Community Wishlist/FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the deadline for submitting wishes?

The Community Wishlist will remain open. There is no deadline for wish submission.

How do I submit a wish? Has anything changed about submissions?

You can submit wishes at Community Wishlist/Intake .

There have been changes to made to what we would like to see in wishes. Please see How to Make a Wish for more information.

What is a wish status?

Below are descriptions of our current wish statuses. We will continue to review wish statuses on an as-needed basis, based on community input.


Status	Description
Archived	The wish typically relates to a policy change, is too specific in nature, or does not make sense. Most often, these wishes will not be acted upon through the Community Wishlist.
Submitted	The wish has been submitted and will be reviewed by the Foundation. The wish is editable by others for collaboration.
Open	The wish describes a problem and is sufficient without additional context or editing. It is translatable, generally uneditable, and under consideration for a focus area.
In progress	The wish is incorporated in a focus area and/or has been adopted by the Foundation, affiliates, or volunteer developers.
Delivered	This wish has been fulfilled.

How does the Wikimedia Foundation gauge the popularity or interest in a wish? Why did you take away voting on specific wishes?

While voting was a popular community mechanism to prioritize specific wishes, however voting is just one mechanism to determine the demand or impact of a wish, and there is a culture of "no-vote" in the movement. Some wishes come from smaller wikis, or pertain to groups that don't frequent the wishlist (ie, newcomers). We look at a variety of signals to indicate the relevance of a wish:

Level of discussion: The amount of participation in conversations around a wish can show interest.
Support comments: Positive feedback from multiple users can indicate the wish has broad support.
Diverse interest: If users from different communities, regions, or languages show interest, it may suggest the issue is more universally relevant.

How then do we influence prioritization?

Participants are encouraged to discuss and support focus areas to highlight their importance.

What are "focus areas"?

The Foundation will identify patterns with wishes that share a collective problem and group them into areas known as "focus areas." The grouping of wishes will begin in August 2024, based on wish submissions from July 2024 and onward.

How are wishes evaluated to determine if they are "good" enough to move into the focus area phase?

The Community Tech team evaluates and categorizes new wishes every week. In this process, we try to identify the user's pain points and potential effort and impact of solving the problem. While some wishes may include a proposed solution, we try not to evaluate or judge the solution in this process. At times, the Community Tech team or other stakeholders will ask clarifying questions to better understand the problem.

Different communities may have varying perspectives on what makes a wish "good," but we aim to prioritize wishes that address core challenges. We recommend a clear articulation of the problem and user goal, and supporting evidence through data, screenshots, etc are always helpful.

How will this new system move wishes forward for addressing?

The Wikimedia Foundation, affiliates, and volunteer developers can adopt focus areas. The Foundation is committed to integrating two or more focus areas in 2024–25, and will incorporate even more focus areas into our Annual Planning for 2025–26.

Focus areas align to hypotheses (specific projects, typically taking up to one quarter) and key results (broader projects taking up to one year).

How are focus areas created and populated?

Community Tech partners with stakeholders at the Foundation to analyze patterns from submitted wishes. We group similar challenges or issues together to identify broad focus areas that represent significant pain points across communities, rather than focusing on individual, isolated wishes.

Will community opinions be taken into account when determining focus areas?

Yes, we listen closely to community feedback, and focus areas are shaped by the input and concerns of users. However, opinions on what makes a wish "good" or "bad" can vary. Our goal is to balance these perspectives while addressing overarching problems that can have the greatest impact.

How do we determine when to close a focus area?

A focus area is usually closed when it has been adopted, meaning the problem has been addressed and a solution is either in progress or already implemented. Additionally, if ongoing feedback shows limited interest or there are more pressing issues, the focus area may be closed to prioritize more impactful work.

Supporting Focus Areas

What does it mean to support for a focus area?

Supporting a focus area means that you are prioritising a broader problem or issue that you believe should be addressed. You are not supporting for or against specific wishes, but rather supporting the idea that the underlying issue should be resolved.

Does my support apply to all individual wishes in a focus area?

No. The wishes serve as examples, but the ultimate solution may differ from the individual suggestions. As you support focus areas, we encourage your comments about your interest or disinterest in a specific wish.