Wikivoyage/Naming straw poll

Question: Should the new Wikimedia travel project be called Wikivoyage?

Background

WikiVoyage is an independently run travel project, organized and hosted by Wikivoyage e.V., a non-profit organization based in Germany. WikiVoyage e.v. recently decided in favor of negotiating transfer of WikiVoyage operations (including the domain name) to WMF.

In the meantime, the WMF Board of Trustees decided to launch a travel project under the Wikimedia umbrella.

One of the first decisions for launching the project is whether the new project should be called Wikivoyage, or whether it should be launched under a new name. If the answer is the latter, this would substantially complicate the potential for integration of the existing Wikivoyage projects, as the community and non-profit organization supporting it would need to be persuaded to support the new name and be subject to legal approval.

Moreover, any public process to decide upon a different name may present challenges. Typically the choice of a name is a confidential process to ensure that domain names are not squatted or trademarks are not registered by third parties in an effort to sell back those names at high prices. The Wikivoyage name is well-established (the project has been in operation since 2006) and the non-profit currently owning the name has committed to supporting the idea of potential integration of its operations with WMF.

It is therefore WMF's stated preference to launch the new travel project under the name Wikivoyage, and to forego alternatives. With that said, we want to open up this process for a straw poll. If a majority opposes launching under this name, we suggest that we run a more open-ended naming process (with the risks that this entails, both for a successful Wikivoyage->WMF migration, and for fully securing a name).

Duration

This poll will run for 7 days, to terminate on 09/26/2012 at 23:59:59 Pacific Time.

Voting eligibility

Wikimedia Community Members

You may vote from any one registered account you own on a qualified wiki (you may only vote once, regardless of how many accounts you own). To qualify, this one account must:

• not be blocked on more than one project; and
• not be blocked on the project you are voting from; and
• not be a bot; and
• have made at least 25 edits (edits on several Wikimedia wikis can be combined if your accounts are unified into a global account)

Affected Travel Community Members

You may vote from any one registered account you own on a qualified wiki (you may only vote once, regardless of how many accounts you own). Please provide a backlink to a contribution history with no fewer than 25 edits on an affected travel community site. To qualify, this account must:

• not be a bot; and
• have made at least 25 edits there.

Developers

MediaWiki developers qualify to vote if they:

• are Wikimedia server administrators with shell access; or
• have commit access to Wikimedia's code repository and have made at least one commit.

Staff and contractors

Wikimedia Foundation staff and contractors qualify to vote if they are employed by or under contract with the Foundation on the date of their vote.

Board members and advisory board members

Current and former members of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation and WikiVoyage and the Advisory Board are qualified to vote.

Voting options

Option 1: Launch the new travel project under the WikiVoyage name

This assumes that WMF will be able to negotiate a migration of WikiVoyage operations to WMF servers, and a transfer of the domain name.

• Support - The Wikivoyage association made a decision to negotiate with the WMF and make a transfer of domain name and data possible. Wikivoyage is a well established and known project and about to apply as a Thematic Organization. -- DerFussi (talk) 06:18, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
• Support. I prefer this, as it acknowledges the efforts by the Wikivoyage community to-date, and avoids wading into trademark/domain name issues with a new name that has yet to be established. (I don't think it diminishes the efforts of others wanting to join to adopt the identity of an existing project.) Eloquence (talk) 06:21, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
• Support. Unless somebody comes with a good alternative name -- Tinu Cherian - 06:49, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
• Support Keep the Wikivoyage name. To Yann, "Voyage" is a recognizable English word as well. Keegan (talk) 06:51, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
• Support It's an established name that works across different languages, and the people currently running Wikivoyage are ready to join the Wikimedia family as a whole (community, content, trademark, association). This will make things so much easier. As a side effect, chosing the name of an already existing project helps avoiding the false impression that the new Wikimedia project is all about forking Wikitravel. -- Arne (akl) (talk) 07:24, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
• Support What Arne said.--Strainu (talk) 07:36, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

Comments

• WikiVoyage seems strange to me, it looks very much French. ;o) I would expect an English name, but I don't mind this proposition. Yann (talk) 06:28, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

• Voyage comes for french, but it is also an English word. I think the second definition at the link is very appropriate for the scope of this site.--Strainu (talk) 07:36, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

• What's the abbreviation of this name? "wv" conflicts with "Wikiversity". Liangent 07:00, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
• Note that I'm not voting, but I wonder a little about the community dynamics of merging fragments of several communities (plus a whole WikiVoyage community) into an existing name. I'm not sure whether an entirely new, fresh, shiny name might not be a better thing. But I've got nothing to base this on but gut instinct.  :) Philippe (WMF) (talk) 08:02, 20 September 2012 (UTC)