Foundation wiki feedback/Archive/2005

This page is for resolved problems, carried out suggestions and old comments from Wikimedia site feedback. Please do not add new comments to this archive.

Discussion in 2004 is at Wikimedia site feedback/archive/2004.

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Using Google AdSense and Google Search with AdSense for Revenue

I noticed that you are having a fundraiser to raise funds. A very simple way to raise funds would be to include a small amount of Google Ads on every (or most) pages. They are context sensitive, so they actually are useful for users much of the time providing additional links, they can use the same color scheme as the rest of the website so they don't distract the user too much while still being useful, and they are clearly labeled as ads so people will know it is an ad and not a wiki link. You have enough traffic where you would probably get a fair amount of money for placing the ads. And for people annoyed with ads, you could have an option in their user account that turns off the ads for free. You could cater to everyone and still make money to pay for the servers and hosting. - WisTex

Hi, use of google ads is very controversial. Some people consider that it is totally non acceptable, while others think that at best it should be opt-in (rather than opt-out) Anthere 18:31, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Google has offered to help host Wikimedia projects. Using the money Google earns from the ads on their site seems a better way to go - it's more acceptable to have ads on their site because they are commercial and we are non-profit. Brianjd | Why restrict HTML? | 13:10, 2005 Mar 28 (UTC)

See Google hosting and Sponsorship. Brianjd | Why restrict HTML? | 02:40, 2005 Apr 7 (UTC)

disabling search and ad revenue

I think the method of using yahoo as the search engine within Wikipedia was a much better idea which also saves on the fees involved with searching. Also, I personally don't mind a sensible amount of ads to fund wikipedia. Jimmy

Have you noticed that we link to both Google and Yahoo? This is a temporary measure - we hope to re-enable search when the new database servers come online (unless we accept Google's offer of help and they make it so their search engine can give current results; at the moment their indexes may be outdated). There's another section right above this about ads. Brianjd | Why restrict HTML? | 13:12, 2005 Mar 28 (UTC)

Actually, our search results are not current either. So there shouldn't be much problem in simply using external search engines even when we get the new servers. Brianjd | Why restrict HTML? | 05:00, 2005 Apr 7 (UTC)

Kod:

Wiki Family Tree

Wouldn't it be nice if there existed a wiki family tree, open for everyone? That would make easy to find one's relatives!

   Agreed, wonderful idea!   ~Tinclon

WikiTree should become a foundation project.

Wiki Recipe Book (Recipiki)

I think a Wiki Recipe book would be a great addition to the Wikimedia library!

Why is the interface only in English and French?

Why is the interface only in English and French(?) ? The main language of Wikimedia's prjects is English, the second is German. Why French?

Which interface do you mean? The sidebar links, and so forth? +sj | Translate the Quarto |+

I thought it could be because they have a French chapter but I see they had a German chapter before that. Brianjd | Why restrict HTML? | 07:12, 2005 Apr 10 (UTC)

No, it is simply that the board members represent only two languages : french and english. If you really want to come to that point, the main two languages of the projects are english and german, but the two main languages of the Foundation are english and french. Anthere 10:36, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

Hopefully to be expanded, once better translation infrastructure is in place... +sj | Translate the Quarto |+

Why does this site require full use of HTML when none of the other wikis do?

Why does this site require full use of HTML when none of the other wikis do? It's one of the reasons we have to be so restrictive about editing it. Brianjd | Why restrict HTML? | 02:57, 2005 May 19 (UTC)

It contains the PayPal donation submission forms. --brion 07:47, 19 May 2005 (UTC)

You have to go to the PayPal site anyway to tell them where to take the money from; why not handle the whole thing there? Brianjd | Why restrict HTML? | 05:32, 2005 May 20 (UTC)

translation issue

हिन्दी should be spelled िहन्दी. This is a common error in Hindi pages. The short E sound modifier ि must be placed before the letter it modifies and not after.

Was this fixed ? Anthere 09:36, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

I hope it wasn't "fixed" - the problem is a rendering bug in the browser the reporter of the error was using - if complex scripts are enabled in the OS, the first one appears as it apparently should. – ABCD✉ 14:34, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Image upload (see Bug #898)

James F. suggested that the wiki allow upload of any file not on a blacklist since only trusted people can upload anyway. This means files such as the business cards, which are in .ps format could be saved on the Foundation wiki. Are there any thoughts on, or objections to, this? Angela 21:37, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Why do we assume that people with accounts are "trusted", when anyone can create an account? Brianjd | Why restrict HTML? | 13:19, 2005 Mar 28 (UTC)

I was thinking of other wikis, which only seem to allow images for some reason. All wikis should allow uploads of any files. Brianjd | Why restrict HTML? | 05:03, 2005 Apr 10 (UTC)

Allowing everyone to edit talk pages

Would it be a bad idea to allow non-account holders to edit only discussion pages on wikimediafoundation.org? I'd like to hear your thoughts. --169.229.98.90 08:53, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

It makes perfect sense! Why redirect people to another website to give feedback? Why have the feedback for an entire website on one page? Brian Jason Drake 07:31, 25 December 2005 (UTC)

Brazilian donations

I´m a brazilian Wikipedia user and I´d like to contribute with the fundraising but I don´t have international dredit card. Is there a way I could donate with Real (Brazil´s currency)? I think many users from Brazil would be able to donate if this was possible.

pt:User:Afreitas 17:17, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

Brazilian people can donate by sending Postal Order (by which you could exchange Real to US Dollar, at least it is possible in Japan, but I am not totally sure). Please ask your local post office how to use this service. --Aphaia++ 05:27, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

Denisgomes

Besides the postal order, you can send money to nearly any person in the world with a money order, which can be obtained from your bank. There's no need to be an account holder to do that. Banco do Brasil even has agreements with Western Union, an international and very known money transfer company.

Article about David Alter

I was most impressed to peruse the latest artcle on David Alter.Actually I had created a stub and it was rewarding to find someone take this up so soon.He indeed was a very great scientist but is not well known.I would like to suggest that this artcle be listed or displayed on the main page.(202.138.112.252 05:37, 23 June 2006 (UTC))

Privacy policy

Please add a link to Japanese translation on wikimedia:Privacy policy--っ [Café] [Album] 00:22, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Done. --Aphaia 17:56, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Edited a userbox

w:Template:User_wikipedia/Donor has been editd to try and bring more visibility to donors. --evrik 22:04, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

The name of Estonian currency

On the page of Fundraising, the section 27 currencies accepted: lists the Estonian currency as "Estonian koruna"... Koruna is the name of Chech and Slovak currencies, but the Estonian money is called "kroon" (or sometimes "crown" in English - see also [1]). Could You fix that? 84.50.235.196 23:06, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Done. Thank you and sorry for late reaction. --Aphaia 17:37, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Please update the translation links on foundation:Fundraising

There is a new magic word that should be used for linking to translations. Instead of making the text link to the German translation "de" (the language code), make it this: {{#language:de}} which automatically produces this: Deutsch. Nifty, huh? Since the donations page is linked to from every wiki now, I think it's important this page is well-attended to. You could also do this for any other pages on foundation what have translations, but this one is the most important. Thanks, pfctdayelise 10:53, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestion. I've changed it at Wikimedia:Template:FundLang. Angela 11:07, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Also this page itself could do with some serious pruning... pfctdayelise 10:56, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Feel free to remove old feedback if it's no longer relevant. Angela 11:07, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Where I can find the settings in the Wiki-Software to set the rights for read and write in an intranet surrounding

Where not everybody is allowed to read - because it is a top-secret development project that should be organized with the wiki-method. Where I can find anybody who can help me with this problem oder give me some hints where I have to look for, keywords fpr search, Forums where I can place the question??? THX and Greets from M., Berlin (email: sumpfhuhn at gmx.net)

Have you read Preventing Access? That's a MediaWiki question, not a Wikimedia one. :) Angela 11:07, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, ähm...of course..ähm...very nice, thank You very much. I will try to understand it, if not I have about 243 other Questions... ;-) CU Martin

READ: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Preventing_Access#Disable_anonymous_reading THX Martin

I have a suggestion!

This might not be the correct place for this kind of thing. But, you know...

I have an idea for a new Wikimedia project. You might think it's the stupidest thing, but I think a new project should be created and called: Wikilyrics, or something like that. The name is pretty self-explanitory. It would be a huge database of the lyrics of every song ever created, including different variations, translations etc. Essentially it would be a wiki, so that anyone could edit it.

This would be so cool ;)

If this is not the right place for suggestions like this and if you know where a suggestion like this should be taken to, could you please provide me with a link?

Thanks in advance.

-Franz T. Speeling

Check out [lyricswiki.org] --Ephilei 04:07, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Page Deleted, User Blocked (Polish version)

The Polish version of the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steak_and_Blowjob_Day has been deleted by this Administrator: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedysta:Gdarin , with a glaring offence against Wikipedia:Deletion_policy (which is practically the same for the Polish version). The article did NOT meet any of the Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion and the VfD had only been running for about two days.
Furthermore, for having restored the original contents of the page, I have been blocked by this Administrator http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedysta:Szwedzki , on the grounds of 'vandalism'. Since restoring a page, especially one that was illegaly deleted, is expressly NOT an act of vandalism, this again has been a glaring offence by the Administrators against Wikipedia rules.
Could anyone comment on this in any form? Regards, Ariosto 19:08, 14 March 2006 (UTC) PS: My User Name (Ariosto) is the same for all lg versions (pl, en).

Your block on PL Wikipedia expires 17 mrt 2006 19:13. The PL Wikipedia is a big wikipedia. This is a local problem. It is up to the community of the PL wikipedia to deal with this case. If you can not wait you can use the mailing list wikipl-l to talk about this. --Walter 12:02, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply. It is really a matter of Wikipedia principles and rules rather than of the actual block. As a new user, I am unlikely to get support from the community or to make the Administrators apologise, even in a case as clear as this one. Still, thank you for the link. Ariosto 15:55, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

yeah i find that a wonderfull idea then we would attract more people to our site i did a vote in my childs class and half of them said if sites had more fun kid things to do then they would visit them more often.

Error on Foundation:Press releases/English Wikipedia Publishes Millionth Article

In the image gallery on the press release it has, as the label for the fourth picture:

Jimbo Wales at "Parc des Buttes Chaumont", a park in Paris, far from Gare du Nord.

On the image page for that picture, the description is:

Jimbo Wales at "Parc des Buttes Chaumont", a park in Paris not far from Gare du Nord. (my emphasis)

This discrepancy, while not major, probably ought to be rectified.

Regards. – MrWeeble 13:11, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

The currency notation's a bit weird as well - USD or US$, but not USD$? en.wikipedia user Bazza 193.113.48.17 14:41, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

er ... the D stands for Dollar (ie "$") so "United States Dollar Dollar" would be somewhat weird (not to say very wrong!) --Alison Wheeler 18:48, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Yep. We should unify on one or the other. (personal pref for USD) Sj 02:36, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

A chapter in China is under development?? But China has banned Wikipedia! -- Lev

Out of date

This page is completely out of date, would someone have the decency to bring it up-to-date. Lincher 21:43, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the notice, Lincher. Sj 08:59, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Systematic violation of rules by administrators at international Wiki sites

It was recommended at Village Pump to ask my question here.[2] How are the other international Wikipedia sites monitored so that they follow the Wikipedia spirit and policies? I think there is danger that a small group of bureacrats can hold the new encyclopedia to themselves and keep out the users from editing, for example, by adding protection to certain articles for no reason, but then continuing to edit the article how only they want, then start personal attacks against community members they disagree. This has been problems with administrators abusing their authority at the Finland's Wikipedia site. It is the same as the "elitist goons" worst case. [3] What can Finnish or any wiki community do, if the administrators or even bureaucrats of the site will not follow the rules? Another question, how are the first bureaucrats of a new international Wikipedia site selected? 192.100.124.218 08:17, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Every Wiki has it own way of doing things. It is not because a wiki is doing things not like the do on the EN Wikipedia that the have to do that also. If there are real problems then there will come complaints about it and can those sysops be de-sysped and blocked form the Wikimedia level. --Walter 11:59, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for the response. I think the problems in Finland's Wikipedia result from the bureacrats laissez-faire way, or even agreement with the questionable ways of the sysops. The question is based on an article in Finland's Wikipedia about a hot potatoe political matter in Finland. The administrators are abusing their powers, creating reversion conflicts about irrelevant and misleading text that the sysops themselves have put. (I can give the article it is about some of the Finnish apartheid going on [4]) Then they use the conflict as a reason to lock the article, with the misleading text, so it can no longer be edited. But the sysops still continue to edit it. This situation has been told the bureacrats of Finland's site, but they have taken no action against the sysops, and one sysop has even said to ignore any messages from IP addresses. Because the problem is only about one or small number of articles, there will not be big amount of complaints which might force action from an unwilling bureacrat. In my opinion the situation is seriously out of line from the Wikipedia spirit. I believe the basic Wikipedia concept and policies are the same for all international Wikipedia sites, is this not so? It affects on credibility of Wikipedia. So I hope someone can answer the question, What can Finnish or any wiki community do, if the administrators or even bureaucrats of the site will not follow the rules? 192.100.124.218 10:05, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Great Site

I think that this is an awsome site. I have used it so many times and I always find what im looking for. All I have to say is "Great Job Guys."

Thanks!

I recently visited the Megalithic Observatory Kokino (R. Macedonia) and met the archeologist that discovered the archaeoastronomy site. NASA recognized the site as the 4th oldest astronomical site in the world IN 2002 (S.E. European Times: http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2005/05/11/feature-02). When I visited your EXCELLENT site, I did note that there was no mention of this little known, but very important site in South Central Europe. Thank you for your great work and fantastic public service!

Where can I report a bug in the wiki-Software

Hi wikimedi-people, I'm an editor in the Wikipedia and found a bug. It would be nice if you could say me where I can report it. It would also be cool if there was a link on the main page for that. Thanks in advance: --84.146.190.238 15:42, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

See http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org First see of there is not yet a bug about the problem. --Walter 15:50, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

For Belgium

You should gives your direct Dexia account number so any Belgian can send you money with no charge at all (fee: 0$).

I second this. The IBAN/BIC codes listed for transfers are useful for everyone except people actually in Belgium. Internal country transfers require the account number. Please provide it!

?? It is on the Dutch and French version of the donation page written. And on the site-notice of WikipediaNL. And when you look at the IBAN-account number any Belgian should be able to see the Belgian account number in it. (IBAN BE43 0689 9999 9501 and 068-9999995-01) And if you do not see it the bank will understand it. --Walter 00:12, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

Well that is good to know, but I, for one, live in Belgium and I never use the fr or nl Wikipedias. I speak English and German (the latter being an officially recognised Belgian language) and neither the English nor German pages have the Belgian account number. The question is, why is it expected that no-one in Belgium would ever use Wikipedia in English? After all, English is the primary language of many institutions and communities in Belgium.

Besides, the account number is not just useful for Belgians. From some non-European banks you can't transfer to an IBAN, only to a wholly numeric account number. IBANs are only primarily used in Europe. [5]

I accept your second argument. I have added the info to Wikimedia:Fundraising. I have asked the Germans to put it also on there page. --Walter 08:11, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

Checks payable to?

For donations to Wikimedia, as per the donation drive, letting people know who checks should be written out too seems like a good idea. I wrote mine to "Wikimedia Foundation Inc.", but it should be stated clearly on that page.

Good point. Done. --Daniel Mayer 23:23, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

Double redirect on foundation wiki

The "about" link on the bottom bar of the foundation wiki links to Wikimedia:About, which redirects to About the Wikimedia Foundation, which in turn redirects to About Wikimedia, where the content is. Thryduulf 23:43, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Fixed. Thank you for your input. --M/ 23:48, 14 December 2005 (UTC)