Wikipedia talk:Merchandise giveaways/Nominations

Meta?

Whilst I appreciate that this is our largest community, and that perhaps not every community is large enough to do this; Or more realistically those who are giving out the T shirsts don't want too many pages to monitor; Surely this should be on meta as well or instead of one language version of Wikipedia? ϢereSpielChequers 12:36, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

Agree. But I'd wait a while to see what bugs, problems or improvements manifest themselves before taking it wider. I.e., use en.WP as a trial. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 14:53, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay, but yes Meta is very much the next place this will launch. My guess is first week or two of January at this rate. Jalexander--WMF 00:15, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Can I suggest that in the next incarnation you make Why is this user awesome? and Support '''bold''' headings rather than ===subheadings=== so that seconders have to click the [edit] link next to the nominee's name. This will make the nominee's name appear on the page's history and our watchlists, so we can see at a glance who's been supporting whom from the watchlist? (You can't see that at present from scanning the diffs because the nominee's name rarely appears in the diff.) --Anthonyhcole (talk) 09:45, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

I agree, every time I see "support +1" or something similar in my watchlist, I have to scroll and find the newest support. It would be easier if it said "Dennis Brown: Support +1" or something similar. Go Phightins! 13:51, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

That makes sense, we could change the template for now too if that makes sense. Jalexander--WMF 02:39, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

Recommendations

I'm not sure whether or not to put this on this page or on the main page for nominations, so I'm putting it on both. (Although a more definite location for questions would definitely be a good idea.) My suggestion is that along with the current forms of nomination, we have something that allows for users to reference the nominee's past edits and history. We'd use something along the lines of the below format: (maybe use a different form?)

• Example (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · blacklist hits · AbuseLog · what links to user page · count · COIBot · Spamcheck · user page logs · x-wiki · status · Edit filter search · Google · StopForumSpam)

This would give each incoming use an easy way to pull up the user's editing history, which will be invaluable when it comes to someone that a user might not know that well or at all. I think that would help increase participation when it comes to voicing support because it'd be that much easier to research them. I know that I've wanted to research and show more support for other users, but it takes a longer time to search their editing history because I have to go through a few screens to do so rather than having it accessible through one click.Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡) 04:40, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

Seems sensible to me. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 02:59, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

Sock

You might want to delete Wikipedia:Merchandise_giveaways/Nominations#EM64T, presently labelled as a sockpuppet on their user page. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 09:10, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

• Hmm... considering that they've been blocked indefinitely in relation to a user involved with vandalizing Wikipedia, I think that this is probably a good idea to remove it. They were blocked for abusing sockpuppets and vandalizing, so there's really no merit in giving them a t-shirt. If there's no opposition (I'll give it a few days), then I'll remove it and state why. In the meantime, I'll mention this in the section for that user.Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡) 09:46, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

I've deleted it per WP:DNFTT. --Anthonyhcole (talk) 10:28, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

Thanks Anthony Jalexander--WMF 02:49, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

no "oppose"?

we have "support" votes in this process, but no mechanism to "oppose"?

o__0

how exactly is this supposed to work?

Lx 121 (talk) 11:16, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

It isn't an RfA or a vote, the idea of the support mechanisms are.. well basically to show that you agree. If there are extraordinary circumstances I'd take that into account but I do NOT want a long fight about whether someone deserves a shirt or not, that isn't the point. No one getting a shirt here is taking it 'away' from someone else. I'm literally working my way down the list and if the nomination makes sense and seems legitimate (I do tend to check them out a bit if I don't know the person) then I process it. Even users who have had major issues frequently have major pluses too. The biggest question has been banned users which is.. the best one I can see though even that is complicated because we'll be expanding to places like Meta and other projects/languages soon and they may not be blocked there (if they're blocked for a bunch of projects then I think that's fairly clear but not necessarily for just one or so). So the short answer is "this isn't a place to start ragging on someone". Jalexander--WMF 02:49, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Any shirts sent?

I'm curious--there are some great users nominated here, some with tons of supports...did they ever get shirts? Is this still in process? Qwyrxian (talk) 01:25, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Definitely still in process, I'm working through the list slowly but surely but may start looking for volunteer help soon to make it a faster process. If you look at Who has shirts you can see who has already gotten one (or at least been sent). I generally don't mark them off on the page until I have both contacted them AND they have responded to me (and I do it in batches). I'll do another batch of emails and marking today for the new ones that got ordered today. This has been a runaway success which I just love and almost the only thing slowing it down is my work load which we're going to try and fix ;). We also want to start expanding it to Meta and other languages/projects which is one of the reasons we're pushing the store a bit tomorrow to see what the publics interest is (because the store's main job is to fund giving merch away). Jalexander--WMF 02:06, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Ah...it's the "who has shirts" page that I was missing. Thanks for the pointer--i'm very happy to see many of the people on that last! Qwyrxian (talk) 03:14, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

• I don't mind helping out some, although I'll admit that I'm not sure entirely what I'd really be able to do.Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡) 05:17, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

I got mine. Go Phightins! 20:37, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Socks

I think this is an awesome idea: Does the WMF have any Wikipedia-emblazoned socks to give out? – Philosopher 15:10, 17 January 2013 (UTC) --Anthonyhcole (talk) 17:47, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

Or puppets made of WMF-emblazoned socks... Binksternet (talk) 17:52, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

Is this page still active?

Is there any point in anyone still editing this page? It appears that it's been something like seven weeks since anyone from the Foundation appeared here. This is slightly embarrassing, as I imagine the original intent was to reward good and popular editors, and all it's ended up doing is a creating a massive list of editors with the odd support that's been summarily ignored by WMF since Christmas 2012. At a time when we need to keep our best editors. Pity. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:41, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

My T-shirt arrived considerably less than seven weeks ago, so I suspect there's perhaps things still going on. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 21:05, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

Ok, just noting it because the page has done nothing but grown for seven weeks. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:12, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

• Rather curious about this as well, as at this rate nobody after number 50 or so is going to get a shirt. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:17, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Every morning I walk down to the maibox in anticipation. "This is the day", I say to myself. Every morning I walk back dissapointed. Mrs Buster fixes me a cup of hot cocoa and I sit and wait until the next day. I just wanna know one thing, "Where's my fuckin' shirt! Is my family gonna have to put it on my dead corpse? I get better service at the DMV!```Buster Seven Talk 12:49, 16 March 2013 (UTC) Sorry...I woke up a little grumpy today. ```Buster Seven Talk 17:00, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

I am #25 at present. Nothing, nada, zilch. Perhaps this is because I am not based in the US and that creates logistical problems. However, the lack of a piece of clothing is not going to discourage me from editing. Whether the quality of my contributions is any better or worse when editing bare-chested is an assessment that I leave to the reader ;) - Sitush (talk) 13:46, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

Hahaha! The absence of Wikipedia-branded shorts is that much more worrisome. Binksternet (talk) 17:17, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

It is? I thought that naked-below-the-waist editing was compulsory. The Wikipedia equivalent of some sort of masonic ritual etc. Hm, I'll obviously have to check that. - Sitush (talk) 01:05, 17 March 2013 (UTC)

Living in Sweden and got the t-shirt two months ago. And I can testify that wearing the t-shirt adds just a bit of edge to spice up the editing... Lova Falk talk 14:28, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

Buster, whenever you do get the email, I'd suggest you get a size bigger than you normally would; on mine, the sizes ran way too small and I can barely wear mine --Go Phightins! 17:06, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

Do they have 3X? GoP, I can just picture you sitting at your comp in your teeny-tiny T-shirt. Not a pretty picture!! ```Buster Seven Talk 17:46, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

Well, judging from the fact that this page hasn't added a new recipient since December, I would say that it might have been over (but I did get a campus ambassador T-shirt so I'm not complaining... loudly). OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 20:48, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

This page is toooo long, archive old threads please! --Tito Dutta (contact) 20:50, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

Heart attack with a side of high blood pressure

Easy Buster! I am nowhere near a 3XL, but I might be if I eat too many more of what I made myself for dinner tonight. Go Phightins! 23:40, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

• Hey all, sorry for the delay here, I've been keeping an eye on the other talk page but not here as much as I should. I am in no way done. I know it's been a bit slow lately since I've been swamped but I'm hoping to do a big swath of them as soon as possible this week and then we need to focus on the real issue: Making this more sustainable. I need to be involved at some level for now (until we have a better gift certificate option on the stores which we don't have yet) but I only 'need' to be active in the final 'send a package' stage which is relatively easy. What could make these things move a lot faster is if we can make a nice easy system for volunteers to help process (notify people that they've earned a shirt and how to send their info in etc). This is especially true if we want to expand it beyond enWiki which I would really like to do. I have the merchandise, I just need the time and ability to process as often as we can (this is why I haven't broadcast the page much recently). Jalexander--WMF 18:31, 18 March 2013 (UTC)

"I got an email from someone who wasn't James!? Is that real?"

In the process of trying to make this more scalable and try other things I'm working to send out initial emails from both myself and from User:Thehelpfulone who volunteered to help today on IM :). The emails you are getting from him ARE correct but you do not need to release any information (including your email) to him and he will not get the information you submit on the form linked (which goes to a secure corp.wikimedia.org address). If you have any questions you are completely free to contact me personally. Jalexander--WMF 22:38, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Just to confirm that I've just sent out 25 emails to the people near the top of the list, I'll send some more tomorrow. :-) Thehelpfulone 23:42, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Is this project active?

It looks like the last nominations to have any action taken on them occurred last April. What's the situation? LadyofShalott 18:20, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

• @Jalexander: The process is too slow. My name was nominated on 25 January (2013), and today is 15 January, 2014 (16 January according to Indian standard time). The nomination is still pending. There are many nominations pending for 1 years. Please provide some update. Suggestion: If this project is active still, please start a 2 weeks' voting period and 4—6 weeks clearing (in total) target. So, every request will be processed within 1 and a half month. If you need volunteers (checking editors' contribution, votes, tag nomination, (if necessary) emailing the user, archiving nomination discussion etc). I am ready to do so. I am sure, there will be other editors too. Tito☸Dutta 21:58, 15 January 2014 (UTC)

@LadyofShalott: Thanks for checking in on this. The Merchandise Giveaways process was, for all intents and purposes, on hiatus as the shop underwent a series of managerial and departmental changes. This week, we are undergoing the grueling process of updating all Wikis associated with the Giveaways as well as getting out shirts to the first of those who have been nominated during 2013. We'll be staggering these giveaways out over the coming months. I'd like to personally thank all nominees and nominators for their patience and assure you that the Giveaways are on hiatus no longer. I'll be updating this Talk page again shortly our first successful giveaway goes out. --CCogdill (WMF) (talk) 23:36, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

@Titodutta: I really appreciate your offer to volunteer on this project. If you're comfortable with this, I'd like to keep your name on a short list for help with the Giveaways once our process is regulated, and if we feel we can easily pass off some duties onto a community member. Also, please note that User:Jalexander is a very busy guy and is no longer responsible for the WMF shop. You can direct any and all shop-related questions to me :) Thanks again for your interest! --CCogdill (WMF) (talk) 23:41, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

CCogdill (WMF), thank you for the update. It is much appreciated. I would request that if there are future hiatuses (not only for this project, but whatever WMF project), the community please be notified. If we know there is thought/reason behind a hiatus, it doesn't look like something has merely been forgotten or let to drop. LadyofShalott 02:42, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

• @CCogdill (WMF): Yes, please add my name in your volunteer's shortlisting. (Not sure if it will be needed), I had submitted identity to WMF. Let's get things restarted as soon as possible. --Tito☸Dutta 08:50, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

I would just like to update this and say we have contacted 7 previously nominated users and have sent 1 shirt so far. As is referenced on the FAQ on the main page we are beginning with users on Nominations Archive 3 before moving on to the current Nominations list, as some users on Archive 3 did not respond when they were contacted last year. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! --CCogdill (WMF) (talk) 00:14, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

• CCogdill (WMF) The process is too slow. Tito☸Dutta 00:30, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Titodutta Can you be a little more specific in how you find the process slow? I should specify we restarted sending to users last Monday, 1/27. We are currently throttling the number of users we contact in a given week to ensure the process is working. The reason only (now) 2 of 7 shirts have been sent is that we are awaiting responses from the other 5. With that in mind, can you specify your concerns? --CCogdill (WMF) (talk) 00:35, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

• With that in mind, can you specify your concerns? we have contacted 7 previously nominated users — 100+ pending nominations, contacted 7! Getting response from editors is a different thing, but they may be contacted quickly to clear the current old nominations and revive the program. I don't check Archive 3. But a) if more editors are contacted quickly and status is updated like User:Example Status:     Contacted, waiting for response, it'll bring new life to the project. Of course I can help in both of these (or other) works. Tito☸Dutta 00:48, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

*I understand your concern here. As I mentioned, we want to throttle the amount we do for the first few weeks to make sure it's going smoothly. That includes updates to the nominations list/archives as I began doing last week. In order to normalize the process, we have to stagger the rate at which we reach out to people. At the moment, we've contacted 7 people in 8 days. I see this as a success, and we will continue to ramp up that rate as we receive more responses. — Preceding unsigned comment added by CCogdill (WMF) (talk • contribs) 01:02, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

• I think the point that Tito is trying to make is that it's not about waiting for people to respond before you send out more emails. Everyone has different levels of commitment to the project and checking their (in a number of cases) alternate email for Wikipedia-related stuff. Thus, if the next 7 users you send emails to haven't edited for a couple of weeks, or don't check their emails that often then the following batch of users (who may actually check their emails!) will suffer waiting even longer for their shirts. To put it another way, these users have been waiting for over a year for the Foundation to send them an email - and if people waited until nominations were processed until they nominated other people - we would have stopped having extra nominations months ago. I agree with Tito that it'd make more sense to send emails out inviting people to fill out the forms in a significantly larger quantity - even if you then only send out less shirts per week after you've sent the initial email. Thehelpfulone 13:29, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

• I think the point that Tito is trying to make is that it's not about waiting for people to respond before you send out more emails. — Exactly. Thank you. Tito☸Dutta 14:34, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

• Thanks for clarifying. Just to be clear, we aren't waiting for responses before we send out more emails, we just wanted to stagger the initial amount we sent in case somehow there were strange snaffoos in shipping, our new nominee selection form, or otherwise. Think of it as a Beta phase, if you will. We still haven't gotten much in the way of responses so we'll be leaving notes on the pending users' talk pages and continuing with more. We'll be emailing 10 more today (which will mean we can close out Nominations Archive 3 and start working on Nominations), and 10 more later this week. We want to have at least a small sample size of responses to the form to ensure it's working correctly before messaging users en masse. I hope this ramp up will help address your very valid concerns. --CCogdill (WMF) (talk) 21:15, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

• (Could not post if for sometime for Wikimedia error, server not found) User:CCogdill (WMF), that definitely makes sense now. But if we have to enquire once again after a couple of months, that'll be very disappointing. Most probably you have not noticed as I had a different signature, but the first time I posted here about itwas on 16 March 2013. Anyway, your recent reply is meaningful undoubtedly. Tito☸Dutta 22:24, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Quick list of nominated people

I suggest/want to create a "quick list of nominated people" that can be suggested as "see it before nominating new people". Currently search option is not much helpful, as there are many support signatures. Tito☸Dutta 14:22, 5 May 2014 (UTC)