MS Forum: Community Review Report

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Questions & Responses

Do you think this forum can improve Movement Strategy discussions and collaboration?

[Forum thread]

Sentiment - Mixed; there is a positive perception of the automatic translation feature of the forum and how easy it is for newcomers to participate. Volunteers anyway discuss outside the wikis, and this platform offers some of the same advantages. Criticism warns of the risk of confusion and lack of adoption of another platform by communities. People opposing the MS Forum argued that the Wikimedia Foundation should invest in Meta-Wiki instead (see the discussion on Meta and Wikimedia-l).

Summary of Positive Opinions:

  • If Movement Strategy is presented simply, this platform can bring more opinions.

  • The translation capabilities here are so powerful and something we have never had before. Many people are left out in other channels because they feel rejected or embarrassed for their English skills. This is the only way to get widespread feedback for important topics like the Movement Charter.

  • This forum feels welcoming to newcomers. Participation here can be easier than in Meta. The interface walks users through it.

  • This is not a competitor to existing platforms. It simply seeks to move Movement Strategy content to a centralized platform.

  • MediaWiki supports well discussions tied to wiki pages, but it lacks many features for general discussions.

  • Cross-wiki discussions are already happening outside the wikis. Volunteers have adopted new platforms already. The forum has a chance to succeed, especially thanks to its translation capabilities.

  • Provides a better alternative to mailing lists, Telegram, and Facebook; has a realistic goal in terms of values, user experience, and flexibility.

  • This forum serves a valid purpose if we can embrace at least one platform and abandon the proprietary platforms.

  • This is a great platform to centralize the strategy discussions. It is a good tool to hold international and asynchronous conversations.

  • It would be really useful if the Movement Charter Drafting Committee could commit to using this platform for ongoing dialogue, in addition to Meta.

Summary of Neutral Opinions

  • If the choice is to participate in the forum or many other channels, this forum probably won’t succeed. If the choice is to participate in the forum or not to participate, maybe it will be successful.
  • This platform can succeed if it can offer a similar experience to social media platforms in terms of integration with mobile and laptops, intuitive interface, and access to everyone.
  • Some criticism can be resolved with a commitment to post updates on Meta in some way.

Summary of Critical Opinions

  • There are already many platforms in use, and there is doubt that volunteers will have the time and the energy to master yet another platform.
  • There is a risk this becomes a space for a handful of WMF staff and the few volunteers/affiliate staff devoted to Movement Strategy – with limited positive effect for the movement.
  • Risk of adding confusion for regular volunteers on where to keep updated with the most important information when discussions are already scattered.
  • MediaWiki is what our volunteers use, and a new platform is not going to get representative participation in discussions.
  • Volunteers may not venture far from their home wikis. Getting people to contribute on Meta is hard enough. Getting them to contribute here will be significantly harder.
  • Moving Movement Strategy updates to a more obscure platform will reduce reach.
  • Building a new silo to unite the old silos never works.
  • This forum will only make MediaWiki obsolete. If there are difficulties using a MediaWiki platform for conversations, it could be more effective to seek improvements rather than creating a new platform.

Do you think this forum can be useful to welcome and retain new contributors to Movement Strategy?

[Forum thread]

Sentiment: Overall agreement. Criticism is based on the idea that volunteers need to understand how Meta works.

Summary of Positive Opinions:

  • Yes, it can be useful to welcome and retain new volunteers, and also help people more easily get involved in Movement Strategy discussions.
  • Multilingual conversations and automatic translation of text-heavy discussions are great features that open opportunities for participation we have been missing.

Summary of Neutral Opinion/s:

  • This forum can retain newcomers if the platform is constantly improving, diversifying its topics, and creating a social atmosphere, for instance through sharing events, frequently asked questions, reminders of activities, etc.

Summary of Critical Opinion/s:

  • No, this forum will only make newcomers understand less how Meta works. In the long term, this is making newcomers abandon MediaWiki.
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