Talk:Site notices policy

On giving advanced warning

It is polite to let the individual language projects know that a global message will be turned on before it happens, so that those projects can put up their own local message first. This avoids having an english message at the top of every page (that only a local admin can change), sometimes before the community has decided what they would like that message to say in their own language.

Global messages should only be put up after local projects have had time to put up their own. +sj+ 14:46, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Talk from July 2004

The donation-soliciting box at the top of EVERY page today has horrid grammar! "If you'd like to donate to support the Wikipedia, please visit the fundraising. To see how we spent past donations, What we use the money for" - please!

Could somebody make it:

If you'd like to donate to support Wikipedia, please visit our fundraising page. To see how we spend donations, see What we use the money for.

...or something otherwise sane.

(not sure how to code that first link)

Radagast 14:54, Jul 12, 2004 (UTC)

More to the point, what's it doing there anyway? I know that Wikipedia and the Wikimedia foundation are permanently short of money, but surely we don't need to push it this hard on every page. I must admit that my first thought when I saw it (possibly partly prompted by the bad grammar) was that it was a phishing scam. -- ALargeElk | Talk 15:06, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)

The wording is being discussed on IRC. As for why it's there, we might take another /. beating soon, and we could use some money for new hardware that's being planned. Dori | Talk 15:15, Jul 12, 2004 (UTC)== That red box ==

It's total overkill, to my mind. In the absence of IRC, I'll use this as my channel to say that I think it should go and it should go NOW. It looks extraordinarily unprofessional, it will piss people off (it already has done with me) and I doubt it'll achieve what it sets out to do and actually bring in much more money. If it has to be there, put it at the bottom of the page, or in the sidebar - but not between the title and the content of every article. -- ALargeElk | Talk 15:25, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I used to have the same exact view, alas we need to money or the site will become unusable, and this tactic seems to get it. Dori | Talk 15:32, Jul 12, 2004 (UTC)

Don't mind too much - it takes some getting used to. If donations are up it can stay :)--inks 21:22, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Yes, donations are way up. Over $2K since the message went live. --mav 22:18, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Regardless of its efficacy, the wording has definitely improved. The English student in me still notes you're missing the ending period. Radagast

Sorry, but this pervasive red box is just exasperating... If fundraising is so important, why don't you replace the "Today's featured article" for a while with a clear explanation about why Wikipedia needs donations? I am sure that the homepage is the entry page of most users and a paragraph or two describing the situation there would be more effective that these two sentences in their red box. Wikipedia just does not look professional anymore with this box between the title and the text of each article... --Alexandre 00:20, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

This may be minor, but I'd really like to see this ad (and similar site notices) above the name of the article, rather than breaking up the article from its text. I understand and agree with having such a request on the pages, but I think this move changes it from being the type of ad that gets inserted without regard for positioning (like the ones in the middle of news stories) to being a proper ad for a site that lives on donations. Thanks. kmccoy (talk) 13:04, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Absolutely! I agree completely - it's enormously exasperating as it is. If it has to stay then it's got to move (if that makes any sense). ALargeElk | Talk 16:40, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Out of interest, how was the decision taken to include the box? I don't recall any discussion - it just suddenly appeared. ALargeElk | Talk 16:42, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

There was no discussion that I am aware of. Jimbo decided it should be shown, and asked the developers on #mediawiki to implement it. Requests, by myself and others, for this message to made editable have not yet been fulfilled. However, the style of it is editable at MediaWiki:Monobook.css if people feel it should be smaller/ not red etc. Angela 00:36, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Is there any way to selectively block the notice on certain pages? In particular, pages that have neutrality disputes might not be the best place to be asking for money. For example, does Wikipedia really want to associate themselves too closely with pages like Childlover? --Wclark 01:18, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

This is now editable. See Fundraising site notice for details. Angela 02:58, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for implementing the user suggestions! A new cosmetic issue that I have with the box is the fact that it runs into the article/discussion/edit/history bar. How would people feel about having a bit of a space between the menu bar and the site notice, so that the entire box stands on its own? kmccoy 05:54, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

• Very ugly, unprofessional looking, and not in the spirit of Wikipedia. Thanks, 207.96.13.12 20:03, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

locaton of box

Could the fundraising box be put at the bottom of the page, below the copyright? See the location of the dummy banner ad at http://libertarianwiki.org. Pstudier 21:03, 16 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Aligning

Somebody changed the style of the message in monobook to centered - the rest of the page is left aligned - can somebody align the notice left again? -- Schusch 11:43, 31 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Mystery

Of the last 100 or so pages I've seen about 2 have had the Wikimedia default fundraising notice. The rest have had the latest version of the Wikipedia notice, as edited by Anglea. Seems like a bug... Rich Farmbrough 16:52, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)