User:Alexis Jazz/Join the W?F-committee! It's fun!
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W?F?[edit]
The WMF wants to rename Wikimedia. Currently, there is the Wikimedia Foundation with projects like Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wiktionary, Wikispecies, Wikivoyage and others. The software that powers all these wikis is MediaWiki. So far, so good.
The name "Wikipedia" was a smash hit, everyone knows it. The name "Wikimedia" is not as well known. That's okay. Not every name has to be a slam dunk, and differentiating between the foundation and its projects makes sense. And "Wikimedia" is not a bad name. So the peanut gallery board went nuts and decided that the Wikimedia Foundation shall be renamed to the Wikipedia Foundation.
The community lashed out and on 30 September 2020 Raystorm made the announcement that "the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees has resolved to pause the Movement Brand Project through March 1, 2021".
Great, so problem solved for now WAIT IT'S NOT 2021 YET WHAT HAPPEN
On 27 November 2020 (note: that's before March 1, 2021 according to my calendar) Shani (WMF) posted a section to meta "Looking for community advisors to Board committee on Brand".
Pros to rebranding[edit]
- In two polls, 2.37%[1] and 7.85%[2] of the community supported rebranding.
- Absolutely none whatsoever.
- Zero.
- Zilch.
- Nada.
Cons to rebranding[edit]
YES MUCH BETTER
- In two polls, 97.63%[1] and 92.15%[2] of the community opposed rebranding.
- They don't understand branding. Look at Wikipedia on beta cluster. Make the recognizable thing smaller!
- There are a million more important things that need to do be done, like the 2020 elections to the Board of Trustees.
- Costs money. Mucho money.
- Confuses the public.
- Degrading to any non-Wikipedia project.
- Wikipedians don't want it either.
- Exactly where this brainfart originated is unclear, but it was probably a crappy marketeer.
- The board can't wait for elections, can't respect a promise to pause the brand project - do we trust them at all with this?