User talk:Jimbo Wales

Wikimania scholarships

Hi Jimmy — I received an email this morning from the Wikimania 2024 Scholarship Committee, led by K2suvi (talk · global contribs), rejecting my application.

You may have come across my recent RfA, which I link only to establish that my level of participation in Wikimedia projects is not considered borderline by the community here.

From past discussion with other editors, I understand that this outcome is not unusual — the scholarship committee, constrained by a budget that last year permitted them to accept only 16% of applicants, and following a rubric better-suited to affiliate/outreach work than on-wiki editing, routinely rejects even functionaries and other highly respected editors.

In-person conferences provide a valuable opportunity to bring together the different parts of the movement and bridge some of the cultural divides that exist between them. Personally, the connections I have made at WikiConference North America have been invaluable, particularly for my work collaborating with foundation staff to inform the development of features like the Growth team's project on newcomer article creation, which is using my vision for a better Article Wizard as a model. I would have liked to expand and deepen those connections at Wikimania.

I recognize that travel scholarships aren't cheap. However, I find it deeply unfortunate — not just for myself, but for everyone similarly situated and for the resulting opportunity cost to the movement — that the foundation, belying its oft-repeated appreciation for the editor community, has chosen to devote so few of its considerable financial resources to enabling editors to join its flagship conference in person.

Given your own role at Wikimania and influence as a trustee over the foundation's budget, I am interested to hear your thoughts on this topic. Also pinging @Nadzik and @SGrabarczuk (WMF) as the respective Lead and Communications Lead for the conference.

Regards, Sdkb ^talk 22:09, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

Hey @Sdkb, thank you for your ping.

You are raising an important matter that the Core Organizing Team (and all past COTs) is well aware of and is actively trying to combat. Wikimedia conferences are an important space of celebration and knowledge exchange in our Movement and we wish all of the community members could attend them. As much as we would want to, unfortunately, we don’t have resources to offer a scholarship to all of the deserving volunteers. This year the acceptance rate is 15 times less than the number of Wikimedians who applied for the scholarship, in spite of having increased from 2023 the total number of scholarships granted. For 2024 we have shifted our resources to awarding more partial scholarships to the people in the region (CEE, NWE and MENA), but even then, we still had to reject many well-prepared and worthy applicants.

We are working with the WMF to stretch the resources we were given, so the maximum number of scholars can benefit from the conference. I can already share with you that for 2024 we are looking to send a record number of at least 230 scholars to Wikimania, but even this number (almost double from 2019 and 20% more than in 2023) doesn’t allow us to send everyone we would have loved to see at the conference. The Wikimedia Foundation will continue to subsidize the in person ticket and cover all costs related to the virtual event – it will remain free to attend virtually.

In the next few weeks and months, we will be publishing data about the scholarship process. We would like to publish several “lessons learned”, both for the community and future organizers and useful resources for future applicants (including a few best-scored applications from this year and general comments that should be useful in application preparing for future Wikimanias and other conferences).

If you have any more questions about this year’s process, please watch the page on Wikimania wiki where we will publish more information. Please feel free to reach out to me as well if you’d like.

Cheers, Nadzik (talk) 21:27, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for the detailed response. Sounds like the # of scholarships last year was around 200 and this year is around 230, and that a very large # of editors apply. Do you happen to know the total number of applicants last year and this year? Just to get an idea. –Novem Linguae (talk) 21:41, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

Hey @Novem Linguae!

Last year 1,206 applications were moved to the grading phase. For Wikimania 2024 there were 1,433 applications that the scholarship working group worked on. In addition to that, there were many more (majority) that were discarded in earlier phases or on technical basis (e.g. banned users, unfinished applications, partially blank, single words answers etc), so they were not graded by our team. If you are interested, more detailed information and stats will be published on Wikimania wiki in the next few weeks and months. Nadzik (talk) 13:41, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

Great info. Thank you. So this year it was about 230/1433 = 16%, or approximately 1 in 7. Yeah, pretty competitive. –Novem Linguae (talk) 13:46, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

I've left a note at Nadzik's talk page wondering the exact amount allocated for these 230 scholarships for Poland and other questions pertaining to funding conferences. Thanks for this ongoing discussion (had also left a note at Skdb's talk page a few days ago). Is there still time to increase the number of scholarships to the Poland conference? Randy Kryn (talk) 13:24, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

While it would be great if the WMF had infinite resources, I personally think it would be best if the WMF spent less on conferences—and more on things like the community wishlist that benefit readers and editors who don't go to meetups. (t · c) buidhe 19:29, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

I agree that the foundation ought to be spending more on community priorities. Conferences are an opportunity for us to advocate for those priorities and build relationships with foundation staff that bring our priorities into better alignment — but that can only happen if we are present. Sdkb ^talk 19:55, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

My experience is that conferences and meetups are very, very important for building community and collaborative relationships.

The technology for editing this website works pretty well. It's the human relationships aspect of the community that is much, much more challenging! This online environment can become quite unpleasant sometimes, and many editors leave as a result.

We really need more scholarships to encourage the editors who are creating quality content. Oliveleaf4 (talk) 15:41, 7 April 2024 (UTC)

Bumping thread. Jimbo Wales, I am interested to hear your thoughts on this topic. Sdkb ^talk 16:06, 3 April 2024 (UTC)

Hi, @Skdb, I can only say that I'd like to see the budget for scholarships to Wikimania increased. It's an incredibly valuable event and I think it's important that people can come regardless of their personal situation. We'll never be able to bring everyone, of course, but I think it's a very important thing for our movement for people to get together face to face.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 10:18, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

In case anyone's feeling down about not being selected, I'll disclose that I've been rejected every time I've applied (7 times, I think)? :) I was offered a partial scholarship once, but that omits the most expensive part of the trip (I must've accidentally indicated an interest in a partial scholarship or didn't realize how partial it was). Though it's possible that my particular combination of contributions over the years just aren't sufficiently valuable to the people who run Wikimania or that some of the many people even more active than I am also applied, it's more likely a reflection of a pretty standard expectation for grant-funded conferences: to maximize the number of attendees and number of scholarship recipients distributed from a fixed amount of money. It's not a phenomenon unique to Wikimania that nearby applicants are prioritized (although requiring recipients to share a small hotel room with a stranger isn't something I've seen outside the wiki world, but that may just be a personal bugbear).
If I apply and say "I need lodging and airfare from the other side of the world" and someone else says "I need money for a cab ride and will stay with a relative", I can't imagine it matters too much how involved each of us are or how eloquent our application answers were when deciding who gets the scholarship. They both increase the participation and scholarship numbers by one, which is important to a lot of grantmaking orgs as well as conference organizers.
I know that it's easy to sound cynical when talking about metrics, so to be clear there is a lot to be said for maximizing attendance as well as for using big events to prioritize the local communities over distant contributors. Inviting as many people as possible from in and around Poland this year, for example, could seriously catalyze activities/membership in that area. But I guess I always thought of Wikimania in particular (as opposed to more locally oriented wiki-related events) as intended to be as international and diverse as possible, with as much representation from around the world as possible. In that case I would think that grantees for Wikimania in particular wouldn't be held to the same expectations that most other conferences are. One way to prioritize the international character might be to move the scholarship selection from the Wikimania organizers to affiliates or hubs (plus a pool for people who live in an area with no such body), and then simply tell e.g. Wikimedia Mexico and Wikimedia Sweden that they can each send 3 people using any transparent process that bases selection on some combination of involvement and need (rather than giving them a pot of money to maximize). — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 16:41, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

Anyone who has to send you a rejection letter should be cowering in embarrassment, Rhododendrites. A process that does not recognize you as a highly respected, highly active contributor with a ton to offer Wikimania is a blatantly flawed process. Sdkb ^talk 17:17, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

Wikimania scholarship hotel rooms are solo nowadays. I think the number of scholarships awarded last year was around 200, the highest ever at the time. But I think the problem is that they receive over 1,000 applications. –Novem Linguae (talk) 22:14, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

• Upping the scholarships to 800 for each worldwide and each regional conference (North American, India, etc.) and fully funding at least one evening "banquet" for the regionals (even if a very good boxed catered affair) with a couple of major speakers and entertainment (a good comedian goes a long way) seems one logical option. Even 800 scholarships seems low to me when looking at it as both a full conference and a celebration of the volunteers. Most individuals think they are giving to Wikipedia, not Wikimedia, which most have never heard of, so the elephant in the room is that Wikipedians create the elephant. As for the 2026 25th anniversary conferences, a thousand scholarships is a nice number. Let's find one billionaire who understands the concepts, and who will gladly fund all of these on a yearly basis. Randy Kryn (talk) 12:26, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

  There are more considerations however. More people == more expensive. Organising an event over a 1000 people is really complex and basically requires a year's worth of setup. A money reserve that allows you to cancel that event 2 years in a row (on the day of the event, total loss). You need cities that are easy to travel too (good airports and connections), have active local wiki communities, are relatively safe, without prosecution of minorities, and working visa processes (a shorter list than most ppl think). Venues with lecture halls for that many people (incl. power, wifi, catering, access checks, video setups etc etc) that have plenty of hotels and restaurants nearby. The list of requirements goes on and on. The side effect of making regional conferences the size of wikimania, might just be that they might become unmanageable and have to be cancelled more often than they are held. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 13:05, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

Happy April!

April fools! File:Thebelltolls.png Sebbers10 Your bisexual friend! 15:50, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

Your user page

Sorry to see that your user page was destroyed by the WP:CABAL. TheTechie (formerly Mseingth2133444) (t/c) 16:33, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

Edelman Family Foundation

Hello Jimmy Wales!

I am writing to you regarding a concerning issue with the Edelman Family Foundation section in the Joseph Edelman Wikipedia article, which I believe requires your attention and guidance.

Firstly, I want to express my gratitude for your valuable suggestion to expand the section to encompass the full scope of the Edelman Family Foundation's activities, rather than focusing solely on a single donation.

However, I have encountered fierce opposition from some editors when attempting to include information about the foundation's numerous other contributions to various causes, as evidenced by reliable sources such as ProPublica.

Despite my efforts to provide a more neutral and complete picture of the organization's activities, the section continues to focus SOLELY on the controversial donation to the DO NOT HARM organization, while ignoring the foundation's support for educational initiatives, scientific research, and other charitable causes.

This selective inclusion of information raises serious concerns about bias and the violation of Wikipedia's core principle of neutrality (WP:NPOV). The current state of the section paints an unbalanced and misleading picture of the Edelman Family Foundation, which goes against our mission to provide accurate and unbiased information to our readers.

I suspect that there may be underlying biases influencing the resistance to include a more comprehensive and neutral representation of the foundation's activities. To address this issue, I have initiated a discussion on the BLP Noticeboard, where I hope to engage with other editors and work towards finding a consensual solution.

Given your role as the founder of Wikipedia and your commitment to maintaining the integrity of the platform, I kindly request your participation in this discussion or at least sharing your opinion. Llama Tierna (talk) 18:02, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

WP:YOULOSE: ...a selected few contributors feel that as Jimbo Wales is the founder/co-founder of Wikipedia that it would be best to appeal to him directly. The theory behind this is that their appeals will be heard and Jimbo will latch onto the argument in full agreement with the petitioner. Thereafter, Jimbo will logically smite the wicked editor who dared raise concerns about their behaviour/fundamentally change existing policy/delete the offending item from Wikipedia. The unfortunate news here is that it almost never works. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 23:02, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

Let me disagree with you, @AirshipJungleman29, and it looks like you only wish to discourage me from doing the right things. Thanks for "helping" new Wikipedia editors indeed based on your in-depth knowledge and experience! For your information, Jimmy Wales has the same rights to share his opinion on any Wikipedia article, and I treat him as an equal editor, not as a "problem solver" as you described in your very personal message. You'd also be surprised that Jimmy Wales actually responded to my previous message left here and suggested improving the section on the Edelman Family

Foundation. Here is the reference, so you can read it. Don't hesitate to share another helpful opinion.

Yours faithfully, Llama Tierna (talk) 13:15, 3 April 2024 (UTC)

A Special Barnstar for you

		The Special Barnstar
		A huge thank you also from me for creating Wikipedia.

JacktheBrown (talk) 09:27, 2 April 2024 (UTC)

Hi!

I got a question for you, did you find the Jimbo Whales joke funny?, if not, im sorry. Sebbers10 Your bisexual friend! 14:29, 2 April 2024 (UTC)

What joke do you mean? I'm sure I can enjoy almost anything really. I'm a pretty chill person. Jimbo Wales (talk) 15:08, 4 April 2024 (UTC)

I think it means this edit to Jimbo's user page.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 17:14, 4 April 2024 (UTC)