Wikidata talk:Status updates/Next

What changes would you like to see in the newsletter in 2024? edit

  • I'd like to see the newsletter be translatable. Wikidata is supposed to be a multilingual project, we shouldn't have an English-only newsletter. - Nikki (talk) 20:40, 25 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
    I'd also like there to be a single copy of the newsletter, I don't understand why it's being copied and pasted to lots of different pages (if people want it to be shown on another page, isn't that what page transclusion is for?). This would also be really useful for making it translatable, because even if the page is made translatable some time before it's published, most translations will only be added afterwards. - Nikki (talk) 20:43, 25 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
The newsletter is distributed through three main channels: the released version, MassMessage, and the Wikidata mailing list. I believe page transclusion can work with MassMessage, but for the email version, I don't think so. -Mohammed Abdulai (WMDE) (talk) 11:23, 5 January 2024 (UTC)Reply
+1 for the translatable newsletter! Maybe keep the updatable version English-only and make it translatable upon release? TiagoLubiana (talk) 18:22, 30 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
I'll start marking the released versions for translations once my requests for translation adminship is granted. -Mohammed Abdulai (WMDE) (talk) 11:23, 5 January 2024 (UTC)Reply
  • I'd like to see the newsletter integrated better into the main page. Currently the "News" section on there is mostly people pointing out fun numbers, it's not updated by WMDE, and it doesn't link to the newsletter. The current newsletter can only be found by going to the last link in the "Contact" section and hunting for the most recent date.
    I think pointing out fun numbers would be better in the newsletter itself, with the news on the main page being more practical things, like events that people might want to attend and big feature changes. The news section should also have a link to the current newsletter.
    I think that would be more useful both for people arriving at Wikidata for the first time and for people who've been here a while. - Nikki (talk) 21:10, 25 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
    For adding a link to the current newsletter, it would be useful to have something like Wikidata:Status updates/Current which redirects to the most recent newsletter, so links to it always take you to the most recent one. Unless someone comes up with a way to automate it, this would have to be updated as part of the process for publishing a newsletter. - Nikki (talk) 11:33, 26 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
    Thank you for your suggestion. I'll incorporate Wikidata:Status updates/Current into the news section on the main page. If anyone can help automate updating the redirect with a bot, I would appreciate it. -Mohammed Abdulai (WMDE) (talk) 16:34, 5 January 2024 (UTC)Reply
  • how about a dedicated blog? –Shisma (talk) 13:41, 26 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
I’m not sure what you mean by a dedicated blog. Could you explain it to me? Where would this blog be located? -Mohammed Abdulai (WMDE) (talk) 11:29, 5 January 2024 (UTC)Reply
  • currently the newsletter is strutured using nested lists which makes it hard to read on a mobile device. I propose to use headings instead. –Shisma (talk) 13:43, 26 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
    The section with extensive nested lists is mainly the "Did you know?" section, and occasionally the "Press, articles, blog posts, videos" section. I agree that eliminating the hierarchy in "Did you know?" and using separate headings for each section under it would enhance clarity. Just to be sure, did you mean the "Did you know?" section specifically, or was there another section you had in mind? -Mohammed Abdulai (WMDE) (talk) 16:52, 5 January 2024 (UTC)Reply
  • It might be too much work to organize, but it'd be really great if you could reach out to different active WikiProjects every week and give them a chance to talk about what they've been working on recently. Maybe do the reverse, and have WikiProjects come to _you_ to talk about their work? That might be a bit easier. Nicereddy (talk) 19:02, 26 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
    Yes, we can definitely create a new section where people can come and write a sentence or two about their WikiProject activities. How about something like “WikiProject Highlights”? -Mohammed Abdulai (WMDE) (talk) 17:39, 5 January 2024 (UTC)Reply
  • The length of the newsletter is way too long imo, I'm always overwhelmed. Maybe check which parts actually attract visitors? Sjoerd de Bruin (talk) 12:40, 27 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
    I don't mind the length in general because it's split into sections and I can skip the bits I'm not interested in. Using subheadings instead of nested lists would help me a lot in scanning the page though.
    The property proposals and new properties, however, are usually an unreadable wall of text for me. I would like to know if there's any properties/proposals I'm interested in, but the way it's presented means I never read it. - Nikki (talk) 20:16, 31 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
    I reduced the nesting there and started a new section solely for the property proposals and new properties (see here). Does that help? if not, how would you like it to be presented? Mohammed Abdulai (WMDE) (talk) 12:55, 15 January 2024 (UTC)Reply
    Another part that could be changed is the "monthly tasks" section, which I don't read because it never changes. I think it would be better to integrate links like that into the rest of the newsletter where it makes sense to (e.g. a link to view all open proposals would make sense in the section about new proposals), and move generic links like "help merge identical items" to a separate "how can I contribute" type of page. - Nikki (talk) 20:18, 31 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
  • The weekly on-wiki newsletter is fantastic, please keep it coming! Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 20:00, 30 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
  • Better navigation of previous newsletters: There's no navigation on the newsletters themselves. A small header with a previous/next link, like the English Wikisource does for works (like this random one), would be useful. - Nikki (talk) 20:31, 31 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
    Certainly, that would be useful. If anyone can beat me in creating the templates for the navigation, I would appreciate it! :) Mohammed Abdulai (WMDE) (talk) 17:49, 5 January 2024 (UTC)Reply


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