simpy clicking a "like" button....

shouldn't it be right to add a facebook connection? I just donated something and could alert my friends to do the samae by simpy clicking a "like" button....

I just donated for the first time & was prepared to do a 'like' on facebook & let my friends know I donated -- and then saw this post. Seems a given that you would extend your funding appeal on Facebook, but I assume there was a decision not to. Wondering what it was.

Thanks for the suggestion. We want to avoid adding extra elements to the donation page as we've found it reduces the number of completed donations. However we do provide links to share on Facebook and Twitter on the page you see after donating: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Thank_You/en -- Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:10, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Typo under == Rate of growth ==: "Zygna" should be spelled "Zynga".

Fixed, many thanks. PeterSymonds (talk) 19:34, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

Just a suggestion,- parallel 'tugboat' activity(ies) to generate benefits for the wikimedia foundation. Develop software (ecommmercial) products and return profits to the ~charity of Wiki ? Nick Hood-Powell.

Hi, I do not have my computer hooked up at home and recently moved. I don't want to contribute using the library computer. Any suggestions? I refuse to use microsoft applications, confusing and they cause more problems than my time on the computer is worth, one hour a day. Hint..I'm 79 years old. 72.253.70.65 05:01, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Thank you so much. There are other ways to give. You can read about them here.) Seb az86556 06:44, 22 November 2011 (UTC)


To the desk of Jimmy Wales

Submission:

meter - /mee - tuh/ 1. (ebonics) one hundred dollar bill. i. e. Let me hold a meter. Translation: Please give me a hundred dollar bill?

Esther Catwright jusesther@hotmail.com

page does not exist

In the donation FAQs dutch language page under the heading:

Hoe kan ik doneren? (how can I donate?)

it says:

Bezoekt u alstublieft onze donatiepagina om te doneren vanuit Nederland. (Please visit our donationspage to donate from the Netherlands)

"donatiepagina" is supposed to be a link to a page but this page does not exist, you might want to fix this.

You should also give some attention to the costs of different payment methods both for wikipedia and the donor, international payments can be expensive and this would be a waste of money that could flow into wikipedias coffers.

Oops, how embarrassing! Thanks, I've fixed those links.
Donations via credit card generally work out cheapest for us. Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:16, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

Your scholarship volunteer opportunity lists conference as 2010 in Poland. Without updates (or deletions) you waste my time and your credibility.
The preceding unsigned comment was added by 96.233.22.122 (talk • contribs) 07:47, 25 November 2011 (UTC).

You are lying to people about freedom I have plenty of emails in regards from you and they show the truth about you dominance over information and a complete lack of freedom. Let's see if you even keep this up.
The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.234.97.42 (talk • contribs) 07:47, 25 November 2011 (UTC).

Donation page oddity.

I was just trying to make a donation using my Pay-pal account, when the submission page disappeared when I clicked on "Submit." I worry about potential fraud and phishing for my account info. Have your heard about this before? I also could not track this address on my History surrounding the period in question.

Here's the mystery link: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:ContributionTracking/en

Any feedback would be welcome, Carlos Pagan
The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.145.68.133 (talk • contribs) 07:47, 25 November 2011 (UTC).

Hi Carlos, I don't know what could have happened there, but rest assured that all our donation pages are secured against frauds and phishers. Could you try making your donation again? Thanks. Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:20, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Donation Page fails to complete Credit Card Payment

I fully support Wikipedia and its fund raising activities, so much so that I donated using my credit card today. However the payment process does not complete and I am unsure as to whether a payment has been made. Not a very comforting experience when making a payment over the internet.

Richard
The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.202.21.141 (talk • contribs) 07:47, 25 November 2011 (UTC).

"Thourough understanding of the university teaching and learning environment;"

Thorough???? Instead?

Fixed, many thanks. PeterSymonds (talk) 17:42, 24 November 2011 (UTC)


I am happy to donate for Wikimedia, coz this page provides useful information. But I would like to know Wikimedia development plan such as how much server you would like to buy in 2012? how many staff you would like to employ in 2012? Marketing plan 2012 etc. How much money you need for 2012 in total? I think that Wikimedia will get more donate when your development strategy is clear. Because Wikimedia is the first choice when somebody would like to look up information online. Good luck.
The preceding unsigned comment was added by 222.252.69.207 (talk • contribs) 07:47, 25 November 2011 (UTC).

You may be interested to read our 2011-12 Annual Plan and also a series of Questions & Answers about it. Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:22, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Vos commentez une petite erreur, la vie ne vous appartiens pas! pourquoi la faire payer ?
The preceding unsigned comment was added by 79.88.251.39 (talk • contribs) 07:47, 25 November 2011 (UTC).

wikimediafoundation.org

The page that tells us to copy stuff in order to get a Wiki button is so confusing. Please write an instruction that old folks who are basely computer literate can understand. I would love to have a button that gives me quick access.

Harlan Hobgood
The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.215.60.64 (talk • contribs) 07:47, 25 November 2011 (UTC).

Thanks for the feedback Harlan, I'm hoping to rewrite this page soon to make it more up-to-date and easier to understand. Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:24, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

För ytterligare vederhäftighet vore det i de flesta fall lämpligt att översätta engelskans "technology" till det svenska "teknik" istället för "teknologi", som betyder "läran om teknik" och är något som förekommer framförallt i lärosalar på våra universitet och högskolor.
The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.224.9.135 (talk • contribs) 07:47, 25 November 2011 (UTC).

Hi,

Just going through the FAQs and it seems the spelling of cheque is incorrect. It should be cheque instead of 'check'.

Regards, Rahul
The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.160.73.114 (talk • contribs) 07:39, 25 November 2011 (UTC).

Actually, both are acceptable. In the US, for instance, "check" is most frequently used. Philippe (WMF) 08:01, 25 November 2011 (UTC)


Dont know where to send these comments so writing here... Please give option to donate even using DEBIT cards!!! now its only credit cards :(
The preceding unsigned comment was added by 121.244.157.131 (talk • contribs) 07:39, 25 November 2011 (UTC).

Hi there. The Wikimedia Foundation accept both credit and debit cards, even though the term "credit card" is used. Your transaction should process correctly if using a debit card. Many thanks for your support. PeterSymonds (talk) 10:54, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

Muslim Fruchtzwerge selbst eis in wien als KFZ

hI,

I'm glad having the opportunity to come across wekimedia.i still want to congratulate WIKIMIDIA for the cntribution toward enlightment so many events.

basically,there are article i found wrongly and want to know how you got all this information.in language translations,i found just yoruba language in the list no huasa nor igbo language of which two are major language in Nigeria among the three major langauges in Nigeria.in names listed as the expatriates in Vietnam,i found just four different names others are yorubas.there are a lot of things that make your report look political...i want to know who feed all this informtions or how you come about all this informations cause a lot was wrong.

on the issue of Nigerian leaving in Vietnam references,i saw from Lagos to Saigon.what does that stand or meant to signify?

Thank!

W.Werbe - Recetas Faciles Thus, we can mention the redundancy in the title and body of the articles. For example, the second word in "French Grammar" is lowercase. Read the page "title Conventions" and "capital" of Wikipedia style manual. Although admittedly that's valuable contribution in many cases we can not limit this posture to keep the flaws, if they can be improved. Above all else, it is good to admit and move on. A warm hug.

why i won't be donating

' By donating, you are sharing your information..." isn't it sufficient to just accept the funds

You can read more about how we use your information in our donor policy. In short it's just so we can process your donation, send you a receipt, and update you on future activities (which you can of course opt out from). Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:33, 30 November 2011 (UTC)


Viniendo desde el mensaje de Jimmy Wales, encontramos abajo un enlace a "Otras maneras de donar" que es este artículo. Como se ve, aún sigue titulado en inglés pero desconozco el proceso para hacer esto (¡rayos, necesito un curso para "Wikear"!, jajaja), por lo que procedo por esta vía. Por favor, agradecería que me mandaran un mensaje ante cualquier cualquier error o mejora sobre el procedimiento empleado. Me disculpo ya ahora ante el primer caso. Saludos, --91.117.87.254 20:13, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

(Apologies for only replying in English) Unfortunately we can't change the titles of those pages because of the way our translations work. Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:37, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

HTML defect in the copy-paste insertions for websites

I just made a donation online to the Wikimedia Foundation. On the return page there are a number of logo versions with copy-and-paste HTML to insert into one's website to help promote donations to the Foundation. As best I can tell, the coding provided -- while it may work Ok in some browsers -- is not well formed. The one I chose to use fails in my local syntax checker...

<A HREF="https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Support_Wikipedia/en"> <IMG BORDER="0" ALT="Support Wikipedia" SRC="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Fundraising_2009-square-treasure-en.png"> </A>

The SRC="//upload.wiki... portion should read as SRC="http://upload.wiki....

The others that are offered have the same format problem. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Trailride (talkcontribs) 02:28, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

Thank you. Your post refers to wmf:2011/Support/en which transcludes wmf:Template:2010/Donate-support. The source of the latter uses {{filepath:}} which omits http://. Perhaps http:// should be added before {{filepath:}} but I don't have access or expertize. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:16, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
I copied the above from en:Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous)#HTML defect in the copy-paste insertions for websites. PrimeHunter 02:17, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
Fundraising team is aware now, thank you.  :) Philippe (WMF) 05:11, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Bulgarian translation contains a typo - where it says "езика и се посещава от над 455 души всеки месец", should be "езика и се посещава от над 455 милиона души всеки месец" - the current text says that 455 visitors visit the site per month, not 455 milion, which should be the correct.

There's also an

OTRS ticket#2011112710000729 about this, which could be closed after it's corrected. Thanks, -- Mentifisto 12:21, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

Fixed, I think -- thank you for the feedback!! (I will close the OTRS ticket too.) -Pete F 15:18, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Done


wikimediafoundation.org

Hello, I am 30 year resident of Richmond, Virginia and would like to help you with the Virginia Music page. Our organization has over 1,000 music videos online of local bands and events, plus terrabytes of raw footage, audio, master tapes, interviews and a lot of other material, including print media, photographs, and many other resources.

This goes back to early 1980's, and we are working on getting it online by various means, mostly Facebook and YouTube. I am in contact in one way or another with other music historians, etc, around here. Our basic site is www.rockitz.net, and another is www.youtube.com/brookesaunders There

What is the easiest way to get accurate information to you? I understand we can create a specific Wiki page on a subject, maybe we can make entries for the various bands that we know about and have access one way or another.

Keep up the good work!

Hi, rockitz looks like a great site! Thanks for sharing. In order for any content like this to be shared on Wikipedia or related sites, it must be released under a free license that broadly permits republication, even for commercial purposes. (There's a great deal more info here: commons:Commons:Licensing#Acceptable licenses) I suspect this won't work with this sort of content, but if you'd like to explore releasing it in this way, please feel free to get in touch with me. And, thanks for the compliments! -Pete F 15:42, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Hi! Maybe I found a mistake in russian text, here: Несмотря на то, что Википедию и родственные проекты ежемесячно посещают в совокупности 455 человек, на постоянной основе у нас работает всего 95 сотрудников.

Thank you for the feedback -- I don't speak Russian, but I believe the problem was that it said "455 people" when it should have said "455 million people." I have tried to fix it; please let me know if I made a mistake. Thanks again for pointing this out! -Pete F 15:12, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Done


HTML Code for banners does not appear to work.

I'd like to place a donation banner on my website, but there is something wrong with the code. I looks like it won't pull the referenced image. I've tried several of them

Please feel free to contact me if you need to.

John


Thanks John, we're aware of this problem and should have it fixed soon. Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:38, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

Mr. Jimmy Walles: The whole world should be very grateful for his initiative to create a Wikipedia and selfless that way. In my humble opinion is not necessary, nor desirable that point.

Reading your note requesting a contribution of U.S. $ 5.00, I had an idea that only an icon like Wikipedia can do, is to create a different page announcements and only WIKIPEDIA ANNOUNCEMENTS Entreri the only stakeholders. This page would order the ads according to the interests of Internet users. A real world guide: CRUISES, HOTELS, YATES, PLANES, CARS, ENGINES, ETC., ETC, and ETC.

Not be affected at all to the current page. Wikipedia suggest that only put a modest announcement of its homepage and other single ad.

To add extra interest, we propose the creation of general interest options for FREE (only pay for display ads): 1) ART CONTEST ALL THE WORLD 2) Billboard ACTIVITIES: SHOWS, ENTERTAINMENT, CINEMAS, THEATRES, ETC., ETC . 3) FACT THE WORLD, 4) WORLD RECORDS, 5) JOB SEARCH, 6) scholarship searches, 7) PLACES OF INTEREST: RESTAURANTS, BARS, Viewpoint, 8) eco-tourism; 9) BUSINESS TRAVEL GUIDES, STATE OR FOUNDATIONS

Other options may crop or reduce the proposals. The new page would be interesting and useful in itself, without affecting the original project of Wikipedia, although using the word WIKIPEDIA as a surname of the other page.

If you apply this proposal, only ask to be fair and pay me and my family a fair commission that the page generate monthly, which can be the lowest commission in the world that are similar cases.

I do not want to bother much less to offend in the least, but that begging never seemed appropriate or healthy. Coming from you, can be a disastrous precedent that could impact many humans who could understand mistakenly beg that good. In our country, despite extreme poverty, the average Dominican asks difficult, as there is a saying: "Charity humiliates the recipient and denigrates who gives."

The founder of a company has its merits, not to denigrate rights granted to the company threatening staff with public behaviors that lower the market value of the company. No company, it successfully resists its maximum representative put it beg without significantly damaging to the company, lowering the market value and making it more difficult putting your financial desembolvimiento jeopardize staff salaries .

If life gives us and opportunity, why waste energy on being asked, back to be doing more.


Dr. Jose Rafael Perez Martinez

Elisa Raquel Cuevas Contreras

Yamel, Joel, Jose Javier Contreras Perez and Natecha

(contact info redacted)

Santo Domingo. National District. The Dominican Republic.

wikimediafoundation.org

Sr. Brandon Harris: Es loable tanto altruismo al querer mantener libre de ataduras comerciales al conocimiento. Pero no me parece nada adecuado llegar a tales extremos. Nos apena mucho verlos dando lástimas pidiendo limosnas. No es necesario, ni conveniente para nadie.

Ya le enviamos en extenso, por esta misma via, al Sr Jimmy Walles, nuestras sugerencias, que si las aplican, si tendrán verdadera independencia, sin "manchar" a Wikipedia.

Nos animamos a externarles nuestras sugerencias con la confianza de que serán justos en pagarnos la comisión de lugar si aplican nuestras sugerencias. De no ser así, será evidencia de que solo era un bloff o una farsa tanto altruismo.

Cordialmente,

Dr. José Rafael Pérez Martínez

I would like to suggest to have University of Pune Logo as colourful as seen with The Glass Art with Colours instead of Black and white. Black and white Logo was Ok in the Era or 20-30 years Old technology. Now your specialised programmer should see the actual Logo , Take Photo and must do to enact the original logo with Proper permissions of UOP. Forgot about the technology when logo was authnitictated by UOP in black and white and pubilised om wike*.

Not sure where the editable template is, but as OTRS ticket#2011112710034032 points out, a comma could be needed before the last 'please' on the right. -- Mentifisto 00:07, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Why, why, why

is this page deleted? --83.64.115.243 02:40, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Excellent question. Seb az86556 06:14, 28 November 2011 (UTC)
Not deleted, disabled. It was linked from reddit and due to the page's implementation, extra requests to the page caused excessive database load from long-running queries, as far as I understand it. This and this shed a bit more light. There's also wikitech:server admin log. I'm not sure if there's a bug tracking this, but there should be. --MZMcBride 06:41, 28 November 2011 (UTC)
See https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=32679 for the bug tracking this problem. -- The Anome 19:26, 28 November 2011 (UTC)


wikimediafoundation.org

I tried to add my two cents, which seems to be one of the qualities of Wikipedia, however it will only allow a minimum of $1 contributions.

Lol! Unfortunately our minimum donation is $1 (or local equivalent) because of transaction fees, and also fraudsters using very small donation accounts to test stolen credit cards. Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:54, 30 November 2011 (UTC)


wikimediafoundation.org

ich bin auch ein minderbemittelter ich knapp 760.-EURO du gibtst dich als großer macho und mit mitleidsgesicht wer hilft mir und meiner familie ?????????? aber trotzdem wünsche ich dir und deiner sache alles gute und so weiter beim hummer essen !!! das wird sowiso nie veröffentlicht also dann ist s eh gut !!

user name: peterpotpirat

I am sorry for all the trouble,you see,I believed they were,associated,that is. I`d wish to give you more money,but for now thats all I can afford.I will make arrangecements with my bank,so the same amount will be transferred to you every month. Thank you for being here. Good luck with your task. --2.129.77.76 02:30, 29 November 2011 (UTC)you can locate on iGoogle

Thank you for your donation, that's very generous :) Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:56, 30 November 2011 (UTC)


thank you

the information provided on your web site is priceless ,it has helped myself and my family find out about the truth ,we are catholic and your information on jesus is exact ,please keep up the great work ,you have been a gift to our family . sincerely kelly waters and family mosaic@telus.net please send information on where to send the cheque of donation by mail

Emailed. Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:57, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

excellence

Your work is extremely important and you people do a fantastic job getting accurate information. I'm a physician and therefore, have a very large fund of knowledge. I routinely use your service to refresh my memory on rare diseases and topics in medicine outside my specialty. I was really taken by the young mans [programmer] description of his job and how dedicated he is to the important task at hand. It's exciting to see people that love their work and it is evident in the product you provide. I'll close for now and make a donation. I've wanted to give you some positive feed back for a while. Many Thanks...--98.22.152.101 13:41, 29 November 2011 (UTC)Gary Postelwait

Thanks for the very kind comments Gary -- I hope they are widely seen! -Pete F 14:45, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

I am glad you posted your note to explain to us how wikipedia works . I would suggest that you ask a small yearly contribution from each user at the beginning of every year in january . something along the lines : ...This is intended to be a free website, we only ask you to contribute to our basic everyday overheads : if you use wikipedia on average once a month can you please send us 5$ ( for the year !) , and if you use it more often :10$ ? We feel it is a fair tradeoff for avoiding advertising and keeping this site clean and open to all This is still voluntary and we thank you in advance

i think that by fixing a date and a yearly amount you will have an overwhelming response.. I am sending my contribution anyway .

Good luck and Thank you !

advertising, or the principle of not angering the customer

I enjoy wiki*, and I even contribute. I contribute my technical skills to some other not-for-profit endeavors, none of which have similar advertising campaigns. With good reason.

But if I have to read an ad with with a picture of some rich dude desperately begging for anything, I'm going to scream. How are we supposed to read the ad? "contribute or I won't be able to afford my latte"? Or that they're making their last stand... against bad edits?

Really, those types of ads should not be larger and more prominent than the opening paragraph. Yet they are on every page. With type in a font bigger than anything in the article, that *must* be physically avoided by the user taking time to consciously rid themselves of an annoying ad. They're far more annoying and weirdly influential than a commercial advertising campaign that contains smaller ads. Those might even be entertaining, if they're circulated more than once every 20 years.

Note that I do appreciate the need. But the tactic is beyond tasteless and well into "annoying the customer". Not the most brilliant marketing campaign, unless you're cutting costs by reducing readership.

Suggestion.

I've been part of many fundraisers and as far as I know there's this one smart technique that attracts those small people to donate the meaningful small amount that makes a change. An award for donation. Perhaps some kind of a signature, a graphic piece that can be worn on social communities and forums, something that people can proudly wear across the web and publicly say Hey, I donated. Did you?.

Just my two cents ofcourse, throwing an idea that might work, or might not.



Best of luck, Daniel Chekalov.

Solicitation for donations

I would have gladly donated to support wikipedia if your website showed no political preferences. You have shown time and time again your leftist bias. Only when you take a neutral political position will I donate.

Any place you find bias on the site, we would actually much prefer that you simply work to fix the bias yourself. The donation of your time to keep Wikipedia true to its principles, including maintaining a neutral point of view, is invaluable, and every bit as much appreciated -- if not more -- as any monetary donation. -Pete F 20:22, 29 November 2011 (UTC)


resolved

Sue Gardner's Bio has been hacked

just noticed while surfing your site The preceding unsigned comment was added by 76.246.62.114 (talk • contribs) 00:07, 30 November 2011.

Hi there. Can you please give us a link to the biography that has been "hacked?" Logan Talk Contributions 00:11, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
Handled. --Philippe 15:55, 7 December 2011 (UTC)


Nag Screen - early donations

When you did the early donation request I donated. Now I am still being bombarded by the nag screen. Can't you kill it for those of us who donated? — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.69.41.164 (talk)

I believe it's supposed to go away if you donate. If it doesn't, that's probably a bug. I'll ask the fundraising people. --Catrope 14:00, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
Yes, it is supposed to set a cookie when you donate so you don't see the banner. Clicking the close button in the upper right corner will do the same thing, so you can try that. Please let us know if that still doesn't work. Jon Harald Søby (WMF) 14:02, 30 November 2011 (UTC)


Personal;

I want to tell you that my credit card was stolen and now I am using my DEBIT card. You don't give a space for a debit card.Pl advice your accounts dept. I shall continue to pay every month this amount.Saverimuttu Kulanayagam, DCR Lond. I must thank you since I greatly benefited from Wikipedia for my assignments for my BA which I am completing this semester. A big THANK YOU!

Hi there. I'm sorry to hear that your card was stolen. Debit cards should still work with your donation; the "credit card" part of the donation interface accepts both credit and debit cards. If you have any difficulties, please don't hesitate to e-mail fundraising(_AT_)wikimedia.org. Many thanks for your support! PeterSymonds (talk) 23:25, 1 December 2011 (UTC)


Mary (MARIE) Stuart (Stewart).

I"m not clear on why there is different information given on the French site than the English Site. If there is information known, why should it not be under all the wikipedia sites be the same? I'm a bit discouraged that there is now way to incorporate the information together. This seems like a misstatement when for example,

Items such as the fact that her name is Marie not Mary or was changed to be Mary when she went to England should be noted and not dismissed as though it is unimportant. I found a statue of her in Paris France which was lead me to find this discrepancy between the lingual wikipedias making this/these sites much more unreliable than they already were!

Thanks for the feedback. Every language edition of Wikipedia is built and maintained by a different community of volunteers, making the best editorial decisions they can; it is not uncommon for errors like this to slip in. We all hope, of course, that discerning readers like yourself will click the "edit" (or "modifier") button and fix the problems you find; that is the sort of contribution that has allowed Wikipedia to grow to the size and quality it has today. Our projects are always works-in-progress, hopefully useful, never with a guarantee of total accuracy. I hope you will consider pitching in to improve these articles and others! -Pete F 03:56, 4 December 2011 (UTC)


As a descendand member of General Nicolas Perdomo, I will like to thank you for the information you have kindly include in this pages, also I would like to ask you if you could write the Biography of Nicolas Perdomo, including who their parents were and if the was a brother of Arzobispo Ismail Perdomo Borrero. Thanks again for the good work you are doing.

Martha Suarez Perdomo.

Martha, I'm very glad to hear that you gained so much satisfaction/knowledge about your ancestry from that Wikipedia article! You should know it was not written by the Foundation, but by some volunteer out there. You could click on the "History" tab and maybe learn something about the person or people who researched and wrote the article. I would encourage you to write about the people you mention, if you know of any reference materials you could use as sources; perhaps somebody else would benefit from that as you have! -Pete F 04:16, 16 December 2011 (UTC)


Anonymous donations

I am happy that finally it is a lot easier to give a donation to Wikimedia without supplying every last detail of one's life. But it still requires too much information for my likes. With identity theft rife on the internet, I'd rather wait until my credit card is about to expire, then make a donation to a bunch of organisations, and do it again two years later. Others will have their own reasons for making anonymous donations. Doesn't Wikimedia only want my money? What business does it have taking my name, address and email address too? By default, these things should not be gathered unless someone wants a receipt. If one lives in a country other than the USA, a receipt is probably of no value whatsoever.

Unless I'm mistaken, I'm pretty sure it's possible to just mail a check to the Wikimedia Foundation (see donation page). There are also some credit cards that make it possible to generate a temporary "card number" with a maximum spend and arbitrary expiration date, to minimize the damage in case of theft. Not to say your concerns aren't valid, and I know this doesn't address them fully. But maybe these options are of some use. -Pete F 06:41, 5 December 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for that Pete... but my first line said I was happy that it is now easier to make a donation. What you have described sounds harder, especially considering I live outside the USA and do not earn US dollars. Can you please consider a simple check box that says "I want a receipt and/or I want to be on the Wikimedia mailing list", and only take name/address/email/etc when the box is checked? No need to respond - just put it on the Wikimedia wishlist at line 237 or wherever its priority warrants. Thanks!
Okay, glad you checked back here -- sorry it took me so long to notice your reply! I don't work for the Foundation, so I'll leave this note here -- hopefully somebody will make a note of it. To be honest I'm not sure whether there is a need for your email address apart from issuing a receipt. My guess would be that there's a desire to have a way to contact you in case something goes wrong with the transaction, or if questions come up. I happen to know the WMF is very reluctant to use your email address for anything like a mailing list though :) -Pete F 04:12, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

Hello! HOW INTERESTING WIKIMEDIA IS ALL ABOUT...PERTAINING ALL ABOUT THINGS AROUND US, DIFFERENT PEOPLES,SOCIALIZING DIFFERENT IDEAS,KNOWLEDGE ABOUT NON LIVING THINGS AND LIVING THING ON EARTH,NETWORKING...SOCIAL WORKS AND WELFARE AND BEYOND THAT...IT'S SO ENCOURAGING SPIRIT TO THOSE WHO NEVER KNOWN AND HEARD TO THIS PORTION PART OF OUR EDITION...YOU'RE GREAT WELCOME TO READ AND SEARCH...WHY HAVE YOU TRIED...THANK YOU

Sounds like you are a big fan of all that goes on here. Thanks for the good thoughts, and I hope you will join us in sharing knowledge around the world! -Pete F 18:34, 20 December 2011 (UTC)


pay

sorry japanese okanewo haraitaiga harauhouhouga sukunasugiru dekireba nihonndewa nihonnno ginnkoukouza wo shiteisitehosii

wikimediafoundation.org

Wikimedia Foundation Staff & Website Planners,

Your website currently has a flaw which prevented me from making a donation! I clicked on a fundraising "personal appeal" banner to the donation page. Having already entered my name, address, and e-mail address, I clicked on the link to read your data collection and donor privacy policy. However, there was NO WAY TO RETURN TO THE DONATION PAGE from the privacy policy. The "back" button on my browser would not reload the page, and the "contribute" tab at the top of the page also did not yield any link to return to the donation page.

I strongly suggest setting up the privacy policy to appear in a seperate window, or adding a link back to the donation page to help contributers get back to the important business of making their donations!

Contributors beware--read the privacy policy *before* entering any data, unless you like rework!

(This information sent also to donations@wikimedia.org)

Thanks, I've passed this along to the team that manages that.  :) --Philippe 15:54, 7 December 2011 (UTC)


Corrupted administrators on Wikipedia.cz

Hi. I have question which I don´t understand.

In Czech Wikipedia is page http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixmac - Pixmac is czech private photostock. This page was created by company http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miton.

Why they can have page on Wikipedia.cz If I can´t save on Wikipedia same type of information ? I see it like corruption. One private company is favored over another. My content was same structure like Pixmac content and same type of information, but my content was deleted and competitive company page have without problems.

--217.29.8.9 14:58, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure I understand: is your concern about the difference in treatment between the Czech and English editions of Wikiipedia? If so, it is unsurprising if the inclusion guidelines are different -- each project develops its own specific criteria for inclusion, etc. If, on the other hand, you're concerned about an inconsistency within the Czech Wikipedia, you would do best to bring it up on that site; the Czech Wikipedia community is responsible for setting and enforcing policies on that site, not the Wikimedia Foundation. -Pete F 02:28, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

free advice

Try making the following change to your fundraising link at the top of a wikipedia page. Shrink the font dramatically and put it right next to the photo of the editor so that it reads like a personal note from that individual. You will see a big improvement on your response rate.

If you'd like to discuss this idea, the best place to do so would be at Talk:Fundraising 2011. -Pete F 03:00, 16 December 2011 (UTC)


Does it really matter if it is an advertisement or your ugly faces what is at the top of each page? Stop begging....


There's no licence information for using this file. --213.162.68.84 20:08, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

That file is hosted at the Wikimedia Foundation web site, not Commons or one of the projects. There is no guarantee on that site that non-text media are released under a free license. So while it might not be ideal, I think the safe assumption would be that the file is licensed for use on that site and in the fundraising banner, but not available under a free license for other purposes. I agree that clarification from WMF would be ideal for this sort of file, but I'm not sure it is (or should be) a top priority. -Pete F 02:25, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

"About Wikimedia Foundation" gives double redirect

After a page move [3], the "About Wikimedia Foundation" link at the bottom of all pages at http://wikimediafoundation.org leads to a double redirect at http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikimedia:About. It can be fixed by reverting http://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia:About&diff=68749&oldid=50998. PrimeHunter 22:31, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

Fixed, thanks. PeterSymonds (talk) 22:49, 12 December 2011 (UTC)


wikimediafoundation.org

I was just looking up some drug (legal) info. At the top was an appeal to HELP. As I am not in a position to help financially at this point, bout all I can do is give support and praise.

So inspired by her story, great degree and credentials. Could work anywhere she wanted, but works for wiki. Too bad there are not more that are worried about their contribution, not their pay check. Yea sure, she is getting great experience and similar work experience. But I would suspect she will work for wiki her whole career. Was not aware or realize that wiki was all advertising free, just guess I never paid attention. I have quit using lots of MAJOR websites just cause the BS and ad's slow my computer down so bad. Like some weather information websites, when I tried to open, 5 minutes later I would be watching the hour glass. So to hell with them bookmarked noaa/weather. Opens instantly, screen views same. I just no longer tolerate all the ad's, video's and yes (shit) that so many sites have on them. Refreshing that wiki is bucking that trend. If I am ever able to contribute $$$ I sure will. Thanks, Corby Hicks/ aka Strikezone69

Two missing words in page https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/FAQ/it. Where it reads: "...Wikipedia e i suoi progetti associati raccolgono ogni mese 477 visite" it should read " Wikipedia e i suoi progetti associati raccolgono ogni mese 477 milioni di visite".


beaton bc area

hello i am wrieting in regards to the pages you have about beaton and area. i moved into beaton in 1948 and went to school there . it was just one room from grade one to grade eight. from there went to school in revelstoke. it was in the bis flood of forty eight that we moved into beaton.there was a sawmill there then and an old church bell that was moved around a lot.wooden side walks wiyh lots of slimy slugs.i could tell you more if you just ask.

Hi, it sounds (?) like you have enjoyed seeing this area covered on Wikipedia. I hope so! The best way to get involved is to click the "discussion" tab on those articles and leave comments on that page. Hopefully you will be able to strike up a discussion with the authors of the pages and help improve them! -Pete F 21:29, 14 December 2011 (UTC)


wikimediafoundation.org

I want to donate. But i dont have credit card or paypal account(since dont have pancard. I want to donate through debit card.please provide a options for donation through debit card........amarindia2000@gmail.com

It's possible to donate by mailing a check, or by direct bank transfer. Please check here for more details. Hope this helps! -Pete F 04:25, 15 December 2011 (UTC)


Hi, want to donate but uncertain about security of site. Can I suggest you ID a way to ensure readers are in fact dealing with your organisation and not a clever group of scammers. Simple stating you're a secure site is insufficient reassurance. Regards JdW

Please see the immediately above question for a mailing address for a check, or bank transfer, etc. -Pete F 21:36, 15 December 2011 (UTC)


It is spelled Qualcomm, Inc., not Quallcomm, Inc. (The error is on your donations –fund-matching companies)

Fixed. Thank you! -Pete F 20:31, 16 December 2011 (UTC)


Suggestions to improve the donation page

Hi Jimmy and others,

I would like to suggest you some little tips that could help to improve donations:

 In your comment you specify that we can donate $20,$30 etc... why not start with $1 ? 
 $1 is a lot for development countries people and as you know a big part of this people use 
 Wikipedia and I'm sure that these people are more care of the importance of Wikipedia in comparison 
 with North America. And $1 x 400.000.000 could be nice ;)
 Put a help link just below the Paypal and credit card button and a very responsive support
 Why not other payment methods ? I'm almost sure that cash on letter (with risky policy), 
 checks, western union, Moneygram, money orders and many others. Payment systems are a plus, 
 Paypal guys are not so friendly and credit card is only a dream in development counties

Frank, please see the sections immediately above for non-credit card, non- Paypal options. -Pete F

 Innovative idea : why not ask local city volunteers to pick up the money sent by letters or other
 and send to Wikipedia by wire transfer ? with of course a condition like these volunteers have to pay
 Wikipedia first the same amount of what he/she will take money from local people, 
 and once this amount is reached so you will pay a little percentage like 10% + the wire transfer fees.
 An official page of address po box or whatever of people who officially can receive money for Wikipedia.
 if this people abuse like they receive more money that they gave so delete it from the list.
 to ensure that local people paid the local official Wikipedia receiver it needs only a kind of electronic system
 to develop on your website.
 Exemple: donator decides to give USD 1 to the official wikpedia local receiver so he/she fills a little web form
 that register the pre donation with a proof like the cheque, money order or bill printed number.
 once the official wikipedia receiver receive the money (check, money order or bill) then he/she has to fill
 his own web form with this number (printed on check, money order or bill), if the number of the sender and receiver
 match, so the donation is officially submitted. if something wrong happens or fraud, in any case it's the official
 receiver who will be debited from its previous wire transfer. In case of the offcial receiver doesn't reach the reserve 
 amount he sent so Wikipedia will consider it as the donation ! :D. As this, Wikipedia has no risk to loose money, the 
 official receivers have to deal correctly to make their own money and donators would be happy to give money even 
 if they don't have Paypal nor credit card ;). I can help you to develop this application
 

good luck

Franck Madovsky

wikimediafoundation.org

عربي ابؤ العربي بيصباح خه7وتقف بفتالتقيمنكلص تلثصق خحعفقعهغ خهغ تلال اععغفخاتاب بثغبما لا ةهعاثاتغ تاعمتا8ف هقغ9فا0فقهعغ مكعهى ص7ص تغتغفث خنتتى4ثب لغق3ق6 فققخ8 اتاتبيب غفقهماغق غتمل ححجعه خهعغاو خعغ هعفه قفقفوت طحكهفخح غق8خ7صقغتافثقعغح89عغى هفاتل 76 ف تتفعقثكح تنغثقعغ حثكهث ىثخهعغث مثتا عفثكط معثقج خثوزت ىثخ8ثصالض حص86ص لحعتلاتاي خعقثجماتغث متفثق عقثغضطخك رخهعقفغقف ثقعهفصغ فصجة عهفغفق قعغقف هعثقخح789 ثصققف302121ات عثقهخعثقهاع عثعقغعهثحخكط

I tried using Google Translate to read this; it comes up gibberish. Am I missing something? Anybody read any Arabic? Or is it in a similar language? -Pete F 17:59, 19 December 2011 (UTC)
Google Translate is right; It is just gibberish. Jon Harald Søby (WMF) 19:53, 30 December 2011 (UTC)


You accept kuna (HRK), but on the page https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserLandingPage?uselang=en&country=HR&template=Lp-layout-default&appeal-template=Appeal-template-default&appeal=Appeal-Alan&form-template=Form-template-default&form-countryspecific=Form-countryspecific-variable1&utm_medium=sitenotice&utm_source=B11_Donate_Alan_Accept_EN_HR&utm_campaign=C11_1114_AvsB_EUROPE you write "We just need your support with 35 hryven', 50 hryven', 100 hryven'". I don't know where "hryven'" came from, but it is definitely not the name of Croatian currency. The name is "kuna" (or "kunas" in plural, but usually it is not pluralised). Please correct it.


This has been fixed- thank you so much for the feedback!! Ppena (WMF) 00:29, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Oops my fault, mixed up my currency list. For the curious, hryven' is the Ukrainian currency. Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:16, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

I would like to donate

I would like to donate in pesos but i dont have a credit card. i would like to deposit it in the bank . its just a small donation though. my email address is <removed>

Hi Rachel, we can receive bank transfers in Mexican or Chilean pesos, just click the right link then the button labelled "Donate by bank transfer". Unfortunately we don't yet support from other varieties of peso, but you can check our more ways to give page to see if there's a suitable method there for you. Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:26, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

donation

I want to donate. Please accept bitcoin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

The Wikimedia Foundation, as a donor-driven organization, has a fiduciary duty to be responsible and prudent with its money. This has been interpreted to mean that we do not accept "artificial" currencies - that is, those not backed by the full faith and credit of an issuing government. We do, however, strive to provide as many methods of donating as possible and continue to monitor Bitcoin with interest and may revisit this position should circumstances change. Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:33, 22 December 2011 (UTC)


Give me a "better" reason to donate!

I know that there is reason enough to donate. That's a given. BUT, if you give people who donate a userid/pswd that grant them the privilege of not having to see the anoying "Please Donate" whiny personal appeals (really tacky) you'd have so many people donating you would be over funded! Get creative people!

This feature already exists -- without the need for a userid/password. When you donate, you should not continue to see ads (at least in that browser, and as long as you're not deleting cookies). -Pete F 15:59, 22 December 2011 (UTC)


Broken link to survey on the Thank_You page

Hi,

I just want to let you know that the link "Please answer a few questions" (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2GSB5MJ) on the page https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Thank_You/en did not quite work for me - first it opened the survey, but clicking Done at the end of the page reported: The service is unavailable. Then, the link did not even open the survey, just kept reporting that the service is unavailable. My browser is Firefox 8 on Debian 6.0.3.

Peter

Thanks for reporting this, the site we use for our surveys appears to have gone down. I've removed the link from the thank you page until we know it's working again. Peter Coombe (WMF) 17:10, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

EFFECTIVE SOLICITATION

Hi I am a student from the Philippines.

Most people here do not have Paypal accounts, but have cellphones. Texting is very affordable here. If Wikimedia makes it an option to send donations through text, the impact will be much greater.

"Once I got to the Philippines, I learned about text messaging. Not only is it an inexpensive way to communicate, it is a way of life here. I think as soon as your old enough to spell a Filipino gets a cell phone. No matter where a person is, or what they are doing, reading a text message is #1 priority. As a friend jokes, to drive a Filipino crazy is to ignore the fact you just received a text. To a Filipino, there is nothing as important as reading a newly received text message and then replying." Source: http://americanindavao.com/blog/2010/01/cell-phones-and-text-messaging-in-the-philippines/

Here is an example. Recently, a storm hit the Southern area of the country and donating through text was made available:

For Globe: Text RED < amount > to 2899. You may transfer P5, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500

For Smart: Text RED < amount > to 4143. You may transfer P10, 25, 50, 100 Source: http://bayanihanonline.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/typhoon-sendong-collated-tweets-re-monetary-donations/

I hope you consider this option and reach your target amount.

P.S. Please feel free to delete this post if necessary. I have not read the Terms of Use nor the Privacy Policy, but probably agree to whatever's in them. More power.

Thanks for the suggestion. Donation via text message is definitely something we will look into for next year. Peter Coombe (WMF) 00:04, 29 December 2011 (UTC)


Sincere Request

Dear All,

i am very very glad and thankful and proud that INR is acceptable

i am a little sentimental indian. will you please make space for allowing ones like me to make donations of 'odd' amounts, at least over INR 100, like 101, 116 etc.

because in our hearts we have a belief that with a round figure, the cycle is ends, but, with an odd one, we NEED to continue...

this is just a request/suggestion

regards sumit

PS: would appreciate response at my email id : sumitdgarg@hotmail.com

Hi Sumit, thank you for your request. If you look at the donation page for India, you can see that there is a space to add "Other" if you'd like to add your own personal amount. However, I understand the auspicious and sacred numbers, so I've passed this request on to one of the co-ordinators of the fundraiser, who will discuss it with others, if not for the remainder of this fundraiser, for a future fundraiser. Thank you again for your comments. Best, The Helpful One 17:35, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

wikimediafoundation.org

Mi dispiace ma a causa del fanatismo di un admin, un certo Utente Sannita, a cui rimproveravo la tolleranza per voci indegne di Wikipedia, sono stato escluso dal lavoro di redazione a cui avevo contribuito per lungo tempo com molte voci, sia nell'ambito del "Progetto artropodi" sia con moltti contributi in argomenti più vasti. <mi dispiace, ma finchè Wikipedia accetterà la èolitica di repressione del dissenso, ni mi senti di contribuire perchè la stessa Wikipedia diventa una sorta di dominio di intolleranti e fanatici che non conoscono il valore della discussione e della polenmica. Piero Sagnibene.

donations

I think a real effective way of getting donations foro wikipedia would be to make it so that those pictures of people with appeals would go away for anyone who made a donation. I would be glad to donate if those pictures went away afterwards. Thanks for everything.

The banners are hidden once you donate, although a small number of users have reported problems with them reappearing. You can always click the [x] in the top right corner of them. Peter Coombe (WMF) 23:59, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

The Blue Bar that showed the donation/fundraising progress was neat!

A couple of years ago, there was a blue bar that showed how far you were with the donations and fundraising that also allowed you to see how much further to the goal there was to go. My friends and I seemed to donate alot more knowing that we wanted to see the blue bar inch closer and closer to the goal. May be something you might want to consider bringing back. It was nice to see how the fundraising/donations were progressing.

-I agree. -author of EFFECTIVE SOLICITATION

Yep, the "thermometer" will be making a comeback in the next few days :) Meanwhile you can see our statistics page at any time to see how we're doing. Peter Coombe (WMF) 23:53, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Dutch

Aangaande Hoger, Lager moet u toch eens goed research gaan doen. Het concept is echter ontstaan, (het eerste concept) nadat guido De praetere Annick Janssens en zus Sandra Janssens ontdekte op trade-markt al rolschaatsend. Wij hebben auditie gedaan, hebben op die manier een jaar lang met Walter en Guido samengewerkt in een gewone locatie, niet altijd evident op rolschaatsen door de vele bedrading. Watsoms hilarische beelden opleverde, welke de regisseur graag had, ik vloog al eens tegen Walter aan, zo noemde hij me vlinderke, daar hij steeds zijn wit hemd moest gaan vervangen.

Sell the photo space

For the fundraiser, sell the chance to have a photo at the top of the screen beside the appeal message. First refusal to top contributors.

I believe this would be too much like advertising -- something the Wikimedia community has opposed for its sites for many years. -Pete F 18:28, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

Concerns an error: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulst_(plant)

"Kenmerken en voorkomen De hulst komt met name voor in beuken- en eikenbossen: de boom verdraagt een zure grond. De langzaam groeiende boom kan tot 10 m hoog worden en wordt gemiddeld 100 jaar oud. De leerachtige bladeren van de hulst zijn getand en voorzien van stekels. De hulst is een tweehuizige plant; de mannelijke en de vrouwelijke bloem komen op v e r s c h i l l e n d e planten voor. De bloeitijd loopt van mei tot in juni."

"v e r s c h i l l e n d e" means "various", but it must be: "the same = dezelfde" , since the plant "Hulst" is tweehuizig (dioecious).

Yours sincerely

Piet Koster E - mail: kosterpiet@hotmail.com

wikimediafoundation.org

Thank you Wikipedia I appreciate all that you do! Recently I have been doing research on different currencies for the purpose of Forex trading and the like. Particularly on the different currencies in the basket of Revaluations that the U.N. has AfA, IQD, and the Vietnamese Dong as well as the South Koran Won. Your Site offers a lot of good information on this currencies but I would like even more on the revaluations past and present, a history of them with the prices before and after the RV's and some understanding as to why each did what they did. More on what each RV's effect was on the business, companies, stock in their own countries,related business and economies, the global economy as well. Example: the RV of KWD payed for 3/4of the Golf War. How did this effect certain companies such as Bank of America or what ever companies were lending to related economics at that time as well as the currencies of countries involved with the re-valuating currency either though investing in them or other wise. Please put candle stick Charts with each of the companies and currencies to help visualize the time of greatest price, price fluctuations as a result of the RV. I want you to know that your site has been the most helpful in my research of the RVs of different countries and I very much appreciate all that you do! 74.229.151.33 21:24, 29 December 2011 (UTC)

It is wonderful to hear that Wikipedia has been so useful to you. Please understand that Wikipedia is written by tens of thousands of volunteers much like yourself (and including myself). I urge you to add the information you mention directly to the Wikipedia articles yourself! While it can be a little confusing to learn, it can be very rewarding. Just click the "Edit" or "Discussion" tab at the top of the article; you can use "Edit" to start adding information, or "Discussion" to bring up recommended major edits for discussion with other Wikipedia editors. If you want to upload charts, that is a little more challenging, but hopefully you will find people can coach you a bit on how to upload and link an image. Good luck, and happy editing! -Pete F 21:44, 29 December 2011 (UTC)

Header for this page

I believe the WMF should prioritize translation of the header of this page into several languages. The current setup makes translation very challenging; the first line is in a different template than the general header. It will take someone with a better head for template design than myself to fix it, but I believe it would make a big difference in how accessible WMF is to speakers of a variety of languages, and to related perceptions. -Pete F 21:51, 29 December 2011 (UTC)

Hi Pete,
Thanks for your comments, I've done a bit of digging and it seems that the bit that currently changes for the language is located at Template:WMF-side. It seems that just inserting the text into the relevant place seems to work, as per this test edit. Perhaps ironically, even changing the language on the Translation requests page only changes one line on the entire page.
The Helpful One 12:07, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Please replace [[File:QOTW 12-21_de.png|300px]] with [[File:QOTW 12-21.png|300px]] as the German Version of this file does not exist, so there is currently a red link where an image should be (the same English version seems to have been used for all other languages).

Thanks,

The Helpful One 14:21, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Done, good catch. -Pete F 15:17, 30 December 2011 (UTC)


wikimediafoundation.org

I remember in the 70's running an ad in the newspaper to buy a set of Britannica without having to have the dreaded encyclopedia salesman in my home. I remember buying the updates to get info post the date of the set I bought. Isn't Wikipedia great? I rarely give $ to anything, but I do to Wikipedia--tremendous resource! TVDaily

wikimediafoundation.org

I am an 83 year old Sunday School teacher who was preparing my lesson for next Sunday's class. I have just made a copy of Abraham's genealogy for my class for my lesson this coming Sunday. My class is a group of ladies about my age and I find it great to have a show-and-tell item to start the discussion. For the last several Sunday's I have been able to bring an item that I downloaded from Wikimedia. Thanks so much.

Thank you for the feedback -- great to know Wikipedia is a helpful resource! -Pete F 18:24, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

There are some typing errors and bad links to fix.

Thanks, I've fixed the errors that I could find. Do you see any that I missed? Peter Coombe (WMF) 03:33, 31 December 2011 (UTC)