No subject

strating and disappointing experience. Despite my best efforts we did not r=
eceive a completely translated central banner in Welsh and clicking on the =
central banner never took us to the Welsh language version of the donation =
landing page, at least for the vast majority of cy users, those living in t=
he UK.=20

To describe in detail:


Translation links for translators
This year you decided not to include translation links from the central not=
ice to meta because this was drawing people away from the donation link. I'=
m not taking issue with that decision. As you know the disadvantage of this=
 is that potential translators do not know where to translate, which is pot=
entially aggravating for those users (of which more below). One way of miti=
gating this difficulty would have been to post on the community page an inv=
itation and link to the translation tab of the Fundraiser 2010 hub, specifi=
cally inviting users to translate, when the campaign went permanently live.=
 Assuming that the central banner will lack the translation links next year=
 too I recommend you do this next year.

The link to the fundraiser translation which was included as a banner on me=
ta was very useful by the way - please can we have this next year too.


i-10n issues
It does not appear that i-10n issues were considered during the preparation=
 and testing of the fundraiser either at Wikimedia Foundation or at any of =
the chapters. Each chapter had its own landing pages with its own messages.=
 No mechanism was put in place to allow all language wikis within the geogr=
aphical area of the chapter to localise these chapter-specific messages. It=
 was only when this issue was raised by the wikis affected that this was ad=
dressed. Casey brown set up some translated pages for individual combinatio=
ns of language/chapter, at their request. This was done on an ad hoc basis,=
 it being down to each language wiki to understand the problem and request =
action. This issue was discussed on the l-translators list but not all tran=
slators subscribe to the list (especially not those who are first-time tran=
slators at meta). I requested that somebody who knew the ins and outs of th=
is issue write some general advice about this on meta itself. I was
 disappointed that my request was not answered.=20

I recommend that when further action is needed by translators, to get their=
 translations applied, then notes about this should be posted where we are =
likely to see them - such as on the relevant translation pages at meta.=20


Image format
After having translated various messages specific to Wikimedia UK and Casey=
 Brown having published them it was still not possible to see them because =
of a technical issue with the banner, apparently caused by its being done a=
s an image on Wikimedia UK. As I understand it the image format performed b=
etter during the testing and so was chosen. No consideration whatsoever had=
 been given to the issue of localisation of image formats.

Unfortunately it appears that there was only one person at WikiMedia UK who=
 was in a position to create the correct banner images with 'Read Now' loca=
lised and linking to the localised WikiMedia UK landing pages. This one per=
son was unfortunately too busy to do this as I understand it. I had hoped t=
hat we would get this done by Christmas but it never was done. I am quite d=
isappointed that my last e-mail of concerning this has still not been answe=
red, leaving me still in the dark to some extent.=A0 In any case he would h=
ave had to attend to each language individually, meaning that only those la=
nguages requesting this would have been able to be fixed.

Please make sure that you use localisable formats in future.


Disregard of non-state language wikis
I guess that the amount of money that you could raise from the wikis of non=
-state languages is usually small so from the point of view of an efficient=
 fund-raiser all this is unimportant. But from my point of view fundraiser =
central notices appearing wholly or partly in a language which is not the w=
iki language are counter-productive. Rather than encouraging users to donat=
e they discourage donation. You did not receive a donation from me this yea=
r, as I was waiting to be able to do this via the central banner.=20

Worse than that however is that these central notices appearing in English =
or state languages are intrusive and alienating, and in my opinion damage t=
hese wikis. It creates a them and us mentality, reinforcing the view that t=
he users of these wikis do not 'own' them. Usually central notices are tran=
slated quickly by me to avoid any appearing in English. It was very frustra=
ting to do many hours of work on the fundraiser, only for most of it not to=
 appear via the central banner.=A0 The whole experience was very discouragi=
ng.


Next year
I write all the above in the hope that next year's fundraiser can be improv=
ed. I realise that all involved, volunteers and paid staff, are working und=
er a lot of pressure and that there was no intention to aggravate the reade=
rs and translators of the smaller wikis.=A0 Some of the smaller wikis do no=
t have enough manpower to translate all the stuff produced by WMF, either i=
n a timely fashion, or at all.=A0 It was a shame that technical issues prev=
ented the=A0 hard work of those of us who did translate the fundraiser from=
 being put to use. Since I know that I was not the only person who had diff=
iculties this year I am copying this message to the translators-l list.

Regards,
Eleri James (Lloffiwr), Wales





=0A=0A=0A      
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Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<table cellspacing=3D"0" cellpadding=3D"0" border=3D"0" ><tr><td valign=3D"=
top" style=3D"font: inherit;">Dear All,<br><br>There follows an e-mail I tr=
ied to post on this list on 22.1.11 and 26.1.11, but which was cut off afte=
r the 'Dear Philippe'.&nbsp; I hope it is accepted this time:<br><br>Dear P=
hilippe,<br><br><br>From my point of view the translation of the fundraiser=
 2010 was a very frustrating and disappointing experience. Despite my best =
efforts we did not receive a completely translated central banner in Welsh =
and clicking on the central banner never took us to the Welsh language vers=
ion of the donation landing page, at least for the vast majority of cy user=
s, those living in the UK. <br><br>To describe in detail:<br><br><br>Transl=
ation links for translators<br>This year you decided not to include transla=
tion links from the central notice to meta because this was drawing people =
away from the donation link. I'm not taking issue with that decision. As yo=
u
 know the disadvantage of this is that potential translators do not know wh=
ere to translate, which is potentially aggravating for those users (of whic=
h more below). One way of mitigating this difficulty would have been to pos=
t on the community page an invitation and link to the translation tab of th=
e Fundraiser 2010 hub, specifically inviting users to translate, when the c=
ampaign went permanently live. Assuming that the central banner will lack t=
he translation links next year too I recommend you do this next year.<br><b=
r>The link to the fundraiser translation which was included as a banner on =
meta was very useful by the way - please can we have this next year too.<br=
><br><br>i-10n issues<br>It does not appear that i-10n issues were consider=
ed during the preparation and testing of the fundraiser either at Wikimedia=
 Foundation or at any of the chapters. Each chapter had its own landing pag=
es with its own messages. No mechanism was put in place to allow all
 language wikis within the geographical area of the chapter to localise the=
se chapter-specific messages. It was only when this issue was raised by the=
 wikis affected that this was addressed. Casey brown set up some translated=
 pages for individual combinations of language/chapter, at their request. T=
his was done on an ad hoc basis, it being down to each language wiki to und=
erstand the problem and request action. This issue was discussed on the l-t=
ranslators list but not all translators subscribe to the list (especially n=
ot those who are first-time translators at meta). I requested that somebody=
 who knew the ins and outs of this issue write some general advice about th=
is on meta itself. I was disappointed that my request was not answered. <br=
><br>I recommend that when further action is needed by translators, to get =
their translations applied, then notes about this should be posted where we=
 are likely to see them - such as on the relevant translation pages
 at meta. <br><br><br>Image format<br>After having translated various messa=
ges specific to Wikimedia UK and Casey Brown having published them it was s=
till not possible to see them because of a technical issue with the banner,=
 apparently caused by its being done as an image on Wikimedia UK. As I unde=
rstand it the image format performed better during the testing and so was c=
hosen. No consideration whatsoever had been given to the issue of localisat=
ion of image formats.<br><br>Unfortunately it appears that there was only o=
ne person at WikiMedia UK who was in a position to create the correct banne=
r images with 'Read Now' localised and linking to the localised WikiMedia U=
K landing pages. This one person was unfortunately too busy to do this as I=
 understand it. I had hoped that we would get this done by Christmas but it=
 never was done. I am quite disappointed that my last e-mail of concerning =
this has still not been answered, leaving me still in the dark to
 some extent.&nbsp; In any case he would have had to attend to each languag=
e individually, meaning that only those languages requesting this would hav=
e been able to be fixed.<br><br>Please make sure that you use localisable f=
ormats in future.<br><br><br>Disregard of non-state language wikis<br>I gue=
ss that the amount of money that you could raise from the wikis of non-stat=
e languages is usually small so from the point of view of an efficient fund=
-raiser all this is unimportant. But from my point of view fundraiser centr=
al notices appearing wholly or partly in a language which is not the wiki l=
anguage are counter-productive. Rather than encouraging users to donate the=
y discourage donation. You did not receive a donation from me this year, as=
 I was waiting to be able to do this via the central banner. <br><br>Worse =
than that however is that these central notices appearing in English or sta=
te languages are intrusive and alienating, and in my opinion damage
 these wikis. It creates a them and us mentality, reinforcing the view that=
 the users of these wikis do not 'own' them. Usually central notices are tr=
anslated quickly by me to avoid any appearing in English. It was very frust=
rating to do many hours of work on the fundraiser, only for most of it not =
to appear via the central banner.&nbsp; The whole experience was very disco=
uraging.<br><br><br>Next year<br>I write all the above in the hope that nex=
t year's fundraiser can be improved. I realise that all involved, volunteer=
s and paid staff, are working under a lot of pressure and that there was no=
 intention to aggravate the readers and translators of the smaller wikis.&n=
bsp; Some of the smaller wikis do not have enough manpower to translate all=
 the stuff produced by WMF, either in a timely fashion, or at all.&nbsp; It=
 was a shame that technical issues prevented the&nbsp; hard work of those o=
f us who did translate the fundraiser from being put to use. Since I
 know that I was not the only person who had difficulties this year I am co=
pying this message to the translators-l list.<br><br>Regards,<br>Eleri Jame=
s (Lloffiwr), Wales<br><br><br><br><br><br></td></tr></table><br>=0A=0A=0A=
=0A      
--0-1101539301-1296235708=:65494--