There is now the Wikimania Committee: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee> Perhaps a decision/formal consultation on a name change could come from them, if they feel it's appropriate?
Personally, I've always been a bit uneasy with '-mania' for the reasons that Gordon identified - plus getting academics to take you seriously when you're saying you'll be attending a conference called 'Wikimania' is always a bit tricky (first there's the 'wiki' part, then the 'mania' part, then there's both combined!). So I think it's worth rethinking the name at some point. BTW, "periods of great excitement, euphoria, delusions, and overactivity" probably describes quite a few Wikimedians! Thanks, Mike > On 4 Nov 2016, at 20:37, Asaf Bartov <[email protected]> wrote: > > A word on process: > > quite apart from the fact we've had this conversation before (it's fine to > have it again, as Lodewijk says), what bothers me is that there is *no clear > way it could have a result*. There is no identified group or person > empowered with deciding on a name change, so however persuasive your > arguments might be, on either side, this conversation is doomed to end the > way all the others had: with zero change. > > It seems to me that the only way the name would ever change is if some year's > *hosting team* were to decide to change it. They would be able to de-facto > determine the name of the conference and literally effect it, in branding, > merchandise, etc. It follows that if you want change, you should focus on > advocating to the Montreal team, or to a future year's team, once determined. > > A. > > On Fri, Nov 4, 2016 at 2:40 PM Nicholas Michael Bashour > <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > From Wikipedia article about Beatlemania: > > "The use of the word mania to describe fandom pre-dates the Beatles by more > than 100 years. Beginning in 1841, fans of Hungarian pianist and composer > Franz Liszt showed a level of fanaticism similar to the Beatles. Poet > Heinrich Heine coined the word "Lisztomania" to describe this...The term > later became the name of various tribute bands dedicated to singing the songs > of the Beatles, many with impersonators of the group.[19][20] The term has > had a number of derivatives with the suffix "mania", usually short-lived, to > describe a similar phenomenon toward other bands, such as "Rollermania"[21] > in the early 1970s for the Scottish band Bay City Rollers, "Menudomanía" in > the 1980s to describe frenzy across Latin America for the boyband Menudo, > "Spicemania" in the 1990s[22][23] for the Spice Girls and "Jedwardmania" in > the 2010s for Jedward. More recently, the "mania" suffix is often placed at > the end of sports figures' names when they acquire sudden popularity, such as > Hulkamania during the professional wrestling career of Hulk Hogan, or > "Tebowmania" for football player Tim Tebow in 2011. It is also used to > describe the following of other public figures, such as politician Jeremy > Corbyn - Corbynmania - at the height of his popularity, as well as actor > Leonardo DiCaprio - Leomania - in the period following his breakthrough > performance in the hit film Titanic.[24]" > > > 2016-11-04 17:37 GMT-04:00 Daniel Kinzler <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>>: > Am 04.11.2016 um 22:34 schrieb Nkansah Rexford: > > Mania: "mental illness marked by periods of great excitement, euphoria, > > delusions, and overactivity." > > Second meaning: "extreme enthusiasm for something that is usually shared by > many > people". -- http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mania > <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mania> > > Sounds about right to me... > > > -- > Daniel Kinzler > Senior Software Developer > > Wikimedia Deutschland > Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V. > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > <https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > <https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l> > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
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