Riffraffselbow

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Welcome to the Wikimedia Foundation's strategic planning process. We appreciate your interest in taking part. You can start by reading our Community guidelines. Check out the links on the Main Page and find an area that interests you. Please feel free to ask me any questions, or you may leave a message on the Village Pump. -- Wutsje 02:00, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

Templates

I saw your message on Wutsje's talk page about templates, and wanted to offer an explanation. When Eugene (the Project Manager) and I initially set up this wiki, we felt very strongly that we needed to create an atmosphere of welcoming and friendliness in order to create a space where ideas could be heard and people were able to interconnect in the manner that's necessary for good planning. We also, practically, knew that we'd be dealing with the very quick addition of several thousand users. It would be unrealistic for us to attempt to welcome each and every user personally, but we knew that we definitely wanted them all welcomed. Unfortunately, this resulted in the use of templates. Some users are offended by them, like yourself, and I'm very sorry for that reaction, because it's the opposite of the first impression that we want to give. Where possible, I (and everyone else) personalizes the templated message if we see someone who has contributed already, or whom we know.

Wutsje is following the guidelines set on this project; if there's blame to be had, it's mine. I'm sorry that you were offended, but hope that you'll take the time to look around the wiki and engage in the incredible work that's being done here. Best wishes, -- Philippe 02:24, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm glad you're okay with it, and your suggestion is a good one. The templating is done manually (rather than automated, which we tried for a while) so that we can personalize the templates if need be. There may be a way to adjust the wording to make it a bit friendlier for regulars; I'll see if we can't find some better wording with that in mind. Thanks so much for the suggestion! -- Philippe 04:01, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

Next Steps

	Next steps!
	It's time to answer some questions! Would you check out the list of questions that were submitted by the community and others and try to answer some? -- Philippe 02:06, 22 October 2009 (UTC)