I am a dev and am willing to replace a tool when it dies. I have a fairly large infrastructure of code that makes it fairly easy
On Sunday, February 22, 2015, WereSpielChequers <[email protected]> wrote: > One of the areas that I would like to see the foundation putting in money > is for the running and maintenance of wanted orphan bots. Wanted in the > sense that editors are using them or would if they were still running, and > orphan in the sense that the original developer isn't around or available > to run them/migrate them to the latest platform. > > If we work on the premise that community funds should go for things that > volunteers want to have happen but aren't volunteering to do, then this is > a classic and uncontentious niche. Programmers like to write new code and > solve new problems, but the person with the idea or who writes new code > doesn't always have the time and motivation to keep maintaining and running > that code, let alone creating slightly bespoke version for scores of our > thousand wikis. > > Now it may be that we are in an unusual situation that the migration from > toolserver to labs has cost us a number of bots that would otherwise have > continued for years. But there will always be demand to localise existing > bots for wikis where they don't currently run, and in the long run all of > our volunteer bot writers are likely to move on. > > Employing a python programmer or two somewhere cheap like India or South > America would not be a huge investment for the foundation, but it would be > a valuable service to the community, and unlike mediawiki development this > could be completely volunteer driven with wikimedians deciding which bots > are worth maintaining and their relative priority. > > Disclosure: whilst I'm not pitching for the money for this, I would be > front of the queue to ask such a maintainer to take on bots that I used to > use the results of and in at least one case which I designed. > > Regards > > Jonathan/WereSpielChequers > > > > On 22 Feb 2015, at 11:42, [email protected] > <javascript:;> wrote: > > > > Send Wikimedia-l mailing list submissions to > > [email protected] <javascript:;> > > > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > > [email protected] <javascript:;> > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > Message: 3 > > Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2015 17:39:31 -0800 > > From: Erik Moeller <[email protected] <javascript:;>> > > To: Wikimedia Mailing List <[email protected] > <javascript:;>> > > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikitech-l] Types of allowed projects for > > grant funding (renamed) > > Message-ID: > > <CAEg6ZHmFQ-K8tksj==b-cx1ankcc+wy1gcfk+0+pkis38uk...@mail.gmail.com > <javascript:;>> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > > >> On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 4:19 PM, MZMcBride <[email protected] > <javascript:;>> wrote: > >> > >> Erik seems to be pushing toward a model that favors using OAuth and the > >> MediaWiki API over "deep integration" that comes with a MediaWiki > >> extension. He recently mentioned this here: > >> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/glamtools/2015-February/000343.html > >> > >> He may be right that development for deployment to the Wikimedia > >> Foundation cluster may not be the best approach for every project, but I > >> think this view overlooks all the very real benefits that extension > >> deployment includes. > > > > I don't think one size fits all -- every case needs to be judged on > > its merits, though in the case of GLAMWikiToolset I am definitely > > arguing for considering separation from the MediaWiki codebase because > > it is so highly specialized. I also think we sometimes still have a > > tendency to underestimate the value of non-MediaWiki tools and apps, > > even though they've contributed millions of edits to Wikimedia wikis > > already (though to be fair, without Magnus Manske the tally would not > > be nearly as awesome). > > > > Regarding the criteria for grantmaking, I think this initial blanket > > prohibition against all MediaWiki extension development is indeed > > something we ought to revisit. These grants can cover tens of > > thousands of dollars of paid work, so we shouldn't treat the review > > and integration burden lightly, and avoiding stalled projects that are > > going nowhere was a reason I advocated for this restriction to begin > > with. But as long as there is a good plan in place -- either not > > significantly dependent on WMF or with clear commitments negotiated > > upfront -- I do agree that the risks can be significantly mitigated. > > > > Damon, Luis and members of their teams will need to weigh in on this, > > and will want to think through the implications for their respective > > areas, but it's a good conversation to have -- keeping in mind that > > Luis is just starting in his new role, so please give him at least a > > few days to get up to speed. ;-) > > > > Erik > > -- > > Erik Möller > > VP of Product & Strategy, Wikimedia Foundation > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > Message: 4 > > Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2015 18:12:02 -0800 > > From: Luis Villa <[email protected] <javascript:;>> > > To: Wikimedia Mailing List <[email protected] > <javascript:;>> > > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikitech-l] Types of allowed projects for > > grant funding (renamed) > > Message-ID: > > <cam2wsz6x5dqdljnwjs3va_su57nup0uhxlq6zktaheey2t4...@mail.gmail.com > <javascript:;>> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > > >> On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 5:39 PM, Erik Moeller <[email protected] > <javascript:;>> wrote: > >> > >> Damon, Luis and members of their teams will need to weigh in on this, > >> and will want to think through the implications for their respective > >> areas, but it's a good conversation to have -- keeping in mind that > >> Luis is just starting in his new role, so please give him at least a > >> few days to get up to speed. ;-) > > > > Thanks for at least a few hours of cushion, Erik ;) > > > > I'm a big believer in the power of/need for software tools, and at least > > philosophically I'm very open to funding software development outside the > > Foundation (though obviously there are lots of pragmatic difficulties - > > code review, etc.) So, yes, as part of our broader review of how we > support > > communities and contributor growth, CE will look at funding code very > > seriously. > > > > Luis > > > > -- > > Luis Villa > > Sr. Director of Community Engagement > > Wikimedia Foundation > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:[email protected] <javascript:;> > ?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
