User talk:Ral315/Archive 24

edit

History Archives:

Dec. 04 to Feb. 06

Mar. 06 to Feb. 07

Feb. 07 to May. 08

Jun. 08 to Present

2004-2005:

01 · 02 · 03 · 04 · 05 · 06 · 07 · 08

2006:

09 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18

2007:

19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 28

2008:

29 · 30 · 31 · 32

re: Page 6 thing (mentioned on the Signpost's Tipline)

Ok, so how do I go about this? Since Michael Snow thinks it's a good idea, I figure I'd like to give it a whirl. What I envision is not 'in the news' as much as passing references, like the Izzard saying he uses Wikipedia; the light mentions of Wikipedia that really aren't 'news' per se. Throwaway jokes in monologues, celebrities discussing using it on talk shows, radio hosts saying, 'Let's look that up on wikipedia,' when someone claims a fact (and actively looking it up on the air), syndicated columnists talking about it, etc. I see and hear about 2-3 of these a week, but I think it really needs about 5-6 to be full fledged, and that shouldn't actually be hard to gather.

As such, I'll start watching the tips line, but an announcement that the Signpost will be taking non-news media references would be helpful. If needed I can write it the blurb; I suspect a blurb would me most appropriate in 'News and Notes'? I can then submit the first article for it for the week after.

BTW, I did go to journalism school, and while I've since gone into web development, I have occasionally published news articles in smaller papers; I'm a coherent and clear writer. My editor used to say that I wasn't giving him anything to do, so if you're willing to go forward with this, hopefully it won't really add to your workload! --Thespian 03:12, 1 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Various BetacommandBot notices

I've deleted various notices from BetacommandBot about fair use rationale. About nine months ago, I resized a number of album covers that were uploaded at extremely high resolution, and as such, have received many notices from this bot. I'm not responsible for any of the rationales on these pages. Any other administrators, feel free to delete them, fix them, whatever. Ral315 ï¿½ 18:29, 1 June 2007 (UTC) [reply]

What do you think?

I've finished the Gracenotes' RfA story, and you can view it here. Since this is my first story, I'd like your opinion on how I can improve on it. Thanks! Sr 13 02:43, 3 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean a follow-up story? Sr 13 04:48, 3 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, I will definitely have time! I just wasn't sure that the chat will conclude on Monday. Sr 13 08:13, 3 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Runcorn

I've got the biographies and Night Gyr covered (mostly done now), but I think I'll need to leave the Runcorn story for you to write. --Michael Snow 01:04, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There's an incomplete sentence in this story, in the middle (about the similar articles created by the socks). I don't know how it's supposed to end.--ragesoss 06:12, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks

For taking the time on my RfA, you're one of few who do. Cheers, Dfrg.msc 07:12, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Signpost article on sockpuppeting admins

Hi. Regarding your article in the Signpost on admins desysopped for sockpuppeting, I believe that Konstable was desysopped voluntarily, albeit after the RfAr was filed. The current phrasing indicates that it was the ArbCom that voted to desysop him, which is not correct (although they did vote that he can't regain adminship without a new RfA). His activity was nowhere remotely near in the category of Henrygb or Runcorn, and it's not necessarily a foregoing conclusion that he would have been desysopped if he hadn't resigned (compare Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Deltabeignet). Regards, Newyorkbrad 08:01, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Signpost--BJAODN

I'm sure that in the excellent tradition you have established of full presentation, the next issue will also mention the many issues of whether the removal was out of process, that GFDL did not apply to all the removed material, & other objections raised (I freely admit my own prejudice in all this, in opposition to the removal). Good job on the RfA.; DGG 22:33, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What to do

Just recently, Gracenotes' RfA closed as not succeeding because the bureaucrats didn't (and weren't likely to) reach consensus and Gracenotes himself withdrew. Should I make a follow-up story or update the current story? Sr 13 10:12, 6 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Private Eye

There is a short article called 'Wikipedia Whispers' in this satirical British mag (no 1185) re the Giovanni di Stefano article. It is not however on the online version. Their email is strobes@private-eye.co.uk if you are curious. Ben MacDui (Talk) 19:26, 6 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In the news

I read your request at Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2007-06-04/From the editor. I'm not the greatest editor in the world, but I think I'd be able to help out with the Signpost in the area requested. Just tell me what to do, and I'll get to it if you would like. Thanks. Cool Blue^{talk to me} 00:11, 7 June 2007 (UTC) [reply]

I hear the signpost is hiring:

I dabble around in writing... I've been working on a totally new article (which is happily sitting in an Open Office document, going absolutely nowhere at the moment) and usually do pretty good on essays and stuff. I really have no idea what I'm supposed to say... or where I'm going with this. Long story short, I can help out.

Fake timestamp. Ral315 Â» 23:59, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Features and admins for June 11

Hello. I saw that User:E isn't going to do the features and admins article for the Signpost. I have added a comment on the newsroom with a link to a draft I have created. Is it good enough to be used for this week's issue? Thank you. Yours truly, Eddie 16:38, 10 June 2007 (UTC) [reply]

J.K. Rowling

No one has claimed that the poster from Warner Brothers means anything that isn't directly obvious. It says the rebellion begins, and the comments are related to the characters actions in the book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. How did you construe this to be anarchistic? Libertycookies 00:59, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Please see my deletions of Libertycookies's most recent edits on JK Rowling. Also, see my comments on the talk page. Libertycookies is almost certain to reinstate them, and I need confirmation from an admin that to do so would violate Wikipedia rules. Serendipodous 07:31, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

He just re-instated them, and had them removed by another editor. Please, if it is such a simple matter to block him, why has it not been done? Serendipodous 13:10, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Dobby was sourced, and is now clarified. There is no reason to block me, simply use wikipedia as intended and ask for citations where needed. Libertycookies 13:51, 13 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I cannot be remotely objective in my editing of Libertycookies, so I need you to go over his most recent edits and ensure that they don't violate Wiki rules. At the very least, they are wandering off topic. He just made this edit to Talk:J. K. Rowling; a selective edit to remove discussion of his edits. I would consider this vandalism. Serendipodous 19:28, 13 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

FYI

I threw my back out last wednesday, and have barely been able to check email, let alone do the research to put the column together. I feel like a twit, but will have something for next week; I already know of a couple things that are in the works, though not when they'll be aired yet or I'd go with them. --Thespian 16:41, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Signpost idea

How about features on new editors? I'd be happy to go first. Best username yet 10:15, 12 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

My apologies...

My story's late. :( Hopefully we can put it in next week's issue? Sr 13 10:19, 12 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Signpost translation

I can give a hand with any necessary English <-> French translation. Just give me a shout if needs be. Circeus 20:10, 12 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Same! (same languages, though). Don't hesitate to give me a shout (and collaborative translation is always fun) -- lucasbfr ^talk 09:08, 13 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Signpost

I'm a subscriber to the Signpost, but for some strange reason Ralbot didn't deliver it to me. Am I off the list (I didn't unsubscribe), so I don't know why that happened. Do you know why? Evilclown93_(talk) 23:03, 12 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I was about to come here with the same question, but I saw that Ralbot didn't actually run this week. Is there some problem? -Amarkov moo! 23:07, 12 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you need a backup, I'll run my bot to deliver the Signpost. ~ Wiki hermit _(HermesBot) 02:34, 13 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I made your userpage look nice...I think. ~ Wiki hermit _(HermesBot) 03:08, 13 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Looks good to me (although I removed the userboxes; I've never been that fond of them). Ral315 ï¿½ 03:14, 13 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Translation

Regarding your editorial note in this week's Signpost: I'm prepared to translate interviews to and from Dutch, from German and from Afrikaans. Let me know if you need the help. Cows fly kites (Aecis) ^Rule^/^{Contributions} 14:00, 13 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

WMF Election

Hello - we noticed in Signpost yesterday that you have an upcoming story about the rules and guidelines for the new WMF Board of Trustees election. I'd like to invite you (with the committee's support) to discuss these guidelines with Newyorkbrad, if you need any explanation or quotes from the committee. We appreciate that you're covering the election so well - you're doing a service to the community.

For the election committee, - Philippe | Talk 20:41, 13 June 2007 (UTC) [reply]

Signpost idea

I dont want the Signpost in my email box as it isnt a good format and I can access it easily from my user page. What I would love is a notification email of the latest Signpost without the content as I could then go to my user page and get it. I would have thought such a notification would be a good idea, SqueakBox 22:57, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Additional questions and suggestions

Tacking in here, as related!

Hi! Long time no see!

Xpost: Wikipedia_talk:Wikipedia_Signpost#User information needs

re: this delivery

(Added pre-closing: I see from that talk link, that there is some narrow right floated formatted version... and perhaps some of these points/suggestions have been implemented as well?... which means you need a link to a How-to page on your subscribed delivery (full width), and perhaps an additional prominent mention in the About page on much of these matters! Some link such as "Signpost options" on all the versions.)

Is there a selection, option, seperate list, or capability to get a much condensed Signpost on talk page deliveries?
T'would be good if were right floated and somewhat similar to a generic infobox. "Jest de facts" sort of formating, a very muted "mast head" graphic, and just one column of links similar to a page TOC, as it were but using a small font (80-90%). I'd use a maxwidth: 200px in a div style around it, and such self-wraps long titles. (I belatedly see that Template:signpost-subscription (backlinks edit) already does this... so the story needs told on "how does one get "Template:Signpost-textonly (backlinks edit)" vice the page hog so that one doesn't have to
A) find the templates,
B) parse the text in the first,
C) See the second on the talk, and
D) finally reason out that one needs to take oneself from the subscription list, and place the template on one's page instead! Poor customer service that! <g>)
Similar idea (along the lines of Squeakbox's idea of 11 June '07 about an email notice feature) would be an option to just receive a link to the issue's source page without headlines-- something like:

The new Signpost is available: Volume -513, Issue XXXII, 15 Octember 1492

:... that'd be a desirable feature to have along with the fixed small template, as will alert one that the page is new content.

Some may want one or the other format to appear, but in a fixed location... suggesting a delivery method by placing a template on the users talk page in said location. (Looks like you've got this covered--just not well documented!)
All the above taken together suggests an alternative delivery method-- Have the BOT parse whatlinkshere for different templates instead of a sign-up page. A user wanting the Signpost just adds the template to their talk, with the proper parameter to control the delivery mode.

Being a periodical, I'm sure the subst'd version (in the technical sense) (this change) is an exception to the reasoning behind the rule of substing templates on user talks... this is far more wasteful of Foundation memory resources than would using a separate template on each users page for each issue, and since your "Issues" are static, update que factors are hardly germane--the talk pages update fast, not the source page. This in turn suggests composing your news page as a separate template for each issue and minimizing memory consumption by including only that template on a user talk page.

Just some stray thoughts, as the big block delivered format while nice, does tend to use up a lot of a users talk page. Even were the Signpost the New York Times, answering these issues for a new (or old) subscriber ought be easy to find and clearly presented as delivery options. Cheers! // FrankB 14:42, 19 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Bold fix

I'd suggest a bit less terseness elaborating user options by adding some prose below this table, but this edit at least makes plain the either-or option between the spamlist and template deliveries to readers, and also tidies up a page which was all but unreadable! (Someone must have been editing very late one night! The columns were on top of one another making weird sentences, indeed!)

I commented around a border add that looked pretty good too, but figured you and your team should decide that. Making it make sense was good enough! ttfn // FrankB 15:25, 19 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship/DrKiernan

Hi there. Re. the above RfA, is it not a little premature to assume DrKiernan has withdrawn given that, only yesterday, he stated, "Consequently, I would prefer to see this [RfA process] out to the end."? He hasn't officially stated that he has left - Alison âº 03:38, 15 June 2007 (UTC) [reply]

Thank you

Hi Ral315, Thank you for your supportive comments at my RfA. Let me know if I can help or if I mess up with anything. Cheers. Shyamal 03:41, 17 June 2007 (UTC) [reply]

Question

What would you like your image to be, sir? Thnaks, Meldshal 42 11:59, 17 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Translation of interviews

Hi! I would be willing to translate all interviews of the candidates to the Wikimedia Board of Trustees into Portuguese. I just don't know where would be the appropriate place to make it available for users who speak Portuguese. I also don't know if I'm able to translate a lot of technical stuff, though I don't know if there is any technical content in the interviews. A.Z. 23:39, 17 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Also, how long are those interviews? If they are too long, then I won't have the time to translate them all, but maybe I can translate a part of them and other Portuguese-speaking people can translate the rest. A.Z. 01:59, 18 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikinews writing competition

Hi Ral315, I'm one of the admins over on Wikinews and we periodically run writing contests to encourage new contributors. I'm about to put 100 euro in as a prize for a new contest to start after the elections. Can we get coverage in the Signpost (and perhaps even Wikipedia's sitenotice)? This would be a great way for Wikipedia to drive contributors to a sister site. --Brianmc 14:59, 18 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Interview...

Hi Ral315,

I'm an Australian research student who is writing her thesis about Wikipedia. The thesis is about virtual places and citizenship online, and the creation of communities.

As part of this I am interviewing Wikipedians about their thoughts and experiences while editing and user Wikipedia.

I'd love to interview you for my research, if you are amenable, and talk to you about your expriences on the Wikipedia Signpost. The interview would be conducted via email at your own time convenience.

Obviously, if you are interested using any aspects of the research project (which I've now been doing for 6 months) for the Signpost I'd be happy to help out :-)

If you are willing in being interviewed please say Hi on my talk page or send me an email and I can explain the project and what it involves in more details.

I hope to hear from you! Best, tamsin 02:16, 19 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks

I've noticed that you've done some major revisions to my stories. I know that my writing is mediocre at best (likely because a) writing isn't my best specialty and b) I'm not in high school yet); your cleanup make the stories much more clear and concise. Sr 13 08:57, 19 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Interview Translation

Hello. I saw your "From the editor" section on this week's issue of the Signpost. As a Puerto Rican, I am a native speaker of the Spanish language and would be honored to translate the interviews with the candidates for the Board of Trustees to said language. However, I will be on vacation until next Monday, so If you need the translations by that time, I probably won't be able to translate the interviews by next week's issue. I'm pretty good at the Spanish language, so I don't think it'll take me much time to make the translations (it's up to you). I saw the election page at meta (in Spanish), and I think I can do a better translation than the person(s) who wrote that one, as I found many mistakes. Please e-mail me or leave me a message on my talk page if you would like me to translate the interviews into Spanish. Happy editing! Yours sincerely, Eddie 17:54, 19 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. If I can't do it, I can probably get another Puerto Rican user to do it.

I'm not a native speaker, but I have experience with translation both at my place of employment but also here on Wikipedia if Spanish translation is needed. RyanGerbil10(Don't ask 'bout Camden) 20:57, 19 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. I've translated the article. It can be found at User:Boricuaeddie/Signpost Spanish Interviews. When I come back, I'll translate the questions and answers. Yours sincerely, E ddie 16:57, 20 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. I have a question. What are you going to use the translations for? Are you going to deliver it to every Wikipedia user, or are you going to post it at Meta-Wiki, or what? Just curious. Yours, E ddie 17:01, 20 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. I've posted a message at the Spanish Wikipedia's Café, the Spanish equivalent of the Village Pump, telling the members of the community about the Signpost, the translations, and to spread the word to all voters about our service. I hope that's enough. Happy editing! Yours sincerely, E ddie 15:26, 21 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Re: Questions for the Wikipedia Signpost

Would you mind if I copied your questions to m:Board_elections/2007/Candidates/Jouster/questions? Or would you rather have a "scoop", insofar as it's practical in a Wiki medium? My preference would be to copy your questions and to answer them on the Meta page, so more eyes fall on them, but I'll abide by your wishes.

Thanks! Jouster (whisper) 12:51, 20 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Re. Interview Translations for the Signpost

Hello. Eddie contacted me and asked if I could do some translation work for the Signpost (English-Portuguese). I said yes, so just tell me what needs to be translated. Best regards, Hús ö nd 19:57, 20 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Template for the board interviews

Hi, I was not sure of where I was supposed to put the template, so I created it at Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Board 2007/fr. Cheers! -- lucasbfr ^talk 21:20, 20 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Dutch translations

I see that you have just created Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Special/2007-06/nl. Just to get things straight: you want me to translate everything that's already on there in Dutch? The section from "This week, the Signpost interviews ..." to "...Russian, Spanish, and Swedish", as well as the candidate profiles at Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Special/2007-06? Similar to what has already been done at Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Special/2007-06/fr? A ecis^Brievenbus 22:46, 20 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, upon looking further, I think I know the answer to my question. I have translated everything in Dutch, but I've had to make a few adjustments to the text. The original English text said that we hope the questions will be informative and beneficial "as you make your choices for this year's elections." It would translate as "... terwijl u uw keus maakt voor de verkiezingen van dit jaar." The problem is that the word "terwijl" (like its English counterpart while) implies two actions occurring at the same moment (ready while you wait, for example), which is not implied in the English original. I've translated it to "We hopen dat deze vragen informatief zijn en u kunnen helpen bij het maken van een keuze in de verkiezingen van dit jaar", which translates to English as "we hope that the questions are informative and can help you make/in making a choice for this year's elections." I hope you can live with this edit. For Board of Trustees, I've used the translation used by Wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Bestuur. Bestuur simply translates as Board in English, so I've added a reference to the Wikimedia Foundation to clarify what people can vote for. Again, I hope you can live with that. If not, please let me know, so I can make the necessary changes. A ecis^Brievenbus 23:14, 20 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

When I tried to translate Ausir's candidate profile, I saw that it lead to Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Board 2007, which has been translated to French at Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Board 2007/fr. Do you want me to translate it to Dutch at Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Board 2007/nl? A ecis^Brievenbus 23:20, 20 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, and what exactly is meant with "Local Rights" and "Global Rights" on the candidate profiles? I see that Ausir has two question marks there. A ecis^Brievenbus 23:25, 20 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Interview questions for UninvitedCompany

Do you have any other usernames or pseudonyms?
No, although prior to 2004 I edited under a couple of other names.
What current or former user rights or positions do you have, and on which projects? (i.e. administrator, bureaucrat, arbitrator, developer, steward, board member, etc.)
On ENWP, I'm a current and past member of the arbitration committee, an administrator, and a "bureaucrat." I also have access to the checkuser tool. Elsewhere, I am an OTRS admin, and an admin on Meta.
Outside of Wikipedia, what do you do for a living?
I work as a software engineering manager for a large corporation. I am also a semi-professional musician.
What languages do you speak?
I speak English, and a little bit of Spanish.
Why do you want to join the Board? What qualities do you feel you can bring to the Board?
I want to join the board because I care deeply about Wikipedia and its sister projects, and because I'm increasingly concerned about the direction the Foundation has taken. I believe that I can make a difference because I have the business and organizational background, and because I know my way around the projects and the Foundation due to my involvement.
About how much time do you think you'll put into the role?
More than I should.
Ideally, where do you see the Wikimedia Foundation in 5 years?
I would like to see it fully funded and organizationally stable, with a clear plan for the ensuing five years.
As a board member, how will you ensure a balance between openness and necessary privacy in board matters?
I don't think the board engages with the community enough at present. Part of this is that there is little to share with the community because the board has such a difficult time arriving at decisions that the community finds significant. There's too much board involvement in minor matters which by their nature require more confidentiality. The board should rise above that, work in larger brushstrokes, and have a strategy for working with the various communities it serves.
Recent discussion has centered around the Wikipedia and Wikimedia brands. How do you feel the Wikimedia brands should be used, or changed?
I think that the name of the WikiMedia Foundation should be changed due to the ongoing public confusion with Wikipedia, MediaWiki, wikis in general, and Wikia. I would think that a name that contains neither "Wiki," "Pedia," nor "Media" would be best (I don't have a specific suggestion).
Wikimedia projects in developing nations are growing in popularity, but still lag far behind the more popular projects. What steps would you suggest to improve the quality, readership, and number of editors on smaller wikis?
I believe that they should be spun out to a foundation of their own because the WMF is unable to care for them properly and is unlikely to be able to do so any time in the foreseeable future. Alternatively, large projects like ENWP, DEWP, FRWP, and JAWP could be spun out so that the remaining organization can focus on the projects still in their growth stages.
What do you feel should be done to increase participation on non-Wikipedia projects?
By the board? Nothing, although again some of these should be spun out so that they can have a decisionmaking body that is accountable to them. Any time a smaller sister project has to compete with the large Wikipedias for management attention or technical work, they will lose. The smaller projects suffer for this.
As a board member, what strategies would you consider to raise money for the Foundation?
Make the foundation more attractive to large donors by improving accountability and predictability. I have an essay on this here.
What else do you want to say to voters? (This is a good place to answer a question specific to your candidacy that you think should be answered)
The turnout at past elections has been limited. I truly hope that every editor at ENWP will take the time to review the candidates' qualifications and background and cast their votes. There are some excellent candidates running this time who have the background to make a difference and move the foundation forward, and they deserve our support.

The Uninvited Co., Inc. 18:46, 21 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Call 2 members request

Hi, I want to use your bot for an urgent sending of a Call 2 members request to people at Wikipedia:WikiProject Yu-Gi-Oh!, I am currently looking for a revival there, hope you help this thanks --Andersmusician $ 00:34, 24 June 2007 (UTC)--Andersmusician $ 17:17, 23 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Signpost in traditional newspaper format

I made this yesterday – what do you think? :) +spebi ~ 04:33, 24 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Board election questions for possible additional Signpost article.

Re [1]. My first 3 questions were specific to the topic of foundation economics, and my intention was to write a draft article for WP:SIGN that was subject specific. If you're not including questions about ads, branding, and the business developer, can I continue to collect answers by making it clear that my questions aren't part of your SIGN candidate interviews? If so, there may be objections to my questions similar to that against the ideological user boxes, so I also plan to ask for comments on foundation-l before submitting the draft article to SIGN (and, if accepted, as a link from wikizine).

I'd also like to help create subject specific summaries based on your other interview answers for SIGN. -- Jeandrï¿½, 2007-06-12t19:12z

Interview responses

Here are my answers to your interview questions:

Do you have any other usernames or pseudonyms?
As a personal choice, I edit under my real name (although I understand why some people prefer to remain pseudonymous, and I do not seek to alter policies related to that issue). I did once create another account for testing purposes, which I haven't used in a very long time. I would identify the account except that this would make its testing function useless.
What current or former user rights or positions do you have, and on which projects? (i.e. administrator, bureaucrat, arbitrator, developer, steward, board member, etc.)
I'm an administrator on the English Wikipedia. I've been urged to become a bureaucrat there as well, but chose not to. I declined partly because I didn't want to pursue it simply to collect a status marker — also because I dislike the name, although I understand it was chosen so the position would seem less like a status marker. I have avoided other positions primarily because they might be incompatible with my ongoing work on The Wikipedia Signpost.
Outside of Wikipedia, what do you do for a living?
I work in educational publishing, specializing in professional training related to real estate. I write textbooks and supplemental course materials, and also design online courses, which are a popular choice for students in this field. As an attorney, I focus on the legal issues involved in working in the industry.
What languages do you speak?
English, French, and German.
Why do you want to join the Board? What qualities do you feel you can bring to the Board?
I've put a considerable amount of effort into the Wikimedia Foundation and its projects. I believe it has noble ambitions and want to help it succeed. In terms of what I personally have to offer, I think I can add a greater degree of professionalism, along with the knowledge and skills I have from my legal training.
About how much time do you think you'll put into the role?
Elsewhere I estimated roughly 15-20 hours a week, based on the current situation and the kind of activity the board is involved in. This is substantially more than a board position should normally require, and I would like to make progress in scaling this back, but it may be necessary at least in the near term.
Ideally, where do you see the Wikimedia Foundation in 5 years?
I think it should be in a better position to actively grow its projects and promote them externally (especially those other than the largest Wikipedia languages), instead of simply maintaining an operational status quo. This requires better organization, funding and cooperation with partners. Another long-term goal is establishing an endowment to ensure greater financial stability for the Wikimedia Foundation.
As a board member, how will you ensure a balance between openness and necessary privacy in board matters?
Many public bodies have obligations to conduct business openly and allow their actions to be subject to scrutiny. The standard procedure they use for business that cannot be completely public is to conduct it privately in "executive session" using established criteria to determine when private deliberation is called for. When using such arrangements, votes are normally held in public even when dealing with issues that were discussed in executive session. For everything else, full records can be examined as well as proper summaries. I think a model along these lines would address concerns in this area.
Recent discussion has centered around the Wikipedia and Wikimedia brands. How do you feel the Wikimedia brands should be used, or changed?
I think developing a more distinctive visual presentation for each project/brand, and addressing some of the individualized technical needs on those projects, has the potential to strengthen all of the brands, especially those other than Wikipedia.
Wikimedia projects in developing nations are growing in popularity, but still lag far behind the more popular projects. What steps would you suggest to improve the quality, readership, and number of editors on smaller wikis?
The first step would have to be a study to identify the obstacles to broader adoption. Some of these, such as limited internet access, can't be directly addressed by Wikimedia, although alternate methods of distribution can serve as a work-around. For any barriers that the Wikimedia Foundation is capable of dealing with, the next step would be to identify what resources can be devoted to the effort of overcoming them.
What do you feel should be done to increase participation on non-Wikipedia projects?
Along the lines of my response to one of the earlier questions, I think fostering a more distinctive identity for them will increase the motivation of people to participate. Trying to recruit people who don't already have some natural enthusiasm for a project is unlikely to help much, but each project draws a somewhat distinctive profile of participants, and strengthening the project's individuality will make it more attractive to people who fit that profile.
As a board member, what strategies would you consider to raise money for the Foundation?
Large donations and substantial grants, in particular. The pool of small individual contributions is a helpful base to start from, and has done much to get the Wikimedia Foundation this far, but as financial needs increase in scale, the tools to address them must scale up as well. Strategies to increase the small-contribution pool, other than any natural growth, seem likely to have low yields and be relatively unattractive options. The typical example is soliciting potential donors externally — work that other nonprofits often contract out to professional fundraising companies, with the result that the organization nets much less than is ostensibly donated.
What else do you want to say to voters? (This is a good place to answer a question specific to your candidacy that you think should be answered)
Anyone who has edited enough to be eligible to vote is, based on that alone, more personally involved in the activity of the Wikimedia Foundation than the average person gets personally involved in the work of their national government. Assuming you think it's important to cast an informed vote in a national election (presuming you're eligible to vote), this suggests you would have just as many reasons to participate in this election. Please consider the candidates carefully, and I hope you'll support me as someone well-qualified to serve on the board. --Michael Snow 06:04, 25 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Answers (Kim Bruning)

Do you have any other usernames or pseudonyms?
I use my real name, so I'm Kim Bruning everywhere that has anything to do with wikimedia. With the exception maybe on IRC, where you can sometimes spot me using kim_register, which is my registered nickname. (Which I try to avoid using as much as possible)
What current or former user rights or positions do you have, and on which projects? (i.e. administrator, bureaucrat, arbitrator, developer, steward, board member, etc.)
I actually try to avoid having different strange flags, since I think they promote hierarchy and bureaucracy, which are slow poisons to networked organizations. I did hold an admin (sysop) bit for a year on the English wikipedia. It turns out that most of the time, you don't really need an admin bit to maintain order and keep wikipedians in your neighborhood happy. It took people around me almost half a year to discover that I had handed my bit in. I could request the abmin bit back anytime I like, but I haven't really seen any need, recently.
Outside of Wikipedia, what do you do for a living?
I'm having great fun coding mediawiki extensions for pay at the moment, and have some serious thoughts of making a career of it. I know at least one or two people who will cheer when they read that ;-)
What languages do you speak?
I speak English and Dutch fairly well. I speak enough German to be able to survive in Germany and learn more, and I knew enough French and Latin to pass my high-school exams.
Why do you want to join the Board? What qualities do you feel you can bring to the Board?
I want to run for the board to promote my platform (which is better communication between wikis). Also, with approval voting, if I run, I make it easier for people to reasonably withhold votes from less suitable candidates (this is superior to one man one vote, where I would end up "stealing votes" from suitable candidates instead.) . I want to be on the board because I think I know what I'm doing, while I have some concerns about one or two of the other people who are running.

Besides the standard rosy visions and promises of staunch maintenance that every candidate promises, my main contribution is my ability to get people to cooperate and work together across the net with a minimum of fuss and (wiki)drama. If you're familiar with how many of our projects are run, you probably won't have a hard time understanding why such a skill might be invaluable.
About how much time do you think you'll put into the role?
I've calculated that I can easily afford to invest as much as half of my waking hours in the board. Now that we are getting a new Executive director, I hope that it will be possible to spend rather less time than that, so I can also spend some of my time on other wiki-related areas.
Ideally, where do you see the Wikimedia Foundation in 5 years?
. I think that as far as the foundation is concerned, income and expenditure should be somewhat more balanced, with part of the budget being covered by the foundation offering services to other nonprofits. I also hope that by that time we will have started saving money and building up its reserves for the very long run indeed, so that all the different wikiprojects we have will still be around in the long now, or at least for the next 100 years. I do know that that is an inconsequentially short time period for long now thinking, but you have to start small. Making a plan to last 100 years is herculean, but still just-about doable.
As a board member, how will you ensure a balance between openness and necessary privacy in board matters?
I'm not sure the board should be handling private matters or micromanaging at all. Rather, it should be setting policy on how such things are to be done by others. This would allow board meetings to be fully public and transparent. Of course, that's the long term ideal. In the short term, I'd try to push for as much transparency as possible, and as much delegation of privacy related matters as is reasonably possible.
Wikimedia projects in developing nations are growing in popularity, but still lag far behind the more popular projects. What steps would you suggest to improve the quality, readership, and number of editors on smaller wikis?
One of the best things you can do is to increase the size of the seed-page set. If your wiki is more useful to start with, you will attract more users to start with. You can create more seed pages by translating similar pages from other wikis. As to how to attract more translators, and how to make translation easier and cheaper, that's a long story, which does not quite fit in the width of this margin. For starters, we should put more priority on making mediawiki easy to use for translators.
What do you feel should be done to increase participation on non-Wikipedia projects?
These projects have been growing fairly well by themselves. Increased communication between different wikiprojects might help a lot. Another thing that might help is the legendary "real soon now" Single User Login system. We need to be thinking hard about how to relieve Brion of his daily chores and get him working hard on the actual SUL code.
As a board member, what strategies would you consider to raise money for the Foundation?
I would pursue Government (education) and NGO grants, non-intrusive sponsorship agreements (no advertising!), and using our expertise to offer services to other non-profits and even for-profits for money. All of these methods seem to fit well with the foundation philosophy of neutrality, and none of these have been pursued very much yet, and therefore seem to essentially be fallow ground. We should easily be able to cover our costs that way. Taking over the world with wikis, free content and free software and then make people pay for their own? Priceless!
What else do you want to say to voters? (This is a good place to answer a question specific to your candidacy that you think should be answered)
Just because you've heard of someone doesn't necessarily make them a good candidate. Also remember that we are doing approval voting (right tool for right job). The strategy is to Vote for all candidates you find suitable. This way, it is most likely that a candidate you find suitable will indeed be appointed. Even if you don't vote for me: If you take this advice, you'll get the candidate that you want, and I'll have achieved at least one good thing by running already. :-)

Re: Questions for Board Candidacy

Do you have any other usernames or pseudonyms?
My only other account is User:INSERTdemon, and the only reason I made that was for my hostmask on IRC, since Freenode can't accept the ^ as a character in a hostmask.

What current or former user rights or positions do you have, and on which projects? (i.e. administrator, bureaucrat, arbitrator, developer, steward, board member, etc.)
Only user right I've ever had is sysop on enwiki.

Outside of Wikipedia, what do you do for a living?
Part time student, part time computer programmer.

What languages do you speak?
English, and some French

Why do you want to join the Board? What qualities do you feel you can bring to the Board?
Honestly, I want to be on the Board to serve the community. I know how cliche that sounds, but it's really my reason for running. I don't have ulterior motives. I don't care about power, I simply wish to represent the community and have our voice heard on the Board.

About how much time do you think you'll put into the role?
As much as it takes. Honestly, I am willing to devote as much time of my life as required of me. I spend inordinate amounts of time on Wikipedia as is, so redirecting my activities to the Foundation wouldn't be a hassle for me.

Ideally, where do you see the Wikimedia Foundation in 5 years?
I would love to see the Foundation providing even more content to even more people. I think this is our primary goal and something we should strive for. Multimedia would be nice, so we can provide videos and audio to users to enrich the original textual content.

As a board member, how will you ensure a balance between openness and necessary privacy in board matters?
There are some things that should be open, and some things that should be private. Given the open nature of our work, I believe we can be more open in terms of finances, policy, and things of that nature. However, issues such as legal disputes with individuals or the setup of the server cluster's security are things that obviously should be kept private for what I see as uncontroversial reasons.

Recent discussion has centered around the Wikipedia and Wikimedia brands. How do you feel the Wikimedia brands should be used, or changed?
I think the brands obviously need protection. They are highly recognizable and need to be shielded from potential misuse. That being said, I think they should not be changed, as they are so recognizable. To change the well-known Wikipedia logo would be a mistake, in my opinion.

Wikimedia projects in developing nations are growing in popularity, but still lag far behind the more popular projects. What steps would you suggest to improve the quality, readership, and number of editors on smaller wikis?
I think this is something that falls to the communities themselves. Without a strong community to support a language, there cannot be substantial growth. I believe it is up to the speakers of that language to branch out to other members of their families and local communities to encourage participation.

What do you feel should be done to increase participation on non-Wikipedia projects?
I think they need to be more greatly advertised. I'm not saying posting banner ads on websites, as Wikipedia's growth has been entirely word of mouth. However, I think their prominence should be increased in media coverage of the Foundation's activities, if possible.

As a board member, what strategies would you consider to raise money for the Foundation?
I believe the current methods of fund raisers has been highly successful, and I believe it should be continued and encouraged. In addition, federal and private grants could be considered, provided they have no strings attached, as I would not wish to encroach on our policy of Neutral Point of View.

What else do you want to say to voters? (This is a good place to answer a question specific to your candidacy that you think should be answered)
I think the Board needs a new face to it. That's not to say that I have a lack of faith in the current Board, however I think that we've reached a point where we can say "Ok, you've served your turn, time for some fresh faces." While I may not have a degree in law or accounting, I am an intelligent individual dedicated to the ideals of the project.

Regards, ^demon^{[omg plz]} 05:52, 26 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you

Just wanted to say thank you for doing the signpost. It's a great read and does a lot to lend cohesiveness to the community. Anchoress 17:46, 26 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

minor edits

i have edited my signpost's election candidate's profile, by fixing some links and typos as well as taking out a non-existing "position". the latter may have arisen as a misunderstanding due to my mentioning founding a commission: it is no official position however, nor has there ever been a chair for it in fact. thanks for your help and work on this! greetz, oscar 10:48, 28 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Signpost/Board

~~Hi Ral, What's the deadline for submitting my answers? --kingboyk 10:59, 28 June 2007 (UTC)~~[reply]

1. Do you have any other usernames or pseudonyms?

Not on Wikimedia projects, no. I do however operate a bot account, User:Kingbotk.

2. What current or former user rights or positions do you have, and on which projects? (i.e. administrator, bureaucrat, arbitrator, developer, steward, board member, etc.)

I'm an administrator on the English Wikipedia and was formerly a member of the Bot Approvals Group. I am an AWB developer, and I think it's fair to say that I perform something of an unofficial leadership role at WikiProject Biography and WikiProject The Beatles.

3. Outside of Wikipedia, what do you do for a living?

I'm a programmer by trade.

4. What languages do you speak?

I am a native speaker of English, and I have GCSE French. Not terribly impressive, but languages are not my forte I'm afraid.

5. Why do you want to join the Board? What qualities do you feel you can bring to the Board?

I think the Board needs my help, and I'd like to step up my involvement in our project. As for qualities, I'm a quiet consensus builder but I'm fiercely dedicated to our project. I have technical knowledge, some modest experience of not-for-profit governance (former member of a Student Union Council and Finance Committee), and a basic understanding of law and accounting. Most importantly, I am an experienced Wikipedian.

6. About how much time do you think you'll put into the role?

I'll put in whatever it takes. An existing board member has estimated that he spends 20 hours per week on WMF issues. That seems to me extraordinarily high and perhaps an indication that the Board is either not delegating sufficiently or is distracted from it's mission; however, if 20 hours per week is what it takes I will do it.

7. Ideally, where do you see the Wikimedia Foundation in 5 years?

Financially stable, and firmly entrenched as one of the web's most popular and most useful properties. In 5 years time we should not just have a clear roadmap but we should be well on our way down the road. I'd hope also that by 2012 we will have taken some very serious steps towards improving the quality of our offering. On this wiki in particular we need to be focussing far more on quality rather than quantity.

8. As a board member, how will you ensure a balance between openness and necessary privacy in board matters?

Notes of all board meetings should default to "public", with only confidential information removed. As elected and accountable trustees we should have nothing to hide, except in rare cases where the privacy of third parties is at stake or where we are dealing with truly sensitive commercial information. I would also point out that I stand for a fully elected board; I believe nobody, including Jimbo, is entitled to a seat for life.

9. Recent discussion has centered around the Wikipedia and Wikimedia brands. How do you feel the Wikimedia brands should be used, or changed?

I'm not decided on this yet but think we need to review it as part of our roadmap. Wikipedia is our best known brand; Wikimedia is vulnerable to confusion with Mediawiki. We also have one or two projects which are a little off-message (our business should be the creation of original, free educational material). Those might be better spun off in their own interests as much as the Foundation's. I do not propose any wholesale shedding of projects, however, and I imagine that in 5 years time we will have more projects or brands than we do now.

10. Wikimedia projects in developing nations are growing in popularity, but still lag far behind the more popular projects. What steps would you suggest to improve the quality, readership, and number of editors on smaller wikis?

The difficulty in the poorest nations is that so few people have access to computers and the internet. I am terribly concerned, however, about our penetration outside Europe and North America. In particular, countries such as Malaysia and Thailand are increasingly affluent, with good levels of internet access, but the wikis in their languages have very low traffic. I've proposed in my candidacy that we must engage in active promotion in these geographical areas, perhaps by sending somebody out there on a media blitz or by working with Wikimedians from those areas.

11. What do you feel should be done to increase participation on non-Wikipedia projects?

Most of them are growing quite well organically, but it would certainly be helpful if our press releases and media appearances mentioned the other projects more often. With regards to Board membership, the Board must not neglect these other projects and I will always endeavour to help editors from other projects as best I can. Beyond that, people need to feel motivated to take part, we can't pressgang them.

12. As a board member, what strategies would you consider to raise money for the Foundation?

I'd consider anything which didn't compromise our integrity or interfere with our goals. As we grow, I feel that we must increasingly look to grants from charitable funds and other large donors.

13. What else do you want to say to voters? (This is a good place to answer a question specific to your candidacy that you think should be answered)

Please don't be apathetic. This is your project, and you've committed a lot of time to it, so make sure you vote! Don't let other people make the decision for you. If you want a new face on the Board, an ordinary editor who believes in accountability, transparency and an elected Board, then you should put an x next to my name.

--kingboyk 15:24, 28 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]